Early Progress Report: Year 2

I was gonna post this at my year two mark, but circumstances compel me to go ahead and do it now.

Even though I reached a couple of my goals this year, I still consider this year to be a massive failure. At the start of year 2 my rapid rating was 1320. I managed to get up to 1605 on Christmas eve and have been on tilt ever since all the way down to 1490 something. So as of right now I'm done. If not for good, for a long while. I have lost any desire to play at this current time.

I reached my puzzle goal on chess.com and nearly reached 2800 on puzzles but unfortunately tilted that away as well.

I have been unable to master the neccesary skill of objective critical thinking. This has prevented me from looking at my losses deeply enough to really glean any useful ideas or knowledge from them. I spent 8 months stuck in the 1400 range only to surpass it and then get knocked back again. I think I've probably lost something around 10 of my last 15 games and unfortunately that's done more harm than good. When I get tilted this way, my brain completely rejects looking at lost games out of disgust/humiliation/anger etc. This has been nothing but a hindrance to my ability, meager as it is anyhow.

To say I'm frustrated is definitely an understatement. I was feeling very positive at the start of last year and kind of slowly got chipped away bit by bit as it went on. I don't know about year three yet, so I have not set any goals for it. Unfortunately, I feel closer to giving up than I ever have. I've been hard headed enough to keep beating my head on this brick wall but I've definitely reached a limit. So I'm going to take some time to reevaluate things and weigh the pros and cons of what seems like a futile venture.

If I somehow find a way to motivate myself into some more positive thinking, then you've likely not seen the last of me. But for now, as of this post, I'm on hiatus.

I want to thank my coach, the many friends I've made, and anyone who has supported me in this venture. I wish the best of luck to you all and I hope you reach your goals much sooner than later.

All The Best Vibes As Always! 🙏

BigFoxy90

Well you seem to have made a lot of progress in chess over all, perhaps not at the pace you wanted, but significant progress all the same. Perhaps avoid the ratings and play unrated and focus on playing good moves, exploring new ideas, and falling back in love with the game. But a break isn’t a bad thing at all, and believe it or not your mind may use that time yet to process chess information and you could come back playing with a better mindset and improved skill even (this obvious assumes you don’t take a long time off). 

In any event, don’t be so hard on yourself, if you want to be your number 1 critic then you have to also be your number 1 cheerleader. Losses, set backs, failures, they are all part of life, and in fact if you’ve never lost at anything, or failed at anything, then I’d wager you haven’t tried anything of significance either. So cheers to falling down and getting back up, however long that may take you.

I honestly do not understand why people pay such attention to their rating numbers. If those numers are what motivates them to play (or quit playing) chess something is seriously wrong. But to each his own, I guess. Myself I don´t care one iota if my rating is this or that. I find enjoyment in the individual games I play and in learning things.

The rating is mentioned in this post to illustrate the fact that this is a progress report. My frustration right now comes with the abysmal level of play That I am currently cursed by.

Progress is seldom linear.

Hi Thane, really appreciate your honesty about the ups and downs in chess. It's tough, and I've been there. The frustration is real, but so is your progress. 1605 and nearly 2800 on puzzles? That's solid!

I run a friendly chess community where we tackle exactly these kinds of challenges. We've got free weekly group coaching calls – they're laid-back, supportive, and might be just what you need to find that spark again.

I think you'd fit right in, and it could be a cool way to bounce back. We're keeping the group small, so let me know if you're up for it. No pressure, just chess and good vibes.

Keep your head up, Thane. Every chess master has hit a rough patch. Maybe this is just your next big move waiting to happen.

I really hope my year two will match what you've achieved because 1500 and 2800 is no easy feat. I've only gotten up to 1350 in puzzles. Lol don't think I'll hit 2000, but hey ya never know. The good thing about what you've achieved is you learned to play chess, and you've had some good games along the way. Think about how the guys you've crushed have felt in your onslaught as you were climbing. Be proud of yourself for learning a hard game, and doing it well. I hope you get your love for the game back my friend.

@chesscoachdiego

Unfortunately now 1493 and 2600. About as solid as diarrhea. 😒

Chess isnt easy. I have been on here for 10+ years and clocked up over 10K games.

The best advice I can give you is to study openings and always review your games.

It is a shame you wanna quit, because this game is a great way of training your mind and logic skills. It also kind of lets you know how tired and distracted you are from the other things in life.

But it is not for everyone. Respect, and best wishes

We'll see. I certainly don't WANT to quit. I'd like to be able to enjoy the game even when I'm playing poorly, but unfortunately I've been unable to reach that state. I'm still probably too hard headed to quit just yet. I'm definitely the closest I've been, but I'll probably succumb to the pull to play eventually. For now I probably just need to not play at all. Time will tell.

I play for enjoyment and to keep my mind active. I set a goal of 1200 last year sometime. I started going down. I didn't realize they started me off at 1200. So, I decided to study. Something wrong. What did the lesson say...

Each game is different and even at my rating they are fun to play. You guys probably never get to capture a Q with a pawn in the middle game.

I'm done working, but I used to have to plan when I did. Chess is planning with a lot of memorization. I think you can get a lot out of this game, but you can't get perfect real easy.

My tip is try to build a repertoire instead of trying to improve tactics and in game strategy.

