My Journey From Beginner To Chess master

"I am convinced, the way one plays chess always reflects the player's personality. If something defines his character, then it will also define his way of playing."

-Vladimir Kramnik

To think about content for today's blog was a tough task. I was out of ideas since I would have analyzed some matches but I haven't decided on any because of work issues. So I decided why not tell you guys my journey to reach 1700. Yes, I achieved it today. Now the next goal will be blitz 1400.
So for now let's see my journey from beginner to advance,

Chess earlier -

Chess has been part of life from an earlier stage but not as a mainstream activity. I was just aware of how pieces move and the basic rules. During my college days, I met this person Niranjan Sahu who reclaimed that he was state level player. Our first step of the journey was the bunk we did one day to sit in the storeroom of college. There we sawed the board, and we started discussing chess. He introduced his level in chess to me. For me, it was just a means to show intelligence. So I started bragging and eventually, What starts most chess matches between friends is intelligence ego. I got defeated badly by him. Well, the fun part was that a small moment paved my journey in chess. One funny incident during the match was we fought for En passant move and also a castle. I was so unaware of chess at that time. Also to our college credit, they did best that two students couldn't bunk and play chess in the storeroom. I mean they didn't have rooks and bishops. I don't recall what we used instead of that during that time, but can you imagine that your one bishop is smaller than the other? 

Chess.com as a great teacher-

So, apparently, we got separated for our engineering studies. Niranjan went to volleyball and I played badminton. One day during our call, he said about this site called chess.com. I logged in since defeating him was my only aim. At the moment, he was 1000 rated. I was a beginner with somewhere around 600 elos. I played consistently with him for 2 Months, not even winning a single match of rapid. Niranjan had always been 200 points higher than me. When I was 900, he was 1100. When I was 1200, he was 1400. Now I am 1700, and he is 1458. 

So how did this happen? There are many reasons for it but this is not a blog on how I got above him but about how we helped each other during these days.  

The journey- 

As I started, I was on a losing streak of 2-40 with this guy. Streak was so much that the difference can be seen still now.

Well, He saw something in me and suggested I play some opening system like Blackmar–Diemer Gambit. He was good at it. My problem with that was there was no good YouTuber, who made a really communicative video at that time. So I came across this big chess youtuber named IM Levy Rozman. He used to make 10 min opening videos. So the first ever opening I ever learned about was the London system.

Here is my match when i was 800,

To show you how much this guy trolled me here is proof,

Here is one game from list 

As I started to grow I understood the value of developing. The openings and piece coordination. Slowly but surely I defeated Niranjan which was my first success.

As you can see, my rating is still less than 500 here. He was around 1100. Also, we had a friend name Himanshu who was 850 rated. So to challenge him, I should be at least 800. Niranjan did all he could to let me grow. He suggested me to play for 30 min instead of 15. And this is how I progressed. I started with 30 min rapid, then 15min rapid, and now I play 10 min rapid. Even I grew up that I am 1200 in bullet chess. With all Niranjans and my hard work, I finally crossed the boundaries of  900 and now I was going to the semi-intermediate stage. Between 900-1100, I didn't get any issues because almost no one was aware of traps in queen gambits. Easier said than done. It took me 2 Months approx to cross this border. 
Here is a match from when I was around 1200, and you can see a little development in theory.

Chess.com premium membership-

So I was stuck at 1250 for a long time watching all the Hikaru and Gothamchess streams and videos. But can't see all these tactics and they say like, if he moves here, I will move here. At this moment, I would like to tell you that,
"Just watching their videos will not make you understand how tactics work because tactics vary from position to position. You need to solve puzzles and Endgames to understand these concepts." 
Fork, discovery, two rook mates, Arabian mate, smothered mate, Rook endgames. These all things are required at the level that I am playing now.
This comes from my experience of having a membership. I got a diamond membership for a month and the only thing I was focusing on was learning to open and solve puzzles.

