|Sometimes you need _directed_ learning to push you past that plateau. That and practice. My chess improved noticeable with timed play. Putting a time limit on

|Sometimes you need _directed_ learning to push you past that plateau. That and practice. My chess improved noticeable with timed play. Putting a time limit on a game forces you to do 'something', if only to stop losing. In my case, this forced me to eventually develop a strategy and focus my game on actually attacking particular areas of the board. This really improved my game.