Under 1600 Rating? Watch This! [Tips to Improve in Chess]

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In this video lesson, GM Igor Smirnov answers one of the most common questions asked by his students: how to break 1600 rating/ELO in chess?
Many chess players have been playing chess for months or even for years, and are stuck at some level without being able to breakthrough and progress further. They are stuck at a particular rating level because of one major reason. What is it? Watch the video and find out.
▬▬▬▬▬▬
► Chapters
00:00 How to reach 1600 rating in chess?
00:10 Reason why most chess players don't improve
00:54 2 types of blunders in chess
01:22 Type-1: Hangs a piece or overlooks threats/checkmate
01:57 Type-2: Tactical blunder
03:54 If you say "But such blunders don't happen in my games.."
05:52 How to stop making blunders in chess?
06:22 1) Think about your opponent's plan(s)
06:59 2) Ask "Is my move safe?" (anti-blunder check)
07:48 Consciously practice this new skill
09:00 Test your skills: how would you play?
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#IgorNation #ChessTips #ChessImprovement #ChessLesson #ChessLessons

[@GMIgorSmirnov]

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[@qupolo1918]

I'm proud to say that I blundered checkmate in one right in the first example without any hesitation.

[@oluwaseyialaya2672]

me too

[@aguslugiman9067]

Yeah...u are not alone 😂

[@zacharysherry2910]

Try it again with hesitation at +10

[@christopherheckman7957]

I figured on doing Qd2 and O-O-O, which might be a "long term" blunder ...

[@muzammilgaming2329]

I blundered 100 Times Like this 😂

[@TKZprod]

The worst is when you make a move, and then see the threat / blunder even before your opponent plays it 😭 Great vid as always!

[@albertdeckel9429]

Wow. I felt as if you were talking directly to me!! You described where I'm at, and what I do, perfectly. Thank you for the lesson!! I will start to practice it today.

[@ohyeahohyeah1071]

Legal moves in this case are pawn to g3, queen to f2, and king to d1, d2, or e2 1. Pawn to g3: black follows with knight to f3, forking the king and queen. Since white cannot capture the knight anymore, king has to move. Black happily grabs the queen. Even though white can take Black's queen as well, that doubles the pawns on the h file. As if that's not bad enough, Black's knight now eyes the c2 pawn, and will jump there at the right opportunity (will probably wait for a fork), attacking the rook. 2. Queen to f2: black has 2 options; to take on g2 and trade queens, or just move their queen back. The second case is the only situation where white still reserves the right to castle, but the former is way more likely and seems way more advantageous for black, since white's king is exposed. 3. King to d1: black follows with bishop to g4 check, adding 1 more attacker, and gaining another tempo. They may later castle queenside, and get their rook into play as well. Worse, if they somehow are able to get the d pawn out of the way (though I don't see a way just yet), then they have successfully pinned the queen to the king. 4. King to e2: again, bishop to g4 check is coming, but this time, white has no way to cover the king, so king has to go to d2. Once again, black can castle queenside. 5. King to d2: black can take the f pawn with the queen, and with check

[@dirkhoekstra397]

Pawn to gr you will lose your queen after H to F3

[@ohyeahohyeah1071]

@@dirkhoekstra397 read the full comment please

[@whatsgoodmyguy4391]

Best thing is just to move the king.

[@asmziauddinahmed1764]

Qf3 is the best option.

[@efulmer8675]

I personally would go with Qf2 because you defend your f pawn and challenge black's queen directly, and if you trade queens at that point, the fact that you lost castling rights doesn't mean so much because the queens have been traded off. Black will most likely respond with Ng4+ and the game continues.

[@Daniel-G-P]

This guy is great.

[@mikefoster6018]

Love your vids. It's not just your style - it's how your teaching is properly targeting what I'm interested in learning, not like a lot of other people's videos that are either drawn-out or dart all over the place. Thanks!

