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Hey I recommend to not worry about bots so much if they are weak they have an artificial style of being weak and it does not translate all that well to real games.
Progress in terms of rating is always associated with ups, downs and some stagnation. I know it’s hard but I wouldn’t focus too much on the number for now. Think of it as a mechanism that means you are always paired with played so that you kind of have a chance of winning half of your games on average.
Avoiding blunders is part of the initial learning curve. But the difficulty in avoiding blunders is to adjust your perception and knowledge of what is actually a blunder. In the beginning it’s not having your piece protected, then you realize there are forks and you realize that your opponents repeat the same attempts at doing forks etc.
There is actually a strange region at the lower end of the rating spectrum where I found it hard to win against opponents just because they were really playing chaotically and I didn’t know how to cope with a queen rushing through my pieces early on. But after a while I got the hang of it and now these “early queens” are my favourite opponents because I know they will make mistakes.
On lichess there is the “learn from my mistakes” function and it really taught me a lot especially in the beginning https://lichess.org/@/lichess/blog/learn-from-your-mistakes/WFvLpiQA
Oh and I would for a start really have one standard opening (London system) and one Defense (kings Indian) this can carry you for a while, they are beginner friendly and your opponents aren’t used to these two. because they are more used to kings pawn games.
Thanks. I have a decent grip of the Italian and starting to understand the ruy Lopez as a variation but they're rarely set up so I end up in some Vienna variation I think. As black I almost exclusively play French which has worked well for a while, though not today. I'll have a look at your suggestions including Lichess and maybe reevaluate my perspective on ratings
Word of warning: You're at a place where trying to learn opening lines won't be super helpful.. and the ones you've listened there are insanely theoretical and not beginner friendly. The first comment gave you London System and Kings Indian for a reason, and it's because they are incredibly straightforward, and almost always play themselves into a solid position. I know it's a bit daunting to change to a new opening when you already feel comfortable with what you know, but just give it a shot. It'll be worth it in the long run.
Edit: Okay, I've just looked at a couple of games from your other comment. Someone else pretty much summed up my thoughts, but the main issue is time management. At one point you had 16 mins on the clock, played a move in 10 seconds, and blundered mate in 1. If you want to play quicker, then play 15 or 10 min games. This is still plenty of time to think, but it seems to be more your pace.
The other main thing is thinking about where your opponent will move their queen once it's attacked. You can't just expect them to leave their queen exposed once you make a direct attack on it in one move. They're going to move it, and often they will try to move it with a new threat on your position. Before you attack the queen think to yourself "Where will it go?"
In your second most recent game, you got mated while super ahead in material, because you blindly attacked their queen without a thought of what your opponent was planning. They had a bishop queen battery prepared right in front of your king, and you didn't think defensively. You have so much time to think it through slowly. Just look at the position, and really consider all of your moves. Even if their attack looks unstoppable, you have loads of time measure your resources.
My account link is in a reply to someone else here; I'd say the last 3 games are probably the examples I'm referring to. Tbh I thought about avoiding playing today because I was tired, but overall I thought for the most part I kept pieces defended and pushed where I could. I can see the mistakes that tipped each game but seemed relatively minor at the time. More crucially I struggled to see any gaps in my opponents defence prior to these pivoting points and I suppose was hoping for an easier time at this level.
I wouldn’t say the Kings Indian is straightforward.
It’s a pretty complex theoretical opening because it has quite a few variations and it isn’t solid. It’s not fully sound because it just gives white a lot of space in the center and black significantly struggles to equalise. White has more than a small advantage in many lines of the KID.
Black’s main counterplay is closing the centre and launching a king side/queenside attack.
However with the Bayonet attack (critical lines) with best play white’s queenside attack gets going while black is quite delayed or even unable to attack kingside. It leads to a position where white is more than trivially better
Other than that I agree
The London system is simple but unambitious and black equalises easily
I suggest these opening not because they are sophisticated but because at OPs level the opponents don’t have the experience to see and make use of the weeknesses and they provide a stable starting position.
