5/28/2016

AnatomyofaChessPlayer:ChessLevelsFromBeginnertoExpertChessforBeginners

Home (http://beginchess.com/) / Improvement (http://beginchess.com/category/improvement/)

/ Anatomy of a Chess Player : Chess Levels From Beginner to Expert

Anatomy of a Chess Player : Chess Levels From

Beginner to Expert
Posted on August 2, 2009 (http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomy-of-a-chess-player-from-beginner-toexpert/) by beginchess (http://beginchess.com/author/beginchess/)

Rustomjee Urbania Thane W

Sky Homes at 1.36 Cr in Majiwada. Higher Floors. No Floor-Rise Cost!

How A Chess Player Improves from a 1000 Beginner Rating

to a 2000 Expert Rating
(http://i0.wp.com/beginchess.com/wpcontent/uploads/2009/08/greysantomy.png)Below are the
knowledge and skills
(http://beginchess.com/2008/10/03/calculating-your-skilland-knowledge-rating/) a beginning chess player must
acquire to improve their chess level to improve from a chess
beginner to an expert level chess player.The idea is to show
the estimated chess rating, the required knowledge and skill,
and the time it would take them to attain a specicELO rating
and chess level. Find out in which category you fall to
determine the knowledge and chess skills you need to move
on to the to the next chesslevel.
I would love to get feedback from more knowledgeable
players and coaches, since I think this might be helpful to
chess players that are just starting out all the way to an
approximate 1700 rating. The idea is for players to focus on those areas that they need to work on in order to
reach the next level.

Chess Rating Improvement Breakdown from Chess Beginner to Chess

Expert

http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomyofachessplayerfrombeginnertoexpert/

1/36

5/28/2016

AnatomyofaChessPlayer:ChessLevelsFromBeginnertoExpertChessforBeginners

0-1000 (0-3 months of experience) The realm of the beginning chess player. At this stage the player has just
learned the game, they constantly leave pieces en prise, and make many blunders
(http://beginchess.com/2009/07/29/blunder-checklist/). Player has no tactical, endgame, or positional
knowledge. Player does not know about chess strategy (http://beginchess.com/2016/03/13/chess-strategy/)
and has no evaluation or analysis skills.
1000-1100 (3-6 months of experience) Beginning player now has several games under their belt. They have very
basic tactical knowledge and they continue to make blunders and to leave pieces en prise. Plays without a plan.
1100-1200 (1-2 years of experience) Beginning player continues to make many blunders. At this level they have
learned basic tactics. Occasionally leaves pieces en prise, but this is not a common occurrence. Sometimes
plays with a plan (http://beginchess.com/2007/02/06/purdys-thinking-system/), but the plan is usually incorrect.
At this point the player sees many offensive tactics but they miss most defensive tactics.
1200-1300 (2-3 years of experience) Player begins to understand that chess is a two player game, and begins to
ask what the opponents last move is threatening. Blunders still occur but less frequently. One major reason for
their rating increase, is that player stops leaving pieces en prise. Player has intermediate tactical skills but still
misses many defensive tactical shots. Starts to build an opening repertoire, which gets them into the
middlegame with a better position. Very limited endgame and positional skills. Starts making better plans due to
limited endgame and positional knowledge.

Atmosphere by Wadhwa
Buy 2 & 3 BHK ats in Mulund West. Lavish Amenities-1.62 Cr Onwards!

1300-1400 (3-4 years of experience) Advanced beginner. Players at this level have reached an intermediate
thought process. player Looks for Checks, Captures and threats after opponents moves. Does not leave pieces
en prise. Very good with offensive tactics and improving on the defensive tactics side, but still misses some. Still
building opening repertoire. Starts learning basic endgame and middlegame strategy, but knowledge is still very
basic. This level is an important milestone for the beginning chess player because they are on the verge of being
an intermediate player.
1400-1500 (5-6 years of experience) Intermediate level player. Good thought process, does not leave pieces en
prise. Advanced tactically, both on offense and defense (might occasionally miss a defensive tactic). Has an
opening repertoire and plays pet openings. Has intermediate endgame, positional and analysis skills. One of the
reasons for low rating is players poor positional evaluation abilities. Will probably need a chess coach to improve
further.
1500-1700 (6-7 years of experience) Advanced intermediate player. Advanced tactical skills and thought
process. Player has Intermediate endgame and positional skills at this stage. Intermediate positional evaluation
and analysis skills. Should have a chess trainer, and play against strong opposition in order to improve as well as
a strong focus on the endgame, positional and evaluation skills.
31
Shares