[@GMIgorSmirnov]

► Chapters 00:00 How to reach 1600 rating in chess? 00:10 Reason why most chess players don't improve 00:54 2 types of blunders in chess 01:22 Type-1: Hangs a piece or overlooks threats/checkmate 01:57 Type-2: Tactical blunder 03:54 If you say "But such blunders don't happen in my games.." 05:52 How to stop making blunders in chess? 06:22 1) Think about your opponent's plan(s) 06:59 2) Ask "Is my move safe?" (anti-blunder check) 07:48 Consciously practice this new skill 09:00 Test your skills: how would you play?

[@immortily1673]

big fan

[@ayaneruu8965]

Qf2 is the right move because if g3 then there's Nf3 fork

[@WolframLeiner]

Igor you are the best...most practical down to earth advice yet applicable once you train yourself to do it...I feel you are teaching somehow the big analogy between chess and life...both require thinking deeply to progress :)

[@mrlightbringer4623]

Thank you! Your videos are always helpful

[@RobertSmith-pw1cl]

Thanks, this is very helpful!

[@Hailmich10]

Great Video! As always, your instruction is practical, concise, and immediately applicable. Thanks!!

[@GMIgorSmirnov]

Glad it was helpful!

[@AyanMitra-re2rq]

Ur lessons are very helpful. Thanks

[@DIABLO_MMXXIV]

The best part of this tutorial was the example of the bad writing and that just struck my mind. That's the point.

[@vancebocas7626]

As one of the other commenters said, the second version is like you were talking directly to me. I've been playing chess for like 30 years, and if I slow down and think, maybe I'm 1200, but a lot of my blunders come from the second version. I don't see an attack, I'm not blundering a piece, but I am creating a weakness. The d3 push in the second example is definitely my "style" of blunder. I am going to try and put in the effort to pay attention to "is my move safe". Thanks for the tip.

[@kokohbagaitebing7565]

Absolutely, Mr. Igor Made this video lesson for me.

[@BirdDawg1]

Igor this is excellent, like you read my mind. Thank you for this!

[@ChristianSoschner]

Excellent explanation. Thanks for sharing

[@GMIgorSmirnov]

Glad it was helpful!

[@cicerotobias]

Thank you so much🎉🎉🎉

[@GMIgorSmirnov]

🎉

[@Swarthy.]

9:32 Pawn to g3 blunders a fork to the queen and king so a good move would be Qf2 to trade queens or Kd1 to move the king away I would prefer Kd1 because then the king has every minor piece left helping to defend it and there is pretty much no threats left and you're gonna win a knight on the next move unless Pawn to b5 forcing the queen to move. But im not going to write an entire game so.. yeah Tell me if i said anything wrong and maybe theres a threat i missed and have a good day

[@logixindie]

pawn g3, couldnt u take their queen after knight taking ur queen? Seems like a trade

[@gabrielstancu6402]

@@logixindie Then his knight takes on c2 and your king is forked with the rook, so g3 still seems to be a blunder (and it would be in the theme of the video, as that is the expected move, but it's actually a blunder). Going Kd1 seems the best, since you keep the pressure on the center and your king is safe

[@MetropolisChess01]

I joined your master class and I have watched your chess videos and gained 100 elo

[@skeletonboyninja2172]

Hi Igor can you maybe make a video about striking in center I really want to know what it does and for what it’s good for

[@thiagoserafini4215]

9:30 I would play Qf2 looking for a queen trade. It may be passive, i tought about 1. g3 but that blunders a pawn after 1... Nf3 2. Kf3 Nxd4 3. gxh4 Nxc2. You're barely better, but it's better to look for a queen trade with Qf2, because white is up in material and haves more activity

[@nickgutierrez83]

The last example: g3 looks natural, but Nf3+ ends the game by forking King and Queen. Ke2 or Kd2 block in a bishop. It looks like Kd1 is best, planning to block Bg4+ with Be2.

