1000 Questions (My Chess Journey, Part 3)

People accept chess as a game of strategy, tactics, and logic. I see it as a game of growth and ideas. Both are correct. As a standard, chess is a strategy game. And as you play, you learn why you decided to play chess. I decided to play for the simple fact I thought it looked interesting. Now I play competitively OTB in a private local chess club (I got an exclusive invitation from a friend).

As a chess player, I grow and I dwindle. I sometimes have spikes in my Elo and sometimes have constant declines in my Elo (suffering through a 473 Elo drop on here at the moment). But does this stop me from playing? No. My OTB rating is going up still, and that's why I practice on chess.com.

After having joined my new local chess club, I started going on chess.com a lot more often. This was a great idea. This was probably what made me understand chess as I know it. This chess club had around 30 members, myself included in this count. The coach gave us lessons all the time. Now keep in mind that at the time, my OTB rating was trash. It was a measly 289 (with an unofficial rating system that works basically the same as FIDE ratings). I did play in tournaments only to get better, though I held the club back from reaching the top 10 locally.

My coach had a word with me. He said even though I was trying, I wasn't good enough. So how did I respond to this? Not with words, I'll tell you that much. I studied the games. I also did something I shouldn't have - I studied my opponent's games to learn their playstyles. I watched and reviewed their playstyles, played against them, used Stockfish to analyze my position and suggest moves. I looked to see if I could understand the moves it presented me. Then I understood.

A week after my coach had that word with me, we had another tournament. He wanted to withhold me since my Elo was, at that time, 291. Only two higher than it had been a week ago. I insisted he put me in. And surprisingly, he signed me a spot in the bracket.

This was where he put me under one thousand tons of pressure. I had a thousand questions as to why he was watching me only, instead of walking around looking at our other members' games. It was, in my eyes, very stupid. In the first round match, I played against an opponent who was rated 356. Very high compared to mine. But I didn't care. On the clocks we had an hour, so I took my precious time to think thoroughly. I made my moves. He made his. In the end, I had won the game. My Elo shot up to 349. It was low, but it was an improvement.

Rounds 2, 3, 4, and 5 I dominated my games. After the 5 rounds, my Elo was 650. I was getting into it. Before the Finals, my coach pulled me aside. "What did you do to grow so much?" I waved it off. I said I was locked in, focused and not asking "Should I make this move or this one?". I said that if I saw a move, I looked for a better one. And then the Finals match began.

My opponent? Rated 1100. There was no way I was winning this one (Spoiler Alert: I did not, but wait for the point). We played a battle of strategy and logic. He crushed me like a can. I squeezed him like a snake its prey. My coach watched. Everyone in the chess club watched. I was under pressure (Cue 'Under Pressure' by Queen & David Bowie). Our game went over 100 moves. It went over 150 moves. We almost hit the 75-Move Rule. We nearly drew by 3-Move Repetition. At the end of the game we nearly drew my insufficient material. After almost 170 moves, he checkmated me in the corner with his king and queen (He promoted a pawn by using opposition on me).

It was a let-down, but it was a point proven to my coach. I wasn't bad at chess, I just simply wasn't thinking it through before making my moves. I had to think, think through every possibility and outcome that could result. I knew then that I was being an idiot. Now I think my moves through. I make my moves worth it. I sacrifice only if I see another fantastic move that I need opponents distracted to be able to be played.

So how much did I improve? My Elo had hit 623, finalized, after that tournament specifically. I would continue to grow and improve. I would shatter my own mind and piece it back together, make myself better. So did I?

Thank you for taking your time to read 1000 Questions (My Chess Journey, Part 3)! If you enjoyed this story, look back at Checkmate! (My Chess Journey, Part 1) and The Mountain (My Chess Journey, Part 2).

Thank you for all of your support! I love the support you guys give me! Stay tuned for The Big 4's (My Chess Journey, Part 4)!