1700-1900 (7-8 years of experience) Near expert level player. Advanced tactical skills and thought process. Very
strong endgame and positional skills. Intermediate evaluation skills. Very good analyst. Player needs to continue
focusing on evaluation (http://beginchess.com/2009/08/17/stoyko-exercises/) and analysis skills. Opening

http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomyofachessplayerfrombeginnertoexpert/

2/36

5/28/2016

AnatomyofaChessPlayer:ChessLevelsFromBeginnertoExpertChessforBeginners

theory knowledge becomes an important component for further improvement. Player has a good database of
structures that that can help them when they reach unfamiliar positions in OTB play. Player should reach expert
level in approximately 2 more years, which falls in line with expert theory which claims that it takes 10 years to
become an expert in any eld.

Update 2/6/15
This post has been the most popular on this site for a very long time. Thank you for taking the time to add your
opinions and feedback. I plan on doing a follow up post in the future, with all of the things I have learned from all
of you. It is still not too late to comment, all of your feedback on how you have improved in chess levels is very
valuable.

Related

Calculating your Chess Skill and

Knowledge Rating
(http://beginchess.com/2008/10
/03/calculating-your-skill-andknowledge-rating/)
October 3, 2008
In "Chess"

The (Long) Road to Chess

Mastery
(http://beginchess.com/2011/06
/09/the-long-road-to-chessmastery/)
June 9, 2011
In "Chess"

What a Chess Player Should

Know
(http://beginchess.com/2007/09
/17/what-a-chess-player-shouldknow/)
September 17, 2007
In "Improvement"

(http://beginchess.com/author/beginchess/)
This entry was posted in Improvement (http://beginchess.com/category/improvement/), Training
(http://beginchess.com/category/training/) and tagged chess improvement
(http://beginchess.com/tag/chess-improvement/).
Bookmark the permalink (http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomy-of-a-chess-player-from-beginnerto-expert/).

This article was helpful

28 people found this article useful
Chess Board Visualization Exercise #4
(http://beginchess.com/2009/08/01/chess-boardvisualization-exercise-4/)

Chess is More a Game of Skill than Knowledge

(http://beginchess.com/2009/08/05/chess-ismore-a-game-of-skill-than-knowledge/)

beginchess has written 144 (http://beginchess.com/author/beginchess/) articles

http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomyofachessplayerfrombeginnertoexpert/

3/36

5/28/2016

AnatomyofaChessPlayer:ChessLevelsFromBeginnertoExpertChessforBeginners

(http://beginchess.com/author/beginchess/)

39 thoughts on Anatomy of a Chess Player : Chess Levels From Beginner to Expert

Yuval says:

I can agree with the ratings and the correspondence knowledge, but I Cant agree with the rating involved
with it.. as I am a 1705 and rising and this is my third year playing (second rated), fourth if you will include
the year when I played a hour a week and learned how to move the pieces. and I am not a talented player at
all, in my club there are a lot of players my age or smaller which have less experience and are better then
me..

August 2, 2009 at 10:45 am (http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomy-of-a-chess-player-frombeginner-to-expert/#comment-138)

beginchess (http://www.beginchess.com) says:

(http://www.
beginchess.
com)
@Yuval, Thanks for the feedback.
Are you a scholastic player? I have noticed that scholastic players do advance much faster than adult
beginners. It would also be helpful to know how many hours per day you spend studying / playing chess.

August 2, 2009 at 3:09 pm (http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomy-of-a-chess-player-frombeginner-to-expert/#comment-139)

http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomyofachessplayerfrombeginnertoexpert/

4/36

5/28/2016

AnatomyofaChessPlayer:ChessLevelsFromBeginnertoExpertChessforBeginners

James Stripes (http://chessskill.blogspot.com/) says:

(http://chess
skill.blogspo
t.com/)
The number regarding months/years of experience are based on what? Most kids play many years without
crossing 1000. Those that have natural talent and study cross over 1000 fairly quickly. Some never do.
I had been playing chess almost 30 years, including some organized competition in high school, before I
acquired a rating in my 30s. My initial established rating was in the 1400s. It took me nine years to get from
the 1400s over 1600, and another three to get over 1800.

