English Chess Forum

This has probably been on before but never mind.

I had a good 5 months off chess to think about this.

In my case if someone on a neighbouring board is playing an interesting game I'm likely losing concentration on my comparatively boring game.

That's one of a number of failings. But I'll let others list their reasons before listing more...

Rating is related to performance weirdly though it can be inaccurate due to numerous factors. There are numerous things you can do to improve but generally play more - slow play is best, study, join a chess club, use tools such as tactics trainer, and i avoid thinking too much on other people's games when i play. There are several good books/dvds that help with overall game play. I have only touched on the surface of what you can do and everyone learns differently. Playing too much quick chess never really helped me.