Lessons learned after my 1000th game on Lichess

Woohoo! I just played my 1000th chess game (on Lichess) in just under 3 years- averaging almost one game per day. I joined Lichess on July 2, 2022. It was exactly 1 month after I retired (I’m 66 yrs. old now). In addition to Lichess computer play, I play approximately 50 OTB games per year. I’m assuming this frequency of play is equivalent to an active club player.

Brief History

I had started playing chess as a kid (back in the late-1960s early-1970s inspired by my hero Bobby Fischer), even winning my elementary school chess championship. However, I never really played much (if at all) after that. I knew to be ‘good’ at chess you needed to study the game and play all the time. And, with High School and College studies and sports I just had no time to play. (Remember, this was before Personal Computers so all chess games were played Over-The-Board (OTB). So, you had to find someone to play against that was equal or better than you were to learn and improve.) Even after college when I started working full-time in the early 1980s, I just didn’t have the time to play...nor anyone to play with for that matter. There were no chess clubs nearby either.

Then, in 1994 my wife asked me if I wanted to play against a Grandmaster and a four time U.S. Chess Champion. Not knowing who that person was, I said, “Sure, why not”. The only reason why I agreed to play was because I had bought Chessmaster 2000 back in 1990 for the PC and I was playing on occasion. (It’s funny but Chessmaster 2000 only played to an Elo rating of 1600, which was a high rating at the time for chess software designed for the PC). My wife’s company (McNeil Pharmaceutical) was hosting an event with GM Yasser Seirawan as the speaker/guest of honor. I would be playing a Simultaneous (Simul) chess match against Yasser after he spoke. I think there were close to 15 others that were playing. Needless to say, Yasser beat me up and won in no time. However, out of 15, I think I was one of the last 5 standing- so to speak. I do remember there was some (fat) guy from the local Chess Club (North Penn Chess Club) that was playing Yasser close. That was until Yasser put the guy on the clock and the guy lost in minutes. Yasser did inspire me to pick up chess again..but the urge waned with my busy work schedule. (By the way, Yasser was a super nice guy..very sociable.)

Now, fast forward to June 15th, 2025 looking back over the last 3 years, I’d say most of the 1000 games were played (unrated) against the Lichess Computer at levels 4 through 6 and the BOT Maia3 through Maia9. At first I thought level 4 was difficult. Then, I started beating level 4 routinely. So, I moved up to level 5. Then, I started beating it regularly as well. So, I moved up to level 6. Well, this is where I’d say I lose more games than what I win. In fact, if I draw at level 6, I’m a happy camper. My play against Maia was similar. I started playing Maia3 and thought it was a good match. Then, I started beating it regularly. So, I moved up to Maia5 and started beating it regularly. Now, I’m playing Maia9- where I’m currently playing. I’d say I beat Maia9 75% of the time right now. I’d play a higher rated Maia, but there is none currently available on Lichess. HINT Maia developers if you’re reading this blog! If you want more information on Maia9, here’s a link: https://lichess.org/@/mullerrj/blog/maia9-bot-first-impression/JEa0nvpr

I like playing against the Lichess Computer rather than playing Humans. I don’t even play with friends online. When I play against the Computer, I don’t have to worry about meet-up times with friends, my opponent cheating or making me wait while they time out in a losing position- rather than just resigning. (Yes, even friends cheat). Also, when I play against the Computer, I can also start from a position to practice a new Opening. When I play a particular Opening, unlike most humans, the Computer always mixes up its response which helps you learn the Opening more thoroughly. And, I can play when I want and for as long as I want. In short, it’s just more convenient for me and less stress/drama when I play against the Computer vs Human. I know this pisses off some of my friends who are always asking me to play them online. Sorry guys!

Lastly, my ‘lessons learned’ wouldn’t be worth the time reading this blog if I didn’t tell you that I improved my Elo rating an average of close to 150 pts. per year (over the last 3 yrs). When I started playing routinely back in July 2, 2022, I’m guessing/estimating my Lichess rating was approximately 1400. Now, I believe it to be around 1800 for Classical play. (Keep in mind an 1800 Lichess rating equates to approximately a 1600 USCF Elo rating...maybe less. Is a 1600 USCF a good rating? It’s solid/respectable. It puts you in the top 20-25% of USCF rated players. You’d be considered a strong club player with this rating). How do I know my rating is approximately 1800 on Lichess if I don’t play rated games? I know based on the opponents I played that are/were rated. In addition to playing the Computer on Lichess, I also play OTB at my weekly local chess club with people that have Lichess ratings. I think a 400 pt Lichess rating increase in 3 years is pretty good. That’s being self-taught with no coaching. It’s just from reading books, watching videos, playing games (and reviewing/analyzing them) and doing puzzles. If you disagree, and don’t think a 400 pt. increase is good, I’ll spare you the time reading further. Goodbye!

In general, here’s what you can expect your Elo rating to increase each year on average (based on ability). You’ll see as you improve and get better, your average Elo rating increase will actually decrease each year. Yes, I know there are many factors that contribute to the increase. These are just averages:

Beginner (<1000): 300-500 pts/yr.
Intermediate (1000-1600): 100-300 pts/yr.
Advanced (1600-2000): 50-150 pts/yr.
Expert/Master (>2000): 0-50 pts/yr.

