How I got to 2000 in Less than a Year!

Hey Everyone!!!

I want to share with you all my chess journey starting back to my first ever online chess game almost 4 years ago, dated September 2nd, 2020 a month and a half before The Queen's Gambit got released so I guess that means I am an OG! My opponent was named "SmorkyOwO" and they are currently inactive which is sad but they have improved quite a bit since our game as they are now around 1000 rated! Without further adieu here is the game!

After that horrible game, I played until September 4th, 2022, and then went on a 1-month break until October 2nd. I played until October 3rd then went ON ANOTHER 1 month and half break until November 19th, 2022, when I finished Queen's Gambit. This is the point where I would not stop playing chess and watching chess videos but the thing is I wasn't improving much because I was not implementing what I was taught.

Finally, after a few weeks of work I got to 500, and here, is that game that got me to that milestone!

After that revolutionary game, I kept on playing until I reached around the rating of 780 on March 28th, 2021 I then took ANOTHER BREAK until October 18th, 2022 which is a year and 7 months of NO CHESS. You are probably wondering what made me come back to the game. To that I give that honor to my math teacher at my old school for starting a chess club.

I had a selfish state of mind when I joined the chess club that I was pretty good at chess but for only being 780 online and not having played chess in over a year and a half I can safely say that my mindset then was so wrong. I was still better than all of the players there except for my teacher but that does not mean I was good. This was also around the time when I started to seriously play chess.

I remember arguing with my teacher multiple times on what square the queen was placed on and as we all know "Queen goes on one's own color" but I didn't know that and I had my own ignorant bias in my head. For that, I am sorry to my teacher if he is reading this.

At this point, I was homeless for around 6 months at the time of joining the chess club and I had my mental health declining which may have contributed badly to my chess mindset as well as many other personal things. 

You may be wondering why I am even telling you this if I never improved while I was at my old school. My entire point here is to show that I was never challenged enough by anybody there to have any reason to improve! That is where the next section comes in which shows why rivalry is so important for your chess.

2 months later in December my family finally got a house and I moved to the capital of my state where everything changed. I moved to a new school where I immediately went to start a chess club and after I did that I met someone rated around 1200 this set a spark inside me and I was so determined to beat him. On January 1st, 2023 I reached 1000 ELO to jumpstart the new year! Here is that game...

Around 20 days later I broke through the 1300 barrier and hit 1400! At this time I noticed a lot more cheaters popping up around 1 out of every 9-10 games which is an interesting statistic. Why are cheaters hanging around the intermediate level instead of going up to the advanced level? To avoid being caught? I am not sure.

Around the 1400 level, I started streaming on Twitch! Care to leave a follow? https://www.twitch.tv/gmkatsu  While streaming I noticed that I play significantly better and focus better when on high amounts of caffeine so before any stream or Chess binge / Study Session I would drink a Bang Energy (300 mg Caffeine) and the results started to show in the summer of 2023 where I proceeded to CRUSH the advanced levels.

Start of the Summer I briefly got a cheap FM coach that is the second-best player in my state for around a month and in that short time he taught me a lot about the game which I then applied to my game.

Around a month later on July 1st I hit 1500! Here is that game...

Around August of 2023, I joined a discord of a YouTuber I met who inspired me and calmed me down when I needed it as well as having an amazing community on his discord server the person I am talking about is "ChesswithPatrick" You may or may not have heard of him but I highly recommend you subscribe and join his server: https://www.youtube.com/@chesswithpatrick 

His community was so welcoming and anytime I hit a milestone I would post it on the server so everybody could be happy with my progress as much as I was and that is one of the many things that pushed me to 2000. The server also had many rivals that I wanted to beat to 2000. I would not be here if it weren't for everybody supporting me along the way so I want to say Thank You!

In August I also started a new chess club in my state's capital city (Augusta). The club is now one of the most popular in the state but this is not the end of me talking about the Augusta Chess Club. We will get back to that.

Enough of the cheesy stuff let's get back to my chess journey. On August 14th I joined a USCF online tournament and in the final round, I beat a 1750 and got to 1600! For the rest of August, I focused on streaming content on Twitch and I stumbled upon an IM who wanted to play me! here is that game.

If you want my analysis on this game I made a blog post just for this game so go check it out! 

At the 1600 level, I discovered a better way to look at chess that completely changed the way I played for the better. I realized that for the most part, I have been looking at what moves I should make in the moment but not looking at the benefits of the moves in the future. I also started to work on positional chess more as well as trying to master my tactics (even though tactics can never be perfected). My favorite player of all time is Mikhail Tal so I love sacrificing pieces just like "The Magician of Riga"

I continued focusing on content until around September 10th or so. I realized I am only around 50 rating points from my 1700 goal so I got to grinding! A week later I gained a total of 50 rating points to finally hit 1700 on September 17th, 2023! Here is that revolutionary game...

2 weeks later on October 1st, 2023, I hit 1800 which meant I finally caught up to one of my rivals! However, my rival from school slowed significantly and quit regular chess so I took the throne of the Chess Champ at my school.

19 days later I hit 1900 still with my caffeine addiction LOL. I was on the final stretch! Only 100 to go. I knew it would not be an easy task to get to 2000 so I got to work and started analyzing EVERY. SINGLE. GAME. To look for my weaknesses and what I could improve while still keeping my tactics as sharp as ever.

A month later I finally hit 2000! This is now where I reside as getting past 2000 is so difficult so I took a break after I hit 2000 to get my mind in shape. Here is the game that put me on top of the world!

There it is! My journey all wrapped up. Wait a second? Didn't I say earlier we would come back to the Augusta Chess Club?

Yes, I did! I want to share with you all a game that I played very recently at my Chess Club with the 4th highest rated Maine player and 2x state champion rated 2100 USCF and 2530 Online rated and I won! It was a long-fought 10+5 game so take a look!

Thank You all so much for reading my blog!!!!! I appreciate you all and I love this community of chess. It is one of the only places where I feel like I belong. If you guys have any questions please comment down below and I will answer as many as I can.

Just in case you guys are wondering the reason why I put 1 year in the title instead of 3-4 Is because around 1 year before I hit 2000 is when I started taking chess seriously anything before that is usually filled with breaks with no games or me playing just for fun and 0 gain.

I am also a chess coach! I am pretty cheap and I teach students 100 rated to 1400. I am pretty cheap so give me a message!

Your Success, Your Move