How I went from 1000 to 1650 in 5 months!

Hi everyone!

Today i'm going to share how I went from 1000 to 1650 in 5 months! 

1000-1100 

The 1000 through 1100 level was one of the hardest for me, I had only been playing chess for a few months and I was still new too it.

- Mistakes that kept me at the same level

1. I would play too many games! 

In Blitz, I would play at least 25 games per day, and after about 10 games I would get tired, lose a few games and keep on playing to try to get my rating back! Instead of winning those games I would keep on losing because of playing too much and I would never be satisfied with a low rating which would cause big tilts!

2. I played bad openings. 

My favorite opening for white went something like this... 

I would premove those exact moves! Even if I was black! After a long time of this I decided to try new openings like The Ruy Lopez Opening, which is still my favorite opening.

  1000-1100 Solutions!

Solution to problem number 1.

One day, I was playing my dad who was about 700 level at the time and I lost two times in a row! He asked me why I was not playing well today and I answered that I had been playing blitz nonstop for 4 hours! He told me that I should not play so many games. More like 5-10 would be good. So I started doing that and I stopped tilting!

Solution to problem 2.

I already mentioned this a bit but the main thing was changing to new openings like Sicilian and Ruy Lopez.Another thing was doing puzzles and puzzle rush! This really helped because in blitz, tactics are very important. I found out how to line up my bishop and queen and attack my opponents castled king. I dont know why, but my opponents would simply not pay attention and allow me to create winning attacks!

1100-1400 

This level I completely sped through in 1 month! 

Now I will spread it out and explain each 100 points individually.

1100-1200 

2 main things:

1. Playing higher rated players!

I would play high players mainly because you have no chance of losing points because I would gain 16 from winning and lose 0 from losing! Free points right?! Yes, I was so greedy for rating that I would not play players my level. 

2. To gain experience!

This was not as much a reason for this. Playing against players higher than you helps you see good openings, and how to create solid attacks!

1200-1300 

This is pretty much the same stuff as 1100-1200

1300-1400 

Here there were three things I did.

1. I would play my dad (who is at this point now about 800 level) in OTB games were he would have 5 minutes and I would have 2 and a half minutes. This really helped me to make solid moves in a short amount of time which is very helpful for blitz chess.

2. I studied chess books for the first time!

Some good books that I read are-

1. How to Reassess Your Chess 3rd edition By: Jeremy Silman

2. My System By: Aron Nimzowitch 

3. The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal By: Mikhail Tal

There are many more but this is all I will share.

3. I studied as many openings as I could to build a quick openings advantage!

1400-1500

This was also a hard level for me.

-Mistake

1. I would move to quickly, blunder, and resign. Looking back on this, it doesn't really make sense to me. If I am going to move fast I should know that my opponents will usually have the advantage. Also, if I am losing and I have more time I should at least TRY to flag them because otherwise, moving fast would have no point.

Solutions

Solution to problem number 1

Instead of playing 5 minutes I switched to three minutes so moving fast would be more effective.

Solution (Not to a problem. Just helping me improve)

I noticed my opponents would move fast and make terrible moves in 3 minutes, so I would move decently fast but always be on the lookout for blunders. Just like me, when my opponents did that they would blunder and resign!  

After a month I got past this level.

1500-1600 

This, I think has been the very hardest level. At first I was easily climbing all the way up to 1599 without a single day were I lost more than I won! But then at 1599 I lost a game and kept on losing.

-Mistakes 

1. I played too many different openings. This really held me back because despite what I may have thought I did not know some of them very well!

2. I stopped playing the odds games with my dad. 

3. When I tilted I started to give up and play badly.

Solutions

Solution to problem number 1.

I watched a GothamChess youtube video and it said that at my level you should not play so many different openings. So the main opening I had been trying was Caro-Kann defense. I quit this and stuck to the Sicilian and I started to improve as black again!

Solution to problem number 2.

I started playing again with my dad and realized how much it helps! By now he is 1000 level!

Solution to problem number 3. 

I tried not too worry about tilt and just play for fun! It helped! 

Eventually I got to 1600.

1600-now

Since I got to 1600 I have found a method to do well without getting tired of playing!

-My method!

Play a few unrated blitz games, than a rapid game, and than a rated blitz game! After that I play bullet so I am not in a bullet mindset during those games. I am now rated 1655 and I hope to get 1700 by Mid-March!

I hope you enjoyed this blog and learned something that could help you improve during one of these levels! Please comment if you have a question or you like it! Have a nice day.