Answers.Body: <p>Thank you for sharing your very discouraging story. I've been an IM for years and recently I've tried to become a grandmaster, did a lot of tactics but: I failed, and now with corona and 0 OTB games it feels a bit silly anyway. So I started to learn code, which is fun haha and very off topic here.</p>
  <p>The biggest difference you can make to get from 2200 to 2400 is understanding of pawn structures and having a coherent repertoire. Especially facing 1.Nf3 and 1.c4 becomes more important. But apart from a broad coherent repertoire I would say start learning openings 20 moves deep, and in case you have some forced line, start memorizing 30 moves, take research seriously, try to get some great books to guide you. And then in the main lines, try improving on the book.</p>
  <p>Another great help is to take Dvoretsky's endgame manual and go through it a lot. That book is pure gold. Especially online a lot of games end in some kind of endgame. And making rabbits appear out of hats is great.</p>
  <p>The reason for focusing so much on openings is because that's probably your bottleneck right now. You don't have the strategic insight to make your tactics work. e.g. different players need different things. Try to identify where you're weakest.</p>
  <p>One trick to do that is to study the topics you most dislike in chess. For me that was opposite coloured bishops, and that has helped me a lot getting better at positional play.</p>
  <p>You can still do the tactics, but I am 100% sure you would regain your motivation when you would work on something you need more!</p>
  <p>Last but not least: chess progress is a bitch! The rating always comes too late, when you lost motivation and think about quitting.</p>
  <p>Cheers!</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-07-02T12:49:46.663Z
Answers.Text: Thank you for your comment, I really apprecciate an understanding response. I will focus on endgames and openings instead, then. However, I also made a decision that I'm going to take chess a bit more lightly in the future. As you said, there are other things than chess, and it so happens that I also started coding about a year ago for my degree in artificial intelligence. Originally, I had planned on doing chess during the summer vacation, but I will instead focus on developing my Python skills and take online maths courses.
Answers.UserDisplayName: postnubilaphoebus
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-07-02T13:04:55.307Z
Answers.Text: Speaking more broadly, I think it is important to discuss failure and the relation between effort and outcome in the learning and improvement culture. This can help prevent people from getting discouraged but also encourage them to scrutinise their ambitions. One thing I did not realise until recently is that it is not a sign of weakness to adbandon a goal, but a sign of insight and strength. I can still play chess and train it when I feel like it, but I cannot deny that other goals and interests are now part of my life as well.
Answers.UserDisplayName: postnubilaphoebus
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-07-02T19:10:08.027Z
Answers.Text: Well, don't forget chess! It can be really rewarding if you actually do manage to go up. On the other hand yes, what we're doing is fun. I guess you're into data science as well :) Good luck on your endeavors!
Answers.UserDisplayName: David Miedema
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-07-03T08:01:46.677Z
Answers.Text: I won't :) I'm just gonna take things a bit more lightly from now on. I will take an introductory datascience course in my master's, yes, but it's mostly gonna be AI otherwise. I'll see how I like it. Thank you, and good luck to you too!
Answers.UserDisplayName: postnubilaphoebus
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2021-03-28T09:25:10.990Z
Answers.Text: While opening preparation is great, if you can't calculate forced lines on the board at 2400 level, you won't reach 2400 level. Studying theory comes after that
Answers.UserDisplayName: David
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-06-30T19:59:58.180Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2020-06-30T19:59:58.180Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: David Miedema
Body: <p>I have been doing tactics training quite regularly since the beginning of the year. However, I haven't really been playing a lot (for obvious reasons). On average, I would say that I spent 10 hours per month on tactics since January (except for June, as I was really busy with other things). I also did some additional training in other areas of the game, but that was limited to mainly 2 months. Now, despite my efforts, I don't think I have improved. Chesstempo estimates my rating between 2150 and 2250 Fide (for context: my current rating is about 2100), but I don't see that in my Blitz games (I have been rated between 2200 and 2300 on lichess since January with almost no change. If anything, I got slightly worse). I find that pretty discouraging, and I'm wondering if all that training has just been a waste of time because I didn't play OTB games. There a lot of other things I could do with my time and I'm honestly thinking of dropping chess completely if all my efforts are in vain. Any help is appreciated.</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2020-06-29T15:09:34.913Z
Comments.Text: 2200 is not bad. Perhaps you cannot do any better, but  that would be no disgrace. How high do you think you can go?
Comments.UserDisplayName: Philip Roe
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2020-06-29T15:22:20.583Z
Comments.Text: My original aim was to get to 2300 Fide. If improving beyond my current rating requires more work than I'm currently putting in, I'm gonna focus on other things and will stop training chess.
Comments.UserDisplayName: postnubilaphoebus
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2020-06-29T15:32:48.147Z
Comments.Text: So then my question is, why are you playing chess at all? It seems to me that the fairly small difference between two ratings, 2200 and 2300, both very respectable, should not make much difference to your self-esteem, or to your enjoyment of the game. If it actually does, then ten hours per month is not very much. However, people do often make progress in spurts, when some aspect of the game suddenly makes sense.
  You might ask, how long am I prepared to wait for my next spurt?
Comments.UserDisplayName: Philip Roe
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2020-06-29T15:44:01.153Z
Comments.Text: I think you have misread my post a little. My actual rating is 2100. Chesstempo estimates my rating higher than that (2150 - 2250 Fide, depending on my form), but I don't see any difference in my play since this estimation has changed. 
  