[@peterbago4574]

i think this is an important lesson, so now I rewatch it every week for a while:)

[@musaismayeel7694]

Thanks to you my elo went from 100 to 600

[@abysswatcher4907]

That's 6 times better. AFAIK Magnus has never gotten such a great improvement in his lifetime. Congrats!

[@Zamiroh]

Thank you for the video. I think I need to play my rapid a bit more. My rapid is around 1200, but my blitz is around 900. My blitz would be higher, but I lose about 30% of my matches to timeouts, and most of those I have a material advantage. The only frustrating thing about rapid is how many opponents will blunder and then will just afk and you sit there for 7 or 8 minutes straight waiting for the match to end. You can report them but doesn't do much. Sometimes they will even move about a couple minutes hoping you went afk waiting.

[@Bharat_the_earth_owner]

There is time limit in rapid play that

[@Zamiroh]

@vishwajeetsingh9423 it's just frustrating how many opponents will just leave and you wait for like seven minutes. I am up to 1100 now in blitz, but about 35% of my losses are to timeout

[@Nubdix]

If we go pawn G3 we lose our Queen when enemy goes knight f3 so the best move is Queen f2

[@user-ti4di1uh2d]

Answering the question at the end. I’d play Kd1. Qf2 is safer. You lose castling right but there’s no attack without queen and the knight is still hanging but the game would be comes a bit boring with position like that. If I play Kd1 then after Bg4+ it looks scary with 3 piece near the king that got stuck in the center but I don’t see the attack being successful. First you can block check with Be2 and black have to take it because the knight is hanging and if it moves you take g7 potentially forking the bishop and rook. After bishop take you take back with the knight to prevent check and Nxf4 if it retreat to g6. Black have no more check and the knight is hanging so it moves to d7 with the intention to go Qf6 saving the rook (or to g6 with the intention to trap the queen after she takes the rook but I’m not sure if that would work). You’ll then take g7 and be up a pawn and you might be winning.

[@unexplained5277]

Please make a detailed video on jobava London

[@kalyanmaybhattacharya5519]

Another excellent episode.Iif anyone follows your advice seriously for sometime, he or she will improve for sure.

[@michaelsherrard]

Qf2. I am not happy about the possible trades of Qs, but I have to block the check or move my king and other K moves allow Qxf4 and if I play g3, then 1...Nf3+ 2.K moves, NxQ and White's king can't castle and he has two isolated pawns on the the h-file.

[@anryutenha79]

king to d1 seems the way to avoid mosing for what i saw cause no chekcs after as the queen may try g4 but i can block the check with my knight to e2 not sure what is the best defense, can you tell cause i saw a variation where i can exchange the queen but giving up a pawn

[@TXKurt]

Thank you. On the last exercise, I looked at g3, but it gives the BN a nice hole at f3. I don't see anything better for white than Q-f2. I think black will have to trade queens and then retreat the knight.

[@mikekeenan8450]

Answer to puzzle: In response to ... Qh4 ch White must avoid playing 1. g3?? because of 1. ... Nf3 ch winning the queen. Instead, 1. Qf2 should give White a satisfactory game. The first example is especially insidious, because it's very similar to the Giraffe Attack in the Vienna (1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Bc5 3. Qg4), and in that variation 3. ... Nf6 is a very promising gambit that is considered by some (notably Al Horowitz) to favour Black after 4. Qxg7 Rg8 5. Qh6 Bxf2 ch (if 6. Kxf2?? then Black wins the queen with Ng4 ch), 6. Kd1 Rg6 7. Qh3 d5 etc. But trying to replicate this in the very similar Bishop's Opening leads to disaster.

[@Arthas30000]

I blundered that knight checkmate lol. As for the final position: obvious candidate was g3, but this fails to Nf3+ forking King and Queen, so I just sidesteped to d1, and Knight is still hanging. Though I still considered g3 and thought that maybe the Queen exchange could be playable, but on second glance it won't work lol.

