I've enjoyed chess since I was a kid, but I've always felt held back due to my difficulties focusing. I've always been miserably bad at the game but not because I don't understand what I should be doing, but I've had this issue where I (on Chesscom for example) will be dominating an opponent, but make some remarkably idiotic blunder that immediately loses me the game because somehow their knight on f6 that's been there the entire game suddenly became invisible to me. When I was younger I would chock it up to being a rookie mistake or whatever but it's never improved with time, and I feel that all my games play the same way. Either I win in the first 15 moves, or the opponent defends until I inevitably make some sorry mistake and throw the game; obviously this pattern has become extremely boring and my drive to continue playing has been crushed.

Has anyone else with ADHD been successful in improving at chess, especially at competitive level? If anyone here has dealt with it, I would love to know what you've done to resolve or ease any issues with focus you may have had.

I do not advise playing with these openings as they are most likely bad, This is just a showcase

1: Glasgow System

My main opening that I play, It trades a blocked centre for major piece development, You have a red carpet to Castle and bring out the Queen and Rook later on in the game

2: Carryboy System

A more passive opening that does not care about control of the centre at all, I guess it's so bad it only has a good use in bullet games

3: Carryboy System: Reversed Variation

An easier variant of the Carryboy System with less moves, Still, No centre control

Caruana rapid have been a disaster for the past 12 month and seems no one is talking about it. He lost nearly 100 elo.

This is all for a single match. Pgn given below

[Event "Tatva_9 vs Albertito19l"]

[Site "Chess.com"]

[Date "2026-10-28"]

[White "Tatva_9"]

[Black "Albertito19l"]

[Result "1-0"]

[WhiteElo "488"]

[BlackElo "448"]

[TimeControl "600"]

d4 d5 2. Bf4 Nf6 3. e3 Nc6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bd3 Bb4 6. Ne2 Bxc3+ 7. Nxc3 a6 8.

O-O b5 9. a4 b4 10. Na2 a5 11. c3 Ba6 12. cxb4 Bxd3 13. Qxd3 axb4 14. Qb5 Qd7

1. Nxb4 Ra5 16. Qb7 O-O 17. Nxc6 e5 18. Bxe5 Qe6 19. Nxa5 Nd7 20. Nc6 Rb8 21.

Nxb8 Qb6 22. Qc8+ Nf8 23. Bxc7 Qxb2 24. Nd7 g6 25. Be5 Qe2 26. Qxf8# 1-0

I need actual answers please. As a 400 elo. Chess.com rated me 1250 and stockfish 19 with additional gui chessis - rated me 2410.

Accuracy - Stockfish - gave me - 96.7

Chess.com gave me 89.4 .

​

As per the title,

I’m learning chess and my openings are pretty solid. Most of the times, I manage to be in an advantageous position after the early game.

However, most of my games end with a sudden checkmate in the mid-game, which usually comes from the queen.

I was wondering if some of you have tips for recognising these plays. Whenever I see the queen incoming, I’m trying to figure out the line that might eventually result in a checkmate, but I overlook the checkmate anyway.

Thanks in advance.

Hi, I spent about a year playing the Scotch Game and then switched to Scotch Gambit and played it for maybe six months.

I've had about five weeks off studying due to illness. Now I'm getting back into it and realise that my openings really have become rusty. Feels like I'm having to relearn them to some extent.

So I'm wondering if I should continue with the scotch gambit or use this opportunity to go back to the scotch game.

I'm 1600 on Lichess. As I understand that the scotch game will take you further up the rating ladder.

I do like the scotch gambit so I'm torn between the two.

Appreciate hearing your thoughts.

This is a common position I am frequently in. It's always e3g5. I don't get why they do that. I'm not castling in that direction, obviously with my pawns pushed so much... So forcing an attack on that side of the board is pointless.

They also frequently get their Queen pinned during this opening. Again I don't know why, but they never see it.

Link to full game for anyone who wants to look: https://lichess.org/game/NBaphvprxX68

is it worth reading im 2000 elo and what some books can you give recommande for me to reach 2500

I'm an average 1500+ rapid player and improving gradually. How much do I need to master notation? I understand what it all means, but it may take some time for me to process where the pieces are moving in my head. GMs seem to do this so naturally. So if I wanted to reach 2k elo, do I need to master pieces moving using purely notation?

For context, i only play bullet, 2k1 on Lichess and Chesscom, and I want to better my endgames with the above pieces.

Is there a geometric trick I can use to premove/ visualize these endgames so I can play them faster?

And more bullet compared to blitz. Do they truly play so little rapid online, or do they usually have an alternative anonymous account that they play rapid on?

If they genuinely play so little rapid games, then what is the reason?

For instance, an acquaintance of mine who is a WFM, has played over 62,000 games on her account that are probably over 97-98% bullet and in total has played 13 rapid games. I doubt she has an alternative account because she plays about 50 to 100+ bullet games a day (sometimes over 150) post-work (she works a full-time job as a doctor).

I have a conundrum with this pawn as it blocks the LSB which obviously just leaves you without a piece in the came for a while but then not having the controlling the centre is a downside as well. So what is the best plan to coordinate these two pieces. I guess it depends on what White plays but some general advice would be grand.

Thanks

Game Link: https://www.chess.com/events/2026-clutch-chess-champions-showdown/06/Sindarov_Javokhir-Nakamura_Hikaru

I am at an IBM conference in Atlanta, GA, and there is this booth with the original board and pieces, in the original configuration, of the match.

Maybe it's just me, but over the last 6 months or so opening this way with White seems to be massively popular. They play a London, or a Colle, or a Reti, or a double fianchetto. Now I admit; I struggle against this sort of slower, transpositional, conservative opening set-up. But right now it just seems like 2 out of 3 players with White are doing this, in a wide variety of rating classes.

https://www.chess.com/events/2026-clutch-chess-champions-showdown/05/Praggnanandhaa_R-Caruana_Fabiano