Source: ChatGPT

By the way, if you’re a beginner and playing at an Elo rating of 1000, it doesn’t mean that you can play for just 3 yrs., increasing 500 Elo points per year, and become a Grandmaster with a 2500 Elo rating. It takes at least 10 yrs. (on average) with serious structured training (with a good chess coach) to reach the GM level. GM Magnus Carlsen for example, has played more than 4000 Classical games OTB and more than 10,000 online. It took Magnus only 8 yrs. to reach GM. But, as you know, Magnus is the exception and reason why he's probably the GOAT.

Lessons learned

Ok, enough about me, here are some of my more important “lessons learned” after playing 1000 games (in no particular order):

• You need to know the 3 Opening Objectives in Chess: Control the Center, Develop your Pieces, and Safeguard your King. When I say you need to know the objectives, you need to truly understand them and more importantly “adhere to them” when you play. I’m surprised I haven’t written a blog about this subject because I truly believe it’s the best advice I can give a beginner through intermediate chess player. Here’s a quick review:

  Control the Center: This means placing your d and/or e-file pawns on the central squares (e4, e5, d4, d5). You can also control the central
  squares with your other minor pieces- specifically your knights and bishops.

  Develop your pieces: This means bringing your minor pieces (knights and bishops) off the back rank and onto active squares. You want to
  develop these pieces towards the center. And, it’s usually preferable to develop knights before bishops.

  Safeguard the King: You do this by castling. Castling moves the King behind pawns and puts the King closer to the corner of the board where it’s
  safer. Castling also activates the rook.

• You need to know your Openings. No, you don’t need to study every variation of every Opening, or study any of them ad-nauseum, but you should be familiar with them. I can’t tell you how many games I played where I was unfamiliar with what to play in an Opening and I either lost material or got into a bad board position. No, I didn’t lose the game in the Opening, because of my unfamiliarity, but it’s not fun playing chess when you’ve lost tempo, you’re stuck in a bad board position, you lost material and you’re behind in the game. It’s like running a race against equally talented opponents and you fall down at the start and one of your shoes comes off. Sure, you can get back up and start running again. You might even make it close to the front of the race again. But, chances are, you’re not going to win. The best way I’ve found to learn Openings is to create an Opening Repertoire in your private study (as shown below). Then, turn each variation into an Interactive Lesson and drill yourself periodically. Also, be sure to become familiar with any potential traps associated with your favorite Opening.

• Middle Game tactics are crucial. I can’t tell you how many games I played where I either miscalculated a position or fell prey to a tactical move by my opponent (I didn’t see coming). That’s why I believe it’s imperative to continually play chess puzzles to keep sharp. I do chess puzzles in books and on the computer all the time. However, when you practice puzzles on Lichess, use the Puzzle Themes to practice specific areas of your game. And, I normally uncheck the ‘Rated’ button when I’m doing puzzles so I’m not always given puzzles to solve based on my rating. I also don’t want to trash my current Lichess puzzle rating working on puzzle Themes I’m really not good at...like Pawn Endings. I worked hard over the past 3 yrs. to achieve my current puzzle rating on Lichess of 2400+. This rating is based on a ‘mix of everything’ Puzzle Themes, a lot of which I’m obviously pretty good at to achieve such a lofty rating.

It’s also a good idea to calculate using Checks, Captures and Threats (CCT) and evaluate using K-MAPS when you play, especially during the
Middle Game. Here’s a blog I wrote on the subject if you’re not familiar with these concepts: https://lichess.org/@/mullerrj/blog/evaluating-with-k-maps/My99b9rC And, unlike a mistake in the Opening, I rarely (if ever) won a game if I made a critical mistake/blunder in the Middle Game. The only thing worse than blundering in the Middle Game is blundering in the Endgame since there is little to no time (or material) to recuperate.

• Analyze your games after you play. If you want to improve you need to learn from your mistakes. The best way to learn from your mistakes is to review and analyze your games afterward with the help of the Lichess Computer Analysis feature. The Lichess Computer Analysis will show you where you blundered or made your mistake. It will also tell you what the recommended move was based on the chess engine evaluation number. However, a lot of times you may not know why you blundered. And, that’s extremely important to know. Otherwise, you’ll probably repeat your mistake/blunder in the future. Well, you’re in luck. I just found a NEW computer program called AI Chess Coach that helps explain why you blundered. Here’s the link: https://app.chesscoach.dev/ AI Chess Coach is a personal chess coach that not only helps you spot critical moments (where you make mistakes or blunders) in your games, it also helps explain why it’s a mistake/blunder.

