My Chess Journey
This is the documentation of my chess journey. My goal is to get to 2000 ELO online. I will be updating this as I make progress.
Last updated: 24th March 2025.
Guide: How I Gained 2200 Elo in Just 2 Years
0 - 500 ELO
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Learn a SIMPLE opening for white and black with clear plans.
- For white, learn the London system or the scotch game.
- For black, learn the caro-kann defense or the modern defense.
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Play rapid chess, play it daily, and review games.
- Play rapid chess and not bullet or blitz because it allows you enough time to actually think about your moves.
- Play daily with a minimum of 2 games and a maximum of 10. The minimum is so you don't get rusty, and the maximum is so you can learn everything from your game reviews to take over to the next game/day.
- Review all your games, not just the wins.
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Play puzzles A LOT. This helps to create board awareness and helps you spot tactics. It also improves muscle memory.
500 - 1000 ELO
This is where chess starts getting "boring" and you need to understand that there is more to chess than just mindlessly grinding to get a higher rating, so here are things to do around this level to keep it fun:
- Participate in physical competitions
- Play bullet and blitz games
- Watch videos of top players or just general chess content
- Play other forms of chess like chess960
This is also where you have to start learning time management skills. A tip called the "opening press" is very useful here.
It involves playing a series of quick moves that makes your opponent think, making them fall below you on time, and also could potentially cause them to make a mistake that you can capitalize on. The general idea is to make sure you're never below your opponent in time, and if you don't know what to play in a position, play a waiting move. If you see that your opponent is playing faster than you're comfortable competing with, it's probably a good idea to take it a bit slower and wait for them to blunder something.
A good split of your time in a 10-minute rapid game is:
- Opening: 2 minutes
- Middlegame: 5 minutes
- Endgame: 3 minutes
The opening consists of the first couple of moves at the beginning of the game, where you know exactly what to do. The engine calls them "book moves".
The middlegame is where tactics start revealing themselves. It is where pieces start getting traded, and you have to be very observant here, taking note of what pieces are doing in their current position and where they could possibly go.
The endgame typically starts when most of the pieces, particularly the queens, are off the board, and it's just pawns, rook(s), some minor pieces, and of course, the king. This phase also requires a focus on spotting weaknesses in the opposition's position since the board is mostly empty.
Learnings
- Find pieces that have just one defender and find out how to remove that defender to win the piece.
- Before moving pieces, ask:
- What was that piece doing?
- Which of the opponent's pieces is seeing the destination square?
- What does the move enable the opponent to do?
- Consider EVERY single move with the questions above.
Games where I got a brilliant move
- Playing as black, 17th move
- Playing as white, 11th move
- Playing as black, 5th move
- Playing as white, 38th move
- Playing as white, 20th move
- Playing as black, 5th move