I just broke 1500 in rapid chess!

I am so proud I just have to tell someone! I realize I'm by no means a strong player but I used to be terrible! I quit rapid chess (rated like 1000 w/ a losing record) and switched to turn-based, and gradually became better (I broke 1800), then I decided to come back to rapid...immediately that old rating shot up and now I've broken 1500. And here's how I did it - never before have I played so terrible and at the same time so brilliant. I get lost in an opening I know absolutely nothing about and find myself immediately losing. I fight back and win. Here is the game (congrats to a hard fought game to my opponent) - it really is neat:

1500 is my goal too :) Congratulations!

Thanks Oculorum - it can happen. It don't take that much, either. I don't study or anything - just watch chess videos (Saint Louis Chess Club videos on Youtube are excellent).

congrats. i'm trying to get back to 1500. a main problem for me is my kids constantly interrupting my concentration. how about a game?

Well done! That's a wonderfully eccentric way to get to 1500. Why 1. c4? Why all those pawn moves? Why are your minor pieces sitting around? No castling? It seems to go against all basic opening principles. That said, it would probably upset me as much as your opponent! After 4. g4  I'd probably panic in 15:10. Maybe in a correspondence game I'd think it through and play 4. ..h5 to protect the Knight and maintain the "move all pieces once before moving" another rule. But who knows if that's the best move? Try playing this way against a 1600 player and see what happens. I suspect you'd be in trouble through his fast early development of pieces and better defence. Also don't get too compacent, I've been over 1500 and am having great difficulty getting back! Main recommendation - don't quit chess.com in frustration if you hit a losing streak and go back to < 1400 (I did twice...) Just keep on learning, play less, and only when you are fresh. Did you computer analyse this game? I'm finding this a great tool for spotting flaws in my game.

Some want to reach 1500 so bad while the ones already there are aching to reach above 1700..what an irony!LOL

you have crossed it, congrats but don't quit it to keep it there keep playing to get better, many people quite just to keep their ratings high.

you have crossed it, congrats but don't quit it to keep it there keep playing to get better, many people quite just to keep their ratings high.

Excellent! Congratulations! I hope to cross that barrier myself!

 I was black. 1. C4 is the English and the only thing I know about the English is the symmetrical variation. I was completely lost after 4. G4. I'm a D4 player and spend 90% of my time in Queen's Indian, Queens Gambit, and variations thereof.

That's pretty sweet, Rosenbalm. Good for you man. 

I disagree. I am on 1500 too and think we are strong. Of course there are players very much stronger than us, but still, I think we are strong. Congratulations!

"you have crossed it, congrats but don't quit it to keep it there keep playing to get better, many people quite just to keep their ratings high."

LOL!  I re-crossed 1400 after getting beaten down into the low 1200's and now I'm shying away from playing my beloved 10/0 because I don't want it to go down again!  How dumb is that?

Play it. I went down to about 1730 in daily chess after breaking 1800 (mainly due to resigning a bunch of games at once). But I still broke it - it keeps track of highest rating.  It's what the GMs go by in terms of norms (just hit 2500 once and get the norms). Don't feel bad just go for it - chess is for enjoyment, win or lose. I'm nowhere near as strong as some players and never will be but I still get out of chess what I get out of chess...it's the beauty of chess.

Amazing

Congratulations for getting 1500! If you would like to improve,  around 70% of your work should be on analyzing games and working on the theory and 30% should be reapplying your theory in this game. I just looked first 10 moves, I found some mistakes. When your opponent moved g5, your first counter d5 was strong and aggressive counter( in theory if your opponent attack wing side, counter by opening the center). (Other alternative will be natural defense, h6!) However Qd6,Qe5 were totally bad moves as your queen was already busy protecting d5 square, consider as the least priority for that piece, instead think  to activate other pieces. If your opponent saw 7. d3 on move 7. instead of Qf3, you would have instantly lose a piece.  I am around 2k only but if u analyse with SF,  3k engine will tell you more about your mistakes. You might think, oh it is a rapid or blitz game, how can i play perfect game, everybody will do mistake. In fact it is not. Strong players save valuable time by excluding thinking of bad moves and make less mistakes. ( As i mentioned before , I will not think of using queen in early  moves because i know that the queen is already busy protecting d5 etc.) . I will instead play natural moves (like opening center to counter wing attack etc )that I learned from long analyzed games or old memories. My advice in short, learn to workout the mechanic of chess first(positional, tactical , and strategy etc) and gradually switch from longer to shorter time control.  This is an example of saving my time with my deep analysed variation . If my opponent could counter well, I will lose my initiative advantage of white but if he could not counter well , he will instantly lose within a few moves. In that game I used only 13 seconds( 1 min blitz game) to checkmate an equally rated 2k player.  Good luck!

Thanks drmrboss! I will take your advice to heart. Cool game btw.

2Q1C:

Thank you. I must admit, my growth as a chess player is stunted precisely because I don't follow the principles. So while my ratings are higher than some people who do use them, the fact remains, my style of play is such that there are times I can hang with anyone under expert level but at the same time get blown completely away by people 500 points below my level.

The reason is because positional play is my nemesis. My whole game is based on tactics, wild play, and waiting for mistakes. The problem is that this leads huge mistakes and oversights on my part as well.

In two years, those players that stick to opening principles religiously will have passed me up, while I'll still be playing wild chess, completely devoid of any sound theory or positional principles. Which is why I'm going to take the time to really relearn the game and work to develop my positional play.

The one and only exception to this is my endgame play - which I feel is a strength. In the above game, my real mistake (which I recognized as soon as I played it) was in not playing a6 immediately. Once we got to the endgame my opponent was clearly overmatched as I used principles like triangulation and opposition to just completely win the game. It's odd that a player like myself would be decent at endgame play as usually that is the forte of positional players.

If the opening principles are baloney, I use these baloons to lift me up. I try as well as I can to run in the direction of these princips. If I dont know an opening, I might be saved by the princips. I have lost to better players that didn't know the opening I played, but they knew the princips. If you follow the princips, gets castled and wins the center, you might get tactical opportunities. A lot of tactics happens when a king is checkable.

Me too I've been working hard to go up my rating to atleast 1500. I've been playing in Lichess.org for practice and more learnings but I take seriously my chess.com account and only play with it when I am in condition.