Here’s an example of a game I played the other day (I’m the black pieces) where AI Chess Coach explained why my move 8..Ne4 was a mistake and 8...Qc8 was the recommended play:

AI Chess Coach is not perfect but it’s a start and I’m sure it will get better in time. Actually, I believe the better reason why Qc8 is/was recommended is because the black bishop on g4 is in position to trade-off with the annoying fianchetto’d white bishop on g2. I know if/when I play the London System Opening (with white) and black plays the King’s Indian Defense, the first thing I do (when I get the chance) is to trade off my dark squared bishop with black’s. I just find those fianchetto’d bishops pesky/annoying so I try taking them out sooner than later.

Another great source for helping diagnose why you blundered in a game, if you can’t figure it out, is to go to Lichess’s Game Analysis Forum and ask.
I’ve had Master level players answer some of my (Why is this a blunder?) questions. Here’s the link: https://lichess.org/forum/game-analysis

• Like the Opening, you need to know your Endgame. However, here’s the thing, you don’t really need to know all of the potential Endgames. You only need to know the most common, and they are: King + 2 Rooks vs. King, King +1 Rook vs. King, King + Queen vs. King, King + Pawn vs. King and other King-Pawn Endgames. In 1000 games, I can honestly say I haven’t had a single King + Bishop + Knight vs. King Endgame. Nor, have I had a King + 2 Bishops vs. King Endgame. You can practice the most common Endgames here: https://lichess.org/practice

• Play Attacking Chess. I’m a firm believer in being aggressive and playing “Attack Chess”. I wrote a blog entitled, “Attack or be Attacked” after reading several books on the topic written by several GMs. It’s because when I play passively/defensively I usually end up losing. Also, I think it’s more fun playing “Attack Chess”. I think you’ll agree. Here’s the link: https://lichess.org/@/mullerrj/blog/attack-or-be-attacked/zpjdeHFY

• Slow Down when you play. I wrote another blog entitled, “Slow down you move too fast”. I wrote this blog because I’ve discovered that most of my mistakes/blunders occurred when I rushed- I played too fast rather than considering alternative moves. Often times, I made the first good move I saw. Heck, sometimes I still fall victim to rushing. If you’re playing a Classical game, which you should when you’re first starting out, your time control should be set to at least 1 hour. You should never be rushed on time if you’re a beginner to intermediate player. I always set my time control to 1 hour, even though I only use on average about 20 minutes of time on my clock playing a Classical game. Here’s the link: https://lichess.org/@/mullerrj/blog/slow-down-you-move-too-fast/dvH6Eez3

• Always play someone equal or better. Just like any game/sport, you’re only as good as your competition. If/when you play chess, strive to play with someone equal or better than you are. If you play against the Computer like I do, play against a level where your win rate is between 50% and 60%. If you can’t win at least 50% of the time, reduce your level of competition. If you win more than 60%, increase your level of competition. I think my current win rate vs. the Computer is 61%. If it rises above 60%, I play at a higher level and usually lose to knock the win rate down. If you play OTB, try to play someone whose rating is 50-100 Elo rating points higher. And, when you do play, ALWAYS alternate playing black and white pieces.

• Hire a chess coach. If you really want to improve your chess game, and you have the money, hire a coach. You’ll improve much more quickly than if you try to self-learn like I do/did. The good coaches, however, aren’t cheap. GMs charge $100+/hr. But, if you’re a beginner to intermediate player, you don’t need a GM as a coach. A FM or IM is all that you’ll need for half the price. Here’s a list of US Coaches (that speak English) that advertise on Lichess: https://lichess.org/coach/en-US/US/rating If you can’t afford to hire a personal coach, see if there are any group chess classes in your area. They are much more affordable than private lessons. Why/how am I an advocate of chess coaches if I’ve never hired one myself? It’s because I’m a chess coach myself. Albeit I coach kids.

• Train your weaknesses and play your strengths. In chess, it means working on improving weaker chess skills (like middle game tactics for example) while simultaneously leveraging and capitalizing on the areas where you excel (like perhaps opening and endgame theory). It doesn’t mean that you should neglect training the things you excel in (during a chess game), you just don’t need to spend as much time training them as you do your weaknesses. You identify your weaknesses by analyzing your games, specifically the ones you lost. I showed you how to do that in an earlier bullet. Here’s a blog I wrote on Training your weaknesses and playing your strengths: https://lichess.org/@/mullerrj/blog/train-your-weaknesses-play-your-strengths/DRPck1yt

• Study Master games. I learn a lot from watching/studying games that GMs play. There’s a saying in chess, “To play like a Master, Study the Masters”. I specifically like to watch/study how GMs play some of my favorite Openings. I’m amazed at how frequently these GMs leave book (Opening theory) and then transpose back into book. I’m sure they avoid mainline theory to steer their opponent into unfamiliar waters- if that’s even possible at the GM level. In this example below, I saved a game between Carlsen and Aronian to my Opening Repertoire (in my Private Studies), where Magnus played the Catalan Opening- one of my favorites. The easiest way to find these Master games is to play the first few moves of the Opening on the Lichess Analysis Board, and then scroll down beneath the Masters database tab and you’ll see a header that reads, “Top Games”. Then, you can save these Top Games to your private studies like I do and even include comments to help explain the reasoning behind each move.

If you’re a beginner to intermediate player, I hope these lessons learned help you increase your Elo rating. Good luck!