August 2, 2009 at 10:55 pm (http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomy-of-a-chess-player-frombeginner-to-expert/#comment-140)

beginchess (http://www.beginchess.com) says:

(http://www.
beginchess.
com)
This chart assumes that you are applying effortful study to your chess training. Expert theory says that you
should reach expert level in 10 years if you continuously dedicate and challenge yourself in any eld. Of
course, there will be some that have more talent that will be able to make it to expert level in much less
time, but this chart would be the average time it would take an average chess player that dedicates at least
5 hours per week to chess training.

August 3, 2009 at 7:38 am (http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomy-of-a-chess-player-frombeginner-to-expert/#comment-141)

Pingback: Chess for Beginner Tons-Of-Tips Links (http://www.tons-of-tips.com/links/chess-for-beginner)

http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomyofachessplayerfrombeginnertoexpert/

5/36

5/28/2016

AnatomyofaChessPlayer:ChessLevelsFromBeginnertoExpertChessforBeginners

nt says:

Thanks for the very good article.

I have two kids playing scholastic chess.
A: 1400, 3 years
B: 800, 6 months
My experience:
1 Blunder=2 pawns=1 piece=1 exchange=0.5 Rook=0.3 Queen=0.5 Mate-in-1
On the average:
800: 2 blunders per game
1000: 1 blunder per game
1200: 1 blunder per 2 games
1400: 1 blunder per 4 games

September 8, 2009 at 11:45 am (http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomy-of-a-chess-player-frombeginner-to-expert/#comment-143)

james breeden says:

ridiculous links embedded in article like paper shredders are annoying

but to my point: i miss any mention of
1. visualization-the whole board [empty and with pieces]; i mean, how much can a player see at each
stage?; sectors of the board with pieces; changes in sectors with moves; the whole board and with changes
as a result of moves.
and
2. key patterns: books on the market Alburt. etc. seem to suggest that there are about 1000 such patterns;
3. methods of learning / improving [beside OTB and computer correspondence games], such as playing
computers; playing over annotated master games; de la Mazas rapid chess improvement for adults; and,
4. nally, competency in various uses of computers from taking video lessons to playing programs like Fritz
and Excalibur to using programs like Bookup and Aquarium and Chess Assistant and Chessbase.
[oh, and 5 =s lessons from live humans
]

http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomyofachessplayerfrombeginnertoexpert/

6/36

5/28/2016

AnatomyofaChessPlayer:ChessLevelsFromBeginnertoExpertChessforBeginners

January 1, 2010 at 11:12 am (http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomy-of-a-chess-player-frombeginner-to-expert/#comment-144)

chessplayer says:

Been playing for two years and was stuck around 1300 for a year and then started studying chess puzzles
to improve tactics which i feel most important. Now i am a solid 1600 player. I used chesstempo.com but
however spent probably for a time period 3 hours a day for a year playing.

December 16, 2010 at 3:48 am (http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomy-of-a-chess-player-frombeginner-to-expert/#comment-430)

observerr says:

nice to read this article thinking I have rating 1350 in 6 months.for me, just know the basics concepts of
weak squares, open lines,passed pawns, center control and download fritz 12 for opening mastery(just
know the general safe move patterns)

January 14, 2011 at 1:01 am (http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomy-of-a-chess-player-frombeginner-to-expert/#comment-437)

Pingback: Reader Mailbag: Defensive Chess Tactics | Tactics Time (http://tacticstime.com/?p=1021)

Ken says:

http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomyofachessplayerfrombeginnertoexpert/

7/36

5/28/2016

AnatomyofaChessPlayer:ChessLevelsFromBeginnertoExpertChessforBeginners

4000 hours in 10 years = Chess teacher.

8000 hours in 10 years = Good at chess.
10,000 hours in 10 years = Expert and above.
So, it is really a matter of hours of deliberative practice within that 10 year span.

