How to Stop Blundering and Start Improving Your Chess Game: Advice from a GM

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[@rathelmmc3194]

Ben has said similar advice in the past and I love it every time because it's applicable for getting good at anything.

[@guaranagaucho3071]

100%, it’s a tough pill to swallow but very necessary

[@CBFW_KO]

In 80% of the games I lose, I have an at least +4.0 advantage or higher in every game. It is so enraging

[@Ytremz]

"I just play bad. You guys play bad _and make blunders._ So you guys are *suspicious."*

[@Astroqualia]

This made me chuckle

[@Botoxcorvette]

I finally gained rating from 1200-1400 in 3min. Only took years and thousands of games.

[@Socrates...]

I wish someone would sponsor an hour long lesson, where Ben talks at length on general advice

[@trout3685]

Doesn't he get money from youtube? Why would he need to ask viewers to pay?

[@chauncyquest2779]

He has so many videos up from lectures about things like that, most around 45 mins to an hour

[@Gush27]

@@trout3685these videos make barely anything

[@pascaldesjardins9835]

​@trout3685 1st small creators are not welp paid. Around 1500 to 2000$ per good video that are viewed 100k to 200k views. I checked, and he maybe got 15-20 videos like that over maybe 4-5 years. 2nd, chess players don't make a lot. Chess is fun but he sadly closed the chess centre because he was not making money with it. If Ben makes 20k$ a year with youtube, it's a good year. You get more money working at McDonald's flipping burgers but Ben studied all his life for this. So pay the fucking 40-50$ to get a lecture and be grateful that a guy with that much knowledge work for almost free because he loves people and chess.

[@kylezo]

@@trout3685 i'm assuming it was a joke since 90% of his videos are him talking at length on general advice

[@donovan665]

Gotta say the truth hurts thanks Ben.

[@ricardorochadias]

@GMBenjaminFinegold You say things that are hard to listen. Things like "Coaches are irrelevant", "Reading books does not help", "Solving hard tactical problems won't do much",... And I got what you're saying . It kind makes us sad and disappointed. But, I know you're right. It is something I got admit and keep going forward. Studying and not playing lots of Chess will not make someone improve at chess. The thing is "Play lots of chess and analyze your games with a coach or engine..." and "Learn with your own games". Thank you, Ben.

[@pedroneto5]

Not only a chess lesson, a lesson for life. Go Ben, and please keep the amazing content!

[@jefftaylor1186]

“Just be better” Yes.

[@1pwNz0mb13Z]

I found books pretty useful along side playing games. I wouldn't have learned about imbalances such as pawn structure and piece placement to apply in my games otherwise.

[@Samuel96889]

I like his way of thinking i dont feel overwhelmed with information and it actually helps

[@irvinquintanilla1956]

I think puzzles are important in chess, because it gives the player an insight of what chess is about. I feel like puzzles do not help players having a better rating on blitz, but who said chess is about 5-min or 3-min, seems like puzzles are much related into classical chess that is playing 30-min or even an 1-hour for good chess calculation is the key.

[@pushupkid4203]

I think that if you get better at chess in general it will improve your blitz skill, and I think puzzles help with that

[@Jumaz00]

I wish someone would sponsor an hour long where Ben talks at length.

[@golson1016]

So the key to improvement is R&R: Repetition and Recognition

[@andsviat]

This is actually really good advice.

[@andrewferguson6901]

Sick mixup on the thumbnails, keeping the meta fresh

[@imeaniguess.6963]

Lmao these simple answers is a large part of what got me to 1100. “Stop blundering, and just wait for them to blunder”, they always blunder 😂. When I lose it’s because I blunder. 🤯 Now when I’m not blundering I’m mainly losing because of mistakes and misses though. Lmao this is a reupload of the video.

[@lollycopter]

There's a recent @csqpod short titled "The Most Difficult Thing In Chess" where Fabi talks about being able to just wait and wait as the hardest thing. And I find at the club level, it so very often is the player who blinks first being the one to blunder first. Rating difference is almost completely irrelevant on a game by game basis.

[@imeaniguess.6963]

@@lollycopter I couldn’t find it. My black opening is the only thing stopping me from ranking up now. My goal before I take a break is 1200 and everytime I’m right at 1180 I fall back down lol. 😵‍💫

[@hfontanez98]

In summary, to stop blundering, you need to stop playing. There's no hope for you.

[@proximite683]

Ineffective

[@answeris4217]

Analysing my games turned me from a 500 player to a 800 player. I stopped and dropped to 600

[@Pfefferhaubitze]

Good is to go somewhere and let you help with analyzing and also to play some over the board games. An older 1700 or better a 2000 or an even better player could tell you a lot. They see yor mistakes and can tell you exactly, how to avoid some things. Look for a chess club or even better a chess pub (if you are old enough 🙂) next to you. Of course online chess you should keep playing.

[@danielroberger2374]

Its very important to lusten to miss tactics and miss strategy.

[@tim2.7182]

Best life advice ever. Thanks Ben.

[@ewanjamie1171]

Hi Ben. Do you coach the very basics to Adult and Children who are students of yours. Or do you have to know a bit about chess before they go to you for lessons.

[@descendency]

I don’t think he coaches anymore.

[@mcronrn]

5 minutes, 50secs of Ben! Ben is lasting longer! Yay Ben! 😂

[@Stopitgetsomehelp3012]

Sus

[@davidbatchelder85]

you are a breath of fresh air, and you are full of common sense

[@br9377]

This is advice I wish I had last year. Everyone says to do tactics so I hopped on lichess and got to 2100 puzzle rating but could barely crack 1000 in games. Should have spent a lot more time playing and analysing and doing simpler puzzles.

