If you’re used to picking things up quickly, in school, at work, or in life, then chess can feel strangely frustrating.
You’re successful in your career. You had little trouble with math in school. You’ve solved tough problems before, and usually with less effort than most.
But in chess, you struggle.
For the first time, you face something you should be good at, yet it doesn’t click. And that drives you crazy.
What if the very thing that helped you succeed elsewhere, being able to understand things quickly, is actually a disadvantage in chess?
Learning the Non-Standard Way
I remember being kicked out of my math class and told not to come back for 12 months. The reason? I was so bored that I annoyed and distracted everyone in class.
So I just read through the material, understood it quickly, took the exams, and passed.
If you’ve had similar experiences, you probably learned the same lesson: the “standard” way is too slow. You built an inner expectation that you have to outpace the normal way.
And if knowledge is the only thing that matters, this approach works.
Not in chess, though.
The Huge Difference
The biggest difference between chess and most other mental activities is this:
Understanding something doesn’t get you anywhere. You need the skills to apply it.
That makes chess much closer to physical sports than academic classes like math or history.
You can know what a pin is, or that doubled pawns are usually bad, or that you should develop your pieces. But in an actual game, you’ll still mess these up if you don’t have the skills.
And building skills is hard. For everyone.
Why Trying to Be Quicker Backfires
Smart people need stimulation. The moment you understand something, you want to move on. If others need four times as long, you assume you’ll be four times faster.
But that’s where the trap lies.
To acquire a skill, you need to practice it. Repeatedly. That means solving forks again and again, sometimes they’re on move one (easy), sometimes hidden on move four (hard). The only way to get there is repetition.
While someone who isn’t rushing ahead will happily stick to the basics, you’ll be off searching for material that feels more “challenging.”
That’s how many smart adult improvers end up with lots of knowledge but still hang pieces in games.
It’s also why chess feels so frustrating:
- 99% of your mistakes are obvious after the fact.
- You blunder tactics you understand perfectly.
- For the first time in your life, you feel stupid.
Searching for a Complex Solution
And that’s when the rabbit hole begins.
If the simple stuff feels beneath you, you start searching for sophisticated fixes:
- Advanced opening courses
- Heavy strategic manuals
- Intricate game analysis
I see it all the time. Students come with advanced-sounding goals:
- “Transformation of advantages”
- “Strategic trade-offs between middlegame and endgame”
- “Spotting subtle attacking chances”
But the real issue? They’re blundering one-move tactics.
Trying to fight an execution problem with more knowledge is like trying to learn a backflip by reading about it on the sofa.
I don’t like your odds.
So, What Actually Works?
The solution isn’t glamorous. And many people don’t like hearing it.
In fact, the main criticism I get is that my advice is too obvious, usually from smart people who expect something groundbreaking.
But here it is:
Your biggest problem is simple mistakes. The solution is to reduce them.
Acceptance, Basics (yes, boring)
Step 1 is acceptance. Chess requires doing the basics, over and over, until they stick.
Even prodigy kids who “absorb everything” have solved thousands of exercises.
Think of chess like a sport. Watching football doesn’t make you good at it. Understanding the concept of passing doesn’t mean you’ll pass well in a match. You need to execute it on the field, fail, and learn.
Chess works the same way. Knowing isn’t enough; execution makes the difference.
Look at Your Blunders; Especially the Obvious Ones
One of the biggest mistakes students make is ignoring their blunders.
The thought process usually goes:
“That’s obvious. I just had a bad moment. Nothing to learn here.”
If it happens once, fine. But if it happens game after game, it’s a pattern.
That shows you don’t lack knowledge; you lack the skill to apply it.
The antidote?
- Solve basic tactics
- Lower expectations: simple moves win more games
- Stop trying to be a genius with every move
- Work on focus and consistency
- Use a clear thought process (yes, everyone needs this)
It’s not flashy. But it works.
The Real Path Forward
In the end, the solution isn’t glamorous. It’s not a secret opening, or a brilliant strategy guide.
It’s basics, repeated. Tactics. Blunder checks. Simple, clear thinking.
Chess is a skill-based sport. Like basketball free throws or tennis serves, you improve by repeating fundamentals until they’re second nature.
The irony is that the “smart” way, chasing shortcuts and complex ideas, is usually the slowest way forward.
The real path is simple, but not easy:
Focus on execution, master the basics, and let consistency do its work.
Keep improving,
GM Noël Studer
PS: This article was initially sent out to my Newsletter list. If you want to get chess improvement advice for free in your inbox, join 17,000+ chess improvers by signing up for Friday Grandmaster Insights here.
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