Why have I suddenly gotten worse at chess?

Not just with chess, but lots of things, when you study at first you may get a little worse as you try to incorporate new knowledge and use different ways of thinking. After that you get better though. Also improvement tends to happen in spurts. You don’t get a little better every day.

Why do I get worse at a game the more I play it?

The volume of playing and practice time will not improve performance unless it is combined with goal setting, focus, expert feedback and discomfort. Because unless you are practising and playing more doing the right things you are not going to get any better and can easily get worse.

Is opening theory important in chess?

Studying openings provides a chess player with optimal responses and strong ideas. A lot of work has been done investigating how to develop pieces in the quickest and most effective way. This is something called opening theory. It really makes sense to study openings and use this knowledge in games.

Why is learning chess hard?

Chess is hard to learn You have to learn the moves of the six pieces, where the piece with the least value, the Pawn, has the most complicated moves. Then you have to learn the rules about attacking and defending the King, including castling. Then there are a few rules about games where neither player wins.

Can you get good at chess without studying openings?

I believe you can go far enough without studying opening. But it’s better to start studying opening at low level just slowly little bit and then just go deeper. Say until 1200 learn just 5 moves of main lines, by 1500 remember all sound lines until move 8-10 and so on.

Does learning chess openings make you better?

Not really. So long as you make reasonable moves in the opening (develop your pieces, contest the center, and protect your king) and don’t blunder you should be fine. Just take Carlsen, for example.

Why do I play so bad chess?

The simplest rule of chess states that if you don’t want to lose the game too early do not give up material for no reason. Novice players are struggling from this mistake the most. They can get too concentrated on some minor things (castling, development, etc.) that they forget to move their pawn and pieces to safety.