[@lollycopter]

You get free puzzles tailored to your game after every game if you click "Request Computer Analysis" followed by "Learn From Your Mistakes".

[@Crazywaffle5150]

It's not always the key. I have followed this advice and I only get worse.

[@tomast1323]

This content is gold. Period.

[@GiovanniAssis-nv1uq]

Thanks alot sir

[@justsomeboyprobablydressed9579]

Most important chess video on the internets.

[@Dmitriy_D]

He's harsh 😆. By the way i disagree on the bots issue, they can be used in many ways to practice or for warmup. Also learning theory does open new horizons at how you look at the game.

[@eeshvardasikcm]

Thanks!

[@chrisdavidson8525]

This is wonderful, straight up advice! Game analysis is the point. I'm still garbage though haha

[@jameeliano2011]

so does only playing 2 openings help, trying to master these 2 openings and similar middle game ideas?

[@pastorofmuppets4552]

You need at least 3: one for white, one for black in response to 1. e4, one for black in response to 1. d4.

[@paulpowelljr1092]

Brilliant!

[@Anfield_the_place_to_be]

How do i get lessons from you Ben?

[@GMBenjaminFinegold]

Contact [e-mail]

[@7embersVeryOwn]

Ben: I coach some people… Also Ben: Coaching once a week is meaningless. *scratches his head*

[@spectralanalysis]

I remember Ben saying that if you don't spend a lot of time playing chess outside of weekly, 1 hour chess lessons, then the chess lessons are meaningless, not that coaching once a week is meaningless

[@nolsterbuckr4833]

“You shouldn’t play against bots because they see ten moves ahead and you don’t. Plus they see two moves ahead and you dont. They even see one move ahead and you don’t.” ~basedben

[@sam2725]

I think this advice only applies to blitz chess, ben makes a big mistake in saying that you shouldn't do hard puzzles that take you 15-20mins to solve. Thats exactly how you improve at classical chess, training to vizualise and accurately calculate complex 4-5 moves deep lines. Its much more helpful then doing 20 mate in 2's in the same amount of time Its not uncommon to do exactly that when playing 3h long tournament games, often I take 20 or 30min turns trying to figure out some sacrifice

[@RealityCheck1]

Stop hanging your pieces. That's it.

[@patrykapiezo1650]

I can't play bots. They're too strong. They always know whose turn it is.

[@ginomoujik8488]

To play lots of blitz games and not study is a sure recipe never to get better..

[@GregTurismo]

Well this is awkward as someone who just got a job at teaching chess and who isn’t 2500.

[@Crazywaffle5150]

Man, I'm trash. I have played over 1000 games and can't improve past being a 500 rated player. Often times I get knocked back down to 300 after losing multiple games in a row.

[@BraveDreamerMusic]

I would recommend that you watch Habits Series from the chessbrahs.

[@Lyan-bp2kz]

tyler1 just put 1500 rating in 4 months playing like a beast, playing with a bad opening and without much theoretical knowledge. now he has hit a plateau, so maybe he needs to stop and study a little, but yes, practice is indeed the main part, and without practice theory is useless

[@alexdavids5038]

Somehow i doubt you believe that!

[@d3eztrickz]

THIS IS SO TRUE!!!!!

[@LifeandStuff001]

Repetition and pattern-recognition. You convinced me.

[@yotoober1]

how to stop blunding... EASY PEASY JUST DON'T BLUND!! 🤣

[@davejoseph5615]

I like playing bots for the convenience. I can walk away from the game and come back later. How could they make them more similar to human play?

[@moonlifeSW]

I started this video, but didn't listen to the whole thing because I was trying to win my game.

[@nb-eq6rw]

I'm on a 42 game losing streak

[@jamesbell1613]

Aren't bots good though early on? I mean I suck now. 😂

[@GymChess]

Either you ”have it” or you don’t. If the latter you’re wasting your time trying to improve in something that’s never going to get you anywhere let alone allow you to enjoy it as much as you’d like to. It’s like going to the gym lifting the same weights for 20 years without gains.

[@pschneider1968]

The truth hurts...

[@xwngdrvr]

Go other things! Oops.

[@descendency]

Wait… I’ve watched Ben Finegold for years… he has a daughter????

[@peristiloperis7789]

The truth hurts!

[@dmitripisartchik1296]

Do more better.

[@sniffableandirresistble]

Problem for many lower rated players is that higher rated CHESS NERDS start fake accounts so they can beat on lower rated players for kicks. Plus the regular online cheating is ridiculous

[@alphadoughnut2651]

“I’m not bad, everyone is just sandbagging!” Every chess nooby ever

[@sniffableandirresistble]

@alphadoughnut2651 "We have detected that one or more of your recent opponents has violated our Fair Play Policy...." all day everyday in my inbox which means cheating and sandbagging are huge problems even for CHESS NERDS like you 🤓

[@onnoquinten2944]

serious bullcrap cope. The bigger problem is that they cry and stop playing for weeks if they lose 2 in a row. Get used to losing, play more.

[@sniffableandirresistble]

@onnoquinten2944 cheating online isn't a problem? ... lol 😂 next time ypu lose to a 1600 who plays like Bobby fucking Fischer just know that's why

[@thebcwonder4850]

Smurfing is definitely discouraging, but I have yet to play someone in a random game that played far above their rating

[@Niam_Human]

Master Ben. I''m gonna dislike this vid. too many good secrets from the MASTER. I can't have people see this.