Crossed over 1900 Rapid, Blitz, and Bullet (Featuring complicated Evans Gambit game)!

I finally crossed over 1900 for all three time controls! I started learning chess in the pandemic because I had nothing better to do. I never played as a kid, only knew how the pieces moved. I always thought 2000 was a pipe dream, but now I might reach that by the end of the year! In terms of difficulty I would say blitz is the toughest on chess.com to climb, followed by bullet than rapid was the easiest. Blitz is always a challenge every game it really takes a lot out of you mentally to think as fast as you need to while still making best moves. Time management adds an extra layer of complexity to the games in terms how best to allocate your mental resources. I also am most likely to tilt in blitz because of how close those games tend to be. Bullet might be easier for some people but for me since I play mostly on mobile I don't have access to multiple premoves which puts you at a major disadvantage. Depending on your location you are also at the mercy of the chess.com servers. Rapid is very easy to get a high rating with, just take your time make sure your moves don't blunder anything and you will win most of your games.

I was very happy with the rapid game that got me over 1900. It was a very complicated Evans gambit that I thought would be fun to share. Some of the suggested best moves are absolutely outrageous. For example if there are any high rated players that can explain to me why on move 17 sacrificing the pawn with e5 was the top engine move I would appreciate it. It doesn't look like it accomplishes anything to my puny brain. Now on to 2000, wish me luck!

nice one, i cracked 2000 in both bullet and rapid pretty easily, but getting blitz 2000 is too tough man

Thanks man! I know blitz is going to be challenge, but I'm going to try my best.

Good job

Thanks guys!

oongrats to your accomplishment-- i can only dream about things like that

nice job

keep pushing

It seems like you mostly play blitz, and you play a weird opening where you move your queen followed by the king for the first two moves. I mean if you want to improve I don't see a reason to deliberately handicap yourself like this. If you really want to play blitz switch to 5 min instead of 3 min, but rapid is usually better for lower rated players. You don't have to learn a legitimate opening, even I don't always know what openings to play, but when in doubt you should at least follow basic opening principles.

These principles are:

1. Develop one or both your center pawns by two squares. These are the pawn moves e4 and d4 for white and e5 and d5 for black. This achieves two things. It contests the center which is the best place for most of your pieces to be (think about it, would you rather have a knight in the corner or center of the board?). It also opens up space for you to develop your bishop and queen.

2. Develop your knights and bishop. After your center pawn move(s) it is a good idea to develop your knights followed by developing your bishops. This is because knights need more moves to get into the game where as the bishop can travel long distances fairly quickly. It is usually a good idea not to repeat moves with the same piece in the opening. Once you move one knight, develop another piece etc.

3. CASTLE!!! This will change your whole chess experience. This is achieved by swapping the places of the king and rook if there are no other pieces (i.e knights and bishops, which is why we want to move them out of the way) in-between them. You usually want to castle short, so if you are white this is swapping the king with the light square rook on h1 and if you are black this is swapping the king with the dark square rook on h8. This will ensure your king is safe as it much more difficult to attack the king in the corner then in the center (there are fewer angles of attacks on it compare to when the king is in the center). This will give you piece of mind and let you focus on your own attack instead of constantly moving a vulnerable king.

4. Develop any major remaining pieces. This means developing your rooks and queen. A lot of low rated players have this fixation of moving the queen early, this is usually not a good idea. Even though it is your best piece it is also your biggest liability as it is easily attacked (you don't want to give up a queen for a knight right?). The queen becomes much, much more powerful when there are fewer pieces on the board, so don't keep moving it around early. The rooks want to be on open files, these are columns along the chess board where there are no pawns (because the pawns have been traded and removed).

5. Advance your other pawns. This will let you create more space for your pieces and help you advance into enemy territory, which takes away their space. Advanced pawns can also serve as outposts for knights (knights that are backed up by a pawn below it). Avoid advancing any pawns that are next to your king after castling (f2, g2, and h2 pawns for white, f7, g7, and h7 pawns for black) more than one square. These pawns are protecting your king, if you want to move these pawns (usually for creating luft, breathing space for the king) play either g3 or h3 if you are white or g6 or h6 if you are black. Avoid playing f3 or f6, these will make your king more open and weak, a wiseman once said, NEVER PLAY F6.

If you achieve all this, you will have a major advantage in the middle game, at that point your focus should be on finding tactics or mistakes made by your opponent (they will makes mistakes like you do). After you get an advantage (win a free piece), trade down (make equal trades such as knight for knight or bishop for bishop) into a winning end game. You don't have to follow this exactly. This is just a template that allows you to achieve a solid opening set up that makes the rest of the game much easier to play. Feel free to deviate from the above plan if you notice one your pieces are hanging (saving it takes priority), or you see an opponent's piece hanging (take it, but only if it is free).