3 ms·
As a ~900 Elo player, I feel like point #3 is doing the heavy lifting here—kinda reminds me of that "rest of the owl" meme (not that you're wrong, of course!) :
by BalinKing 2y ago
As a ~900 Elo player, I feel like point #3 is doing the heavy lifting here—kinda reminds me of that "rest of the owl" meme (not that you're wrong, of course!) :-P
- svachalek 2y agoWhen you're up material? Assuming your opponent is in a tier to leave pieces hanging, we should be talking more than a pawn here, and following the first two rules should hold/build that advantage. At least, as someone not even 900, closing an endgame when I'm already winning sounds like the easier part. But it's hard to believe that's all it takes to get to 1500, it is not my impression that 1300+ players are losing to big "whoops" moments.
- thethirdone 2y agoI would agree the "don't blunder" and "punish opponents blunders" are harder than endgame knowledge. However, knowing the basics of endgames is actually important to closing out games. Specifically, knowing KQvK, KRvK, and the "ladder technique" is important. Without any tactics "take free pieces" probably only gets you to around 1200 (chess.com), but if it includes knight and pawn forks, skewers, pins, and discovered attacks it can get you to 1500. Playing perfectly every game is hard though. I would recommend having more chess knowledge than just those 3 rules before you really try for 1500.
- BalinKing 2y agoMaybe it's just me, but in an endgame where (for example) it's just kings and a bunch of pawns, even a two pawn advantage is easy for me to lose—I pick the wrong pawn island to support with my king, and I've already lost. Knowing good heuristics in these sorts of situations is something that takes active study IME—"don't blunder pieces" is not sufficient, at least for me.
- robertlagrant 2y agoNot hanging pieces is definitely the hard one!