The journey to 2000 elo... Where do I go from here?
The Journey To 2000 Elo
The Journey to 2000 was an uphill battle for me, but like any other challenge, I faced it head on with one goal in mind; to get to 2000 elo on chess.com. On Tuesday, March 5, 2024, my rating was at 1982, I only needed 3-4 wins to reach my ultimate goal of 2000 elo, I was quite nervous because I feared that I would go on a losing streak and lose some elo, but after a long day of school, I came home and reflected on the journey I embarked on to reach this far in chess, and I remembered a promise I made to myself to get to 2000 before the National High School Chess Championship, a major tournament my chess club team and I have been preparing for since September 2023. I knew that reaching a rating of 2000 would mean that I'd kept my promise and that I was ready for the upcoming tournament. However, I noticed that there was one thing holding me back—something that I never thought was an issue before, something that killed many dreams—and that is FEAR. I was afraid of going back down the rating ladder, I was afraid that I wasn't strong enough to defeat 2000 rated players, and I was afraid of not keeping my promise. Overcoming fear is not easy, but then it hit me, and I thought to myself; "How can I be afraid if I haven't tried yet?" As I sat there, pondering that thought, I remembered something that happened earlier that day and it gave me the courage to log onto chesscom and play chess. At first, I was nervous and I think that's what cost me the game despite being a minor piece up, I went on to lose that game because I let fear take over. I accepted my fate after that loss and went into the next game with an open mind. It was a wild game where my opponent put up a real fight, but I was the one to come out on top of the tactical skirmish.
I got the white pieces in the second game and after I played 1.e4, my opponent played c5 the Sicilian Defense. Usually I would avoid playing into popular Sicilian because I lack the knowledge and ideas behind the opening, but recently I've been studying the Sicilian and I was feeling adventurous, so I just went for the position that felt comfortable for me to play and to my surprise, the open Sicilian is really fun to play as white and I went on to win that game because all my pieces were engaged in battle against the helpless black king in the centre of the board, my opponent just resigned on move 19 as there is not much to do but delay the inevitable.
After that win, I felt the courage to continue on the path to 2000, so I played two more games where I did what I had to in order to win and that is focus on the now and even at the 2000 level online, mistakes are still being made so I took any advantage given to me by the opponents and convert it into a win. After reaching 2000 it felt like I'd been climbing a mountain and finally reached the top.
Where Do I Go From Here?
At first, I thought 2000 would be the point where I give up chess and find some other hobby to become good at but my chess journey is far from over, In fact, it's only the beginning of something great.