[@katlynklassen809]

Start by playing slow. Okay daily games and do lots of calculation for each move. Over time it becomes more automated and easier. Eventually always finding your opponent's best reply becomes force of habit. More important than finding your best move if finding the opponents

[@jotarokujo7955]

Hi Igor it happen to me all the times. I play a game and win with checkmate in 10 moves. Than I analize the game with the computer and it says 4 blunders but my oppenent luckly did worse. So I thought I played a perfect game but in reality my opponed played slightly worse than me

[@vancebocas7626]

It really happens to all of us. I look at games that I played 30 years ago when chess engines weren't such a thing. At the time I thought I was the second coming of Tal, because I was sacrificing pieces for checkmate. Turns out I blundered like 700 times, hung all of my pieces, but my opponent just didn't notice. lol. It is definitely humbling/humiliating to go over the games with an engine. But somehow if we can learn from them, it will make us stronger. I just haven't learned from them as yet. :)

[@BirdDawg1]

Final puzzle Kd1, a lot of if's but I'm safe, the knight is under attack, and can attack the queen at any time

[@letstrywindows8986]

At 5:00 i was looking at moves like O-O and Qf3

[@ensarbuzluk1467]

thank you btw i learnd what is a blunder

[@mariogilligan841]

Absolutely true; I recognize myself in that. However, despite my best efforts to avoid blunders, my opponents often manage to pull a rabbit out of their bag. I don't know if I will be able to improve my gaming or if I have definitivly reached my own roof. Thanks!

[@CloverAugustus]

Probably reached your roof there buddy 😂

[@mariogilligan841]

@@CloverAugustus my english has to be improved as well; I meant my ceiling. 😊

[@CloverAugustus]

@@mariogilligan841 the English is fine. I was joking that you probably reached your roof/ceiling/limit implying that, that's all you've got

[@MrAwindy]

@@CloverAugustus No worries about the English, we all knew exactly what you meant. However the fact that you immediately thought deeper about what you said and corrected yourself gives you 100 ELO points. Do the same thing in chess and instead make the move in your mind and then make the most deadly move you can for your opponent b4 you play for another 100 points. You can improve.

[@sirwilfried]

Bloody hell! I wish I had seen this video 10 years ago 🙂

[@sandeeptumula123]

I just watched only one and continues watching all other videos 😮😮😮

[@jolly6537]

I'm playing close to 1600 and you got me really good. I would've made almost all of the mistakes you've shown

[@kayasper6081]

As a GM, how can you tell what kind of blunders we low rated 1600´s commit? We are so separated, I can imagine it is hard for you to tell exactly the struggles we´re fighting with, isn´t it?

[@ensarbuzluk1467]

i was gonna block with pawn but i realise its make things worse with knight fork so i selected moving the king is better

[@remic_s2775]

How do you study and learn opening the right way? I am 1300 i just started at feb 10 i struggle to learn a new opening :(( andddd this video is very helpful❤❤❤🎉

[@sameerasmr6217]

This is great content, Btw, our country celebrated new year today afternoon. So I would like to Happy New Year for GM IGOR and all players in here...!

[@wdallas214]

What country are you from?

[@sameerasmr6217]

@@wdallas214 Sinhala land (Sri Lanka 🇱🇰)

[@justiceseeker2557]

How do you have enough time to avoid these moves, when the game you're playing is called bullet or lightning? In classical, you can avoid by thinking more about each move. But how do you do that on Blitz games?

[@dreadmoc12]

Qf2 blocks and protects the f pawn. G3 seems better, accomplishing the same thing, but Nf3 check, king slides Kd1 and NxQ on D4. If king ups instead of slides, Opponent can save his queen when NxQ on D4 checks again😂

[@Chunda8]

Hey Igor. My response to the puzzle is g3 kicking the queen out to at least f6 otherwise I take it. After Black evacuates the Queen, I fxe5 winning the Knight. Black can recapture with the pawn then my turn to save my queen. The engine should have White slightly better at this point.