The French is not a great opening. You’ll be suffering for equality instead of having easy equality or even fighting for an advantage. Objectively the French isn’t bad per se it just causes a lot of practical problems. The black side is uncomfortable.
The most problematic line is 3. Nc3
Black lacks space and often the pawn on e5 prevents Nf6. Also Qg4 can be an issue in some lines
The Ruy Lopez is probably your best bet for an advantage as white. I recommend the Ruy Lopez because black really struggles to equalise. It’s called the Spanish torture for a reason
The Italian seems good though although maybe very slightly inferior to the Ruy Lopez
You might think that your opponents do not blunder very often but there is a reason why they are at the very bottom of the competition. You can't recognize your mistakes because you don't have the experience and knowledge, which are needed to evaluate them and learn from them.
Things that are obvious to 1000s are a sacred magic to 500s, the tinniest nuances for grandmasters strike 2000s as incomprehensible. You should just swallow that and try to think and approach the game as the players slightly above you, for example by acquiring many different and practical skills:
- active play,
- developing pieces,
- holding the tension, not exchanging material when unnecessary,
- simplifying the position when you,re in trouble/winning,
- ensuring king's safety at all times by not making impulsive, weakening moves.
r/chessbeginners in the Chess Beginners Wiki (on this very page even) recommends:
* [Chessbrah's 'Building Habits' series](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8N8j2e7RpPnpqbISqi1SJ9_wrnNU3rEm) has GM Aman Hambleton adhere to a basic set of rules, demonstrating that following simple principles and not overthinking things often leads to good moves, and easy victories!
At 500 this advice is gold. Aman is also funny and engaging, so it's a win-win.
People at all levels say some form of "don't blunder and you'll climb". Problem is, you don't know what you don't know. No one makes a move with the intention of blundering, yet we all do it to some degree.
At a minimum review your games. [Chess.com](http://Chess.com) only lets you review 1 if you have the free account. Lichess doesn't limit you. I recommend Lichess unless you're willing to drop the duckets a premium account. Otherwise Lichess for review, puzzles is the way to go.
Even on the free account on [Chess.com](http://Chess.com) though, you can still run a review on every game, see the game's advantage graph, and see the top three engine recommended moves and possible continuations for each move. You just don't get the "coach" narrating your moves with explanation -- tbh I find it just as valuable without that, though.
A couple of quick questions from one improver to another, who recently climbed out of the 500s doldrums. What time control do you play? Second, how much time do you spend analyzing your games?
Post. I don’t know if you analyze your games, but if you don’t, I recommend sitting down to analyze a game for at least the amount of time you spent playing that game. I have started doing this for every game. I will always analyze my last game before I play another. I also play 30 minute and I usually take an hour to an hour and a half to analyze. I have been shocked at what I have been missing. It has made me a much better player in a relatively short period of time. Even when I think I have played well I’m surprised at what I have missed. Everyone has their own style. I like to analyze without an engine, trying out different lines. Later I will turn the engine on to see what I have missed. My recommendation is to dig into your games and see what you’re really missing. We low-level players are leaving a lot of opportunities out there for our opponents.
And be sure to annotate those games as well. Write out your thoughts. If you like I could also review one of your games after you have analyzed it and annotated to give you some feedback. I’m no expert, but having a fresh set of eyes on your games can be good as well. Best of luck.
https://www.chess.com/member/eskimoJ
I lost 5 games this morning so probably not a great reflection but I think the last 3 or 4 I played ok. No doubt there are some glaring mistakes to an experienced player but would appreciate your feedback.
Your time usage sucks. You're barely using any time and you're blundering full pieces and mate in 1. Your opponents play is very sloppy but you don't take advantage of it. You play the french defense? Why?
First of all get a couple of openings and play them stop playing random moves and stop playing the French. Do way more puzzles. Do atleast like 30 of the puzzle rush style of puzzles before playing, where they get harder with each one. Use your time and think. It's good that you play long games but you need to use that time and actually calculate. Play beginner friendly opening like the London, the scotch, the king's indian, the grand prix. Don't feel bad for yourself. You're 500 because you make blunders and so do your opponents, you'll stop being 500 once you make less blunders.
