Lol Magnus is awfully gracious
Chess epiphany
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Feb 6, 2019
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#24
I haven't had an epiphany yet! I haven't been able to practice over the last month or so. I only play against my computer, and usually beat it at L3, never at L4. But a while ago, I played and won. To my surprise, I discovered that it was L4. I must have accidentally set it at that level without realising it. I've tried to play L4 again, but always get beaten. :-(
CelticG wrote:
I haven't had an epiphany yet! I haven't been able to practice over the last month or so. I only play against my computer, and usually beat it at L3, never at L4. But a while ago, I played and won. To my surprise, I discovered that it was L4. I must have accidentally set it at that level without realising it. I've tried to play L4 again, but always get beaten. :-(
I wasnt saying I am good at chess all the sudden I am still a total noob too 
my big realization was that I was letting pre conceived notions about my opponents rating effect how I play. I realized if I can put those worries behind me and not assume a stronger player is going to beat me or worry about getting embarrassed by a lower player, that my play is much better and more precise. I think many of us have much better ability than we exhibit in our games, its harnessing control of those emotions that helps us play better, play the board, not your opponent. Too many times it's my own head that gets in my way and causes blunders.
I come close to the mark! I jumped from around 1500 - 1800 in a short period of time. I spent 3 months in a row solving 3-4 hours of tactics a day when I was a 1500. At the end my rating decreased a little. After a short break from chess, I returned and my rating jumped up to 1800.
I didn't feel any different/stronger, but rather my regular opponents started to feel weaker.
I don't think chess improvement is linear (at the class level at least), and I think we need time to process the patterns/info we pick up before it can be useful in our games.
Thanks for your input- what are your aspirations? Do you seek to continue improving? Break 2000? Become a titled player?
I took a break after hitting 1800 to prioritize grad school, but I've been back on the grind stone for the last 6 months or so.
I set goals for myself based on completing some definite amount of training each day rather than reaching a rating. That being said, I doubt I'll stop before I hit 2200 (however long it takes).
Right now my goal is to complete the woodpecker method! I've been studying it on chessable, and I'm through 1000/1150 problems of my first set (while also doing all of chessable's review sessions).
What about you?
My goal is to be the next world champion
, but before I do that I would be happy hitting 1600 in rapid by the end of this year.