You've been at this for months. Maybe years. You've watched the YouTube videos, skimmed the tips, maybe even memorized a few openings.
And yet, somehow, your opponents keep wiping the floor with you.
So what gives? Are you just bad at this?
Good news: you're not. In fact, if you're frustrated right now, congratulations — you've made it exactly as far as most players get before they quit forever.
In my years as a chess instructor, I've had students look me dead in the eye after a rough loss and say "I'm just too stupid for chess." I've heard it so many times I've lost count. And every single time, they've been wrong.
The problem isn't your brain. It's your method. Here's what actually works.
The Take Take Take app is available now on iOS and Android.
1. Slow Down to Speed Up (Seriously)
I once gave a student a simple task: play some slower games before our next session. He came back the following week absolutely buzzing. He'd found a better way, he told me!
He'd spent the whole week playing bullet chess instead, one frantic minute per player, because more games means faster improvement. Obviously!
Here's why it doesn't work.
Playing fast chess to improve is like trying to learn a language by flipping through a dictionary at high speed. Your brain doesn't have time to actually process anything. You're just rehearsing your existing habits, good and bad, on fast-forward.
The counterintuitive secret to how to get better at chess is to slow way down, even if your dream is to eventually play fast. When you give yourself time to think, you start catching things: why that move felt off, what your opponent was threatening, what you completely missed.
That's the good stuff. Every strong player learned to walk before they sprinted.
2. Playing Is Good. Analyzing Is Better.
Most casual players have a very consistent post-game routine: finish the game, feel vaguely bad about it, start a new one. Maybe once in a while, during a rare burst of motivation, they glance at the computer analysis and wince at their blunders. Then they move on.
Here's the thing though: that finished game is a goldmine. Walking away from it is like finding buried treasure and then going home for a nap.
You don't need expensive software or a title to analyze well. Just go back through the game with fresh eyes, even five minutes later, and you'll spot things you were completely blind to while playing.
Over time, you'll start to see the same kinds of mistakes popping up again and again. That's when things get fun, because that's when you can actually fix them.
A good chess coaching app can help you spot those patterns faster. The best ones track your recurring mistakes, serve up puzzles aimed at your specific weak spots, and act as a training partner who never gets tired of you.
Keep it simple. Pick two or three moments where things went sideways and ask yourself, without peeking at the engine:
- What was I thinking here?
- What did I miss?
- What should I have done instead?
Then check your answers against the computer. Were you right? Why or why not?
The goal isn't to be perfect. It's to be a little less wrong each time.
3. Improvement Is a Marathon, Not a Sprint
Here's something nobody warns you about: progress in chess is deeply, sometimes infuriatingly, nonlinear.
Some weeks you'll feel unstoppable. Your rating climbs, your moves flow, and you start wondering if you've secretly become good at this. Then the next week you'll blunder your queen on move eight and question every life choice you've ever made.
This is completely normal. It happens to everyone from total beginners to titled players.
On my worst stretches, I've dropped hundreds of rating points across just a couple of sessions. It stings! But it passes.
One thing that makes the rough patches easier is having a simple daily routine: ten minutes of puzzles in the morning, one slow game in the evening, a quick look back at the game before you close the app. That kind of consistency, repeated over weeks and months, beats marathon weekend study sessions every time.
4. Enjoy the Game. Find Your People.
The players who improve the most over the long haul all share one thing: they genuinely like what they're doing. They find a way to stay curious about chess even when the results are rough.
And one of the best ways to stay curious? Find some people to be bad at chess with.
Whether it's a local club, an online community, or just one friend who's also on the improvement grind, having people around makes a huge difference. You'll swap ideas, bond over painful losses, cheer each other's wins, and keep each other from quitting.
Chess can feel like a lonely uphill battle when you're going it alone. It really doesn't have to be.
The sessions where everything clicks, where you feel sharp and ideas just come, almost always happen when you're relaxed and playing for the love of it, not when you're white-knuckling every game. Let yourself appreciate a clever move by your opponent instead of just stewing over the result. The more fun you're having, the better you'll actually play. It's almost unfair.
5. Your Confidence Affects Your Chess More Than You Think
Here's a wild phenomenon that shows up at every level of the game. When players face Magnus Carlsen, they don't just lose because he's stronger. Studies have shown they actually play measurably worse than their normal level.
His name alone on the pairing sheet is enough to make people second-guess themselves into oblivion.
You might think that only applies to facing a living legend. It doesn't. The same thing happens when a club player sits down against someone they've decided is unbeatable, or when someone who's been told their whole life that they're "not a chess person" picks up the pieces.
The story you tell yourself becomes the game you play.
Carlsen has said the ideal chess player lives somewhere between optimistic and delusional. You still need to find the best moves. But you also need to believe, genuinely, that you can cause your opponent problems. That belief is part of the weapon.
So stop telling yourself you're too stupid for chess. It isn't true, and more importantly, saying it out loud is actively making your moves worse. Chess rewards patience, pattern recognition, and the willingness to keep showing up. All things you can build, at any level, starting today.
The Bottom Line
Getting better at chess doesn't take genius. It takes slowing down, reflecting on your games, and genuinely believing improvement is possible for you.
Because it absolutely is.
Most players quit right at the edge of a real breakthrough. They hit a wall and decide it's a ceiling. In reality, they've just found the spot where the real work begins, and where the real rewards are waiting.
So slow down. Review your games. Find your people. And please, for the love of the game, stop calling yourself stupid.
The Take Take Take app is available now on iOS and Android.