How Can I Get Some Points on Chess.com?
Hello, everybody. As you know, I started exploring how to get more points on chess.com. Great news: I achieved my goal — I got 1600 points.
I want to share my conclusions with you.
Stay concentrated
It’s an essential part of the chess game. You lose your concentration => you lose control of the situation on board => you make weak moves => you lose a game.
When you play, you hold a picture of potential moves in your mind. Probably, you do that unconsciously. And when you lose concentration, you break a picture. Returning back to it is a difficult action. You need to spend extra time and there is a chance to forget about some possible moves.
I found two main ways to stay concentrated:
- Remove all distractions. I stopped playing during my workday. I prefer to do that in the morning when I have a fresh mind. And I started to warn my girlfriend about my games. Yes, I lost sometimes because I replied to her questions.
- Be in the right mood. You have to be calm and want to win a game. If you worry about your work, you fight with a girlfriend or feel tired, it would be better not to play today. Do some exercises or play with the computer. Don’t spend your rating points for nothing.
Use every possibility
When I play chess I want to win easily with a big advantage. Sometimes I do that but most of the time that’s impossible. And I surrender a lot. But I forget about other options to win:
- Time. I play rapid and there is 10 minutes for every player for one game. That’s not so much. Especially, when you have an uncommon, hard situation on board. And yes, I won some games because of time. Use it.
- Your opponent is a human and can make mistakes.
Don’t tilt
When you have a very emotional reaction and make not optimal decisions, it’s called tilt. This term comes from poker. You can find more details on Wikipedia.
You lost a game. You felt angry. It was unfair. You could do better. You started a new game. Lost it. You were overwhelmed with emotions. Next game. Next lost. And the next one. And the next after next…
Stop it. I was there. It’s an ineffective way to get points. It’s an effective way to lose points. Some people lose huge amounts of money in casinos because of tilt.
Always check your emotional state before starting a game. It will save your nerves and points.
I have not so many conclusions because my goal wasn’t high enough. I understood that my previous highest rating was 1584 points…
What’s next?
I’m going to reach a 1700-points rating and share my observations and new ideas with you.
Let’s play better together.
P.S. I have an article about my attitude to chess. Perhaps, it would be interesting for you.
