Congrats!
Reached my chess goal!

Congrats! I thought it was pretty cool that you celebrated the occasion with your wife with a bottle of champagne. Did you have a bottle set aside for the occasion when you first stated your chess goal?

Thank you to everyone for the kind words and congrats, I appreciate it, wzy more than what I expected...

@jamesstack Not a specific bottle but it is what I had envisioned from the beginning, wine is another hobby of ours. We are Nakedwines.com members and Napa is 40 minutes away lol

Are you dumb? You can join a chess club in chess.com
No, he isn't. But your comment is.

@jamesstack Not a specific bottle but it is what I had envisioned from the beginning, wine is another hobby of ours. We are Nakedwines.com members and Napa is 40 minutes away lol
cool

Congrats. I too know the feeling of having become obsessed with Chess and no family or friends care. Maybe we should start a club/support group for Adult Learners who have become outcasts...
I learned to play chess at 10, I enjoyed it but rarely had anyone to play with growing up and didnt love it enough to join a chess club.
When COVID took over work slowed down so I downloaded a random chess app as I had done in the past, just to play some games to pass the time. After a couple weeks I thought "I can be good if I study theories and openings/strategies, that will be my new hobby." I bought a membership on Chess.com to use all the tools available (lessons, puzzeles, etc.) and set my goal at 1500.
Last night I reached my original goal, my wife and I popped a bottle of champagne and celebrated. I love chess, I dont feel burned out at all and plan to keep playing for many years and see how far I can go (dont feel like Ive reached my peak yet).
None of my friends and family care about this so Id rather share my accomplishment here...
Congratulations
I remember how hard I worked and how excited I was when I finally reached 1500 chess.com rating. The journey of chess rating does not get easier, but that is more of a reason to celebrate milestones like this and 1500 is a big one! Congrats!
Remember that even if your rating temporarily dips below 1500 (as very likely due to variance and normal fluctuations in chess rating), that doesn't change the fact that you reached 1500 before and nothing can take that away! Happy to hear some nice news in the forums and glad I can share in some of the happiness going around