What was your moment inn chess where you basically felt on top of the world

I defeated an 1820 as a 1500 in an attacking sicillian game

I've had a few chess moments I felt on top of the world. Here are some of them (not in any order).

- First time I ever crossed 1500 chess.com rapid rating! I still remember how super excited I was with that and how good it felt. I think I was even more happy with crossing 1500 than when I crossed 2000 rapid many years after.

- First time I ever beat my chess friend (rival?). They were about 1660 chess.com rating when I was learning how the pieces moved (I estimate my rating about 700 back then). I REALLY wanted to win at least one chess game against my friend. I grinding chess a lot and tried learning as much as I could. It took me years to reach their level, but the day I finally beat them was an amazing feeling which made my years of chess study feel worth it! When I finally won against them, I was already over 1700.

- I also felt on top of the world with some of my favorite checkmates in real games, such as Lone Knight Smothered Mate, or Bishop + Knight checkmate, or even a Queen sacrifice for Boden's Mate I got.

With the 1500 it was the same for me,I WAS SO HYPED

A long time ago, my high school chess team often played against the top ranked high school team in nation, because our schools were in the same city. We would lose every match. But one time, we finally beat them in a big upset. In a 5 vs. 5 match, we won 3, including my game. It was especially satisfying because I previously blundered away a game against the same opponent. But I learned from my mistakes and won that time. The match was also memorable because we encountered a strong female opponent for the first time, and she would later go on to become a U.S. women's champion and WGM.

In the fall of 1974 I was playing board #5 for my high school. We had an away match vs a school that was considered to be quite good. At one point in my midgame, I suddenly saw exactly the series of moves I needed to make to win the game. I saw my moves, and I saw the best responses my opponent could make. I saw 4 moves ahead with perfect clarity. It was as if I could suddenly see the future. I went on to win the game. A year later I met my opponent in college. Of course she did not remember me or our game. But I will never forget that afternoon. I have never again experienced that sort of complete clarity in chess.

My first checkmate combination, four forced and calculated moves. Absolutely nothing out of the ordinary, but for a few minutes I felt over the moon.

@Antonin1957 (#7) It's interesting that both our memorable chess moments were from high school. For me, I think it's the camaraderie of training and playing together as a team that made the experience especially impactful.

One of mine was the Chicago Open in 2015 where I scored 4.0 points through the first 5 rounds. I lost the first game and then won 4 in a row. They had a 2 day schedule and the first 4 of these games were a gauntlet of G30+10 second delay. I lost the first of these and then won 4 in a row. Round 5 was a longer game and after winning that I was feeling good since I suspected I would have a chance at first if I could continue my winning ways. Unfortunately, it was not to be. I lost both of my games on day two and didn't make the money.

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Another moment was a tournament that took place on the campus of Georgia tech. I think the time control was G90 or something like that. I lost the first game to a 900 player. I was rated around 1500 at the time. I then refocused myself and won 5 in a row to take a clear first place....which was something like $300 if I remember right.

@PorelRey -- Yes, you are right. Those were different times. Before the internet. We practiced in the school library on actual chess boards, while our faculty advisor stood nearby smoking his pipe. We studied using actual chess books. There was no stupid trash talking, in fact, no talking at all was allowed during matches. We were told that for away matches we were representing our school and had to behave like gentlemen. So that is how we behaved.

@spectros1 - I'm thinking it might be a little impolite for me to name the opponent when I'm talking about my team defeating her and her team. So I'm going to refrain. Guess I'm just kind of "old school" that way. :)

Only once. Where I completely outplayed my opponent in the endgame, without giving him any sort of counterplay and slowly building on my advantage. It was the best classical win I ever had.

2200 online and 2000 OTB. They said my "bad openings" wouldn't hold up at higher levels, so I beat them in rating. Then I was told it wouldn't work OTB, so i matched them in rating there as well.

i just had 6 queen sacrifices Another moment!