Everyone hits the 1200 plateau at some point. Focus on tactics and preventing blunders. Do plenty of Puzzle Rush or Puzzle Streak. Analyze your games without relying on the computer to point out mistakes—figure them out yourself first, then compare with the computer’s analysis to see if you were right. I recommend the free version of Chess Dojo for your own game analysis. Also, learning endgames like opposition and triangulation will help a lot.

Everyone goes through this phase, so hang in there and keep playing chess! I recently realized that I tend to breathe very shallowly when focusing on playing chess, which was impacting my cognitive performance. This is known as "Screen Apnea." I kept yawning because my brain wasn’t getting enough oxygen, and it really hurt my game—I was making some incredibly poor moves. Eventually, I figured out how to fix the issue, and since then, my performance has improved by over 500 Elo points. I look and feel ridiculous sitting at my computer playing chess with my CPAP mask on. It pushes air into my nose, and when I take shallow breaths, it makes me inhale more deeply. The point I am trying to make is to pinpoint the issue, even if it’s as simple as taking a day off from chess. You’re not a bad player; you’re just on the cusp of figuring out what’s happening with your game. So be patient—it will click soon.

@Nevin Godin-Martin That would do it

Game rating isn’t about whether a move “looks good” or “feels bad”; it’s simply the engine measuring how close your moves were to the best choice. A few common misconceptions: Game rating equals consistency; if your moves stay near the engine’s evaluation, your rating improves. It’s not just about blunders; you can slip up once and still score high if the rest of your play is accurate. It’s not about style either; tactical, positional, or aggressive players can all rate high or low depending on consistency. IMO, it often mirrors your emotional state; when calm and focused, your moves align with the engine’s top picks, but stress or distraction can cause accuracy to swing. In short, game rating isn’t a verdict on “good or bad chess,” just a snapshot of how steady your decision-making was in that game.

hahaha Yeah, Chessis is harder on you!

I’m working on class D now, and I really appreciate this! I’ve been going back and forth between classes B and D, mainly for triangulation.