Way to 1000-2. Looking Forward
The past week or so, I focused on putting in real effort—daily games, puzzle practice, and reviewing my losses (yes, there were quite a few). I played both humans and bots, tested some openings in live games, and tried to apply lessons from earlier posts—like slowing down, improving visualization, and staying calm under pressure.
In this post, I’ll break down a few things I learned from my recent games and lay out what I’m focusing on next.
The Good: What’s Working
1. Slower Play = Better Decisions
I’m taking my time. That one habit alone has made a huge difference. I’m spotting tactics I would’ve missed before, avoiding snap blunders, and actually thinking during endgames. Time management still needs work, but at least now I’m losing for better reasons.
2. Opening Confidence is Growing
I’ve started to feel more comfortable with both the Italian and the King's Indian Attack. I’m not memorizing deep lines—just sticking to principles: control the center, develop quickly, and castle early. Well, I need to study Black Openings.
3. I’m Reviewing, Not Just Clicking “Next Game”
After each match, I take 3–5 minutes to review what went wrong (or right). I jot down one sentence:
“Blundered a piece in a winning position—need to check for undefended pieces after every trade.”
These little notes help more than I expected.
The Bad: Still Tripping Over the Basics
1. Hanging Pieces
I’m still giving away material for free. Not as often, but enough that it’s costing me games. It usually happens when I’m ahead and get careless—classic beginner mistake.
2. Panicking Under Pressure
When the board gets chaotic, I still freeze. I forget everything I know and start reacting emotionally instead of logically. That’s the next big mental hurdle—staying composed.
One Annotated Game
Looking Ahead
Here’s what I’m focusing on next:
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Tactics, tactics, tactics.
10 puzzles a day, minimum. Especially focusing on forks, skewers, and mate-in-2s. -
Endgame consistency.
I’ll spend 15 minutes a day on basics—king opposition, pawn races, rook mates. -
Build one opening for Black.
Right now, I’m lost against 1.e4. I’m testing out the Scandinavian or maybe the Caro-Kann for something solid and simple. -
Mindset control.
I’m trying to treat every game like practice—not a test of self-worth. It helps me play better and enjoy the game more.
Current Rating: 📈
My rapid rating is now hovering around 480-520, depending on the day. I’m not so close to the 1000 mark, but for the first time, it actually feels doable.
More important than the number is this: I feel more in control of my games. That alone feels like a win.
Thanks for following along. Next post will probably include a mini tactics breakdown—or maybe I’ll document my experiments with the Caro-Kann. Either way, progress continues.
Let’s keep climbing.
