Accountability and Improvement

Today is the day I start writing about my journey about my chess study, and my chess improvement.  You see, like many people, I come on here, I push the pieces around and I lose, or I win, or I draw. But no real focus goes into any of it.  It's almost like I just enjoy pushing pieces and not diving deep in the game.  If this is you, then THAT IS OK! I'm not going to tell you how you need to or should enjoy your time with the 64 squares.

I'll start off with ratings: I'm currently averaging between 1700 and 1760 blitz with a peak of 1792 which I attained through a series of abandoned games and blunders from my opponents.

I'm 1926 Rapid with a peak of 1977.  I feel more comfortable playing 15/10 time control or 30/0 or longer, but when I see someone rated 1700 or higher, I still have a sense of awe because I STILL don't feel like I deserve my rating. That some forces in the universe came together to make my opponents give me easy blunders to find. Imposter syndrome hits hard for me here.

So I'm working to give myself a deeper understanding of the game. You know the old adage that if you're knowledgeable enough you should be able to explain it to a six year old? That's my goal. I'm not as eloquent as I'd like, and I'd like to explain it rather than say "well it just looked good" - I feel like I have intuition and not concrete knowledge.

1.) By taking time to study more and play less - so in that way I'll be talking about my unhealthy relationship with Chessable courses and why I have so many that I just haven't really used. And my first blog post about improving rather than just laying out what I'm doing will be reviews of the chessable courses I DO have. Their strengths and weaknesses and why I purchased them in the first place.

2.) Playing more rapid and less blitz.

3.) Analyzing my losses and learning how to dissect my mistakes that aren't just piece blunders or tactical blunders.

4.) Start building an ACTUAL opening repertoire (which I'm on my way to)

5.) Possibly a coach.  I'm always a beginner but I have to solidify my goals a bit more before I approach this.

If you happen to follow along, I thank you for the follow and support and I'm always looking for more study partners.