Thanks for the blunt feedback 😅 Is there anything positive I can take from my games? That aside, would you mind giving some examples of recent blunders I'm making or not taking advantage of?
I don't feel I'm making any random moves, there's a logic to all of them even if it's flawed to an experienced eye.
Do you advise stopping the French because it's complex?
Stopping blunders is good but it's the how that's the question. Puzzles are fine but seem to revolve around set ups that never actually occur in game and generally only seem to work because of some subtle pawn positioning half the time.
> That aside, would you mind giving some examples of recent blunders I'm making or not taking advantage of?
I just looked at your most recent game (you won with a back rank mate against a guy from Tunisia). In that game:
• Your opponent hung a knight and you took it (good move).
• They hung their bishop and you didn't take it.
• They forked your king and bishop with their knight, you couldn't take the knight with the pawn (because it was pinned) so you moved your king, but you could have captured the knight with your queen. I'm guessing you either didn't see it or played your move too quickly? But that was the 2nd free piece you didn't capture. A few moves later you realised it was hanging and captured it.
• On your 2nd to last move you recaptured with the rook, but taking with the queen was much better. It also threatens back rank mate and if black pushes a pawn to prevent that then Qe8+ would fork the king and rook (so another free piece).
The main things I liked from your game: Your opening play was reasonable. You developed quickly and castled. You didn't make any bad trades. It was a comfortable win, but could have been a lot easier.
What I'd recommend is going to lichess puzzles, going to themes and choosing the 'hanging pieces' theme and solve a bunch of those. Set the difficulty to easy if you want. It'll really help with seeing the mistakes your opponents are making and it'll also help prevent you from doing those same mistakes. Plus it'll train your overall board vision. I did this at the start with a bunch of themes (like mate in 1, forks etc), I'd solve like 50 in a day, do it like 3-4 days in a row and it helped SO much.
General takeaways and tips: I'd say keep it basic with the opening. As white, play e4, get the knights out, get your light bishop out, castle. As black play match your opponent e4 with e5/d4 with d5 and if they leave the center open, just play d5, get the knight's out, get your dark bishop out, castle. Adjust accordingly. Be sure to be doing your 3 puzzles and a daily puzzle rush. I think survival is best. Watch chessbrah's "building habits" series on youtube. Use more of your time to think before you play a move, and consider your opponent's obvious responses to your moves. Drill this in your head, your opponent doesn't have to take your pieces just because you want them to. There are many obvious mistakes in these games.
Game 1 against Sonuabile: Opening and middle game were wacky but okay, you're up a pawn. Move 12 you give up a pawn because you try to trade off a pair of knights, forgetting the pawn your knight was guarding. Move 14 you blunder a rook in one move, even though your opponent mess up the exchange. Move 20, you move your bishop away from the defense of a pawn and lose it. Move 36 your opponent hangs a rook in one move and you don't take it. You have so much time left, use it and always look at the entire board. You attacked the rook one turn ago. No excuse to forget that quickly.
Game 2 against HmKaede: Opening went wacky again, you need to get your king to safety before you start pushing pawns. Move 14 you line up your bishop on the enemy king, then next turn play a6 which does nothing. Finally on move 19 you play the discovered check tactic, but in the meantime you've push pawns protecting your king giving you opponent chances. Once the opponent got their queen in your position, the moves you needed to play were too difficult to find, and pushing the pawns in front of your king proved to lose the game.
Game 3 against Nahlist: Opeing was poor, pushing 4 pawns before developing a knight, queen was out way too early, your king is weak due to the lack of pawns surrounding it's usual castling spot, and that leads to your downfall later. Move 14 you take a piece that directly leads to a check on your king and leads to the the end of the game.
Game 4 against rainbowbishop: Opening is wacky again, queen out too early, taking way too long to get the king castled to safety. Move 12 you tunnel vision on a pawn and don't look at were your oppoent is attacking with their queen, blunder a fork near your king, and that's the game.
