Chess is not made for everyone.

Chess is not made for everyone.
Chess rewards a very specific set of qualities.
Education plays a role and life experiences play a role - Your ability to sit down, focus, and work on one task for several hours plays a huge role.
Some people are used to discipline from a young age.
Some people are used to solving hard problems every day - they are mentally trained to stay concentrated for long periods of time.

Others are simply not.
And this matters.

If you spend 8 hours working behind a desk and you are mentally unable to study chess for one more hour after work, results will not come.
This is reality.
Improvement requires sacrifices.

If your brain is tired every day... if your habits are weak... if distractions control your life... if you cannot sit in discomfort and think deeply... progress will stay slow.

That does not mean you cannot improve, but it means improvement has a price:
commitment means studying when motivation is low,
reviewing losses instead of ignoring them,
repeating patterns until they become instinct,
and choosing long-term progress over short-term comfort;
this is where chess psychology truly begins, because the difference between a player who stays stuck and a player who climbs hundreds of Elo points is often not intelligence, but discipline, consistency, and commitment—the very things that turn knowledge into skill, and skill into rating points.

The real reason most players are not improving at chess is not always a lack of talent.
Very often, it is a lack of commitment.
Many players want results, but they do not invest enough time, energy, and focus into the right areas.

Chess improvement is not random.
Progress is built through consistent work in three main areas: technique, theory, and strategy.

First, there is the technical side of chess: calculation and tactics.
These two skills are essential if you want to stop blundering, make your ideas work, and understand the purpose behind each move.
Calculation allows you to see variations clearly and evaluate positions before acting.
Tactics allow you to punish mistakes and avoid making your own.

In reality, almost every opening plan is based on one simple idea: creating pressure.

That pressure often creates tactical mistakes.
A strong attack, a central break, or an active piece placement creates practical problems that your opponent must solve.
Without tactical awareness and calculation, these opportunities are missed and the ideas will not be understood.

Second, there is the theoretical side: endgames.

A lot of players ignore endgames because they seem boring, but this phase wins and saves countless games.
Basic mating patterns must become automatic.
Equal theoretical endgames must be understood.
Worse but drawable positions must be defended.
For example, opposition in king and pawn endgames is fundamental.
The Lucena position in rook endgames is essential for winning.
The Philidor position is critical for defending.
These positions appear again and again.
Knowing them saves energy and wins points.

Third, there is strategy.

Your opening plans must be known. The structures that come from your openings must be understood.
The concepts linked to those structures must become familiar.
Pawn breaks, piece placement, attacking ideas, and long-term plans must be recognized quickly.
Directly and indirectly, this creates an opening repertoire. That is the real Road to Mastery.

The goal in chess is not to know everything.
The goal is to know your positions deeply.
A player who knows many things broadly can often become a coach because broad knowledge helps teaching, but that same player may struggle to perform because practical performance requires depth, repetition, and familiarity.
Strong players are not always the ones who know the most. They are often the ones who know their positions the best.

So please, don't listen to people explaining you that you are training chess the right way - you might not be.

Thank you very much,
Loris

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https://www.instagram.com/chessloris/