FINALLY! After Three Years...
Howdy, chess fans! 🤠I hope that you are having a great weekend! I have some important updates for you. If you've been tracking my progress for days, months, years, or since I started my blog, this is going to be some exciting stuff!
In March 2018, I was able to cross 1800 USCF (Class-A!) (side note: this all references OTB/IRL tournaments) for the first time. In May of 2018 (three years ago!), two months later, I peaked (all-time high rating) at 1828 USCF. The last time I was 1800 was in November 2018. Since then, I've been stuck in the 1700s, which gets super boring lol. Why are those statistics important? Because...
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WE DID IT!!!!!
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After years of working at it, falling short, frustration, and motivation, we crossed 1800 USCF AND peaked in the same tournament!!!
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Now before I go further, let me explain a few things. Why is 1800 USCF such a big deal to me? Well, for one, 1800 is considered a "Class-A" player nationally. And I guess getting to tell my friends "I am a 'Class-A chess player'" is waaayyy better than "I am a 'Class-B chess player'"! 
I know, I have reached 1900 in online ratings, however, USCF/OTB ratings are MUCH HARDER to come by than online. IRL tournaments require a huge time commitment, travel, entry fee, etc. And OTB is way different than online chess.
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SO ANYWAY, where we left off on my tournament series on my blog was my ugly tournament performance, which sunk my rating to 1766. You might wonder how things got so good so fast? I do have one other unreported tournament, the Texas Golden Open. I got an opportunity to play many strong players, and it did a solid for my rating!
Then, just yesterday, I completed a tournament, finishing with a stunning result that raised my rating even more!...
(note: "R" stands for "regular" kind of like "classical" for FIDE. "Q" stands for "quick". The rating I care about is "R" 
)
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I mean... I can't tell you what this means to me as a personal accomplishment! We all know that feeling of not being able to make tangible progress, coming up short. It happens at all levels. Thinking about all the tournament commitments I made between 2018-2021 to only float around the 1700s really sucks! It's very refreshing to finally be seeing a breakthrough in my progress!
I'll address this someday as well, in detail... long story short, when I first reached 1800 three years ago, I was less mature, didn't have a great work ethic, and thought that the next level would come to me. I learned that wasn't the case the hard way! So now that I've received a second chance, I've learned from my past, and we will be... well... working harder this time! Also, I will be posting the tournament games on my blog soon. Things have been extremely busy, but posting long overdue games is better than not posting at all!
Just a few more notes. My thoughts are kind of scattered right now (it's like 1:30 AM lol), so my apologies if this is not the neatest writing you have seen. I hope none of my composition professors/teachers are reading! And yes, you may notice that I have used this post to brag about my accomplishments, and I don't see anything wrong with it! So if you don't like my bragging, then... well... I guess follow a different blogger 
Thank you a bunch for the support throughout the weeks, months, and years. You guys who have read and commented have provided me great motivation. We're not done with our chess journey yet, can't wait to see what lies ahead!!!