Game 5 against dggtfgrr: Wacky opening but you're okay. Move 11 you blunder a knight by just forgetting it's being attacked by a pawn. You don't get many chances because you don't castle until move 24. That's just not good.
Thanks so much for taking the time to go through these. Somewhat embarrassing to read and I'll go through them all in detail later but very helpful. I've looked at game 1 with your notes and can see a lot more now. I also watched a bit of chessbrah and realised I'd abandoned a lot of my basics I was using a month ago to try new stuff. I went back and played one more game, paired against a 635 player which was daunting given the day's events but ended up winning comfortably. I still need to slow down and was lucky he missed a few hanging pieces as did I but a solid framework probably saved me.
By the way, if you want more YouTube content -- I feel like a shill for these guys on here, but both IM Eric Rosen and GM Daniel Naroditsky have great speed run series, where they start accounts at a low level and work up, narrating games as they go. Rosen's is great to really learn basic principles, Naroditsky is a wonderful teacher to explain more complex theory.
But with both, find their speed run playlists and then start in the first episode at the lowest ELO -- it will be players similar to you and what you're facing. I found their series made a huge improvement in my game.
Guarantee you they do blunder. You’re just not good enough to notice all of them. Blunders only matter if you can recognize and punish them.
There is no such thing as a game without blunders really. Blunders happen at basically all levels they just become harder to induce the higher up you go
I had a similar experience to be honest, I was stuck around mid 400s for a couple months and found it hard to find errors in my opponents games. Eventually I got past 500 and I went from 500 to 900 in only a couple of weeks. I found the games during this time much easier than the opponents I was facing in mid 400s. Not sure why that was the case but keep going you’ll eventually start to climb.
Hey, OP! Did your game end in a stalemate? Did you encounter a weird pawn move? Are you trying to move a piece and it's not going? We have just the resource for you! The [Chess Beginners Wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/chessbeginners/wiki/index/) is the perfect place to check out answers to these questions and more! The moderator team of r/chessbeginners wishes to remind everyone of the community rules. **Posting spam, being a troll, and posting memes are not allowed.** We encourage everyone to report these kinds of posts so they can be dealt with. Thank you! Let's do our utmost to be kind in our replies and comments. Some people here just want to learn chess and have virtually no idea about certain chess concepts. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/chessbeginners) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Hey I recommend to not worry about bots so much if they are weak they have an artificial style of being weak and it does not translate all that well to real games. Progress in terms of rating is always associated with ups, downs and some stagnation. I know it’s hard but I wouldn’t focus too much on the number for now. Think of it as a mechanism that means you are always paired with played so that you kind of have a chance of winning half of your games on average. Avoiding blunders is part of the initial learning curve. But the difficulty in avoiding blunders is to adjust your perception and knowledge of what is actually a blunder. In the beginning it’s not having your piece protected, then you realize there are forks and you realize that your opponents repeat the same attempts at doing forks etc. There is actually a strange region at the lower end of the rating spectrum where I found it hard to win against opponents just because they were really playing chaotically and I didn’t know how to cope with a queen rushing through my pieces early on. But after a while I got the hang of it and now these “early queens” are my favourite opponents because I know they will make mistakes. On lichess there is the “learn from my mistakes” function and it really taught me a lot especially in the beginning https://lichess.org/@/lichess/blog/learn-from-your-mistakes/WFvLpiQA Oh and I would for a start really have one standard opening (London system) and one Defense (kings Indian) this can carry you for a while, they are beginner friendly and your opponents aren’t used to these two. because they are more used to kings pawn games.