November 4, 2011 at 9:01 pm (http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomy-of-a-chess-player-frombeginner-to-expert/#comment-1193)

Trent says:

Playing consistently is key to improving. Sounds obvious but for me taking a year off set me back. Not that
Im not an expert but wish I didnt have to re-learn tedious openings and other strategies.

February 14, 2012 at 2:25 pm (http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomy-of-a-chess-player-frombeginner-to-expert/#comment-1207)

Adam Rinkleff says:

I thought this was fairly well written.

-Adam Rinkleff

August 5, 2012 at 9:07 am (http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomy-of-a-chess-player-frombeginner-to-expert/#comment-1344)

Monayem says:

http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomyofachessplayerfrombeginnertoexpert/

8/36

5/28/2016

AnatomyofaChessPlayer:ChessLevelsFromBeginnertoExpertChessforBeginners

I am about 1500 player from Bangladesh. Up-noted was good. Want to improve a lot. Thanks.

June 28, 2013 at 9:23 pm (http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomy-of-a-chess-player-frombeginner-to-expert/#comment-1528)

Lucas says:

I learned how to play chess at the age of 12,just the basics of chess.i never took chess serious,i never
played chess thereafter for 5 years.i played chess serious chess in my nal year at high school for about
9months.when on for about 2years again without playing a single game.i have now dedicated my spare
time to chess begining january 2013 upto date,i spend more than 10 hours on the chess board studying and
playing chess.
I beat karpov2 mobile chess game hands down but i dont know my rating.iam improving each and
everyday.
What could be my possible rating?

August 3, 2013 at 5:32 am (http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomy-of-a-chess-player-frombeginner-to-expert/#comment-1539)

Derek says:

@Trent: When learning openings, learn the ideas behind them and not so much on the actual moves. It will
help you in memorizing the actual moves better because. Start with the theories behind the moves rst. Ive
used this method myself and it helps me out a lot.

http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomyofachessplayerfrombeginnertoexpert/

9/36

5/28/2016

AnatomyofaChessPlayer:ChessLevelsFromBeginnertoExpertChessforBeginners

August 15, 2013 at 10:27 pm (http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomy-of-a-chess-player-frombeginner-to-expert/#comment-1541)

Alex Bai says:

The data in the op is pretty incorrect, in my opinion. BTW, I am a chess expert (USCF 2000+), and it
happened in U3 years.
A player with rating of 900 (0-1000) is a pretty strong player compared to the casual chess player. In my
high school, the weak chess players at the chess club rarely leave en prise pieces, and yet they are below
900 for sure. 900 players are in my experience, strong casual players, or strong beginners. The time span
seems reasonable.
But after this, the time span to reach a certain level becomes quite ridiculous.
Does someone need 5-6 years to reach 1500?! 5 hrs dedicated a week, I bet someone could easily become
a master or at least 2100 player with the right study methods with 5 hrs a week.
But really important is the IMO, openings are NEVER an essential or even slightly important part of
improvement: openings are rather useless to concrete chess improvement at all levels below 22-2300, in my
experience. Why? In my games against expert level opposition, I am constantly out of the opening by move
4 or 5. Ive played a good number of games against expert level opposition recently, and the result of NONE
of the games had a single thing to do with the opening.
After the opening, someone had an advantage. They lost it, and the evaluation shifted. Then that other
player made a mistake, and nally it was a draw (or something like this) . If this happens at the expert level
just about every time (openings not mattering) then I think only at a level 200 points or so higher would it
even start to matter (and then only a bit).
Only the 2400+ need opening prep for serious improvement. Everyone else should ignore it for the most
part, I think.
BTW, I wouldnt say that players rated around 1700 have advanced tactical skills either. I have had a good
experience playing against these guys in the past, and I can say that most of them still make tactical
blunders pretty easily when their position gets slightly worse, or I get an attack etc. At the expert level, this
almost never happens anymore (even @ class A it is pretty rare) unless it is a serious positional advantage.
However, experts sometimes miss rare or invisible tactical tricks or ideas that could get an advantage or
save a game etc. Their tactical skills are better, but only intermediate level. I consider my tactical skills to be
at the intermediate level currently as well.
1800s and below should mainly work on basic ideas in chess, and not study too many advanced ideas and
can pretty much forget all about the openings if they want to improve. It may seem a bit far-fetched, but
trust me: Ive played against these players before a good number of times, and many of them play pretty
terrible moves, making their game unstable and showing a lack of basic chess knowledge and haphazard
studying.

