How did you progress in chess?

Hi, I am a 29 years old chess player and here is my progress. I started to play at age 19:

2 years beginner

5 years B Class

3 years A Class

Now Expert (when I tried really hard and used a lot of time in my 9th year)

Definitions: 1600-1800(B Class) 1800-2000(A Class) 2000-2200(Expert) 2200-2300(CM).

How was your progress?

Started competition chess at ~20

• end of first year = 1740
• 2nd year = 1860
• 3rd year = 1820
• 4th year = 1920 or 40 can't remember exactly
• 5th year = FIDE 2085

then I stalled a few years and stopped competition for a while.

When I resumed I dropped to 2050 and that's where I am now.

Played first OTB tournament in 2003 at age 29 after 6 months internet play

2003 - 1700

2004 - 1787

2005-2009 didnt play due to work etc.

2009-2010 - 1911 USCF

year 1 1300 but this was in around half of a year

year 2 1400+ rising

thats my progress so far this wasnt that informative i guess

I started playing chess at 16, and in five years went from playing like a 600 rated noob to playing like a 1200 rated noob.

We all suck with other words except mr. hicetnunc. Those with similar progress to Almost-Infinity and me, to find out why we are so slow I want to ask: would you say you have a  P A S S I ON  for the game?

I don't think you're so slow : it depends on many factors, some of them you may have absolute no control over :

• passion and time spent playing/learning is certainly important, but you may not have many playing opportunities around (chess club ? tournaments)
• help from other strong players or from a coach (it can save you lots of time)
• competitive spirit

Well, hicetnunc didn't learn chess and start at 1700s, that was the first year he entered a tournament.  There's a guy in my area who just now completed his provisional period and is 2100+ ... I'm sure he's played before :)

Nimzo5 says 1700s after 6 months of play, and 5 years later improved 200 points to 1900... but I'm wondering if that's provisional or what the whole story is because his chess.com ratings suggest differently (although admittedly it's hard to compare OTB with bullet/blitz).

Just about everyone starts around 800-1000 (some less some more depending on age, seriousness, if the game "clicks" for you or not) and we go from there.  As a beginner you can make a lot of progress quickly in the right environment (strong players and tournaments available to you locally) and if your attitude is good (willing to lose a lot and try to improve).

Became interested at age 18.  Online blitz and 1.5 books (total) over 3 years took me to ~1300s (1500 rating was inflated provisional rating, my strength was more like 1300).

2 years of easy club, 1-2 more books, internet blitz, and 2-3 tourneys a year added ~200 points

2 years of club where I could hardly win a game at first, cut back on blitz, 2-3 tourneys total (finally out of provisional period) added ~200 points of strength although so few tourneys I became underrated at this time.

1 year of I finally decided to take it more seriously, + ~4 books, +5-6 tourneys has added what feels like over 100 points although again I remain underrated so I can't say other than consistent class A performance ratings.

So assuming I started around 1000 strength as a guy who knew the rules and played <10 games a year before hand, my progress has been pretty steady, roughly 100 points a year.

Under a good study program with a committed player (who has enough free time) I think someone could go from beginner to as good or better than me within 2 years.  OTOH, some people play for decades and never make it past a certain point.

I did't realize that chess is a rule independent game at the same time I always thought "Such a simple game..so it's all calculations and memorization then" for 7 years!!! I was materialistic and did't realize that not all defences and threats are real! Observation was something that went on almost unconcious level.

What do you call that!?

I started playing chess when I was 6...losing games to my brother with queen odds until I was ~16, when I read/studied Polgar's 5334 problems.  Then I placed 2nd in a junior scholastic championship in roughly high school, rated about 1400-1500.

I studied CT Art for a few months, and then took about 10 years off of playing.

When I returned I had studied a lot of tactics, and entered some tournaments: I ended up rated about the same.  Over the next year of relatively active play, I stayed at that level. 

In the last 9 months I've gained about 300 points to 1800.  Mostly I attribute this to applying Dan Heisman's advice in novice nook articles. 

 I was pretty even 1725 ish from my first tournament until I stopped playing. But I knew the moves and had played offhand games as a kid. But the extent of my chess knowledge was king pawn first.

 I think my situation was unusual though, and I wasn't able to play chess regularly for another year and a half so probably my intial two tournaments were a bit inflated and I grew into it by the time I had finished my provisional.

How did you progress in chess?

Painfully and very slowly.

Ok, that makes more sense -- not knowing the rules to 1700 in 6 month is quite a jump even for the top players whose progress is incredibly fast.

As for improving further to 1900 without playing due to work... surely you played somewhere or at least read a book or something :)  I've met a "natural player" before who was 1900-2000 and never studied so I know it's possible, just not too common is why I was skeptical.

Many strong players learn more by playing and analyzing than by studying - studying (in the scholar sense) is rare among regular competition players

1st year: 1100

2nd year: 1800

And early into the 3rd year (for me it starts in may as that was when I first played chess competitively) I'm nearing expert level.

I guess that's considered fast, but it's all relative. To me it certainly doesn't feel super fast, but it does seem to steadily go up. Two and a half years or so is still a long time to me. I of course expect things to get much harder but I'm determined and feel I can hopefully raise my rating by 100-200 points or so by the end of the year.

I actually study (ied) a lot, so there's a lot of information in my head, and it seems the next rating jump I get it's merely me applying the knowledge I know better and better. I probably don't play as much as the average serious player. I like to deeply analyze things and doing that in correspondence games or game analysis is a relaxing way to do this. Games at classical time controls are always epic, but it's almost impossible to find the time to do that regularly at home, so unfortunately that's usually reserved for tournaments so I tend to prefer just looking at a game instead of playing blitz.

First OTB USCF rating 1705 in 1972, I was 26. By 1985, 2200+, 2260's highest through 1989. Since then rating has slowly slipped to 2000's (getting old but knowing more about chess). First FIDE rating, in 1995(?), 2150. Now my FIDE is around 2040.

 the move up from 1700 to 1900 has been largely due to working on my game and not using my chess time to play blitz.  :)

How good are you?  I mean, what do you think your rating would be FIDE?

BTW before you answer