[@kaiward8163]

If you go g3, the knight will move to f3 to fork your queen+king. From here it will either result in a trade with a losing position for white or will end up with white getting checkmated depending on the following sequence of moves.

[@G4zzzzz]

Kd1 ... I always watch one of your shows before I play as they help me tune into your relaxed wisdom style of play. I'm close to 1600 in 15 min games but get far too many draws. 5 min I"m closer to 1200 and 10 min 1400. Not happy about that. Perhaps it is time to take your course but I'm wondering if I'm too old to get better at speed?

[@maxtrika1496]

Kd1? there is a check there so K for King?

[@Micropopper]

​@Max Trika In chess, cuz Knight and King both starts with K, so N is used for knight moves (Nd1 stands for knight d1 and Kd1 stands for king d1)

[@G4zzzzz]

@@maxtrika1496 YES King to D1 depending on how black continues their attack is how you respond. Most likely Black moves Bishop to G4 check. White Be2 . If Black takes then NxB on e2.. Plays differently if black starts with the knight but still white is better after any exchange.

[@diyorbekabdurahmonov-ws2kw]

Queen f2 is a right move???

[@cb3132]

Dear Igor, I asked "is my move safe?" in the last position, then I asked "how can my opponent attack?" and this stopped me from making the usual move Pawn to G3 to attack the Queen. Because of the new questions I saw the Knight for the first time! The Knight would come down and Check my King and take my Queen! Thank you for this new skill! Chris.

[@oluwaseyialaya2672]

Funny enough it happened in my own game, I wanted to cry

[@oluwaseyialaya2672]

as black, in chess kid facing 1700-1800

[@nikbelikov]

Oh! Thanks for the explanation! Didn’t see that one😢

[@waylonmorristexas4851]

9:25 queen blocks because if pawn blocks there is a fork

[@christopherheckman7957]

0:55 Well, the world is yours until you start playing against 2000+-rated players.

[@benfoad1416]

"You're an alpha Male, superhero , the world is yours . Hooray" I had a good chuckle at that part.

[@badrjafar7959]

I guess Qf2...g3 loses the Queen and Kd1 is met with Bg4 check.

[@cb3132]

(more) Do you recommend a good online chess site?

[@glennpells9712]

Just what I need. I'm stuck at 1400 to 1580 😂

[@lordtrollalot8707]

@Remote Chess Academy but how can i prevent myself after having an idea from grapping the stone and just move. This secret would improve my everywhere skilllevel not only in chessgames. How can i slow down? ( Maybe hide the mouse under a pillow? )

[@GMIgorSmirnov]

Ha ha! You can try playing some training games and not care about winning or losing. Now, you can play slower and think. Usually we forget to think about opponent's response. After a while, it becomes a habit. Give it a try.

[@sahtregon709]

When grandmaster sacrifices a rook he will win the game when I sacrifice a rook I'll loose the game

[@nfinity1744]

Kd1

[@mrlightbringer4623]

9:33 imagine pushing the g pawn💀

[@SergeyYanchevskiy]

Nothing realy scary about that.

[@nidhin853]

Loses the queen after Nf3

[@ashir...897]

​@@nidhin853 and you taje his queen in return once the knight takes your queen

[@SergeyYanchevskiy]

@@nidhin853 And take his:)

[@Burntockhamsrazor]

@@nidhin853 I never saw that😅

[@sutirahibu2018]

1600 rating and stuck in that rating what can I do

[@AR15rules]

The answer probably is Qf2

[@subhajitsenapati4707]

Queen f2 because g3 fails to knight f3,but maybe I saw it because it's a puzzle ,in real game I would miss that 😅😅

[@plasmacannon1198]

Bro I’m tryna break the 600 Elo

[@nxbnvGgSkillsDef]

How to avoid trading pieces by pieces in chess ? 🤔

[@iel-]

Dang it this won't work cuz I'm 1601

[@minersarentrealofficial4513]

is this for like people who are 1400-1500 trying to breach 1600 only

[@martymoo]

This is quickly becoming my favourite chess channel! ♟

[@tejinderbirsingh1062]

Another method to improve brain IQ and hence your chess rating which no one talks about and if anyone talks about it, he is considered plain stupid and out of his mind. Here it is:- Do good Karma and good deeds. The laws of universe are such that by having good thoughts for others and doing good deeds for others, your brain IQ and a lot of other things (your health, wealth, life etc.) improves a lot. But it takes a while, normally years for the results to show up and people generally don't believe in these things to actually put these things in action.