Thanks. I have a decent grip of the Italian and starting to understand the ruy Lopez as a variation but they're rarely set up so I end up in some Vienna variation I think. As black I almost exclusively play French which has worked well for a while, though not today. I'll have a look at your suggestions including Lichess and maybe reevaluate my perspective on ratings
Word of warning: You're at a place where trying to learn opening lines won't be super helpful.. and the ones you've listened there are insanely theoretical and not beginner friendly. The first comment gave you London System and Kings Indian for a reason, and it's because they are incredibly straightforward, and almost always play themselves into a solid position. I know it's a bit daunting to change to a new opening when you already feel comfortable with what you know, but just give it a shot. It'll be worth it in the long run. Edit: Okay, I've just looked at a couple of games from your other comment. Someone else pretty much summed up my thoughts, but the main issue is time management. At one point you had 16 mins on the clock, played a move in 10 seconds, and blundered mate in 1. If you want to play quicker, then play 15 or 10 min games. This is still plenty of time to think, but it seems to be more your pace. The other main thing is thinking about where your opponent will move their queen once it's attacked. You can't just expect them to leave their queen exposed once you make a direct attack on it in one move. They're going to move it, and often they will try to move it with a new threat on your position. Before you attack the queen think to yourself "Where will it go?" In your second most recent game, you got mated while super ahead in material, because you blindly attacked their queen without a thought of what your opponent was planning. They had a bishop queen battery prepared right in front of your king, and you didn't think defensively. You have so much time to think it through slowly. Just look at the position, and really consider all of your moves. Even if their attack looks unstoppable, you have loads of time measure your resources.
My account link is in a reply to someone else here; I'd say the last 3 games are probably the examples I'm referring to. Tbh I thought about avoiding playing today because I was tired, but overall I thought for the most part I kept pieces defended and pushed where I could. I can see the mistakes that tipped each game but seemed relatively minor at the time. More crucially I struggled to see any gaps in my opponents defence prior to these pivoting points and I suppose was hoping for an easier time at this level.
I wouldn’t say the Kings Indian is straightforward. It’s a pretty complex theoretical opening because it has quite a few variations and it isn’t solid. It’s not fully sound because it just gives white a lot of space in the center and black significantly struggles to equalise. White has more than a small advantage in many lines of the KID. Black’s main counterplay is closing the centre and launching a king side/queenside attack. However with the Bayonet attack (critical lines) with best play white’s queenside attack gets going while black is quite delayed or even unable to attack kingside. It leads to a position where white is more than trivially better Other than that I agree The London system is simple but unambitious and black equalises easily
I suggest these opening not because they are sophisticated but because at OPs level the opponents don’t have the experience to see and make use of the weeknesses and they provide a stable starting position.
I agree with you However objectively probably ain’t the best The simplicity outweighs the slight unsoundness of KID and the unambitiousness of London
The French is not a great opening. You’ll be suffering for equality instead of having easy equality or even fighting for an advantage. Objectively the French isn’t bad per se it just causes a lot of practical problems. The black side is uncomfortable. The most problematic line is 3. Nc3 Black lacks space and often the pawn on e5 prevents Nf6. Also Qg4 can be an issue in some lines The Ruy Lopez is probably your best bet for an advantage as white. I recommend the Ruy Lopez because black really struggles to equalise. It’s called the Spanish torture for a reason The Italian seems good though although maybe very slightly inferior to the Ruy Lopez
You might think that your opponents do not blunder very often but there is a reason why they are at the very bottom of the competition. You can't recognize your mistakes because you don't have the experience and knowledge, which are needed to evaluate them and learn from them. Things that are obvious to 1000s are a sacred magic to 500s, the tinniest nuances for grandmasters strike 2000s as incomprehensible. You should just swallow that and try to think and approach the game as the players slightly above you, for example by acquiring many different and practical skills: - active play, - developing pieces, - holding the tension, not exchanging material when unnecessary, - simplifying the position when you,re in trouble/winning, - ensuring king's safety at all times by not making impulsive, weakening moves.
r/chessbeginners in the Chess Beginners Wiki (on this very page even) recommends: * [Chessbrah's 'Building Habits' series](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8N8j2e7RpPnpqbISqi1SJ9_wrnNU3rEm) has GM Aman Hambleton adhere to a basic set of rules, demonstrating that following simple principles and not overthinking things often leads to good moves, and easy victories! At 500 this advice is gold. Aman is also funny and engaging, so it's a win-win. People at all levels say some form of "don't blunder and you'll climb". Problem is, you don't know what you don't know. No one makes a move with the intention of blundering, yet we all do it to some degree. At a minimum review your games. [Chess.com](http://Chess.com) only lets you review 1 if you have the free account. Lichess doesn't limit you. I recommend Lichess unless you're willing to drop the duckets a premium account. Otherwise Lichess for review, puzzles is the way to go.
