How to get to 1800 chess rating?
Have you been wondering about how to get to 1800 chess rating? Well, honestly, it depends on what level you’re starting from. If you’re a total beginner that just learned the rules of the game recently, it may take between 15 months to 3 years. But if you’re a novice and have the basic ideas, it can be done very quickly, the fastest route to 1800 might just be playing players rated 1100 and below only.
Jokes aside, players rated 1800 and above are advanced players who have a very good grasp of openings, mid games, and end games. Their tactics are disciplined and play with patience. You need to study and play constantly with players at this level.
Today, we’ll highlight some of the materials, study books, and software engines (if you’re serious about chess) you need for learning, and guide you while studying and playing on your road to 1800 rating point.
Some of the books that are recommended for your chess development are
- Modern Chess by Nick de Firmian
- Logical Chess by Irving Chernev
- Bobby Fisher teaches chess by Bobby Fisher
- How to reassess your chess by Jeremy Silman
- Think like a grandmaster by Alexander Kotov
These books cut across levels of chess from beginner to intermediate level.
You can also install the chess programs on your PC and train with them. A chess engine contains a Search Function that calculates millions of possible continuations from any given position and Evaluates these positions based on different positional factors. The combination of those two components allows finding what is considered to be the best move to play per any position.
They usually come with a database of games or you can install one yourself. You can make use of these Chess programs to analyze your previous games or you can check the database and go through games that have been played that are similar to your playing style.
There are lots of chess engines out there, some of the popular ones are
- Fritz
- Chessbase
- Rybka
How hard or fast you can get to 1800 rating points honestly depends on you. How much time do you want to dedicate to it, but most importantly, how big is your passion for the game? Once you’re committed, chess books and software will help you understand the different phases of the game of chess. They are the opening, middle game, and endgame.
Chess Openings
Chess Openings are divided into two: Principles and Theories.
Know opening principles will save you from the stress of memorizing specific sequences of moves, these principles are crucial to playing the opening successfully. If your opponent plays a move you’re unfamiliar with after you memorized an opening sequence, these principles will guide you.
- Control central space with your pawns. This allows you to bring your other pieces into the game easily
- Develop your pieces. You won’t win many games if your pieces stay too long at their initial positions. You need to have a sense of urgency in getting your pieces into action by developing them.
- Do not move the piece twice. moving the same piece, again and again, will make you fall behind in piece development. You only move a piece twice only when it is absolutely necessary.
- Don’t make unnecessary early queen moves. Recklessly bringing out your queen at the beginning of the game can subject her to easy be harassment by your opponents’ pieces. This will end up with you moving your queen twice or more, worse still lose your queen!
- Castle early. Once the centre opens up, it will be dangerous for your king to be stuck on its starting square. Castling tucks your king safely away in a corner, and also allows you to connect your rooks in preparation for the middle game.
- Safety first. Carefully assess the safety of each move before making it.
If your opponent violates this principle, capitalize on it. For example, if your opponent brings his queen out early in the game, you can develop your knight or bishop to attack their queen. You’re also allowed to violate the principles for a move that would give you an advantage.
Say, for example, you already developed your bishop, then your opponent develop a piece to your bishop diagonal, you can capture the piece in your next move. It’ll be violating the third but to your advantage.
Opening Theories
This is where memorization may come in, Opening theories are a sequence of moves to structure your pieces into some specific set-ups or variations. Some popular openings include the Ruy Lopez, Sicilian defence, and Italian game
The two most popular opening moves by a large margin are 1. e4 and 1. d4. They are called the King’s Pawn Opening and the Queen’s Pawn Opening, respectively. These moves are perfectly following the principles listed above. They secure white some central space from the beginning of the game, and also open a path for a bishop to develop.
Knowing the opening principles by heart will save you the stress of memorization!
Middle-game
The middle game starts most of the time after castling. Middlegames are often complex, with most of the pieces clustered on the board (you don’t need to thoroughly memorize situations unlike openings or endgame). All you have to do here is make sure your pieces are mobile and your king is safe!
This is the phase where you’ll need pattern recognition, tactics and strategic understanding. Some books and softwares can help you to understand tactics and pattern recognitions in different opening variations and also practical exercises that you can play out on your own. You can also learn from a software engine by inputting a position into it and learn from how it plays the position.
Having a good middle game will determine how comfortable you go into your endgame.
Endgame
This is the last phase of the game. It is the stage where all that is left on the board is the king, some pawns and sometimes a piece or two, or just the king and one or two pieces.
Here the main goal is to make your king as active as possible and create a passed pawn while restricting the activity of your opponents’ pieces.
Like chess openings, the endgame also has principles. Some of the endgame principles include
- Get your king close to the action
- Place your rook behind a passed pawn
- Attack your opponents’ weak pawns
- If you have a material advantage, exchange pieces but keep pawns
- If you have an advantage, leave pawns on both sides of the board
- Put your pawns on the opposite colour squares of your bishop
- The bishop pair is very powerful
- Bishops on opposite colour squares often lead to a draw
It would take a while, but understanding all of these with dedicating time to study will help you improve your chess even beyond the 1800 rating points that you want.
Goodluck!
To learn more about how to get to 1800 chess rating point, check out 10 Of The Best Chess Books For Intermediate Players and TACTICS TRAINER
