Phases in learning Chess online in the current day and age (based on my experience)

Hello everyone, I'm back with my 7th blog article and basically I've been taking a short break due to my entrance into my University orientation period which has been really tiring and busy due to all the essays and assignments. Anyways I'm back for a bit to write this article and then I'm off to more focused uni stuff.

As a note, this article is going to be almost solely text based, no visuals at all. Hope you still enjoy it

I want to discuss my case of not really spending as much time as I used to on chess but still improve in terms of quality of play. To do that I will try my best to briefly explain my phases of chess development, as in the moment I took Chess more seriously.

The beginning:

I started my first account in July of 2017 and started with around a 800-1000 rating and I then I started to watch YouTube chess videos from Suren and Agadmator which helped me learn basic theory and tactics. I continued this process of watching masters play fast paced 3/0 blitz and playing 3/0 blitz myself over and over until I reached a 1900 rating.

At around this time I joined 2 classical chess tournaments back to back for the first time and improved my slow chess greatly, though I believe it's a waste of time to play online classical if not to practice for an upcoming event.

Note: Not taking into account that I opened this account to start on a clean slate with a cooler username.

Slow rating push phase:
I realized that when I entered the range of 1900-2000 rated opponents (in this account) that these opponents do not generally blunder in the first 10 moves. So, I struggled playing these players for some time due to myself not having understood yet that I need to play positions that I'm comfortable playing, rather than playing positions that I've seen top level players play. I began playing more systems such as semi-slav structures (I don't recommend playing it now cause of the passive nature and chances it gives white to attack) and following mainline theory on the Italian game.

I played one game a day and with this strategy, in 2 weeks, I was able to push to 2000. With relative ease, and less pressure, I pushed to 2100 in no time at all but dropped soon after.

I also started to understand chess notation a lot better an

Current phase:

After pushing slowly again to 2200, I decreased my intake of chess videos as a whole due to school and exam preparation. After my exams finished, I still watched chess entertainment videos but I didn't feel the urge as I used to, and I also realized that chess ratings don't really matter.

There is minimal difference between a 2150 player and a 2200 player, and I'm sure all of us have been beaten by someone significantly lower rated than ourselves in the past, and that is normal, we are all human. I'm not ashamed to admit that I've been beaten by a 1700 in 3/2 blitz a few months ago, or against a 1400 in 1/0 bullet.

I have found out that I much prefer playing d4 c4 rather than 1. e4 due to the dynamic play that d4 c4 structures can bring. Also as black, against d4 g3 structures, I play d5 g6 structures imitating white's position but with the idea of Bf5 and getting a strong clam against the e4 square.

I am currently at a 2253 rating and I am happy with my current position, there will be a point in time where you are satisfied with your performance and or rating, I hope you will find it as I have found mine. Ever since decreasing my intake of chess entertainment videos, I've become more independent and a lot more focused in my life.

Thank you for reading, I hope you find your chess zen.

Photo Source: Chess.com user @Zenchess