http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomyofachessplayerfrombeginnertoexpert/

10/36

5/28/2016

AnatomyofaChessPlayer:ChessLevelsFromBeginnertoExpertChessforBeginners

Also, I would generally cut out endgame study (but not totally). Endgame study is interesting, since many
players do it wrong and at the wrong time in their chess development, IMO.
The rst problem seems to be that players only care about the useless theoretical endgames that almost
never occur in real life.
I have never had to play a lucena or philidor draw etc.. in my entire otb chess playing career a single time (or
any other theoretical endgame except theoretical king+pawn). The only theoretical endgame knowledge I
have are 2 key king and pawn endgame positions, and they have happened only once each.
It is much more important to study strategy in endgames, and this I did a bit.
However, it is even more important to focus on ending the game during the middlegame, so that you wont
need to grind out an ending. Players at the skills levels of U1800 rarely can play a competitive middlegame
against good play. Therefore, it is practical to gain good skills here and beat them in the middlegame and
forget about the endgame. This is what I did. In the World Open U1800 (2012), only 1 game reached a
competitive endgame, and that one was strategic. I scored 7.5 there, and all the games I won except for that
one endgame were won by middlegame.

August 31, 2013 at 2:33 am (http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomy-of-a-chess-player-frombeginner-to-expert/#comment-1597)

Kevin says:

I began to take chess seriously last year, right around my 24th birthday. I started playing games and ended
with a low 900 rating on chess.com after the rst month. Then I opened a book on chess basics (endgames,
good n bad bishops, post for knight, tactical motifs, etc) and after the rst 130 pages Im around 1300.
Really need to speed things up, my guess is that if i read the appropriate literature and incorporate theory
into practice, I can achieve my goal of 2000+ in a matter of years and hopefully not decades. 1300-1500 are
good, but we make many blunders, that keeps our ratings grounded.
One thing that I noticed is that an organized study time and an organized life can lead to a better rating.

March 13, 2014 at 11:15 pm (http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomy-of-a-chess-player-frombeginner-to-expert/#comment-1637)

Gary says:

http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomyofachessplayerfrombeginnertoexpert/

11/36

5/28/2016

AnatomyofaChessPlayer:ChessLevelsFromBeginnertoExpertChessforBeginners

I would agree with the explanations of how people play at different levels (although I think people stop
leaving pieces en prise far earlier than you suggest) but the time range seems off.
Progression in chess, I suspect, has more to do with acquiring certain bits of knowledge + understanding
than the number of games played. Overcoming the urge to pawn-grab, to understand that pieces dont have
permanently xed values, getting bored and making moves in an attempt to liven things up, letting go of
overly rigid general rules, and so on, these things come more quickly to some people than to others.
A player that always has to win, someone who cant bear to lose a game, will progress slower than someone
who doesnt mind making dodgy/inferior moves to see what will happen. If you, for example, say to yourself
that you will always swap queens wherever possible and play many games in which you do this then you will
learn much quicker when + why it is appropriate to swap queens and when + why it isnt.

April 1, 2014 at 11:53 am (http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomy-of-a-chess-player-frombeginner-to-expert/#comment-1639)

gasparddm says:

Im 15 years old and started playing chess 5 months ago, I have a chess coach and I practice around 2 hours
everyday. My rating is of around 1400 (said by my coach, 3 times Brazilian champion). So I it is saying there
that in 3-4 years you can reach that rating of mine, not true.

April 6, 2014 at 11:01 pm (http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomy-of-a-chess-player-frombeginner-to-expert/#comment-1641)

matt10030 says:

http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomyofachessplayerfrombeginnertoexpert/

12/36

5/28/2016

AnatomyofaChessPlayer:ChessLevelsFromBeginnertoExpertChessforBeginners

I cant agree with you Im 10th years .I started playing chess 3 years ago and now my rating is 1600 I have a
chess coach every 4 weeks and I play on the computer no one at my house knew chess but my mom
encourage me to play on the computer 2 games a day and do 15 minutes off endgame that help me a lot.

