FINALLY over 1200 elo the story

This is just a post celebrating me finally getting over 1200 elo in Standard live chess
(Edit: I write that i used the KID and people could use it. It turns out, don't.. apperently)

I made my acc. 2½ years ago, but held a long break after the first few months, i think due to hitting a ceiling and not having a clear direction of how to get past it.

Anyways i picked my game/acc. back up Nov. 15 2013 with the goal of getting past the 1200 mark and there by deleting the "Highest" (elo) set on the day i made the acc.. and today i made it!

I ended up with a score of: 
Won 139
Lost  112
Draw  5
Total: 256
with an avg. opp.: 977.432 
lowest score: 740
I have subtracted games played against a mate because our score was 59/4 in my favor and all before nov. 15

On my way to 1200 i have used very few openings, one because i believe in understanding what you do well before you move on and two because it was simply too much to remember more than a few openings in the beginning.
For the longest time (pre my long break) i used the King's Indian Attack/Defense every game. The hole could be round, triangle or star.. i would force the square no matter what! Of course this led to a lot of loses just from the opening.
When i picked chess back up i looked for something new to bite into and i "found" the e4..e5, d4. This opening really helped me getting some elo back on my chart, especially when i figured out the 1.e4..e5, 2.d4..Nc6, 3.d5..Nd4, 4.c3(!!) trap. Obviously few people fell in the trap, but it is still there.
Why was this so effective? i can only speculate, but i think it is down to the opening not really being covered as "the next big thing" anywhere. I think most new/lowlow level players look for the certain-win opening and had simply not found a video covering this opening.
This opening might not take me much further, but below 1200 only one thing i certain; your opponent can have two queens and you are left with ludo pieces, you can still manage to win and visa versa.

So should anyone new come past this post i know exacly how you feel. "Give me the damn cheat sheet! I just want to win", right? Here is what i can give you:

Use center pawn accepted as white (given that black takes, but work from there) It gives you an easy open center, that can be hard for new players to deal with. You don't have to think too much in crazy pawn moves, so the games are mostly the same and easy to learn from.

Use King's Indian Defense (KID) as black. I can't say if this is the best opening as black always BUT you can force your way into it almost every game no matter what white comes up with. That makes the games more uniforme and waaay easier to learn from down the line. The pieces cover each other nicely from the beginning and you can let white use all his tricks until he runs out of steam and then blunders. I've found that if i could defend to the point past move 25-30, white would have tried so hard to kill me that he would blunder in the end (low low level) 

I have never been taught chess by anyone and i started playing in my mid 20's - will i ever make it to the top? not even close, but chess is about the personal development..
All i know about chess i have learned from videos on chess.com and youtube.
And of course my toilet Kasparov pocket plus pocket chess (1987) chess computer. I love that thing..although it will one day kill me from a blood clot in my legs.

congrats. My goal is to get over 1000 but it seems hard when you're only getting like 7 per win

Thanks :) The better players you play, the more points you get. And you will only learn so much from keep playing against the same low low level players. I try to keep it so if i have a score of lets say 1031 i play against players rated between 950 and 1050, but once i get over 1050 i change that to 1000 and 1100. 

Uh, firstly you can play the KID only against white's d4 and c4. Secondly playing uniformely one piece set-up no matter what is rather good advice if you intend not to improve.

I agree partially. You look at it from a very different prespective. Dont forget i talk about players around maybe 1000 and under. KID is of what i have seen in my games a pretty solid defense against most players, easy to remember and with few variations on your side. I agree that even over 1000 elo you have to think a bit more about what you do, but bellow that point most people just play random moves from their gut feeling, and then sticking to KID as black is a very good idea.

Congratulations! :)

The Danish Gambit doesn't have enough compensation for the pawn.

Thanks :)

under 1000, you don't need compensation for anything

Congratulations. It's not Elo here though. chess.com uses some other rating system.

They use Glico which is an extension of Elo.

http://www.glicko.net/glicko/glicko.pdf

Come back when you have a rating and a valid opinion.

@Hudlommen: What I say is not really a matter of perspective. The King's Indian Defense is 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7. There is a reason why it's been played successfully by world champions and is still seen on top level: Although it cedes the center to white, it has very tangible strategical ideas. White's second move has weakened the dark squares and the diagonale a1-h8, which is where black will strike by either playing e7-e5 or c7-c5.

Of course black can play exactly the same set-up against 1.e4, too. But this is the Pirc/Modern Defense, a completely different opening. It's playable, but unlike the King's Indian it usually leads to rather cramped and passive positions. On top level it has always been a rare guest, usually played when the black player wanted to avoid a theoretical debate.

So my point is: Don't just put pieces on the same squares all the time. Try to figure out why they work on these squares, and if white deviates from what you expect, try to figure out what disadvantages that might have, and how you might be able to exploit it. Try to understand what you're doing at the chess board.

Typical example: Queen's Gambit Declined, 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 ...

I remember a chess student answering 1.d4 d5 2.c4 Nf6?! with 3.Nc3?! "That's how I play it, and it got me into a position I knew after 3...e6."

Congratulations. :)

It is interesting to hear of your path to improvement. I hope your game continues to mature.

Will you adopt a new target?

Thanks!
I think my new immediate target is to learn more openings and stay over 1200. Not only as an agressive approach but also to understand what other players throw at me. To me (at the elo/points im at *looking around*) it seems like move 1-20 is the opening face of the game where not knowing what can and will happen from an opening can loose you the game, after that it's more based on your tactical skills against the opponents. 

Hopefully down the line i can pick up openings that fits my style and start studying them more in detail and from that greater knowledge get a even higher score. 

I have a friend rated 1600+ that i play against in daily-chess (or what ever it is called), i have beaten him twice, but i would like to win against him every single time we play. 

Thanks, and i would'nt know about that. But lets call them 1200+ universe-hero-winners-points then :D

No worries, if i ever hit 2200, i will be back :D

LuftWaffles When did you last time play someone under 1000?

The meta for a 2000+ is not always useful in the low levels.. You don't concede the center, nobody plays for it.. Sure people might throw out a bunch of pawns because they have seen someone do it in a video, but they have no idea why.. 

Sure i can see that argument, but that does not make the KID a bad defense as a new player. You see this very tainted as you are used to playing against players that know a bit of bookline and so on.