  Why do I play chess? Because I enjoy the depth of ideas you can produce. Still, I find that ideas at my level are often guided by wrong assumptions or are pretty shallow, and I'd like to change that.
Comments.UserDisplayName: postnubilaphoebus
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2020-06-29T15:45:44.237Z
Comments.Text: To be honest, I have already answered my own question. I am not prepared to wait, I have invested enough time. I have too many other interests which can give me a much more enjoyable learning experience. Ones where I can say that I actually achieved something.
Comments.UserDisplayName: postnubilaphoebus
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2020-06-29T15:49:10.480Z
Comments.Text: Fair enough and good luck.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Philip Roe
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2020-07-01T07:39:39.260Z
Comments.Text: One thing to note is that while tactics training using tools such as chesstempo is not a bad thing, it will probably not help you get to 'the next level', so to speak. Rather, it's a good way to keep your tactical skills sharp and to measure whether you've improved them.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Scounged
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2020-07-02T13:09:03.110Z
Comments.Text: @Scounged
  Can you elaborate on that? My logic was that many grandmasters claim chess is 99% tactics. Therefore, I should improve my tactics. How is that thinking inaccurate?
Comments.UserDisplayName: postnubilaphoebus
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2020-07-02T16:38:12.767Z
Comments.Text: @postnubilaphoebus Basically these tools are designed to feed you random puzzles from a pretty large database based on real games (if I correctly understand what you've been using for your training). This way you're not very likely to see any motif/pattern you haven't seen before, and neither are you given any clear feedback on potential faults in your tactical reasoning. So while your thinking is not bad per se, the tool you're using might not be suitable for your goals.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Scounged
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2020-07-02T18:32:16.663Z
Comments.Text: So do you recommend that I do all the tactical motifs I have a bad performance with? Or all the puzzles I never got right? Chesstempo offers both of these options.
Comments.UserDisplayName: postnubilaphoebus
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2020-07-03T04:12:14.043Z
Comments.Text: Going over the puzzles that you failed in the past can definitely be helpful. Try to figure out what in particular made the puzzle difficult. Was it a subtle detail that you  missed somewhere along the line, or did you just totally miss the main idea of the solution? You could also train your tactics by solving endgame studies, since these tend to require a greater deal of imagination and attention to detail than your average puzzle taken from a game. The studies also tend to leave a greater impresson than a normal tactics puzzle, meaning that it's easier to reatin the lessons that they teach.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Scounged
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2020-07-03T08:05:28.910Z
Comments.Text: Another user has already pointed me towards studying endgames, so I'm gonna take a look at that for sure. I remember doing some studies back in the day and some of them were indeed really deep. Also, I think I will just make a collection of all the puzzles I ever got wrong and go through that.
Comments.UserDisplayName: postnubilaphoebus
Tags: <learning><training>
Title: Is tactics training just a waste of time when you cannot play long games?
ThreadText: # Is tactics training just a waste of time when you cannot play long games?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2020-06-29)
  
  I have been doing tactics training quite regularly since the beginning of the year. However, I haven't really been playing a lot (for obvious reasons). On average, I would say that I spent 10 hours per month on tactics since January (except for June, as I was really busy with other things). I also did some additional training in other areas of the game, but that was limited to mainly 2 months. Now, despite my efforts, I don't think I have improved. Chesstempo estimates my rating between 2150 and 2250 Fide (for context: my current rating is about 2100), but I don't see that in my Blitz games (I have been rated between 2200 and 2300 on lichess since January with almost no change. If anything, I got slightly worse). I find that pretty discouraging, and I'm wondering if all that training has just been a waste of time because I didn't play OTB games. There a lot of other things I could do with my time and I'm honestly thinking of dropping chess completely if all my efforts are in vain. Any help is appreciated.
  
