My Road to 2000.... IS COMPLETE!

Hooooooo boy... I've waited a while to make this thread.

Since 2015 my goal every year has been to reach 2000.
It has eluded me, until now.

I've taken a moment to reflect upon each milestone I've broken since joining the site.
Here's the snapshot:

Joined site: 2nd Sept 2012

1300 - (Within first provisional 20 games)
1400 - 19th November 2012 (After 43 games)
1500 - 2nd December 2012 (After 54 games)
1600 - 9th March 2013 (After 150 games)
1700 - 3rd March 2014 (After 381 games)
1800 - 1st February 2015 (After 629 games)
1900 - 12th March 2015 (After 662 games, surprisingly fast)
2000 - 6th July 2019 (After 1389 games)
2100 - ???

It is interesting that it took me 2 and a half years from joining the site to break 1900,
but then it took over 4 years and more than double the game count to break 2000.

Starting live competitive chess last year has undoubtedly improved my play,
largely in the opening, but also for spotting threats and playing pragmatically.

My next goal is 2100... maybe within 10 years!

I'd like to know:
What are your current goals?
And what are you doing to achieve those goals?

Cheers,
~64

Congrats! Your progress is similar to my own, getting to 2000 was tough (Though I was a bit faster😉).

I'll post mine.

1300 - with first 20 provisional games (January 2007)
1400 - 28 February 2007
1500 - 8 June 2007
1600 - 25 June 2007
1700 - 19 January 2008
1800 - 10 February 2009
1900 - 10 September 2009
2000 - 28 May 2012
2100 - 11 October 2015
2200 - 10 June 2016

I'd like to get back over 2200, but I haven't picked up a chess book in a couple years, I haven't done anything to really deserve it. My interest in the game hasn't been there these last couple years.

🤔
Both of you have an "opponent average rating" much lower than your rating.
About 200 rating points. 🤪
The "opponent average rating" in your profile is your true rating.

Sorry to rain on your parade guys.

@64squaresofpain

Congratulations, 64sop! Here's hoping you are able to keep moving upward with only small, temporary setbacks!


My personal short term goal is also a 2000 rating, which I am fairly confident to reach since I am over 1700 now with fewer than 40 rated games played, and several of my losses were rooted in non-chess reasons.

On the academic side, my plan for progress has always been to do tactical exercises to build and sharpen situational awareness, and to read some strategy books to improve positional planning. On the practical side, I play off a real board and seek to immerse myself in enjoying the process of analysis so that my games and my decisions, both good and bad, are better retained in my mind.

My long goal *was* to reach 2200, but I'm only months back after nearly 8 years away from competitive chess as I dealt with some personal real life issues, so who knows, that may not be within my reach anymore.

🙂

@Patzering

Sorry, that's not really correct, because it doesn't account for rate of success against the opponents.

In simplified numbers, if I were to play 100 games against players all rated at 1600 and win 85 of those games, the average rating of my opponents will be 1600, but clearly I would have to be more skillful than they in order to have such a high percentage of wins, and my new rating would reflect that by being well above their average 1600 rating.

🙂

@Patzering

OK, I'll share the game that got me to my current rating.



At the time of the game completion, my opponent was rated around 1920.
Quite frankly, my opponent didn't play the best chess, but he is still rated far above my opponent average rating.
Which is only as low as it is because of the poor tournament system on this site.

p.s. knightstalker, I know who you are :p

@64squaresofpainI'm glad for you '64' but beware. I got to 2060 once on
here here and recently sunk to 1820. Managed to trick/trap my way up to 1890

My joy was getting onto page one on the ladder by cherry picking who I played.

Blog Post 309

@patzering said
🤔
Both of you have an "opponent average rating" much lower than your rating.
About 200 rating points. 🤪
The "opponent average rating" in your profile is your true rating.

Sorry to rain on your parade guys.

Firstly you do not understand how the rating system works.

Secondly one could ALWAYS play someone of the same rating
as oneself as ones own grade increased and that would necessarily
mean that ones opponents' average grade being lower.

Thirdly higher ranked players may find it difficult finding equal
opposition and/or courteously accept challeges from weaker players.

Your parade is a washout!

@64squaresofpain said
Hooooooo boy... I've waited a while to make this thread.

Many congratulations, it's wonderful to achieve personal goals.

@64squaresofpain said
Hooooooo boy... I've waited a while to make this thread.

Since 2015 my goal every year has been to reach 2000.
It has eluded me, until now.

I've taken a moment to reflect upon each milestone I've broken since joining the site.
Here's the snapshot:

Joined site: 2nd Sept 2012

1300 - (Within first provisional 20 games)
1400 - 19th November 2012 (After 43 g ...[text shortened]... know:
What are your current goals?
And what are you doing to achieve those goals?

Cheers,
~64

Very well done! Ignore the naysayers - this is no small achievement. You have good reason to be proud. This illustrates the value of setting goals, and a persistent work ethic. Best of luck on getting to 2100.

@64squaresofpain said
@Patzering

OK, I'll share the game that got me to my current rating.

[pgn][Event "Clan challenge"] [Site "https://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2019.04.19"] [EndDate "2019.07.06"] [Round "?"] [White "64squaresofpain"] [Black "stratosph3R3"] [WhiteRating "2005"] [BlackRating "1908"] [WhiteElo "2005"] [BlackElo "1908"] [Result "1-0"] [GameId "13219852"] 1. e4 e5 2. ...[text shortened]... is because of the poor tournament system on this site.

p.s. knightstalker, I know who you are :p

Why would he make such a boner as f5 on move 2? Even I, a mere 1700 player can see the problems with that.

@sonhouse said
Why would he make such a boner as f5 on move 2? Even I, a mere 1700 player can see the problems with that.

It's the Latvian Gambit. Black actually didn't wander outside of known theory until his 9th move, when Kf7 is generally played.

🙂

@sonhouse said
Why would he make such a boner as f5 on move 2? Even I, a mere 1700 player can see the problems with that.

As noted above 2. ... f5 is the Latvian gambit and is a great move, assuming you want to avoid 20 moves of Spanish theory.

@patzering said
🤔
Both of you have an "opponent average rating" much lower than your rating.
About 200 rating points. 🤪
The "opponent average rating" in your profile is your true rating.

Sorry to rain on your parade guys.

Ha, ha, he has a point, indeed...

@sonhouse said
Why would he make such a boner as f5 on move 2? Even I, a mere 1700 player can see the problems with that.

You dont watch Greenpawn enough!