Results from 2022 and Goals for 2023

Well, there's really not much to post about last year. It's all there in the stats line. My rating stabilized last year at 373 and I was able to push myself to 1367 at my peak. Sadly I dropped to 1281 so I don't consider it much of an accomplishment this point. My goal was 1500 by the end of my first year, but sadly that won't happen now. But I suppose I'm much closer now. In light of that fact my new goal for 2023 is to reach 1600 in rapid, 2800 in puzzles on chess.com, and 1600 in puzzles on chesstempo. Even though that site frustrates me to no end. 🥴

I'm disappointed with how the year ended as far as chess goes, but chess will be full of that. I've made some changes in my approach to analysis and I'm working on changing some bad habits while playing. 

The dream is to enter OTB tournaments after hitting 2000 in my rapid rating and work towards a 2000 FIDE rating. Yes, it's a dream, but in my mind it is worth pursuing. 

I enjoy the zoo that is the chess.com forums and I've met some good people here. I'll continue training with my coach and hopefully continue to  climb the rating ladder. 

Full disclosure, I've been thinking about starting a YouTube/Streaming channel with the goal of documenting my chess journey, the learning process, the ups and downs of trying to reach a 2000 rating. It's a project that could take years. So I figure if I stick to my ultimate goal of 2000 and document the process, it could help others learn from my wins/losses/brilliancies/blunders etc. I also speak German fluently so I could potentially reach another audience that way. Either way, the goal is to learn and help others learn as well. Could also be a lot of fun. 

Anyway, I hope everyone had a fun and happy new year. Keep grinding! Best vibes I send you all. 🙏

Good luck!

Apart from being a round number, why is 2000 important to you?

@KevinOSh

If I see myself as capable of doing something well through study and hard work, then I always set the bar high. I'll appreciate the milestones along the way. But I play to chess learn and ultimately win. Achieving an expert level, for me, would be an affirmation of the hard work I've put in. Sure 1800, 1900 will be great and exciting, but it's not enough for me. I think that's the thing about chess for me is I'm never satisfied. There's ALWAYS something to learn. And as long as I can learn and progress, I want to continue to do so. 2000 is merely symbolic for me. That is my endgoal. What comes after 2000, I cannot say. I'll probably want to push to 2100, 2200 and so on. But baby steps. I need to get to 1500 first. 😅

I don't necessarily consider the exact rating to be reflective of your exact strength. In particular, I don't necessarily consider 1281 to be your true strength.

It's a well-known problem for the elo system that it takes some time for the rating to catch up with strength when there's a differential. You won 9.5/16 games since December 22, and at 59.375% win rate, that's roughly consistent with the 64% win rate expected of a 100-point elo difference (Sure, maybe a little less, but I would only expect you were a little stressed in those games.) Anyway, I personally don't put too much importance on the exact number of 1281 in rapid, seeing as you were improving quite nicely up to your peak 1367. Nice job on your progress in the first year (or actually less than a year -- you joined end of January as I see.)

Nice job with the puzzles! Puzzles are kind of funny in that they don't correlate that directly with playing strength; I have a couple chess.com friends who can play rapid at 1700+ and are sub 2500 in puzzles (two of them I can attest are strong in tactics in-game based on having played them in rapids). (Edited post to remove anecdote about a GM who it turns out has done only 28 rated puzzles). So by all means shoot for 2800 if you would like -- I'd just add the caveat that you can definitely be a 1600 in rapid without necessarily being a 2800 in puzzles.

Good luck. As far as your yearly goals are concerned, I think that 2 000 on chess tempo is much more difficult than the other ones you've stated. 2 000 on chess tempo tactics might be even more difficult than 2 000 rapid here, and it is surely much more difficult than 1 600 rapid rating here.

For comparison, my best rapid rating here is slightly over 1 700, and my best tactics score on chess tempo is a bit below 1 600.

Of course, not everyone is the same, but it is safe to say that if you get to 2 000 tactics rating there, you will almost certainly be much higher than 1 600 rated here in rapid.

@nklristic

I was over 1500 on chesstempo puzzles until recently I dropped below 1400. Just went through a rough time and I could not think clearly at all. I should also state I meant to put 1600 as my goal for chesstempo puzzles. My brain got stuck on the number 2000 somehow. Haha

I try to set the bar high, but not out of reach. 2000 on chesstempo is going to take a while. 😌

Yeah, it seemed a bit off when put together with other stuff you've mentioned.

As for chess tempo rating, yeah, 100 rating up or down there depends on how much time you are ready to invest per puzzle. Some days you just rush too much, at least I tend to do so, and that is when the score tends to drop off a bit.

"The dream is to enter OTB tournaments after hitting 2000 in my rapid rating and work towards a 2000 FIDE rating. Yes, it's a dream, but in my mind it is worth pursuing. "

Playing at OTB tournaments is one of the most effective ways to increase your playing strength, so I think you should not postpone it until you reach 2000 here. It's not "I wanna get better so I can enter OTB tournaments" but rather "I wanna enter OTB tournaments so I get better". 

As Scott Young, the Ultralearning guy puts it: 

Principle #3 — Directness — Go straight ahead. Learn by doing the things you're trying to become good at. Don't trade hands-on experience for other more convenient alternatives.

Principle #5 — Retrieval — Test to learn. Use the testing process to learn more as you go along. Always test yourself before you feel confident and push yourself to recall information, not just review it.

Principle #6 — Feedback — Don't dodge the punches. Put aside your ego and look for the harshest feedback you can find. Extract the signal from the noise and pay attention to what that feedback highlights you need to learn.

In my mind, these principles all point toward OTB games. Surely the harshest feedback you can get in chess is getting hammered face to face.

Also, if you have a full-time job and other activities beside chess, then you probably have enough on your plate already, so it might not be the best moment to start streaming. I think it can really get in the way of serious study. 

Well, this is my two cents, anyhow. Good luck with your project!