I'd recommend less time writing "books" on forums and more time playing chess.
I have to be honest, as a person, directly.... It's strange to me you think strangers would be so involved in your progress that they would want to read all that & follow you. Why would someone want to do that? People have their own lives and are interested in their own progress. it's a little... self-absorbed.... to say the least
Hey everyone 😊
I'm going to be documenting my progress here to 2000+ (Blitz) and then hopefully beyond that IRL to Master level.
One thing I really want to do with this is give a useful self-analysis of the differences in my play at every 100 points.
I've played chess since school and played for my school but quit from about 13 - 23 years old.
I started playing properly again at 23 and read online what the difference in play was at 900, 1000, 1100, 1200 etc but the answers were always the same.
Either 2000+ players giving vague opinions on the play of a 900 or general opinions like "at 1200 you hang pieces randomly" or "1400s barely know openings". I found this very unhelpful and even if I was looking at it partly for self validation I know a lot of people who are climbing the rating ladder want to know what it's like at every level.
So as I climb I'll edit this and write in what I changed and what think changed from my play and mentality 100 points ago. It will still be an overview and general but more specific than basic advice like "ugh.. pieces hang.."
One rule for this is I have to be at that rating for at least 1 week before deciding my thoughts. I can't just touch it then fall back.
Hope this helps!
Let's start:
700:
I don't remember how I played at this level but one thing was for certain when I look back at games.
- Hung pieces like there's no tomorrow
- Played a move for a tactic and immediately didn't see tactic through one more later
- Cared too much about giving checks and not about any sort of long term strategy
800:
I don't remember this either but again when I look back at games in the archive this is what I find:e
Similar to 700, these two levels players ping around and it doesn't mean much but I think what changed from 700 to 800 was the following:
- I started to think more about each move
- Tried to take all my opponents pieces and trade down to endgames (which I'd lose/win 50/50) but simplying the game allowed for less random blunders
900:
At some point here I decided to switch up my strategies and I started watching a lot GothamChess, more of Ben Finegold and Eric Rosen lectures.
I decided to scrap the QG and play the Vienna for White and Stafford for Black.
Unfortunately, although hanging pieces was still a big issue, key things I fell pray to were BASIC tactics that I didn't see because I was board blind and wanted to brute force my way through the opponent hoping I can checkmate them before they checkmate me.
Chess isn't a race, it's a game of strategy and no matter how I move my pieces we only get 1 move a turn.
I used to think "hopefully this looks scary to them and they'll get distracted and forget about their attack". Crazy thinking
1000:
Ah the 4 digit mark. Hitting this was great and I finally felt superior to the lowly losers in the 3 digits (obviously I'd ping up and down from there regularly and be humbled by a 800 all the time).
To get here I learnt:
- Power of bishops.
- I stopped unnecessarily trading bishops for knights just because I could
- Tried to understand how to play the Vienna and all the different lines for it
Unfortunately I had little to know understanding of positions, advantages or piece coordination (still don't!) so it didn't matter how much theory i knew because either, after the end or the line, or if someone took me out of theory I was lost and resorted to my 800 self and tried to simplify down.
Even in a game where I'm losing I'd try and simplify and HOPE my opponent couldn't win.
1100:
I was very happy to hit 1100 as it meant I was far away from the 900s (lol). A true '4-digit' player.
At this level I started to:
- Analyse my games
- Started doing Puzzles
- Got a Chess . com membership and started doing even more puzzles as I had seen that apparently if you wanted to improve you should do puzzles.
- I didn't like castling
- I had scrapped the Vienna and Stafford by this point and went back to working on what I already knew. Owen Defence for black and QG for white.
- Started to really learn the QB lines such as the Tarrasch, Marshall, Slav and QGD. Not very well, not very deep and without any understanding of why these positions are played and reached. But it's a start.
1200:
I found 1200 the hardest so far and was stuck here for 6 months.
- I didn't hang pieces as much anymore but obviously still hung them from time to time.
- Learned about the 'blunder-check'
- Incorporated 'Checks, Captures & Attacks' to analyses positions and next moves
- Still didn't like castling but understood that I had to castle in most situations and I should stop being scared of knights but try and understand if there's a threat there.
- Understood that I should build pawns on the colour of my lost bishop
- Tried to keep my bishops in most situations and put them onto good diagonals
- Began clearing pieces to get my knights to outposts
- Didn't fall for random tricks like fried liver
1300:
To break into 1300s I realised I had to change something about my game. One thing I found hard with white at 1200 was my white bishop in the QG. I just felt like I didn't have enough activity in QGB or Slav or any defences and if my opponent was simply more equipped than I was and I didn't take advantage then I quickly lost.
So I:
- Incorporated the Catalan into my arsenal and utilised the bishop to keep massive amounts of tension in the centre
- Keeping tension was super important and something I did to get to 1300. You don't always have to take a piece.
- If I didn't know what move to make I didn't just take a piece but conceptually tried to understand what would be a good move that improved my position
- No longer hung pieces all the time (obviously still do)
- Began to coordinate my minor pieces before 'unleashing' them or using them for a tactic. This has proved VITAL as it meant that my tactics and plans actually work
- Stopped panicking when I'm losing and attempted to play the position in a way where I can null the threat and counter attack
- My understanding of positions have vastly improved and I'm starting to understand the difference between damaging an opponents structure and if it is really damaged or if I've actually lost a good piece in return for damaged structure but I've taken thew bigger hit
- Understanding more about how tempo works and knowing when to play what
- Not ignoring my opponents threats anymore and ensuring I am taking measures to stop them while also playing my strategy
- Understanding 'danger levels' and when to pressure the opponent.
- No longer getting randomly forked by knight and not scared of knights anymore!
- Big thing I started doing is saccing the exchange
1400:
Currently here, will give my thoughts once I hit 1500 and have been 1400 for at least a week...
So far tho:
- Understanding counter-play much more!
- Understanding how to build an attack
- Understanding how to hide an attack
- Understanding why an opponent has made a move
- Calculating tactics much deeper and also a plan b if it doesn't work
- Knowing that I don't need to make big moves to get an advantage
- Knowing when to play for an advantage and when to fortify my position first
- Checking my opponents moves every time to ensure that nothing is hanging or won't be hanging in the next 2 or 3 moves by a tactic
- In QB Marshall when the knight takes since about 1000 i KNEW that the right move was Kf4 but I always played pawn f4 instead. I knew that GMs played the knight out but I thought the pawn attacking the knight was scarier so played that. A lot of the time I couldn't capitlise. But now I try playing the best move instead of what I think other people won't be able to handle because of some silly trick, or scary yet hollow move. It's the details
The notes in 1300 and 1400 really have changed my game and after having been struggling at 1200 for months I'm shooting through the ratings. My next thing on my agenda is to study endgames more. I can currently hold tension enough in middle games and I think that's something I should look to improve on at 1600ish. But I'll see how it goes!
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Thanks!
Will keep updating as I get higher and higher!
😊