  **Tags:** learning, training
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: 2200 is not bad. Perhaps you cannot do any better, but  that would be no disgrace. How high do you think you can go?  
  > **username_0**: My original aim was to get to 2300 Fide. If improving beyond my current rating requires more work than I'm currently putting in, I'm gonna focus on other things and will stop training chess.  
  > **username_1**: So then my question is, why are you playing chess at all? It seems to me that the fairly small difference between two ratings, 2200 and 2300, both very respectable, should not make much difference to your self-esteem, or to your enjoyment of the game. If it actually does, then ten hours per month is not very much. However, people do often make progress in spurts, when some aspect of the game suddenly makes sense. You might ask, how long am I prepared to wait for my next spurt?  
  > **username_0**: I think you have misread my post a little. My actual rating is 2100. Chesstempo estimates my rating higher than that (2150 - 2250 Fide, depending on my form), but I don't see any difference in my play since this estimation has changed.   Why do I play chess? Because I enjoy the depth of ideas you can produce. Still, I find that ideas at my level are often guided by wrong assumptions or are pretty shallow, and I'd like to change that.  
  > **username_0**: To be honest, I have already answered my own question. I am not prepared to wait, I have invested enough time. I have too many other interests which can give me a much more enjoyable learning experience. Ones where I can say that I actually achieved something.  
  > **username_1**: Fair enough and good luck.  
  > **username_2**: One thing to note is that while tactics training using tools such as chesstempo is not a bad thing, it will probably not help you get to 'the next level', so to speak. Rather, it's a good way to keep your tactical skills sharp and to measure whether you've improved them.  
  > **username_0**: @username_2 Can you elaborate on that? My logic was that many grandmasters claim chess is 99% tactics. Therefore, I should improve my tactics. How is that thinking inaccurate?  
  > **username_2**: @username_0 Basically these tools are designed to feed you random puzzles from a pretty large database based on real games (if I correctly understand what you've been using for your training). This way you're not very likely to see any motif/pattern you haven't seen before, and neither are you given any clear feedback on potential faults in your tactical reasoning. So while your thinking is not bad per se, the tool you're using might not be suitable for your goals.  
  > **username_0**: So do you recommend that I do all the tactical motifs I have a bad performance with? Or all the puzzles I never got right? Chesstempo offers both of these options.  
  > **username_2**: Going over the puzzles that you failed in the past can definitely be helpful. Try to figure out what in particular made the puzzle difficult. Was it a subtle detail that you  missed somewhere along the line, or did you just totally miss the main idea of the solution? You could also train your tactics by solving endgame studies, since these tend to require a greater deal of imagination and attention to detail than your average puzzle taken from a game. The studies also tend to leave a greater impresson than a normal tactics puzzle, meaning that it's easier to reatin the lessons that they teach.  
  > **username_0**: Another user has already pointed me towards studying endgames, so I'm gonna take a look at that for sure. I remember doing some studies back in the day and some of them were indeed really deep. Also, I think I will just make a collection of all the puzzles I ever got wrong and go through that.  
  
  ---
  
  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_3 on 2020-06-30. Score: 5 | Accepted answer
  
  Thank you for sharing your very discouraging story. I've been an IM for years and recently I've tried to become a grandmaster, did a lot of tactics but: I failed, and now with corona and 0 OTB games it feels a bit silly anyway. So I started to learn code, which is fun haha and very off topic here.
  
  The biggest difference you can make to get from 2200 to 2400 is understanding of pawn structures and having a coherent repertoire. Especially facing 1.Nf3 and 1.c4 becomes more important. But apart from a broad coherent repertoire I would say start learning openings 20 moves deep, and in case you have some forced line, start memorizing 30 moves, take research seriously, try to get some great books to guide you. And then in the main lines, try improving on the book.
  
  Another great help is to take Dvoretsky's endgame manual and go through it a lot. That book is pure gold. Especially online a lot of games end in some kind of endgame. And making rabbits appear out of hats is great.
  
  The reason for focusing so much on openings is because that's probably your bottleneck right now. You don't have the strategic insight to make your tactics work. e.g. different players need different things. Try to identify where you're weakest.
  
  One trick to do that is to study the topics you most dislike in chess. For me that was opposite coloured bishops, and that has helped me a lot getting better at positional play.
  
  You can still do the tactics, but I am 100% sure you would regain your motivation when you would work on something you need more!
  
  Last but not least: chess progress is a bitch! The rating always comes too late, when you lost motivation and think about quitting.
  
  Cheers!
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_0**: Thank you for your comment, I really apprecciate an understanding response. I will focus on endgames and openings instead, then. However, I also made a decision that I'm going to take chess a bit more lightly in the future. As you said, there are other things than chess, and it so happens that I also started coding about a year ago for my degree in artificial intelligence. Originally, I had planned on doing chess during the summer vacation, but I will instead focus on developing my Python skills and take online maths courses.  
  > **username_0**: Speaking more broadly, I think it is important to discuss failure and the relation between effort and outcome in the learning and improvement culture. This can help prevent people from getting discouraged but also encourage them to scrutinise their ambitions. One thing I did not realise until recently is that it is not a sign of weakness to adbandon a goal, but a sign of insight and strength. I can still play chess and train it when I feel like it, but I cannot deny that other goals and interests are now part of my life as well.  
  > **username_3**: Well, don't forget chess! It can be really rewarding if you actually do manage to go up. On the other hand yes, what we're doing is fun. I guess you're into data science as well :) Good luck on your endeavors!  
  > **username_0**: I won't :) I'm just gonna take things a bit more lightly from now on. I will take an introductory datascience course in my master's, yes, but it's mostly gonna be AI otherwise. I'll see how I like it. Thank you, and good luck to you too!  
  > **username_4**: While opening preparation is great, if you can't calculate forced lines on the board at 2400 level, you won't reach 2400 level. Studying theory comes after that  
  
  ---
  
  