By this time, I realized something. Premium members get a chance to play multiple puzzle battles. I reached a rating of 1400 there.
My maximum score was 29 in 3 minutes which is very good if you intermediate player. This was the time I focused only on the puzzle battle to know my strength in tactics solving almost spent 20 days on this.
Here I was so involved in puzzle battles that I didn't realize that I topped the global daily puzzle battle three times.

Tricks to grow quickly-

By this time, I was at my peak rating of 1400. Caro kann and vienna were two major openings I played. Although I knew theory sometimes playing the same line again and again at a certain level you start forgetting the critical moves. This is what happened with me and I dropped from 1450 to 1350. So what did I do to reach 1700 ? Do you want to know the secret?
Well, I am fortunate I found many channels which show the legit theory of some line.

For instance, here are the steps-

1- Watch a gothamchess 10 min opening video
2- Watch Daniel Naroditsky videos for the same line
3- See to it that "hanging pawn" has made videos on the opening you're looking for. (Generally, he has every opening)
4- Learn the traps from "Remote Chess Academy."
5- Analyise with the Engine where these YouTubers stopped.
6- Play your preparation on another site. eg- lichess, Fide online arena, etc.
7- Write down your notes

Following the steps, I was fortunate enough to have time for that. Almost played 20 rapid matches per day on lichess to practice. This all leads me to a greater focus, Higher understanding, and great knowledge of opening.

This is important for this reason,

Niranjan and I both play Alapin Sicilian. But because I have studied the theory and have a general idea I know I don't have to trade center pawn. This opening is anti-Sicilian which creates difficulty for the player to develop. This same reason is one of the reasons my friend is losing his rating right now since he has no repertoire against Sicilian and he is 1600 so people play a lot of Sicilian at this level.

Following the steps, I was fortunate enough to have time for that all stuff.
Due to preparation purposes, I can't reveal the whole repertoire, but here is an image,

One thing I left to say is reading books will help you a lot in understanding why a particular move is played first and why after this will take time but this is a long-term gift you will get.

Now I won't lie in my first blog I wrote about opening with respect to the rating and that was all opening I played. If you havent watched you can click here also,

https://www.chess.com/blog/siddharth026/openings-recommendation-400-1500

So you will say you didn't mention Nimzowitsch's Defence, Sicilian defense, Modern defense or fianchetto system, Classical Nimzo Indian. I don't use this system on every game. once in a while, you should be trying different stuff or the game will get monotonous. I will not lie, but even if I don't play it regularly, I know how to play with it and against it.

 From the above books, "Mind master" is not a theoretical book, But it contains how Viswanathan Anand thought in a critical situation. Also, it contains his important matches. As an Indian and vishy fan, I have to have this book.

Now to end the blog, I would show some of my high-rated and high-accuracy matches, which I am proud of having played, Since my journey from a noob to a chess master, you have seen and considered it all. I hope you all become good at chess by following these tips.

Do you see why I love this game? How many times do you get to smothered mate in a live game?

Another match-

This game is very close to me why you know? Here see the review,

How crazy it is to get 3 brilliancies and 5 great moves. This was not high accuracy game but i have to show this because its close to me.

Now when it comes to caro kann my accuracies is almost about 80-90% here is how I dominated this opponent,

review here says,

Now if i say Caro kann i dont want to make my Vienna angry so here it is,

This is also not a high accuracy match but finding critical move was optimal in this game.There are 4 great moves in this.

Now I would not end this blog without giving a vote of thanks to my best friend Niranjan Sahu his support throughout the journey has been fascinating. I might have used some wrong words like ego to make content more appealing but this guy never had it even when I was 4oo and even when I am 1700 now. He has been an integral part of my development and journey. His support is unimaginable. He has supported my chess, My blogs, and many other things like making a chess community. I thank him for being a part of my life and playing this vital role.

Also, guys if you want to join our small community where we compete and solve the puzzle with each other you can comment down below and I will personally message you its free of cost.