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Welcome to this first episode of Chess Chats, where we discuss all things about chess!

This first episode is about the losing streak, something that feels very fresh for me at the moment – I’ve just dropped from the mid-1400s to the 1300s. Recently, one of my subscribers asked me the question, “Any tips on how to get past 1200? I’m a losing streak right now and I need to know how to get better.”

This is a great question, and I have three thoughts.

Firstly, it can be helpful to have a bit of reframing. I’ve gone through periods where I’ve lost 100 ELO points over a few days, which then took weeks to build back up. This is probably normal, and most people experience this. Fundamentally, your ELO score statistically wobbles around your “true strength”. So when you gain ELO points rapidly, most likely what’s happens is that your ELO has overshot your actual growth. This can occur if you have a really good run – for instance, being unusually cognitively sharp for a number of games and good luck. Your performance at your “best” isn’t your performance at your “average”, and in the longer term, the ELO will reflect your average performance.

At the same time, when you lose ELO points rapidly, this isn’t an indication that you’re “getting worse”. Part of it may simply be a c orrection in the score, regression to the mean, or you may have just had a bad run – for instance, playing games when you are tired, or just bad luck (e.g., being matched against opponents who just so happen to have a knowledge advantage against you for specific lines).

Secondly, there isn’t anything special about 1200 ELO vs 1100 vs 1300, etc. It’s likely to be similar to what you’ve done before to improve. The most important thing is to critically analyse your games after you play – both when you win and when you lose. Understand why certain moves were good or bad, especially if you were surprised by the computer analysis.Analysis and reflective learning is probably more important than the volume of games, in terms of improvement.

My experience as I entered the lower intermediate level is that if you’re relying on any beginner tricks (e.g., Wayward Queen attack, Fried Liver attack, Napoleon attack) in the opening, these no longer work. Simply, they are well known unsound openings that most people learn how to refute.

This is also the level where people have a reasonable grasp of opening principles, and may start to invest some time learning specific openings. Part of the reflective approach is learning how to play against the common responses that you observe. For instance, if you have the White pieces and lead with 1. e4, you’d need to have an approach against the Italian, Ruy Lopez, Scotch, Caro-Kann, Sicilian, French, Scandinavian, etc.

Thirdly, it’s not all about the openings. Developing a sense of tactics and strategy in the middle game, and especially the endgame is very important. Balance. There’s no point getting ahead in the opening, but then being routinely outplayed afterwards. This requires analysis and reflection. The engine is usually much better at seeing tactical lines, and recognising some of the patterns can improve your play. Strategy takes longer to develop, and reading chess books or watching chess experts talk about a particular opening type can be helpful in gaining strategic ideas and themes. For instance, in the longer term, what is an opening or position trying to accomplish, and where are the medium term and longer term opportunities?

As for endgames, there probably is something to be gained with doing puzzles and some specific study on rook and pawn endgames, or pawn endgames.

Lastly, remember, this is supposed to be fun! Be kind to yourself and remember that the ELO is just a number.