Project 2300 Blog #1

Blog #1 - Start rating: 2092 - 6/10/2025

This will be blog #1 of hopefully a multi year series.

I posted earlier this year about my goal of reaching NM, and after some persistence and luck I made it. It was a lifetime goal of mine to get the title and something I dreamed of since I started here with a rating of 600.

With no more major goals, I stopped my chess training and switched back to my habits of playing blitz. In my over the board chess games I started to get lazy and unmotivated, preferring intuitive moves over calculation, and not fighting hard in worse positions.

My ratings for USCF and FIDE both tanked, and in a couple months I went from 2046 FIDE and 2200 USCF to 1950 FIDE and 2092 USCF.

It would be easy to give up here, to say I made my goal and move onto something else, but I still love playing chess and want to play well. I miss the confidence I once had and the ability to compete at a high level.

I need a new goal, so I am starting project 2300. In the next 1-3 years, I want to progress from my peak rating of 2200 USCF to 2300 USCF. To do this, I will do what I have always done to improve, which is just as applicable to anyone who happens to read this.

1. Observe the differences between you and the players at the target rating level.
2. Address the most glaring differences and close the gap.
3. Play OTB games on a regular basis.
4. Incorporate healthy habits into your life. (sleep well, eat well, exercise, limit drugs/alcohol)
5. Visualize what you want to achieve. (for me I imagine I am able to compete with the best players at the mechanics chess club in SF and win some tournaments)

When I analyze with stronger players, these are the most glaring differences:

1. They calculate much faster, deeper, and more accurately than me.
2. They have better opening preparation and play many more openings than me.

The training plan:

1. 1 hour of puzzles a day on chesstempo to improve my calculation
2. 1-2 hours per week of new openings (this includes playing 3+2 blitz games on lichess with the new openings and creating a lichess study of all my lines)
3. 1-2 hours per week of blindfold training (either blindfold chess or solving puzzles blindfolded).
4. At least 1 OTB game per week.

I am 30 years old and definitely not in the demographic you would expect to improve, but I have reason to believe I still have a chance of getting there. The things I have going for me are:

• I have not played chess as long as most people my age (I started at 20).
• I have done very little conventional chess study and training, having mostly played blitz.
• My calculation and openings are very weak for my rating, so it's clear what I need to improve. 
• My positional understanding and intuition is good for my rating and can probably carry me pretty far.
• I recently went from 2200s to 2400s blitz and got the NM title by training chesstempo and improving my openings, so this similar training plan might work again.

Stating a goal is a great way to motivate yourself to follow through. It also makes life more fun, as you have something you are working towards and a reason to improve. I'm aware that the odds are against me but the high chance of failure is what makes it interesting. I will follow up later with updates.

Fun! What's the best advice you could give me on how to get NM?

Hey Chris! Wishing you the best of luck on your journey! I’m sure I’ll keep seeing you around at local tournaments, and look forward to playing you again at some point in the future!

Thanks Ephraim! Excited to see your chess journey and progress and hopefully will catch you at another open or gambito.

Your online ratings are quite high. I recommend observing the differences between you and the players at the target rating, address your biggest deficiencies, and play over the board chess regularly.

Hi Chris. It's exciting and encouraging to see you set your sights on "the next step" after reaching 2200. I'm certainly excited to follow your journey along.

Thank you!

Thank you!

if your 2000+ lets play

Best of luck man! We are similar in the sense that we lack conventional chess training, although mine is obviously to a much worse extent. I am just a blitz degenerate with aphantasia who can barely see 1 move ahead!

wish you the best chris, if you want some blindfold play im always up for practicing my party tricks XD

Thank you I might take you up on that!

Thank you, wow that's sort of amazing.