Answers.Body: <blockquote>
  <p>my next goal is to attain the FM title</p>
  </blockquote>
  <p>The FM title is a FIDE, over-the-board title which requires you to achieve a FIDE rating of at least 2300 at standard time controls.</p>
  <p>According to the information you have given, you only ever play online. If that continues then you will never, ever achieve the FM title because you will never, ever get an over-the-board FIDE rating.</p>
  <blockquote>
  <p>how do I improve?</p>
  </blockquote>
  <p>The single best thing you can do is join a chess club where people play real chess, over-the-board. They can help you and encourage you. Oh, and they can beat you like a drum, but if you persist then you <em>will</em> improve and break out of your plateau. You then need to go on and play in real, over-the-board chess tournaments where you get a real rating. The online bubble you are currently living in is almost meaningless.</p>
  <p>When you are playing real, OTB chess you also need to ask your opponents, after they beat you, to go over the game with you and tell you where they think you went wrong.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2024-01-25T21:25:37.903Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2024-01-25T21:25:37.903Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Brian Towers
Answers.Body: <p>The only way you're going to make that kind of progress is to get a coach that will build a personalized plan for you. There's no way by self-study and just playing you will make that kind of progress. Find a coach and get ready to work hard on your chess.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2024-01-26T23:01:49.373Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2024-01-26T23:01:49.373Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: JP Alioto
Answers.Body: <p>It's good to have goals in mind, but I think your timeline might be a bit ambitious. At your current level I would suggest you focus on the basics; there's an excellent  <a href="https://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/how-to-play-chess-lessons-from-an-international-master" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Great courses</a> series on chess, I suggest you borrow it from your local library.</p>
  <p>I hesitate to say this, because novice players generally take opening far too seriously, however if you want to improve quickly, I would suggest you focus your early efforts on the &quot;Italian game&quot; and the Caro-Kann&quot;, the Italian game will force you to learn tactics, and the Caro-Kann will force you to appreciate pawn structures. Not because openings are that important, but knowing them well enough to get into the middle game in an equal position will facilitate your development of tactics, which are the soul of chess.</p>
  <p>however more importantly than those two openings, I would focus my efforts on opening principles, tactics, matting patterns and end games.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2024-01-25T21:10:25.573Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2024-01-25T21:10:25.573Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Paweł
Body: <p>I'm 14 years old and I've been playing chess for the past 16 months. I've a rating of 970 in rapid on chess.com, a blitz rating of 614 and a highest puzzle rating of 2414. Although I have a &lt;1000 ELO rating on chess.com, my skills might prove to be 1450-1500. I've analyzed my games on chess.com and I have achieved a constant accuracy between 75% and 90%. It usually shows my estimated ELO as 1340-1400. I usually play with higher rated opponents to improve myself in chess.</p>
  <p>I've got books like <em>Complete Book of Chess Strategy</em>, <em>The Chess Fundamentals</em>, <em>Under the Surface</em> and <em>Practical Chess Endings</em>. Furthermore, I bought diamond membership in chess.com because I thought it could help me.</p>
  <p>Problems:<br />
  I'm planning to reach the 2200 mark by the start of next year like January end or something, my next goal is to attain the FM title (or NM). Also I'm very keen to get the GM title one day and I know the only way to do that is giving some dedication to it. Attaining that title by end of my school life is my plan.</p>
  <p>Although I have a problem balancing my academics with this, I'm still having problems trying to improve. I think I hit the 1000 ELO mark 6.3 months after learning chess. However since last May I'm not improving at all except maybe learning some cool concepts from my book(I've not finished the books).</p>
  <p>It might sound surrealistic to reach the FM title within a year from now. But believe me, I've got the dedication and self-esteem, once I've hit the 1000 ELO within half a year. I'm a fast learner too. I'm looking for some advice to improve exponentially to avoid the plateau in my growth.</p>
  <p>Based on my age, skill, rating, problem and the time I've been playing chess, the info I've provided and the resources I have, how do I improve?</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2024-01-27T01:49:47.830Z
Comments.Text: The estimated ELO on chess.com is a for fun tool. It can be wildly off.
Comments.UserDisplayName: qwr
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2024-01-27T01:52:29.700Z
Comments.Text: Even if you have the dedication and self-esteem, it doesn't mean you can reach FM. Going from 0 to 1000 is much, much easier than going from 1000 to 2000.
Comments.UserDisplayName: qwr
Tags: <learning>
Title: Tailored Chess Improvement guidance
ThreadText: # Tailored Chess Improvement guidance
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2024-01-25)
  
