My New Years' Chess Resolutions

So. A year has been and gone. It's hard to think that at the start of 2022, I was a lowly 300-rated player. Sometimes, even now, I still feel like a 300-rated player. I still have much room to improve, which is why I decided to make this blog post naming all of my New Years' Chess Resolutions. So here they are:

1. Get better

The end. Ha! Just kidding. Although that is a good idea, let's go a little more in-depth.

1. Focus on time management

I am constantly getting frustrated with myself for not using my time wisely and I certainly struggle with thinking for too long. This is why there is almost a 250-point differential between my Rapid and Blitz ratings.

In this position, I got so mad because I managed to run out of time up two queens against a king and the game resulted in a draw. I seriously thought about never playing blitz again. I felt like Levy Rozman here:

2. Improve my opening repertoire 

As of right now, I've got a pretty good handle on a few openings, but at the 1200 level, you need to be expectant of a wide variety of them, I have learned. I've been using 365Chess, a big chess database, to help me learn the most common moves in a lot of different openings. I have also been saving up to purchase this book: 

Okay, one more, although I feel like I should have a never-ending list of things to improve on. 

3. Start streaming

That's right, I want to become a streamer. This one is less about me improving and more about me having fun. I've always wanted to become a chess streamer just for fun but have never had the energy to actually do it. Maybe I'll become the next Hikaru or Levy before the end of 2023!

And that's all. As I said, there's a never-ending list of things I could build on in chess, but hey. I hope you enjoyed the blog; this was fun for me to write!