May 7, 2014 at 5:13 am (http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomy-of-a-chess-player-from-beginnerto-expert/#comment-1644)

peter says:

I have been playing chess by myself for 10 months and Im currently at 1500 in live blitz at chess.com . Is
this considered fast?

October 31, 2014 at 9:02 pm (http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomy-of-a-chess-player-frombeginner-to-expert/#comment-2679)

Rikyre says:

Ive only started to really play Chess (about 2 hours per day) around 2 years ago.
I went from the starting point in Standard on the chess website (1200) to the 1700s and Im still slowly
increasing.
I havent had any help other than watching a few YouTube videos on Chess openings and playing a little bit
of Tactics Trainer.
1200-1700s in 2 years.
Time span to get better is all in ones mind not on a statistical sheet.

June 17, 2015 at 7:43 pm (http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomy-of-a-chess-player-frombeginner-to-expert/#comment-4798)

http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomyofachessplayerfrombeginnertoexpert/

13/36

5/28/2016

AnatomyofaChessPlayer:ChessLevelsFromBeginnertoExpertChessforBeginners

Rob says:

Not sure about some of that. Im about 2000 rating and consider my endgame skills to be appalling. I win
games because my tactic awareness is better than my opponents, but in reality it is still pretty poor. Play 20
games v a chess engine and youll see that none of your play can be considered advanced

October 2, 2015 at 1:52 pm (http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomy-of-a-chess-player-frombeginner-to-expert/#comment-4987)

charlie says:

I would like to get to 1500 Im 973 now. No training yet but play fast and love it. Im on chess.com couple
times a week if job allows. When my health is good and Im not tired Im much better. Any help on what to
study. Who is a good coach in pensacola?

October 27, 2015 at 4:05 am (http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomy-of-a-chess-player-frombeginner-to-expert/#comment-5029)

Daniel says:

I rst learned how the pieces move when I was about 8, 10 years later I decided to really start learning the
strategy, openings, tactics, etc. Two weeks into learning I estimate from reading this article and based on
my online rating I am at about the 1200-1300 range.

http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomyofachessplayerfrombeginnertoexpert/

14/36

5/28/2016

AnatomyofaChessPlayer:ChessLevelsFromBeginnertoExpertChessforBeginners

November 11, 2015 at 1:57 am (http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomy-of-a-chess-player-frombeginner-to-expert/#comment-5065)

John says:

Im 15 and I started playing chess 3-4 months ago , learning openings, how the pieces move etc. I signed up
for the USCF and started going to club rated games. Currently my rating is 1634.

December 4, 2015 at 1:54 am (http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomy-of-a-chess-player-frombeginner-to-expert/#comment-5119)

Elijah Logozar says:

I disagree with this. I went from 1036 to 1675 in the last year.

January 14, 2016 at 11:36 pm (http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomy-of-a-chess-player-frombeginner-to-expert/#comment-5251)

chessbuzz says:

If your time is limited, I would focus on studying tactics. A good site for this is chesstempo.com
(http://www.chesstempo.com). I would focus on tactics and in eliminating mistakes
(http://beginchess.com/2009/07/29/blunder-checklist/), before getting a coach.
Good luck.

http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomyofachessplayerfrombeginnertoexpert/

15/36

5/28/2016

AnatomyofaChessPlayer:ChessLevelsFromBeginnertoExpertChessforBeginners

January 24, 2016 at 4:40 pm (http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomy-of-a-chess-player-frombeginner-to-expert/#comment-5269)

Rafael Rondon
(https://www.facebook.com/app_scoped_user_id/10101028030400915/) says:
(https://ww
w.facebook.
com/app_sc
oped_user_i
d/10101028
030400915/
)
To the people with ratings over 1800 that are claiming a portion of their skills to not be any good your
being ridiculous. Good is relative, you may not have a chance against a grand master but you can still beat
99.99% of the population at chess, and thats pretty darn good imo.

February 2, 2016 at 10:52 pm (http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomy-of-a-chess-player-frombeginner-to-expert/#comment-5301)

Pingback: 10 Steps to Chess Improvement | (http://beginchess.com/2012/01/06/the-road-to-chessimprovement-in-10-steps/)

Arno says:

just wondering what the author means by defensive tactics, as opposed to offensive.

