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Road to 1900 #1

Buy a book. Study it. Thank me later.

Buy a book. Study it. Thank me later.

No just check one out from your local library and renew it whenever needed. Free, just like lichess.

No just check one out from your local library and renew it whenever needed. Free, just like lichess.

@crashbandicoot345 you can definitely do it, I went from around where you are now online to 1950 in about a year, and i'm 1570 OTB now. I also have a quads tournament this weekend funnily enough, so good luck to you there.

@crashbandicoot345 you can definitely do it, I went from around where you are now online to 1950 in about a year, and i'm 1570 OTB now. I also have a quads tournament this weekend funnily enough, so good luck to you there.

@crashbandicoot345 Also people may tell you to stop playing the openings you love because they are "too complicated for your level", and I'll offer a piece of advice that most people will probably frown upon by saying to ignore them, because even if it may be difficult to navigate the complexity of the openings at first at a lower level.

First of all, being in complex openings forces you to think more so it trains your calculation skills for the long run, which is much more useful then getting your pieces out with a +1 advantage rather than a equal position or whatever.

Second of all, I find it much better to play an opening that matches your play style and what you enjoy and to not understand it than to play an opening that you know well and understand but dislike playing and doesn't match your playstyle. For example, recently I played the English for a few months and I knew that playing a positional opening like that did not match my aggressive, open, tactical playstyle, and I was getting through the opening just fine, but losing in the middlegame because my positional maneuvering skills were sub par. I finally worked up the courage to switch back to e4 as white and play the scotch about a month ago, and even though I didn't understand the openings nearly as deeply, and I still have been a little bit lost at times, and I have fallen into some opening traps, I've managed to gain 140 rating points in just about 5 weeks, which is tremendous gains for my level from what I know. Also, as a fellow najdorf player, I can't resist having more people play my favorite opening (which I'm actually undefeated with OTB).

Third of all, in my opinion, the most important thing for improvement is a dedication to both improvement and the game, and an enjoyment of the game. The more you enjoy the game, the more likely you are to think about it and want to get better, so the more you will in turn work towards it. When I played the English, my work towards improvement felt like a chore because I wasn't enjoying my positions as white, and it made me stagnate for a few months, meanwhile now that i've transitioned out of that and into a opening that better suits me and my playstyle, I've made a massive gain in a short span of time.

@crashbandicoot345 Also people may tell you to stop playing the openings you love because they are "too complicated for your level", and I'll offer a piece of advice that most people will probably frown upon by saying to ignore them, because even if it may be difficult to navigate the complexity of the openings at first at a lower level. First of all, being in complex openings forces you to think more so it trains your calculation skills for the long run, which is much more useful then getting your pieces out with a +1 advantage rather than a equal position or whatever. Second of all, I find it much better to play an opening that matches your play style and what you enjoy and to not understand it than to play an opening that you know well and understand but dislike playing and doesn't match your playstyle. For example, recently I played the English for a few months and I knew that playing a positional opening like that did not match my aggressive, open, tactical playstyle, and I was getting through the opening just fine, but losing in the middlegame because my positional maneuvering skills were sub par. I finally worked up the courage to switch back to e4 as white and play the scotch about a month ago, and even though I didn't understand the openings nearly as deeply, and I still have been a little bit lost at times, and I have fallen into some opening traps, I've managed to gain 140 rating points in just about 5 weeks, which is tremendous gains for my level from what I know. Also, as a fellow najdorf player, I can't resist having more people play my favorite opening (which I'm actually undefeated with OTB). Third of all, in my opinion, the most important thing for improvement is a dedication to both improvement and the game, and an enjoyment of the game. The more you enjoy the game, the more likely you are to think about it and want to get better, so the more you will in turn work towards it. When I played the English, my work towards improvement felt like a chore because I wasn't enjoying my positions as white, and it made me stagnate for a few months, meanwhile now that i've transitioned out of that and into a opening that better suits me and my playstyle, I've made a massive gain in a short span of time.