The Mountain (My Chess Journey, Part 2)

"Chess is an easy game." is what some people say then they end up getting crushed. I watched it happen several times. When I started, I thought it was the hardest thing I had ever laid my hands on. Even my dad is one of the ones to say it's an easy game. But he ended up losing to me, so what happened?

It's honestly not about what happened, it's about me. It's what happened with me. I grew. I surpassed a level in chess I thought I would never pass. I still have barriers that I personally don't think I will go past, but I stay motivated. Here's why.

After beating my dad, I was giddy. So I continued to practice and practice and practice. I changed my mindset from I am bad at chess to How do I get better? It's a grandmaster type question. What were my best moves? I were my blunders? Why did I blunder?

In this game, I am playing as black. Spot my blunder for me. I already know it. I lost my queen early on and wasn't able to capture his. I reviewed this game and replayed it against Komodo Chess 8. I ended up winning. Had I not blundered my queen, I would have won.

I kept this in mind. But back to the past. When I was rated circa. 300, I had no clue about how the pieces actually worked together. I knew they did, but I didn't know what moves to make and when and why it was good or to avoid moves if it was bad. Today, I coach some of my friends and let them play against me with their newfound knowledge.

So as time went on, I reviewed my games. I reviewed them every time I finished a game. But this didn't always go as planned. The thing about being rated ~300 is that you need help, whether it be the Chess.com coaches, a real life coach, a friend who's rated higher, or a top AI chess engine. Since I had no access to these (I didn't know they existed) I lost all hope. I stopped playing chess for four years. Four years I stopped playing chess.

During these four years, I didn't do anything to train my brain. I turned into an idiot. Gradually, slowly, I became one. I couldn't believe it. When I got back into chess, I was back down to my former level. 100 Elo. Couldn't do jack about it. I sucked. That was the truth I didn't want to face. But I stuck with it this time. The game started to come back to me. Then I was up to circa. 500 Elo. I hit my next wall. This monster of a mountain stood before me.

Again I stopped playing. I was demotivated by the fact I wasn't able to get out of the 500/600 Elo range. I wasn't just demotivated, I was frustrated with it. I grew rapidly from 300 - 500 Elo, but suddenly I was stuck? Are you kidding? I can't be stuck. Not after growth like that. The reality was that I was stuck. I won a consistent amount of times, but I had my fair share of losses. My win/loss rate was around 47%/53%. I lost more than I won. I wasn't happy.

Then I joined my local chess club (I moved between Checkmate! and The Mountain). I got back into chess. I grew rapidly. Even more so than I thought was possible. In five weeks, I went from 500 Elo to 800 Elo. The growth was extreme. Then I got stuck again. But I was fine with it this time, since I was closer to my goal of 1000 Elo.

I was going somewhere. I was growing. I was getting better. Then I stopped again. Why? I moved yet again. I lost my ability to play chess well. My Elo dropped significantly. I was back down to 400 Elo. I couldn't believe it. I was low yet again; I didn't want to play. Regardless I played still.

I began playing yet again. I played thousands of games and analyzed them all, some with the help of chess.com and others with the help of higher rated players. This was a challenge. Was I going to get around it? Did I get around it?

Thanks for reading The Mountain (My Chess Journey, Part 2)! It means a lot to me!

If you liked this, consider reading Checkmate! (My Chess Journey, Part 1) and stay tuned for 1000 Questions (My Chess Journey, Part 3)