My chess journey – Road to 1800. Reaching the top 1%.

My chess journey – Road to 1800. Reaching the top 1%.

11 years ago, my friends and I kept on trying an online game. We kept on switching games from one to another.

However, when we tried chess, I decided to stick to this game and made a goal to reach a 1800 rating. I was around 1300 rating back then.

Who knows, after lots of ups and a lot more downs, it took me nearly 11 years to reach my goal. A bit comical if you think about it. Why not earlier? Lots of strong players and kids reached 2000 ratings easily.

What can I say, chess is a brutal game and I don't have that much of a talent. What I have is persistence and perseverance.

#WhenYouHaveNoTalentWorkVeryHard

I took a notable 6-month break in 2022 during my IRONMAN attempt. Getting back to chess back then was extremely difficult as I also lost expectedly and horribly to a local chess selection. My motivation was crushed and retirement looked enticing. Lucky for me, that year, there was a chess-enthusiast student in my college that I could spar with regularly.

Another long break, as you can see in the graph, is due to the fact that I was on the lichess platform.

What makes me able to maintain my enthusiasm and goal is the chess community that I built with my former college chess students and the local chess community and friends.

If you ask me, what is the benefit of playing chess for 11 years?

As cliché as it sounds, I'll proudly say, the friends that you made along the way.

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TIPS:

1. If you are serious, play on chesscom rather than lichess. The player pools in chesscom are somehow stronger.

2. The biggest return to study are middlegame strategy and calculation training. Strategy study is boring and calculation training is a headache. But you don't have a choice but to study them.

3. Yes, you can keep on switching your openings to find what suits you. No, you don't have to buy an opening course. YouTube videos and engine study are more than enough.

4. The late Daniel Naroditsky speedrun videos on YouTube helped me a lot in understanding a lot of advanced concepts.

5. Losing in chess is normal. Losing to little kids is unavoidable.

6. If your focus is improving, then the minimum time format to be played is 10+5.

7. Try and check the Perpetual Chess Podcast adult improver series. It can help you from being lonely and you'll get lots of tips.

8. Take time to review your games instead of playing too many. Chess improvement is about making fewer mistakes in the future.

9. For someone without a coach, game review is an awesome feature on chesscom