Kostya's Top Tips for Improvement | Tactics, Openings, Psychology & more

IM Kostya Kavutskiy answers questions and shares his best advice for chess improvement (all levels).
0:00 How do you improve your calculation?
2:30 What openings should you play?
5:40 What kind of player do you want to be?
7:56 Which time-controls are best for improvement?
9:05 What level opponents should you play?
11:59 How do you stay objective when evaluating positions?
13:31 Should you keep notes during the game?
15:20 What do beginners overlook when it comes to improvement?
18:53 The importance of playing and losing
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[@JamieLanncasterly]

first!

[@IMKostyaKavutskiy]

Damn you beat me haha

[@alpulley4894]

I like that, " don't think that you have to do it, think you get to do it!"

[@Blackbelt_97]

I’m gonna say this about the notes question.. obviously in otb you can’t keep notes but online there’s no rule against it. Right above my computer i made a list of things to focus on in the game or when I run into a road block or just the lack of ideas. And when I did that I went from around 1400 to around 1650-1700 very quickly and I’ll say that now even though I don’t need the notes anymore it’s embedded in my brain and actually helps a ton. Just my opinion. Ideas like develop, control the center. Look for undefended pieces or pawns on both sides, look to improve pieces look for weak squares, checks captures and attacks.. very basic stuff but stuff you have to remind yourself of every game until it becomes second nature. There’s a certain point in every game where you can find the answer in one of those principals even if it’s not the correct answer it’ll get you moving in the right direction.

[@joeshmo546]

This underrated channel has so many underrated videos

[@ChessDojo]

Thanks Joseph 😊

[@billc8761]

I agree 100%. I like the tone of their channel. Low key. Not a lot of hype. A lot of good advice and insights.

[@andygoh8681]

I many underrated comments

[@AMultipolarWorldIsEmerging]

I like that framing. It is a privilege and a joy to actually work and improve. To see yourself improving and your rating getting higher is highly satisfying. Taking on more advanced opponents.. it’s like climbing a mountain. If you don’t put in the work you stay where you are

[@MrNetsecure]

IM Kostya is very articulate and easy to listen to and understand for a beginner like me. Love his content and always look forward to it!

[@ChessWithMouselip]

A smorgasbord of good tips. Thanks, Kostya. "Knowing is not doing." One of my favorites.

[@matzleeach]

This channel is the most helpful than any others. Please keep up the awesome work. Lawrence Q Reed from Chicago

[@jenm1]

What a compassionate video. Thank you

[@andrewbernal9700]

‘You’ll lose a a few games whenever you try a new opening’ True for everything except for the Marshall Attack, that attack plays itself ;)

[@ChessDojo]

Haha good point

[@DeathNoteOps]

Marshall played the attack for the first time against Capablanca and lost lol

[@andrewbernal9700]

@@DeathNoteOps yeah but marshall didn't know the c6, Bd6, Qh4 = gg easy plan

[@masibayjes8207]

Wow! This is 1 year ago I wish I watch this last year

[@Riccardo-kw5dc]

Great pieces of advice, especially the most obvious ones like "just think", "just work hard", from someone that constantly suggests the best ways to improve they just sound.... Stronger

[@Countdown420]

What kind of player do you want to be? I want to play like the computer😎

[@VibratorDefibrilator]

If we try for a moment to compare chess and music, the blitz is like jazz - in its core there is mostly all improvisation, but based on the fundamental knowledge of music theory. Similarly, the blitz time control tests the intuition of the player, the ability to find natural moves... firstly, to calculate quickly and to manage the remaining time efficiently - all these little things that need profound knowledge of every aspect of the game. Therefore, the beginners should restrain themselves from playing blitz... too much. Rapid is preferable (simply because they have not any experience in calculating, inner vision, even patience), with aim on standard (classic) chess (minimum 1 hour per player). Otherwise blitz in beginners' execution is like... chess gibberish.

[@whatthehirsch7385]

That is why Blitz is for pros not for gamblers

[@jotape86]

Blitz is jazz and standard is bossa nova

[@SirenaAsada]

Kostya is one of my favorite chess educators and he's cute too.

[@PecoMid]

I really enjoy your videos. I like that theres a good combination of these types of vids and the ones that are like book reviews etc. you can listen to without necessarily watching and these types of videos. Really good content.

[@ass123qdwqdw]

yesah

[@beskeptic]

Ohhh thank you so much Kostya!

[@southernrun9048]

Great video as always. Really appreciate the content you produce

[@umuteyasar]

thanks for the video, it was really educational for me

[@rotatingmind]

The only problem for beginners that matter are: How do I blunder less? - how do I stop hanging pieces? - how do I stop missing pins? - how do I stop missing forks? - how do I stop missing discovered attacks? I think it's only marginally a matter of doing a lot of tactics puzzles. Doing puzzles two hours per day for eight weeks didn't improve my rating. Yes, I can occasionally find a mate in 5, but I still keep hanging pieces, missing pins, forks and discovered attacks.

[@IMKostyaKavutskiy]

Second

[@interestinstoff]

😂😂😂😂😂

[@andristihomirovs]

Your explanations is so good

[@scotthader705]

I'm glad that, when studying tactics, you said to grab any BOOK. I think a lot of people do easy chesstempo problems, which is a waste of time if you ask me.

[@narenkrishnan2394]

Would you mind if I ask why you think online trainers are a waste of time?