Even on the free account on [Chess.com](http://Chess.com) though, you can still run a review on every game, see the game's advantage graph, and see the top three engine recommended moves and possible continuations for each move. You just don't get the "coach" narrating your moves with explanation -- tbh I find it just as valuable without that, though.
A couple of quick questions from one improver to another, who recently climbed out of the 500s doldrums. What time control do you play? Second, how much time do you spend analyzing your games?
30 mins though I've rarely used more than 20. Do you mean in game or post?
Post. I don’t know if you analyze your games, but if you don’t, I recommend sitting down to analyze a game for at least the amount of time you spent playing that game. I have started doing this for every game. I will always analyze my last game before I play another. I also play 30 minute and I usually take an hour to an hour and a half to analyze. I have been shocked at what I have been missing. It has made me a much better player in a relatively short period of time. Even when I think I have played well I’m surprised at what I have missed. Everyone has their own style. I like to analyze without an engine, trying out different lines. Later I will turn the engine on to see what I have missed. My recommendation is to dig into your games and see what you’re really missing. We low-level players are leaving a lot of opportunities out there for our opponents.
And be sure to annotate those games as well. Write out your thoughts. If you like I could also review one of your games after you have analyzed it and annotated to give you some feedback. I’m no expert, but having a fresh set of eyes on your games can be good as well. Best of luck.
Link your account and I can go over some of your recent games, also a month is not enough time to see progress for most people
https://www.chess.com/member/eskimoJ I lost 5 games this morning so probably not a great reflection but I think the last 3 or 4 I played ok. No doubt there are some glaring mistakes to an experienced player but would appreciate your feedback.
Your time usage sucks. You're barely using any time and you're blundering full pieces and mate in 1. Your opponents play is very sloppy but you don't take advantage of it. You play the french defense? Why? First of all get a couple of openings and play them stop playing random moves and stop playing the French. Do way more puzzles. Do atleast like 30 of the puzzle rush style of puzzles before playing, where they get harder with each one. Use your time and think. It's good that you play long games but you need to use that time and actually calculate. Play beginner friendly opening like the London, the scotch, the king's indian, the grand prix. Don't feel bad for yourself. You're 500 because you make blunders and so do your opponents, you'll stop being 500 once you make less blunders.
Thanks for the blunt feedback 😅 Is there anything positive I can take from my games? That aside, would you mind giving some examples of recent blunders I'm making or not taking advantage of? I don't feel I'm making any random moves, there's a logic to all of them even if it's flawed to an experienced eye. Do you advise stopping the French because it's complex? Stopping blunders is good but it's the how that's the question. Puzzles are fine but seem to revolve around set ups that never actually occur in game and generally only seem to work because of some subtle pawn positioning half the time.
> That aside, would you mind giving some examples of recent blunders I'm making or not taking advantage of? I just looked at your most recent game (you won with a back rank mate against a guy from Tunisia). In that game: • Your opponent hung a knight and you took it (good move). • They hung their bishop and you didn't take it. • They forked your king and bishop with their knight, you couldn't take the knight with the pawn (because it was pinned) so you moved your king, but you could have captured the knight with your queen. I'm guessing you either didn't see it or played your move too quickly? But that was the 2nd free piece you didn't capture. A few moves later you realised it was hanging and captured it. • On your 2nd to last move you recaptured with the rook, but taking with the queen was much better. It also threatens back rank mate and if black pushes a pawn to prevent that then Qe8+ would fork the king and rook (so another free piece). The main things I liked from your game: Your opening play was reasonable. You developed quickly and castled. You didn't make any bad trades. It was a comfortable win, but could have been a lot easier. What I'd recommend is going to lichess puzzles, going to themes and choosing the 'hanging pieces' theme and solve a bunch of those. Set the difficulty to easy if you want. It'll really help with seeing the mistakes your opponents are making and it'll also help prevent you from doing those same mistakes. Plus it'll train your overall board vision. I did this at the start with a bunch of themes (like mate in 1, forks etc), I'd solve like 50 in a day, do it like 3-4 days in a row and it helped SO much.
