How To Gain 116 Blitz Rating Points In 64 Hours And 28 Games (And On Vacation!)

What's up, guys and gals?

As the title may (and technically does) imply, this post is not to brag about myself on how good I am. This is blitz by the way, so it probably does not have much long-term effect on my chess moving forward. I just want to get something out that's been on my mind and share with you guys! (Just like my last post, though this one will be much more positive ).

As some of you may know (though most of you don't know), my graduation trip is seeing the Grand Canyon. And oh my gosh is it amazing to see in person! 

Once again, this is a casual blog, so take my "advice" with a grain of salt. Anyway, I didn't really realize it until very recently, though on this vacation, I've been playing possibly the best blitz chess of my life (by rating that is ). No wonder I'm a chess addict! I went from 1610 to 1726 in a short amount of time and games. Before I begin, since I am here to "brag", let's take a step of humility and look at the loss that took me back to 1610.  It was a crazy game, so I didn't analyze every single detail.

OK, on to the "good part" -- the tips!

#3: NEVER give up

It sounds simple and straightforward, but I found that not giving in (both mentally and literally) actually saved me several points. You're probably going to lose anyway, so why not play it out and see what happens? 

If you think your position is much worse or simply lost, think twice and play the game.

#2: Keep a tactical eye out

This is where Puzzle Rush reaps its benefits.  I found that a lot of my games, I was looking out for my opponent's missteps, and tackling them. Here's the game which got me over 1700 blitz. My opponent was very kind after the game and acknowledged that I "easily" beat him, though I don't concur as I was suffering most of the game. This also dovetails to point #3. My position was worse, though there was still a game to be played!

Here's another random blunder:

And sometimes, it's just plain-ole mouseslips.

I will openly confess, I hadn't been playing on focus mode much until I touched 1700 blitz. Since then, I played my games on focus mode to increase my peak. I feel that having focus mode on, hiding your opponent's rating, gives your brain one less thing to worry about, rather than "what will by rating be if I win/lose?". Here is, to date, my most recent blitz game in which I used focus mode. I haven't had time to analyze this with a computer, so these thoughts are simply the ones going through my head during the game.

I hope you enjoyed this post. I did, unsurprisingly!  I feel now that I need to work on learning more from these blitz games, whether it be brushing my opening theory, fixing my blunders, or studying the resulting endgames. Maybe I should play less blitz for now, and look at the games more. At 1700, I'm getting more quality opponents.