Why do chess amateurs, despite spending hours on training, fail to improve in chess?
Well, there are many factors - my previous articles in this series, have tackled some of them. You should check them out. HOWEVER, what I'm about to tell you right now is just as destructive in your progress...preventing you from being the better chess player that you wanted to be.
Here it is...
Playing TOO Quickly
So you love playing blitz?
Nothing wrong with that. Certainly, blitz has its place. When you are training your tactical vision, trying to test your understanding of a certain chess opening line, etc. - playing chess blitz can help you in these areas. HOWEVER, playing TOO much blitz is a totally different story.
When you are accustomed to spending only 1-5 seconds every move in blitz, you will carry this habit even if you are playing chess games that have faster time controls. The result? You don't get to PROPERLY and EFFICIENTLY think about your move.
Unless you are a Grandmaster like Shirov, Topalov, etc. who can recognize tactical ideas and strategic elements in a position in a moment's notice, and has memorized and understood his openings that he can play them with his eyes closed, you WILL make mistakes...LOTS of them, when you don't think about your move.
Heck! Even the Grandmaster I have mentioned above use as much time as possible to make sure they find the RIGHT move. What makes you think you can get away with only spending 1-5 seconds per move?
Keep this bad habit and you won't improve in chess. That's for sure.
The Antidote
So how do you start getting rid of this bad chess habit?
Simple. There are 2 ways to go about -
(1) Stop playing blitz...at least for now. As I have said, blitz has its place in chess training...BUT not here. Not when you are in your improving phase when you need to develop good chess thinking habits, which you cannot practice by playing too quickly.
(2) Have a CONCRETE chess thought process. Another reason why amateur players play too fast and don't improve in chess is because...well, they don't know how to think during a game! When you are clueless of what's going on the board, you will be tempted to play the first move that comes into your mind (and hope for the best).
There are a lot of EXCELLENT resources that can help you develop a good chess thought process...which will ultimately lead to significant chess improvement.
My favorite, though, is the Grandmaster's Secrets created by GM Igor Smirnov. Containing video lessons and the transcripts of these lessons, this chess course by Igor Smirnov shows you how to properly think in chess whether you have a pretty complicated and tactical position or one that requires slow build up and acquiring small advantages.
Moreover, GM Igor Smirnov's chess course contains juicy tips on how to train, what he (GM Smirnov) does to prepare for tournaments and how you can apply it, and (this is my favorite) a practical part. The latter is a collection of positions and annotated chess games that you should use to train what you have learned in the Grandmaster's Secrets chess video course.
If you want to improve in chess, this is a resource I HIGHLY recommend.
Check Out GM Igor Smirnov's Chess Course: Grandmaster's Secrets Right HERE
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