Six things I learned while GAINING 100 ELO this year

Oh, hi! Glad to see you again!

First of all, I'll address the accusations. Yes. This is partly a brag post AS I FINALLY REACHED 1400!

Hurray!

When I was watching Guess The Elo as an 800, I was amazed at how good 1200-rated players were. Now I’m 200 points higher than that level! I can’t believe it!

I said earlier this year that your Elo doesn’t define you, but at the same time, I’m proud to see that number steadily increase over the past few months.

Thank you for your applause.

Now that that's out of the way…

I was around 1300 in January. Now it’s October, and I’m above 1400 (hopefully I can stay there for a while). I want to share are six concepts that helped me gain those famous 100 points:

1- Don’t be rushed

It takes time.

I’m an artist in my 40s juggling multiple jobs, so I can’t play every day. It took me eight months to gain those 100 points.

Don’t expect to progress as quickly as you did at the beginning of your chess journey. At first, you’re underrated by the system, and then, you level up fast while gaining experience.

As you climb the rating ladder, you’re matched with players of your own caliber. Chess, already one of the hardest games, becomes even more challenging.

For example, things like “don’t hang your queen” are easier to notice than “if I move this pawn, it opens my diagonal and gains space, but it also weakens a square that becomes a perfect outpost for his knight.”

Also, playing more games means losing more. That’s part of it. Check your favorite creator’s profile on this site, you’ll see they lose about half of their games. Learn to love losing. Don’t be in a hurry. Enjoy the process. Enjoy the game.

2- The thing everyone says actually works (sadly)

Maybe it’s pure coincidence. Maybe not. I don’t think it is.

When I decided to stop playing blitz and bullet, I gained 50 points in the month that followed.

I feel like super-fast time controls are fun and might help with pattern recognition, but they also rob you of the chance to analyze deeper concepts like pawn structures and endgame calculations. That’s why fast time controls don’t really help you improve. To get better, you need to understand your mistakes and that can’t happen if those mistakes were made without any real thinking.

I would like to add that rapid games are still rapid. I know. It's in the name.

Compared to the other time controls, they feel really long. Those games might take 20 minutes of our lives. We have to free our schedule for the duration of a TV show... and finding 20 minutes to be fully concentrated feels almost impossible as an adult!

But even in those matches, spending more than a minute on a single move is risky. When you only have a few seconds of reflection per turn, you can’t really dive super deep into “the theory of imbalances in pawn structures.” You just have to move.

So, even though rapid games are better because they give you time to think, and even though they’re the longest time controls on this app, they’re still pretty fast. 

Now, imagine blitz.

And don’t even get me started on bullet.

3- Play over the board

I bought a nice but inexpensive chessboard that I really liked, along with a $10 puzzle book suited to my rating. Those two purchases gave me a better return on my investment than any online course.

Since I had to go through the effort of setting everything up, solving puzzles over the board forced me to think more deeply than when I solved them online. It ties back to my earlier point: giving myself time to think during practice made me more capable when I had less time during real games. 

Plus, spending a few minutes away from a screen is always a good thing.

4- My first strategy book

I started reading The Amateurs Mind's by Jeremy Sillman and I love it.

I remember that when I played the Sims back then, how silly the characters looked when they played chess by themselves. Turns out it applies to real life. I look like a madman playing chess by myself listening to 1920's jazz music. 

But it's worth it. This book opened my eyes to a variety of topics that most chess creators don’t cover because they’re not sexy for the algorithm. “TRAP YOUR OPPONENT IN 5 MOVES WITH THIS CRAZY GAMBIT” gets more clicks than “Let’s see how we can optimize our pieces in these positions.”

Some people might say this book is too advanced for me, but I’d argue that it’s always better to study material that’s slightly too advanced rather than too easy. Since there are no books perfectly tailored to your level, aim for ones just a bit above your rating. You’ll learn a lot the first time you read them…

and even more the second time.

5- Look for stupid stuff

When you’re waiting for your opponent to move and you’ve already covered the basics, try calculating the dumbest moves and sacrifices. It makes you more aware of everything happening on the board.

Also, it forces you to consider everything. Sometimes, you might stumble upon a strange tactic that actually works. You might also discover a plan that somewhat makes sense!

Like my brilliant bishop sacrifice here at move 20:

It's something 1300-me would never have considered it before.

When I said "brilliant", I mean, the engine said it was brilliant. Its words, not mine.

6- Remind yourself that chess is a two player games

The biggest improvement I’ve made since the start of the year was realizing that my opponent is an actual human being with their own thought process. When I start a game and I see my opponent’s flag, I don’t think “Oh, my opponent is German.” I think, “Oh, my opponent is a German player.”

That means this person actively wants me to lose. As I’m playing against them, they’re completely obsessed with defeating me. That’s their number one priority right now.

Even though it’s something I always knew, I’ve only truly grasped it in the past few months. This person is scheming, planning, calculating and drawing arrows. This person wants to beat me so badly. So, what can I do about it?

I truly grew as a chess player when I started asking myself what my opponent’s plan was behind each of their moves. Since then, I’ve greatly reduced the number of times I get mated by a queen-and-bishop combo gunning for my king.

Every turn, I’m asking myself: “What are his motivations?” Sometimes, I push it too far. Like in the game that made me cross the 1400 threshold, my opponent gave me his knight on move 19 and I was like: “What’s his plan behind this move?” like I was some Greek philosopher.

He was just blundering. But, still, it was worth it to double check that I wasn’t falling into any traps.

So yeah, here’s to me reaching a rating I never thought I would reach when I first started!

As I grew as a chess player, I had to change a few aspects of my approach to the game to continue improving. I hope you can learn that from me instead of by yourself.

May your games be fun!

(If you love this piece, you might love this one on improving as an adult chess player.)

Pierre-Luc