The joy of chess improvement

I stumbled into chess through youtube, I watched one video about old chess games and suddenly you get links to more and more videos and it sparks an interest so I find myself playing against an engine. I find that engines are bit dull so i decide that I should play against other human and end up here.

Since I haven't touched a board since my pre-teens I choose raw beginner and end up starting at 400 rating, I play 10 minute games to give me some time to think. Some quick games later and I am almost 1000. When I think its easy playing I end up losing two straight games. I play more,  I win some, I lose some.

I start to look at different openings, I experiment with spanish, sicilian, russian, I hang pieces, I miss hanging queens but in some mysterious way I get past 1100 rating.

I realize that maybe I should learn one opening and stick to it.  I read an article written by some sort of master that question why beginners keep trying to copy masters playing spanish opening when there are so many ways to play italian games, so that's what I do. I also realize that I should learn to play as black, find a few video made by someone that looks like he could ba carrying a ring or could be a kid wizard, I look at the videos and find the one of caro-kann defense most interesting.

I look at traps in italian game, so I end up getting a few easy wins from people getting their liver fried. With fewer hanged pieces  my rating goes up to 1250. Woo hoo, I'm the best chess beginner in the world.

I start string playing games, tilt bad from losing because such a great beginner couldn't possibly lose to these mere mortals, like Icarus my rating falls down to 1150.

I learn a valuable lesson, anger and logical thinking doesn't mix so I collect my thoughts. I get a crazy string of wins and get my old rating back. I look at someone playing people at my rating with commentary and realize what part of my game I can improve. I start to have a plan on what to do and even though I still hang some pieces I pickup more than I lose and find myself up beyond 1300 in rating.

I struggle at 1300 rating playing lots of games and realize that maybe I play too many games in a row.  I start to only play while I'm feeling fresh, play fewer games in a row and it works because I win enough games to go above 1400 rating. Who could imagine that a fresh mind makes better chess moves.

Suddenly i find that it all starts to come together for me, I keep doing the right thing in my opening, its not over when I lose a piece early because I can pressure the opponent to mistakes due to piece coordination. I used to lose games due to endgame mistakes when I started out, now I make the other player lose endgames they could have won.  Its a great feeling and I climb above 1500 in rating.

Ooof, 1500 rated people are tougher than 1400 rated players, after 4 games I am 1-3. I regroup mentally and finish the day at 4-4. Next day my mental barrier fades and I start to be competitive against the 1500 rated players, its a nice feeling winning more games than I lose.

Looking at my own progress, at 1000 I didn't know what moves to start with and hanged pieces all over the place, at 1100 I found myself lost in the middle game, at 1200 I ended up losing plenty of endgames with more pieces, at 1300 I could still find myself making one move mistakes, at 1400 I started to create winning opportunities in losing positions.  Over what feels like a short time I have a completely different understanding of the game which makes chess more fun to play.