My yearly progress report! Last years progress and next years goal.
Welcome to the blog everyone!
Before I start this blog I wanted to personally thank Joel Banawa he was my coach from January to September of 2021. I couldn't have gotten this far without him! I saved my money from the previous year to pay for his coaching and it was worth every penny. Anyways, to the blog!
This blog will be talking about my progression over the past year, and what my goals are for next year. I plan to start blogging more frequently starting 2022 so stay tuned!
I will be splitting the blog up into groups of four, three months in each. I hope you enjoy!
January/February/March
January
- USCF Rating - 1347
- Chess.com Blitz - 1700
- Chess.com Bullet - 1800
- Lichess Rapid - 1900
*Note - I mostly played rapid on lichess so I will only include lichess rapid instead of chess.com.
In January I really wanted to push past my slump and really start to improve again. So, naturally I played a lot of rapid and doing a lot of tactics. Which is one of the fastest ways to improve.
The first month I focused on rapid with very little blitz, my blitz went up a bit but the main improvement came with my rapid (mostly 10 minute) going from a low 1900 to almost a 2100.
February
- USCF Rating - 1347
- Chess.com Blitz - 1787
- Chess.com Bullet - 1950
- Lichess Rapid - 2082
In February the plan was the same, keep improving, playing rapid and doing tactics among other studies. I got around a 2150 for lichess rapid and my Blitz rating went up to a 1900 and I reached 2000 in bullet.
March
- USCF Rating - 1347
- Chess.com Blitz - 1912
- Chess.com Bullet - 2003
- Lichess Rapid - 2133
March was a good month for my chess where I broke 2k in blitz, 2100 bullet, and getting very close to 2200 rapid.
April/May/June
April
- USCF Rating - 1347
- Chess.com Blitz - 1931
- Chess.com bullet - 2074
- Lichess Rapid - 2182
In April I crossed 2200 rapid and after a slump I brought my blitz to a 2100 for the first time. I won't be posting bullet ratings from here on because I played little to 0 bullet for the rest of the year and because of that have only dropped rating 
May
- USCF Rating - 1347
- Chess.com Blitz - 2081
- Lichess Rapid - 2241
May was an eventful month taking me on a roller coaster in which I tilted pretty hard for a little while. Dropping to a 1971 blitz and a 2161 (which I believe I actually dropped to very low 2100s but it only records end result of each day) rapid, which I guess wasn't a crazy amount but rapid takes a long time to recover that much rating. But at the end of the month I had recovered.
June
- USCF Rating - 1347
- Chess.com Blitz - 2036
- Lichess Rapid - 2232
In June I didn't play a lot of blitz and didn't gain much rating there...but in Rapid I hit 2300! And was on a terror, was feeling good and planning to play the first otb tournament since covid, next month.
July/August/September
July
- USCF Rating - 1347
- Chess.com Blitz - 2033
- Lichess Rapid - 2255
July was....messy to say the least. But let's focus on the upside! I played my first otb tournament of the year! I went from a 1347-1441 in one tournament! It's good to be back! Unfortunately I lost the first round due to a clock issue! 
For blitz I dropped to the low 1900s and was stuck there the whole month. For rapid I dropped to low 2200s and was fighting back to 2250.
August
- USCF Rating - 1441
- Chess.com Blitz - 1976
- Lichess Rapid - 2216
I played two USCF rated tournaments, one was only quick rated but I went from a 1441-1474 in a very small tournament. It is hard to get tournaments here in Idaho. My Blitz got back to a 2000+ rating after two months of struggle. My Rapid took a BIG jump back to 2300!
September
- USCF Rating - 1474
- Chess.com Blitz - 2107!
- Lichess Rapid - 2302
September was HUGE for me! I played two tournaments the Idaho Closed State Championship which I had 3 wins and 3 draws tying for 2nd place. And the Summer Split this brings me to a USCF rating of 1556. For blitz I made a huge rating jump in the spam of a month! going from around 2000-2200! I reached it! Rapid I dropped a bit to a 2250.
October/November/December
October
- USCF Rating - 1556
- Chess.com Blitz - 2067
- Lichess Rapid - 2253
So from here until the end of the year I had burn out. I was tired, not motivated to play or practice, and was struggling with stuff irl so I didn't play any more rapid on lichess for the rest of the year, and was studying chess pretty much at all. I plan to change that in January where I will begin my training again! I still was playing OTB tournaments though because they are fun and I want to keep getting my rating up there! Unfortunately in October there wasn't any tournaments to play. Chess.com blitz bounced around the place (due to lack of practice) from low 2000-2150 throughout the month.
November
- USCF Rating - 1556
- Chess.com Blitz - 2067
In November I played in the Southern Idaho Open, where I went to a 1596. Not much happened for blitz, stayed at around 2070 not playing much.
December
- USCF Rating - 1596
- Chess.com Blitz - 2076
In December I played one USCF rated tournament helping me break the 1600 milestone! I took first place in the Winter Express Bringing my rating to 1626. Blitz taking a bit of a dip due to lack of practice unfortunately, but at the end of the year it even out at around 2070.
RECAP!
- USCF Rating went from 1347-1626 in 6 months.
- Chess.com Blitz went from 1700-2200 peak.
- Lichess Rapid went from 1900-2300 peak.
Overall I think I did well during 2021 and would like to continue it in 2022! Here are my goals!
GOALS!
- USCF Rating to 1850!! This will be hard to do because in Idaho there are very few tournaments and low rated players, but I think I can do it!
- Chess.com Blitz to 2400! In 2022 I really want to make a push in my chess understanding and think I can get to 2400 blitz!
- Lichess rapid to 2450! Yes this will be tough, but I plan to grind more on rapid for improvement and believe I can get to 2450!
- Continuing a study plan of around 3-6 hours of chess everyday. My life is very busy but I think I can keep up at least 3 hours a day of practice and studying.
- Keeping up the coaching, I believe I have something to offer for the chess community and will continue to coach in 2022! Contact me here on chess.com if you are interested.
I want to thank my coach Joel Banawa, I couldn't have gotten here without him he is truly amazing, make sure to check him out!
Thank you so much everyone for your support in 2021 in has truly been amazing to hang out with every single one of you! Thank you for reading through this very long blog, please comment if you have time and don't be afraid to tell me how I can improve this blog!
I plan to keep the content flowing at least once a month if I have time. Have a great day!
Josh
