Journey to 2000 milestone

I reached 2001 Chess.com rapid for the first time on December 15, 2021, after beating a 2061 rated player in my final game. It has been an absolutely incredible chess journey so far. I can see that my efforts have been paying off - however, there's still SO MUCH to learn and I still have a long journey to go. 2000 is not quite the master level yet, and NM (2200 USCF) is my ultimate chess goal. 

2000 is a big milestone in chess and I am very, very happy that I've achieved it. (I am still stoked three days later! )

Below is my final game with annotations. I wrote them myself. 

How do I study?

1. Tactic training: Chess.com puzzles. I have 2800+ puzzle rating; Chess tactic book "Tune Your Chess Tactics Antenna". 

2. Chessable courses: openings and endgame courses - for example "100 endgames you must know". 

3. Practice and Analyze: I played almost 1800 rated rapid games on my old account in 4-5 months, with 1000+ games on my new account in 3 months, so on average I play 10+ rated rapid games per day with proper analysis of my games. I had and have the time for chess and I was/am utilizing them fully. 

4. Additional learning from a chess coach. 

Psychology

One thing I think that is worth mentioning is the psychological part of chess. First, It is very important to be able to adjust mindset after finishing a game( whether you lose or win) and try to have a brand new and clear mind before starting a new game. If we can practice and improve this ability I believe we can avoid tilt more often than not. Second, the will to win and the fighting spirit are crucial. I reached 1996 but then lost my next game and my rating dropped to 1991. Was I upset about losing? Absolutely, but I tried to change my mindset and started a new game and it was that fighting spirit and the will to win which got me through the final game. 

Thank you so much for reading this, if you've made it this far. I just wanted to share my excitement and some thoughts. Cheers! 

Well I'd like to be the first to offer a big congratulations on hitting 2K! That is quite a big milestone. I am a long long way from that level but I do try to learn everyday and it's not inconceivable I might get there someday. It's just going to be a long time. If ever.

It's funny you mention your recipe. I also started with a chess coach. I have the two courses you mentioned on chessable. ( actually tuning your antenna you mentioned you have the book). I've been playing Daily chess instead of rapid because my work schedule doesn't really allow me to play any chess for a long duration unless I want to play when I'm so tired I can't look at the screen. I have found I don't play very well that way. LOL. 

What time control do you play in Rapid in order to get that many games in? I generally only play 15/10 so I would probably have to quit my job and my life to get that many games in with that time control.

Congratulation on your success, this is great advice and will get the books you recommended. I do have a quick question, how do you do annotations here on chess.com?  I know it should be easy but I cant figure it out? Thanks and keep up the great work. 

If you're on the analysis tab of your game review, right click on the move you want to annotate and select "Comment Before" or "Comment After".  Then enter the text you wish.  If you're on a mobile device (please accept my condolences), instead of right click, long press the item and that same menu will appear, but after that the text entry is a major pain.  Just use a PC. 

I believe you can also add notes while the game is in progress, and they'll show up as annotations in the PGN later.  I think I've done that in daily games, but never in a time controlled game. 

I got it! I used a Mac book pro, I heard about the phones. Thanks so much, greatly appreciate your help.  

I play 10+0!

Congrats!

10 games a day of 10+0 wow I play like 1 a day on average...

2000+ with under 700 for me 😁

Interesting idea against the Scandinavian...

10.Bb3 to prepare Bf4 without allowing Qxb2.

@awebaweFWE

do you read any chess books? 

Well I'm not the OP but I can try to answer your questions. First of all, putting in many games isn't necessarily a great idea. IMO it's better to play a few very good games than many mediocre games - but maybe it's just me that can't focus for long periods of time. 

If I ever don't feel like playing, I don't play. I know I won't be bringing my best game to the match. 

I play 10+0.

I'm with you on quality vs quantity, but with that said, the most impressive thing about the OPs accomplishment to me is not what he did, but how quickly.  I mean, going from 890 to 2000 in what?  6-8 months?  That's pretty difficult to argue with.  And before anyone even suggests I don't believe it, not a chance.  I firmly believe with proper focus on your own weaknesses, good solid practice and study, I've felt it was possible ever since I started playing again.  For me, it's now 5:50pm Sunday night and I'm here at work.  It's not likely I'm gonna have time to put in the effort the OP has.  But, I'm still very happy with my progress and that's what matters. I'm happy for him, I'm inspired by his accomplishment;  I just hope that I can soon have more free time to pursue  my own chess improvement.  

I intentionally avoid playing if I'm tired, which is basically all the time after a 12 or 13 hour day on my feet.  I've already shown that I play horrible when I do that.  I even see it in my puzzle solving, there's good days and then there's days when I need to just close the browser and walk away.   It takes a great deal of focus to realize improvement like the OP is talking about.  I'm pretty sure he'll agree, it didn't come easy. 

Just FYI this account is my new account on Chess.com. I closed my previous one and was 1700-1800 rapid at that time. I took a 3-month break and got back in chess in September. I chose my initial rating to be a few hundreds intentionally. 

lol that's what I thought as well. No way you go from like 400 to 1700 in a week or so.

I thought it would be very risky for black to take on b2. In most cases b2 pawn is often poisoned. 

Ok, well.... I just looked at the graph and figured with approximately 100x the amount i play, I could envision a meteoric rise in rating.  It's not unheard of.  (Hikaru comes to mind).  Even with the extreme low number of games I play, I can see improvement at a pretty good clip.  I do study all the time, or try to anyway.  At work I get short breaks all day long at what I do and I have a PC handy to let chess.com or chessable open and either play daily or work on courses.  There's no chance of taking 15 minutes, so that's out of the question.  But I can do whatever, including checking the forums for interesting stuff, as long as I don't have to respond within a time limit.  Ya do what works!  

So how long did it take to get to 1700?  And, knowing what you know now about improvement, do you think you could have accelerated that 0-1700 with enough effort?  

Here's my previous account's username: dwsky2022

I reached 1700 on May 17, 2021, after starting to learn chess in February, 2021. I spent a huge amount of time in chess at that time and I think that was the best that I could have done.

My coach actually tweeted about me on my rating improvement as well, https://twitter.com/fins0905/status/1394471688704692224

I'm currently reading Tune Your Chess Tactics Antenna. 

I'm considering to buy a positional chess book as well. 

I might have heard him mention something about you in a podcast or on one of his streams.  Very cool!  Yea, I figured you were working on it like a madman, and I can appreciate that.  

I have not started "tune your tactics antenna" yet, I've got another course I want to finish first.  (Actually several) but I did buy it and it's waiting.  Might even open it tonight and begin.  I'm about sick of opening courses.  I'd rather take a sharp stick in the eye than study openings.  My accuracy in games has actually dropped since I began... And a LOT... 

In my wishlist I have one from Vladimir Kramnik, Thinking in chess.  There are several he's got, but according to his intro, likely they're too much for me at this time.  I don't mind "extremely difficult", but "way over my head" could pose an issue.  I suspect it might be just that.  It's about quiet moves and positional thinking, without the "hammer and chisel tactics" which are fairly easy to solve (by comparison).  I've thought for some time I have a few conceptual problems and I'm not sure how to identify and address those just yet.  But, maybe Vlad has the answer and I just need a little chess experience first to get ready to understand the concepts.  

No rush, if I learn this stuff before I die I'll be happy.