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My Improvers Journey!!!!! (July 2025)

My Improvers Journey!!!!! (July 2025)

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theeldest1
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Welcome back to my Improvers Journey! This series is dedicated to following my chess journey through the Chess.com Improvers club, a movement that is helping over 30,000 members find coaching, helpful tips and growth. In this edition of my Improvers Journey, I will be showing you what I have been doing throughout the month of July, the rating milestones of this month, some featured games and puzzles, and the tournaments I'm doing next.

What's in this blog:

  • Opening I learned this month: Owen's Defense.
  • Rating milestones.
  • How to play bullet: a 2600's reflections.
  • Games from this month.
  • Puzzles from this month.
  • What's next?

Opening I learned this month: Owen's Defense.

Up first in the wonderful month of July, we have another new opening to learn. I was playing bullet, when I realized I needed a new opening to get accustomed to. The Moderns and Caro-Kanns that I had been playing were just getting too boring and my mind was wandering during the first few moves, which is very dangerous in bullet. I like watching chessbrah streams when Aman Hambleton plays bullet, and I noticed that the opening he plays with Black was the Owens Defense. This all came to me in the blink of an eye, and I decided to try it with my next bullet game. It took me a couple games to figure out the nuances, but then I started using it with great results.

Owen's Defense - put simply - is Black playing 1...b6. Often the pawn structure will be similar to a French, where Black plays e6 and d5.

The other main way of playing is to push c5 and play like a Sicilian.

No matter what variation you play, you'll always end up with a sharp middlegame with tactics to delight even the hardiest of positional masters.

Rating milestones.

As I mentioned in my June Improvers Post, I was so sooo close to achieving a rating of 2600 in bullet, however that elusive title eluded me on June 30th and I wasn't able to get it that month. I was busier the first week of July, and a combination of tilt and tiredness dropped my bullet rating down to 2460. However, on July 9th, I climbed back to 2583, and on July 10th, I sat down, played 11 bullet games, won 5.5/11 of them, and became 2600 at bullet. 

Here is the game in which I became 2600, courtesy of my opponent dropping both rooks.

This achievement is the peak of my chess career so far, surpassing my classical results and proving that if I can improve my true strength at chess, I can be one of the best online players in the world. The journey will continue, but every milestone will be surpassed in time!

How to play bullet: a 2600's reflections. 

During the first week of July, I played bullet. A lot. 586 games of bullet in ten days, to be precise. And I learned a lot about how I play during the heat of the moment, and a few self-taught tips that I believe everyone can learn from. So here are the three things I learned about playing bullet on my journey to 2600.

1. Have a clear head. This means your mind and mindset HAS to be in the right place. If you're upset, overly excited, or you're feeling any other emotional extreme, you shouldn't play bullet. You need to be calm, ready for a high-thrill experience, and above all rock solid in a win or loss. Bullet is as much mental as chess and speed. Master the mental aspect and you're on the right track.

2. Master being able to make extremely quick moves while still be able to react to the board. You have to play very quickly, but without using premoves as they don't allow you to react to a sudden move. Often this can look like hovering your mouse over a piece (always use PC for bullet, not the app) and holding a piece over where you want it to go, but not letting it go until you see the move your opponent has made. Below you can watch Hikaru playing a time scramble almost to perfection with the right blend of hovering pieces and premoves.

3. Play openings that favour your strengths. You may have heard of the phrase "Improve your weaknesses". That's great, but bullet chess is not the place to practice the openings you're weak in. Play what makes you comfortable, the openings you've already mastered. If you need a closed position to slowly out-maneuver your opponent, then play those types of openings. If an open board with pieces flying everywhere is your cup of tea, go for it! You need to find your comfort zone, the positions you feel happy in, and play those with all your heart.

Good luck on your bullet journey! With enough time and effort, and the will to keep going, anything is possible!

Games from this month.

I have been grinding all formats of chess, and I've played some beautiful games, and some not so beautiful games against incredibly strong players. Let's take a look at some of these. 

Up first is a game against Grandmaster Tair Vahidov from Uzbekistan. This game wasn't bullet, it was blitz. This was my first time playing a GM in blitz (if you don't count the fluke game against GM Benjamin Bok in an Arena Kings. Spoiler Alert: he won, and it wasn't close.) and I lost the first game. He accepted a rematch and this is how it went:

Up next is a bullet game against 2780 rated GM Sergei Matsenko. This was a 1+0 bullet game, and I played well, capitalizing on any and all blunders.

No matter how high your rating is, you need to pay attention to the basic opening principles. Here's an example of what happens when you don't.

Along with testing out new openings, I also continue to play the openings I have already mastered. Here's a miniature I won in blitz.

Puzzles from this month.

This month I played some tactics. Obviously. In the words of Richard Teichmann (1868-1925): "Chess is 99% tactics". Here are some fun positions from my games for you to solve for yourself! 

Up first is a game where I had been losing the entire time, was down material, then turned it around with a spectacular sacrifice!

A fun checkmating attack.

Another fun checkmating attack!

This one is a bit more difficult, featuring a deadly attack instead of simple checks and captures.

And finally, a sneaky trap culminating in checkmate!

What's next?

Up next is something big, and I mean something really, really big! I'm playing in the US Open, a nine-round tournament with over 450 players and many strong players from around the world. The top seed is currently GM Daniel Naroditsky, a commentator and bullet specialist with a rating of 2703! That tournament starts on the 31st of July, and I'll be writing a full recap when I get back! In August, I also want to grind my blitz back up to 2450, and play more rapid over bullet. Make sure to add me as a friend or follow me on chess.com so you don't miss any of my monthly Improvers Journey series or some extra blogs! 

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day!

Past Improvers Journey 2025 Blog Posts