  I'm 14 years old and I've been playing chess for the past 16 months. I've a rating of 970 in rapid on chess.com, a blitz rating of 614 and a highest puzzle rating of 2414. Although I have a <1000 ELO rating on chess.com, my skills might prove to be 1450-1500. I've analyzed my games on chess.com and I have achieved a constant accuracy between 75% and 90%. It usually shows my estimated ELO as 1340-1400. I usually play with higher rated opponents to improve myself in chess.
  
  I've got books like *Complete Book of Chess Strategy*, *The Chess Fundamentals*, *Under the Surface* and *Practical Chess Endings*. Furthermore, I bought diamond membership in chess.com because I thought it could help me.
  
  Problems:  
  I'm planning to reach the 2200 mark by the start of next year like January end or something, my next goal is to attain the FM title (or NM). Also I'm very keen to get the GM title one day and I know the only way to do that is giving some dedication to it. Attaining that title by end of my school life is my plan.
  
  Although I have a problem balancing my academics with this, I'm still having problems trying to improve. I think I hit the 1000 ELO mark 6.3 months after learning chess. However since last May I'm not improving at all except maybe learning some cool concepts from my book(I've not finished the books).
  
  It might sound surrealistic to reach the FM title within a year from now. But believe me, I've got the dedication and self-esteem, once I've hit the 1000 ELO within half a year. I'm a fast learner too. I'm looking for some advice to improve exponentially to avoid the plateau in my growth.
  
  Based on my age, skill, rating, problem and the time I've been playing chess, the info I've provided and the resources I have, how do I improve?
  
  **Tags:** learning
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: The estimated ELO on chess.com is a for fun tool. It can be wildly off.  
  > **username_1**: Even if you have the dedication and self-esteem, it doesn't mean you can reach FM. Going from 0 to 1000 is much, much easier than going from 1000 to 2000.  
  
  ---
  
  ## 3 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_2 on 2024-01-25. Score: 3
  
  > my next goal is to attain the FM title
  
  The FM title is a FIDE, over-the-board title which requires you to achieve a FIDE rating of at least 2300 at standard time controls.
  
  According to the information you have given, you only ever play online. If that continues then you will never, ever achieve the FM title because you will never, ever get an over-the-board FIDE rating.
  
  > how do I improve?
  
  The single best thing you can do is join a chess club where people play real chess, over-the-board. They can help you and encourage you. Oh, and they can beat you like a drum, but if you persist then you *will* improve and break out of your plateau. You then need to go on and play in real, over-the-board chess tournaments where you get a real rating. The online bubble you are currently living in is almost meaningless.
  
  When you are playing real, OTB chess you also need to ask your opponents, after they beat you, to go over the game with you and tell you where they think you went wrong.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_3 on 2024-01-26. Score: 1
  
  The only way you're going to make that kind of progress is to get a coach that will build a personalized plan for you. There's no way by self-study and just playing you will make that kind of progress. Find a coach and get ready to work hard on your chess.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_4 on 2024-01-25. Score: 1
  
  It's good to have goals in mind, but I think your timeline might be a bit ambitious. At your current level I would suggest you focus on the basics; there's an excellent [Great courses](https://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/how-to-play-chess-lessons-from-an-international-master) series on chess, I suggest you borrow it from your local library.
  
  I hesitate to say this, because novice players generally take opening far too seriously, however if you want to improve quickly, I would suggest you focus your early efforts on the "Italian game" and the Caro-Kann", the Italian game will force you to learn tactics, and the Caro-Kann will force you to appreciate pawn structures. Not because openings are that important, but knowing them well enough to get into the middle game in an equal position will facilitate your development of tactics, which are the soul of chess.
  
  however more importantly than those two openings, I would focus my efforts on opening principles, tactics, matting patterns and end games.
  
  
  ---
  
  