Improvement Expectations
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Hi all, I would like to ask ...what would be a reasonable expectation for the rate of improving my rating?. I have recently started to read books and watch videos and solve problems etc etc in the hope of improving my game. My inital target would be to get to 1200 in both daily and rapid. (currently vary between 1050 and 1100)
Can I ask what are your experiences of how quickly/slowy your ratings improved?.. is there anything I should look out for along the way.👍
Jan 29, 2018
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#2
My ratings fluctuate a lot. I play mostly blitz, but I do play some daily and rapid. There may be a time when I’m playing my best and I gain 100-150 rating points; conversely I may be on a losing streak and lose around the same range of points. Therefore I think that you will reach 1200 within very little time and perhaps 1300 in a few months👍
I prefer play a lot of games and I don't try to get a better level : it's a choice. But if I shoud want improve my level I think I should
- not to play so many games
- follow the exercices proposed by chess.com (tactics - chess mentor)
- play a few games against players with a better rating and analyze those games
- for a very better level register in a chess club and take a coach (you may find coaches in every chess club)
It'just the way I should follow, not necessary the best. But I hope I open for you some ways of reflexion.
Read what axel smith has to say about “mummies” in his great book pump up your rating. My sluggish old brain is finally realising that the only way to improve is hard work. At least for me. Good luck.
Improvement Expectations.
Hmmmmm, what an excellent topic title and suggestion. Have modest expectations/goals, work smart and hard, exceed these modest expectations/goals, be joyful and take deep pleasure in attaining your goals, then reset your expectations/goals to a slightly higher level while continuing to take joy and pleasure in working smart and hard. Rinse and repeat.
My personal spin: I have to follow my own advice above! Second, I only truly respect OTB ratings and goal achievements.
I mean, I respect and admire the achievements of online/OTB rapid and blitz players when they hit certain rating levels, their quickness of calculation and amazing board vision, and the crafting of strategic plans while not blundering in time pressure is truly astounding and so I pay homage to that, but the long game is where it's at.
Off-topic, I don't like Candidate Matches or World Championships decided by a Rapid/Blitz/Armageddon Sudden Death playoff system. It is super exciting and has lots of drama and tension with rapid/blitz time controls (I get that, and part of me does enjoy it!) for sudden death playoffs, but I just prefer that these mano-a-mano matches be settled OTB in Classical time controls with no adjournments at the second or third time control!
DeirdreSkye wrote:
Study alone is not enough.You need long time control tough games.You need to analyse them and identify the mistakes in your thinking.
As for expectations...........improvement in chess is usually in jumps and not in steps.You study , you play and one day , for unknown reasons, everything is digested and you play better.Might happen in 6 months, might happen in 6 years and might never happen.It greatly depends on how serious , determined , consistent and focused your study and your games are.
This.
You need to play slow games to improve. You need to play a few faster games, too, to get used to what to do in time trouble in your slow games, but blitz isn't a way to improve or a way to measure your improvement.
And improvement definitely happens in jumps, not a little at a time, at least for me. My USCF rating is based on slow games of 60+ minutes, though more often 90-120 minute (or more). That rating has had three large, sudden jumps in my chess career.
When I was a beginner, I went from 1254 to 1437 after a single great tournament, and then stayed in the low 1400s for a year.
After quitting chess for a couple of years and coming back rusty, I actually completely changed my playing style (from quiet positional openings to all wild gambits), and I dropped into the 1300s over 6 months. Improvement begins at the edge of your comfort zone, so sometimes you have to get outside your comfort zone and drop a little in playing strength temporarily to learn what you need to get even better. After 6 months of that decline, I suddenly jumped from 1335 to 1515 in four tournaments, and have never dropped below 1500 since then.
I stayed in the 1500s for about a year and a half, and then I jumped from 1539 to 1627 in one good tournament, stayed in the 1600s for only 2 or 3 tournaments, and then jumped to 1714 just a couple of tournament later, after which I stayed in the 1700s for more than a year. This was all while I was playing 1-3 tournaments per month at those type of slow time controls at local clubs.
But then after being in the 1700s for over a year and not seeing more improvement, I started changing things in my study, in my opening repertoire, etc, and I actually dropped back into the 1600s. As I said, sometimes you have to do things that will set you back a little in your results in order to learn something more.
With other changes in my life, I've actually taken a couple more breaks from the game over the years, and recently returned. Apparently, I'm not as rusty as I thought, because I just played in my first USCF tournament in over 2.5 years this past weekend, and I won 3 out of 4 games, increasing my rating to 1691. So hopefully, I'll be back in the 1700s in the next couple of months, most of which will be spent doing tons of tactics puzzles and reviewing things I used to know, but don't remember (the first 5 or 6 chapters of Silman's Complete Endgame Course, certain lines from my opening repertoire, etc) before moving on to new material.