March 7, 2016 at 10:54 pm (http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomy-of-a-chess-player-from-

http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomyofachessplayerfrombeginnertoexpert/

16/36

5/28/2016

AnatomyofaChessPlayer:ChessLevelsFromBeginnertoExpertChessforBeginners

beginner-to-expert/#comment-5357)

chessbuzz says:

Defensive tactics are tactics that your opponent can play against you. For example, falling victim to a fork or
skewer that you didnt see. An offensive tactic are those tactics that you can play against your opponent.

March 10, 2016 at 4:37 am (http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomy-of-a-chess-player-frombeginner-to-expert/#comment-5363)

Pingback: Chess Board Visualization Training | (http://beginchess.com/2016/02/05/chess-boardvisualization-training/)

Pingback: The Steps Method in Chess (http://beginchess.com/2009/07/23/the-step-method-in-chess/)

Pingback: Chess Ratings Explained - Chess Notebook | Chess Notebook (http://chessnotebook.com/chessratings-explained/)

Pingback: Extreme Chess Training | Chess Position Database (http://extremechesstraining.com/chessposition-database/)

Tomasz says:

@Rafael Rondon
There are some questions waiting to be asked.

http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomyofachessplayerfrombeginnertoexpert/

17/36

5/28/2016

AnatomyofaChessPlayer:ChessLevelsFromBeginnertoExpertChessforBeginners

#1) To the people with ratings over 1800 that are claiming a portion of their skills to not be any good your
being ridiculous.
It depends what ratings do you mean? ELO, USCF, BCF any other? Do you mean rating at classical, fast or
bullet chess? Do you mean OTB rating or virtual one? There are a lot of factors that differentiate these data.
In particular I am around 2000 at FICS, but am I any good? It depends what do you mean by good player. If
there are players rated 1500-1600 most often I can beat them, but not because of my genius but rather
simply due to their lack of patience, making simple (unforced) mistakes and sometimes playing very weak
at endings.
Of course if you mean over 1800 and the level of 2400 (Fide master or International Master) is one of
the examples this caliber of player is really strong one. He can beat 99% of all the amateurs without much
effort.
#2) Good is relative, you may not have a chance against a grand master but you can still beat 99.99% of the
population at chess, and thats pretty darn good imo.
I made a test playing at FICS. I have been playing against one of my friends he is about 1650-1700 and I
won 32 games, drew 2 games and lost just one. It is about 94-96% of winning. Anyway If I went to chess
tournament (the group U1800) I would NOT be able to win it (I tried to do this a few times, but with no
success). That means I could not beat 95% of the players even at the amateur level. Take notice there are
some players who have been playing via Internet (chess servers) and in OTB play they can even reach 20002100 (online) rating. That means they could have been able to outplay me without great effort.
#3) There are some players who are strong amateurs and they have an ELO rating in the range of 18001900. If they can play at this level they are able to outplay 95-98% of chess amateurs (coffee house
players), but at tournament level they are just at the mean of the pool (most often called strong
amateurs).
Let me know if my explanations helps in any way :). Thanks for your post!

March 14, 2016 at 1:42 am (http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomy-of-a-chess-player-frombeginner-to-expert/#comment-5377)

matt says:

I dont mean to sound proud but this is my second week and my rating is 1400so I dont really gree

March 16, 2016 at 11:20 pm (http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomy-of-a-chess-player-from-

http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomyofachessplayerfrombeginnertoexpert/

18/36

5/28/2016

AnatomyofaChessPlayer:ChessLevelsFromBeginnertoExpertChessforBeginners

beginner-to-expert/#comment-5378)

Leave a Reply
Enteryourcommenthere...

Search Knowledgebase

Categories
SelectCategory

ads

GetGmailForYourDomain
CustomBusinessEmailAddress.StartWithFreeGoogle
AppsTrial.

RustomjeeUrbaniaThaneW
SkyHomesat1.36CrinMajiwada.HigherFloors.No
FloorRiseCost!

MaxLifeTermPlan
1CrLumpsum+Rs40000MonthlyIncome@JustRs.
23/day*.BuyNow!

AtmospherebyWadhwa
Luxury2/2.5/3BHKFlatsinMulundWPriceStartingfrom
1.62Cronwards

Supercharge Your Chess

http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomyofachessplayerfrombeginnertoexpert/

19/36