[@tomnaughten2799]

Qf2?

[@gabrielfernandezmendiguchi5768]

❤❤❤❤

[@GMIgorSmirnov]

❤

[@canncannthepixieman]

It's hard to know your real elo without playing over the board chess and getting a fide rating. I'm 2100 odd on lichess but in reality my rating would probably be 3 or 4 hundred less.

[@Pix3lB]

No I would say online chess ratings are shown to be around 100-150 rating points off.

[@msn140]

yes everyone blunder !, Nepo he did blunder vs Ding, in the WCC🙂

[@handsome_man69]

Handsome man

[@MegaMojoGaming759]

Good video but why do you look so goofy in the thumbnail 😂 😐🫵

[@soaringscott5635]

I am probably around a 60. 1600 coming up!

[@timonix2]

@2:22 First I calculate bishop/knight takes and realize that they don't work. But that knight is pesky. Then I think, let's go g3, fianchetto the bishop and castle and hope that black wont do anything weird. Apparently that does not work. But who in their right might would play that opening? It looks so cramped for white. You are playing white for crying out loud. Where is d4? why is there a knight on e2? It looks so weird that I did not even consider a smothered mate.

[@dancleary578]

Qf2!? 🙂

[@TrolIification]

g3!! Wait. Somethings not right.... Better play Kd1

[@yanndooms8892]

Kd2

[@janadiruhunuarachchi1114]

G3

[@maxtrika1496]

King d1 or d2... i guess

[@pancakesareawesome3121]

You know what’s funny? I can beat the 1500 (1400?) bot, yet I’m elo 880. Hm.

[@chrismuimbwa6424]

Greetings! I am writting som einstrumental music and I am asking for your permission to use 2 of your video titles as track titles.

[@ahyanferose1353]

g3

[@lqgash9077]

If you don't blunder and always punish your opponent's blunder, you wouldn't be 1600 or even 2000, you'd be a GM level, and even they blunder... :)

[@famcollander9512]

6 days ago I reached 1600 now I reached 1700

[@SasuPlaying]

That's impressive! Do you have any advice? I'm stuck on 1400 rapid for quite some time now

[@ht3beartom330]

White queen to to c7

[@ethankim7007]

G3 LETS BLACK PLAY NF3+, SO I WOULD PLAY KD1.

[@tawhidurtawhidur5593]

My fide rating 1433.. How can i fast earn 2000 😅

[@manasuniyal2897]

first reach 1500 and then think of 1600 and then 1700 and than 1800 and then 1900 and then 2000 .......

[@tawhidurtawhidur5593]

@@manasuniyal2897 bro how many raitngs has you? Now in fide?

[@jonlynch]

Subscribe to Igor's course. I got to 2100 in 2 years.

[@Wesley38292]

DAY 1 ASKING ABOUT ENGLISH OPENING

[@baxjang2678]

[@nfinity1744]

yoo im early

[@jamessweatt985]

I think I see the problem with your handwriting: you're using the wrong hand! ;- )

[@nicolaeciuca2532]

G3 loses the queen

[@felixmerz6229]

But black's queen is still attacked after NxQ, so it's a trade, except while losing castling rights. Blocking with queen ultimately also loses castling rights and trades, though. Kd1 looks even more dangerous, with the queen check and winning at least the f4 pawn, possibly more. To be honest, no moves look great, but I'd probably settle for Qf2.

[@ohyeahohyeah1071]

Kd1 will probably be followed by Bf4 check