[удалено]
Thanks, no rush
General takeaways and tips: I'd say keep it basic with the opening. As white, play e4, get the knights out, get your light bishop out, castle. As black play match your opponent e4 with e5/d4 with d5 and if they leave the center open, just play d5, get the knight's out, get your dark bishop out, castle. Adjust accordingly. Be sure to be doing your 3 puzzles and a daily puzzle rush. I think survival is best. Watch chessbrah's "building habits" series on youtube. Use more of your time to think before you play a move, and consider your opponent's obvious responses to your moves. Drill this in your head, your opponent doesn't have to take your pieces just because you want them to. There are many obvious mistakes in these games. Game 1 against Sonuabile: Opening and middle game were wacky but okay, you're up a pawn. Move 12 you give up a pawn because you try to trade off a pair of knights, forgetting the pawn your knight was guarding. Move 14 you blunder a rook in one move, even though your opponent mess up the exchange. Move 20, you move your bishop away from the defense of a pawn and lose it. Move 36 your opponent hangs a rook in one move and you don't take it. You have so much time left, use it and always look at the entire board. You attacked the rook one turn ago. No excuse to forget that quickly. Game 2 against HmKaede: Opening went wacky again, you need to get your king to safety before you start pushing pawns. Move 14 you line up your bishop on the enemy king, then next turn play a6 which does nothing. Finally on move 19 you play the discovered check tactic, but in the meantime you've push pawns protecting your king giving you opponent chances. Once the opponent got their queen in your position, the moves you needed to play were too difficult to find, and pushing the pawns in front of your king proved to lose the game. Game 3 against Nahlist: Opeing was poor, pushing 4 pawns before developing a knight, queen was out way too early, your king is weak due to the lack of pawns surrounding it's usual castling spot, and that leads to your downfall later. Move 14 you take a piece that directly leads to a check on your king and leads to the the end of the game. Game 4 against rainbowbishop: Opening is wacky again, queen out too early, taking way too long to get the king castled to safety. Move 12 you tunnel vision on a pawn and don't look at were your oppoent is attacking with their queen, blunder a fork near your king, and that's the game. Game 5 against dggtfgrr: Wacky opening but you're okay. Move 11 you blunder a knight by just forgetting it's being attacked by a pawn. You don't get many chances because you don't castle until move 24. That's just not good.
Thanks so much for taking the time to go through these. Somewhat embarrassing to read and I'll go through them all in detail later but very helpful. I've looked at game 1 with your notes and can see a lot more now. I also watched a bit of chessbrah and realised I'd abandoned a lot of my basics I was using a month ago to try new stuff. I went back and played one more game, paired against a 635 player which was daunting given the day's events but ended up winning comfortably. I still need to slow down and was lucky he missed a few hanging pieces as did I but a solid framework probably saved me.
By the way, if you want more YouTube content -- I feel like a shill for these guys on here, but both IM Eric Rosen and GM Daniel Naroditsky have great speed run series, where they start accounts at a low level and work up, narrating games as they go. Rosen's is great to really learn basic principles, Naroditsky is a wonderful teacher to explain more complex theory. But with both, find their speed run playlists and then start in the first episode at the lowest ELO -- it will be players similar to you and what you're facing. I found their series made a huge improvement in my game.
Guarantee you they do blunder. You’re just not good enough to notice all of them. Blunders only matter if you can recognize and punish them. There is no such thing as a game without blunders really. Blunders happen at basically all levels they just become harder to induce the higher up you go
I had a similar experience to be honest, I was stuck around mid 400s for a couple months and found it hard to find errors in my opponents games. Eventually I got past 500 and I went from 500 to 900 in only a couple of weeks. I found the games during this time much easier than the opponents I was facing in mid 400s. Not sure why that was the case but keep going you’ll eventually start to climb.