Road to National Master (NM): The Trials and Tribulations of Being an Improving Chess Player

Road to NM: The Trials and Tribulations of Being an Improving Chess Player

Hey everyone!

Today I thought that I’d get a little bit more personal with my writing and talk about my chess journey.  I started playing chess 3 years ago when I was 15 years old, and really started focusing in on chess about a year ago.  However, it has been recently in which I decided I was going to train to become a master level player.  Now I know for a lot of you, this may seem extremely far-fetched or downright unrealistic, and I see that point of view.  However, I am (and have been) willing to put in the work needed to become a better player.  This was inspired by NM @EnergeticHay’s Road to FM series that I have started reading, as well as many other chess journeys. 

Introduction and Roadblocks

If you guys didn’t know me, my name is John, I hail from Cincinnati, Ohio (United States) whereas of writing this in 2021, I am a senior in high school.  I’ll release a full description of my chess journey in the future, but I love chess and want to pursue it seriously.

There are some setbacks in achieving this goal that I have been presented with, however.  See, many chess players who have goals as serious as becoming a master-level player have little to no distractions in terms of achieving it.  As I have found out (and as with anything in life) chess takes a lot of time, and sometimes I don’t have it; I like sports, as I play for my varsity soccer and baseball teams at school, and I also am moving to Iowa next fall to pursue a college degree in English.  See, I’ve done my research on mastering a skill, and I will go with author Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000 hours rule that he uses in his book, Outliers.  This means that if someone learning chess studies for 3 hours a day, it will take over 9 years to become a master!  Insane, right?  Well, hopefully I’ll be able to reach NM before 10,000 hours.  However, if I have to wait and keep working hard, I am more than willing to do so.  Most chess masters start at very young ages, such as five or six, with some even younger.  I played my first game of chess at age 15 and have only been playing seriously since 17.  With a shortage of time, college (and grown-up stuff in the future) to worry about, a late start to chess, and a lack of money (chess tournaments, travel, and hotel fees are quite expensive), it may definitely be an uphill battle, and I’m sure many serious players reading can relate.

Training and Goals

Here’s what I’m doing every day in order to train, and some of my goals for my chess journey.

Start Rating: 1541 chess.com (only playing rapid), about ~1400 USCF strength.

• 10 Puzzles
• 2 Training Games + Analysis
• Training with Books (Right now I’m reading 1 opening book, 1 middlegame book, 1 endgame book).
• Chess videos (I love John Bartholomew and Stjepan from Hanging Pawns)

Here’s a practice puzzle:

Goals: My goal is to definitely become a chess master.  However, my endgame goal is mainly just to help people, and if I can do it through my chess, that would make me happy.  I know that many have and will say that I am foolish for setting these expectations.  However, I believe in myself and my ability to battle through everything, no matter what people say.  If you have any comments, please leave them below and I’ll try to answer.

Cheers!