Anatomy of a Chess Player : From Beginner to Expert
These are my personal and very unprofessional thoughts on the knowledge and skill attributes that amateur chess players have as they climb up the ratings ladder. The idea is to show the estimated chess rating, as well as the time it would take to attaining that level as well as the knowledge and skill attributes that the rating level requires. The idea is to figure out where you fall and what knowledge and skills are needed to get to the next level.
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.
0-1000 (0-3 months of experience) Player has just learned the game, they constantly leave pieces en prise, and make many blunders. Player has no tactical, endgame, or positional knowledge. Absolutely No evaluation or analytical 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 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, 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 opponent’s 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.
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.
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 and analysis skills. Opening 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 field.
9 Responses to “Anatomy of a Chess Player : From Beginner to Expert”
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I can agree with the ratings and the correspondence knowledge, but I Can’t 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..
@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.
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.
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 field. 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.
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
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 Maza’s rapid chess improvement for adults; and,
4. finally, 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
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.
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)…
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.