4 digit club!
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Finally made it to the 4 digit club! It took a while but it definitely gives a sense of accomplishment!
For those who are interested, i tought it might be fun to share some background on my personal journey to this small achievent. I am very much aware the road towards 1200 is gonna be much more tough. All the more rewarding to get there!
I am 29 yrs old, got two kids and I got a busy job. I usually only play one or two games a day right after work when i still got some energy left in me. Experience thaught me I shouldn't play a game when i am absolutely exhausted. This has always been a recipe for blunders.
I started off playing 10 minute games but i always got into time trouble so my elo dropped like a brick. Then i discovered you can change the time control and I switched to 30 minute games while at the same time I started playing a lot of puzzles. Which truly helps a ton!
The 30 minute games helped me to think more carefully about my moves, and those of my opponent. However, as i gradually got more comfortable playing chess, I could play my moves faster and i didnt want to wait as long anymore for my opponent to make a move. Besides, many times something would come up in the middle of a game so I couldn't afford to play such long games anymore. Hence, i switched time control again...
Since I was still worried 10 minutes would get me into trouble i strated I playing 15 minute games +10 sec per move. Up until recently this has worked great for me. It gives you a decent amount of time while at the same time ensuring you always have at least 10 seconds to make a move. If you make your move faster than 10 seconds, the remaining seconds accumulate with your available time left.
Besides just playing chess and puzzles (which i again cannot stress enough, it truly helps) i strated watching some chess videos, mostly GothamChess and a bit of Chessbrah (nowadays i found many more interesting channels which i can share if you like, if you actually read up till here). They thaught me a couple of valuable things for beginners which i would like to share since i think it helped me.
- practice puzzles every day (just try to do them correctly first, dont worry about time)
- dont focus too much on opening. Just learn the basic lines for one solid opening you like for white and one for back (i always play the london as white and KID or Caro Kann as back, depending on White's opening. I know I said one, but the Caro Kann i discovered later against e4)
- focus on playing along the basic principles such as activating your pieces, castling asap, control the center, etc.
- try to analyze your games afterwards
- watch some chess for fun (pogchamps is a blast, very casual and again GothamChess is very accessible)
And most importantly, dont blunder! Or at least try not to be the first to blunder. I laughed when i first heard this. But what they say is true. By simply not blundering or blundering less i believe its possible to make it up to 1300. From there on or perhaps 1400 i think you should definitely know the opening in more detail and start to play more moves according to a plan. But that's a different story. So just double check your pieces are safe before you make a move and think what your opponent might in reaction to your move. It sounds easy and it is, but i think many of us beginners tend to lose our focus now and then or we feel so certain this is the right move that we dont do these checks. Thats exactly the moment blunders arr made.
By trying to follow these lines I think i gradually improved. Of course everyone has setbacks, i am not exception. But although its sometimes hard not to focus on ELO and we get stressed by the thought of dropping a few points, its important to let these thoughts go and just enjoy the game.
Its a wonderful game and practice makes perfect. I try to enjoy the game, stick to the principles, do my daily puzzles and watch some chess in order to pick up a thing or two.
Cant wait to see where this will bring me. Enjoy everyone and maybe see you on the other side of the board!
Nov 12, 2021
0
#3
QueenMoonSun wrote:
Finally made it to the 4 digit club! It took a while but it definitely gives a sense of accomplishment! For those who are interested, i tought it might be fun to share some background on my personal journey to this small achievent. I am very much aware the road towards 1200 is gonna be much more tough. All the more rewarding to get there! I am 29 yrs old, got two kids and I got a busy job. I usually only play one or two games a day right after work when i still got some energy left in me.
Experience thaught me I shouldn't play a game when i am absolutely exhausted. This has always been a recipe for blunders. I started off playing 10 minute games but i always got into time trouble so my elo dropped like a brick.
Then i discovered you can change the time control and I switched to 30 minute games while at the same time I started playing a lot of puzzles. Which truly helps a ton! The 30 minute games helped me to think more carefully about my moves, and those of my opponent. However, as i gradually got more comfortable playing chess, I could play my moves faster and i didnt want to wait as long anymore for my opponent to make a move. Besides, many times something would come up in the middle of a game so I couldn't afford to play such long games anymore. Hence, i switched time control again...
Since I was still worried 10 minutes would get me into trouble i strated I playing 15 minute games +10 sec per move. Up until recently this has worked great for me. It gives you a decent amount of time while at the same time ensuring you always have at least 10 seconds to make a move. If you make your move faster than 10 seconds, the remaining seconds accumulate with your available time left.
Besides just playing chess and puzzles (which i again cannot stress enough, it truly helps) i strated watching some chess videos, mostly GothamChess and a bit of Chessbrah (nowadays i found many more interesting channels which i can share if you like, if you actually read up till here).
They thaught me a couple of valuable things for beginners which i would like to share since i think it helped me. - practice puzzles every day (just try to do them correctly first, dont worry about time) - dont focus too much on opening. Just learn the basic lines for one solid opening you like for white and one for back (i always play the london as white and KID or Caro Kann as back, depending on White's opening. I know I said one, but the Caro Kann i discovered later against e4) - focus on playing along the basic principles such as activating your pieces, castling asap, control the center, etc. - try to analyze your games afterwards - watch some chess for fun (pogchamps is a blast, very casual and again GothamChess is very accessible)
And most importantly, dont blunder! Or at least try not to be the first to blunder. I laughed when i first heard this. But what they say is true. By simply not blundering or blundering less i believe its possible to make it up to 1300. From there on or perhaps 1400 i think you should definitely know the opening in more detail and start to play more moves according to a plan. But that's a different story. So just double check your pieces are safe before you make a move and think what your opponent might in reaction to your move. It sounds easy and it is, but i think many of us beginners tend to lose our focus now and then or we feel so certain this is the right move that we dont do these checks. Thats exactly the moment blunders arr made. By trying to follow these lines I think i gradually improved.
Of course everyone has setbacks, i am not exception. But although its sometimes hard not to focus on ELO and we get stressed by the thought of dropping a few points, its important to let these thoughts go and just enjoy the game. Its a wonderful game and practice makes perfect. I try to enjoy the game, stick to the principles, do my daily puzzles and watch some chess in order to pick up a thing or two. Cant wait to see where this will bring me. Enjoy everyone and maybe see you on the other side of the board!
Congratulations.
/ I see your puzzles rating has fallen off recently. Don't forget to take your own advice.
Nice one! 🙂
yea