It takes a lot of time watching Youtube, but it absolutely does help.

you need to memorize and plan your openings- and most importantly understand why the openings are good/bad. If you have a proper plan for every opening (well lets say 80% because you can never know what your opponent will do) then you have a huge advantage and you will definitely get back to 1600-1700 level. Use the 15/10 time control if you find it hard, and concentrate very hard on the first 10 moves. Once you have an advantage, your opponent will begin to make more and more errors

Question. Do you read any chess books or take advantage of the chess.com lessons? I prefer reading the books and practicing the position illustrated there. It's helped my quite a bit.

I did nearly all the basic chess,com lessons on end games, tactics, strategy, mating patterns. A lot of it is essential stuff. As for the repertoire, I watch videos on Youtube- best guy is a pro coach called "The Butcher".

Also check the master database on here for the common opening lines, and of course the after game reviews show where the gaps are

@BigFoxy90, I also think you give excessive importance to online ratings. Even to the puzzles rating, which isn't worth a damn ( its scoring system allows we to climb it easily )

It's really sad that this number without any official value can be so devastating to the mood of a chess enthusiast. As I already told you, in the space of a couple of years you have significantly improved your understanding of chess and your playing strength. Just think about this, and get satisfaction. If I can tell you what I often repeat, don't let the obsession with improving constantly, every month, at all costs, make you lose the pleasure of playing.

Hey man hang in there! A short break will do you good. Set low expectations in life they are easier to achieve. At least you aren't down here in the pits with me (sub 1000) playing dudes who charge their queen out on move 3 and then make fun of you. (Finally learned what the "chat" feature is all about...)

If you were coaching your mate, what would your advice be and what language would you use? Use that on yourself, it does help!

There's no such thing as a particular year being 'a total failure' unless you had unrealistic expectations. Even a 100 rating point gain inside X period of time might seem realistic, but if you do not study, then it all of a sudden might not be.

It's more realistic for someone to gain 400 points in a year with a smart study plan, than another person gaining 200 points per year with a bad study plan.

You gained 300 points inside a year. That is good progress by any measure. You would now beat your former 1300 self, 4 games out of 5. That's pretty consistently stronger.

A rating dive is completely normal. I've swung up and down 100 points in a week before. You need to disregard those. Think about it, if you're a natural 1500 and you peak off one week after a string of successful games and reach 1600... the new 1600+ opponents you're being matched with could be seasoned players, some of whom might even be truly 1700+ players who are on an off-streak, so it's natural to get batted back down whenever you peak, before you rise back up.

You should be more objective and critical of your time and study plan, rather than just the rating goal itself. You should be critical of:

• How much time can you put into chess?
• How much time can you put into studying chess?
  • Are you already putting that time into studying chess?
  • What areas are you focused on? Plenty of people spend hours per week on chess - on all of the wrong areas. There's so much stuff out there, you need to navigate through the noise and focus on the areas that actually matter, areas that build your foundation and will come up regularly. No point focusing on obscure concepts that are eating hours of your study time, to never come up. A coach will help you navigate what's actually useful to you at this stage.
  • You've already conceded you're not analysing a lot of your losses, etc so you automatically know there's room for improvement straight away.
• Your coach. Not all coaches are created equal. It's fair to navigate through 2-3 different coaches to get a vibe and idea of their style. I've seen great coaches, and I've seen not so great coaches. Get a coach you can relate to, who you feel is teaching you something, and is vested in your development.
• As I said earlier, don't be too critical or emotional about your progress, be objective and assess it as if you were assessing your mates chess journey - you'll more easily be able to identify what you've not been doing, what timelines are realistic based on what you have been doing, and last but not least, hopefully realise that what's been happening so far, isn't too bad, so don't be too harsh on yourself and take away from your enjoyment of the game!

We're the same age. I started playing chess in 2019, bottomed out around 600, but through careful and deliberate study, I managed to reach 1500 within the year, and reached 2000+ rapid within 2 years and 2000+ blitz within three. I've now been coaching for two years, and often times, a lot of areas of opportunity for people in your range is the fundamentals; development, king safety, attacking, pawn structures, tactics, endgames - it's not rocket science but you just need to focus on the right things within those categories.

I get a lot from watching John Bartholomew and Daniel Naroditsky's speed-run series' on youtube too. Would recommend them for all rating ranges right up to beyond expert. Andras Toth is another good shout! There's also ChessBootCamp and ChessGoals aimed at the improvers too.

Here's one piece of advice from my journey: maybe start focusing more on your positional play. Since you already have really good tactics because you're so high in puzzles, you might want to start looking into positional play too.

For example, for me to get to 2000 rapid rating, I took a break over the summer and when I came back I still had good tactics but I studied a lot of openings that developed into positional ideas. When I climbed to 2000 it still took a few months from 1700-2000 but I had a set of openings that I committed myself to play and learn the positional ideas to which helped a lot. I knew the Italian Game, the Scandinavian Defense, Dutch Defense, and Closed Sicilian which covered basically everything I was going to play against as White and Black.

I would recommend just studying a select few openings that give you positions that you like and it should be easier from there considering you can just study the openings that give you positions you know you will play all the time. But make sure you focus on the actual ideas behind the moves and setup of your pieces rather than any sort of theory.

Taking a step back can provide valuable perspective, and perhaps you'll find renewed motivation and enjoyment in the future.