[@jasoncross2032]

I guess the thousands of players, coaches, and chess masters who use chesstempo are doing it wrong then.....

[@Thanos-hp1mw]

​@@narenkrishnan2394next button

[@lastsonofkrypton3918]

Lots of good stuff here, thank you

[@ngomusoqwabe4684]

Thanks for this bro

[@daveb7583]

"Maybe I should pay attention to where I put my pieces" 20:47 yes we all eventually come to that conclusion 😆!

[@ninjaamara8053]

Underrated channel

[@JulioBarajas-ad-consequentiam]

Amazing recommendations

[@ThorBiddlesworth]

Such great advice as always from Kostya! I highly recommend the Dojo Twitch channel if you like his KZbin videos.

[@Opferschach]

7:51 💖

[@heleneschaunard5549]

7:57 About time controls, are correspondence/daily games good for improvement? You don't stick with one game from beginning to the end, and you're probably gonna be playing multiple of those simultaneously, does that distract from learning?

[@acarnux]

Good vid! :)

[@charliesilva1220]

Great video!

[@getrightw1tcha]

Nice vid :)

[@averagejoe5016]

wait you are not allowed to write notes down during OTB games? I have done that before

[@ChessDojo]

Yeah technically it's not allowed because it can be helpful to keep track of your thinking/variations

[@clashgamer2447]

What is the best app or place to solve problems from?

[@ChessDojo]

Kostya is a big fan of ChessKing (especially the Tactics for Beginners and Chess Tactics Art/CT-ART courses) which are hand selected, organized, and very high quality. Beyond that, Lichess has very good tactics for free which can be around specific themes or openings, and Chessable has excellent tactics courses available. In the program, we recommend several Chessable tactics courses like Common Chess Patterns, Winning Chess Tactics, and many others. Jesse will always advocate for Polgar's Chess: 5334. While the Polgar book focuses on mates in 1, 2, 3, etc., it can get deceptively difficult and it helps a ton for visualization and calculation.

[@TwDjLsT]

YYYEEESSS @ 16:00 to 17:00 I can list 50-100 principles .. Open / mid / late game , attacking , positioning principles , etc . . . . YET I SUCK BALLZ. . WHY ME , DAMN YOU WORLD .. (k , I'm playing but I need GAIN)

[@bencash4967]

Did you improve?

[@acarnux]

118th

[@KingCrunchere4c6]

Nh5 and we dead!

[@williamparker3593]

You talk good. 😁

[@zklakay8509]

NOICEEE

[@vladpetre5674]

@21:00 I have never seen a 1600 blunder a piece in one move in a slow chess game. Hell, when I play not even 1200s blunder in one move. Ok, they put pieces on horrible squares or misplay endgames terribly, but not blunder in one move.

[@ChessDojo]

Haven't seen enough chess then! Very common

[@vladpetre5674]

@@ChessDojo Where I was trying to get at is I hope to get some blunders in my favour :)

[@honest_bishop5905]

It's more likely that both parties didn't spot the blunder

[@Thanos-hp1mw]

They don't hang pieces, they blunder a 2-3 move tactic very often. I'm 1600s myself and I blunder like that very often

[@bencash4967]

I've hit 2000 blitz and I still hung a piece from time to time

[@danielguel1897]

Third :)

[@hannahbrown2728]

Wow youtube auto deleted my comment because I used some emojis that could be misconstrued as an insult. I called myself bad with poop emojis....... I wrote four paragraphs too..... they should make the filter search for words that make it clear its self-refferential.... Multi-Billion dollar company and theyre held together by shoestrings and ducttape. I was editing the comment to say that what you said around 10:16 is something I have to readily admit or else Ill never improve. I mostly play bots and have a bad habit of quitting a game after a bad move, now I only do it when I mistake a move cause bots dont have move confirmation like dailies and sometimes I fatfinger it on mobile. But I will never quit a daily game, Id rather lose than forfeit. I may not be studying in the best way, but I try and consume educational chess content to at minimum an hour a day. Doing new lessons and redoing old ones, one shouldnt be so prideful to assume a single run through the course is enough. Doing puzzles and watching the explaination even if you got it right, or think you did(got the moves right but dont *get* it) I also wanted to say I appreciatd how you teach, much more approachable and helpful to me than videos that are 50% memes. Though Levy has taught me plenty too and I love his videos, hes just a bit too high energy for my taste sometimes lol. I actually found you from watching a puzzle explaination. I need to find better ways to study but Im making due with what I can for now. Ive managed to claw my way up to 1100ish, and hope it keeps on. (Maybe if I stopped playing games drunk so often....👀 But my puzzle rating doesnt drop below 1250 even when Im totally blitzed lol thats gotta mean something right?) And also I was saying how motivating chess can be. I know I said this line before but Slug is always bouncing around in my head. "Never met a pessimist that plays chess..." to me means if you embody the principals that improve your chess game you can greatly improve your life. Think before you act, commit and own your moves, and never be defeated by one loss because you learn the most from your failures. And embrace humility!!!(I wrote this before you demonstrated this clearly around 18:30. Im doing really similar stuff and Ive got to nip it in the bud. Ive been applying myself for going on 6 weeks here and I want to foster good habits. I just hope Im making the right choices) Thank you for a motiviating, informative, and quality video! Eager to work through more of your backlog! Edit: oof great point. Definitely need to make the most of diamond and anaylze each game asap.