Road to 2000 Week 4
I wish my rating could accumulate like the snowfall4 Weeks Down!
It's been four weeks, and oh man have I had some up and downs already over the month, but I am starting to finally feel the fruits of the labor. This week was great, I had a lot of motivation to study and play chess, and even though my job was picking up a bit, I found myself in a great routine, partially helped by it being so freezing that I didn't want to leave the house much. I also got an over-the-board game in with a coworker on Friday, which was wonderful to get to do again. We sat down for long 45/0 during lunch and did some post-game discussion. I've missed playing over the board so much.
Rating Check-in!
| Format | Current | Diff from Start |
|---|---|---|
| Blitz | 1752 | +7 |
| Rapid | 1903 | +63 |
| Classical | 1820 | = |
I had a great month for rapid, finally broke the 1900 mark! However, I'm a bit overrated I'd suspect at the moment. My game to cross 1900 was not the prettiest, but I stuck it out and find a nice tactical idea to snag the win. I'm also proud as I found a mating pattern with a diagonal queen move! A dreaded weakness of mine, but drilling a variety of tactics has helped me there. I took a few days to cherish my 1900+ rating and haven't touched rapid since crossing it, but I'll be back to rapid next week.
Blitz has been a whirlwind, but I'm starting to get a better curb of it. I still lose most of my blitz ratings on benders. I get into these marathon blitz sessions, where I lose the first one or two and then get sloppy. I found myself getting into a lot of time trouble in my games, and then trying to overcorrect by picking up the pace and blundering in the next game. I did a bit of refocusing and reminded myself of my goals. It's to get better, not to win. I need to not marathon games, I need to try to learn from them. It's also fine to be getting into time trouble and losing, as that means I'm calculating!
I also reached my lone wolf goal of 4 points! I scored a nice win today against the French Advance, which is an opening I love to play as white. I apparently have a career 67% win rate against it, according to lichess. Which matches the way I feel when I see it on the board. It's always a good time!
What's Next
I've been enjoying the endgame course I've been working through. I got through chapter 1 finally, and the quizzes were tough but rewarding. I'm glad I have it on chessable so I can keep reviewing the quizzes, as they are applicable. I'm proud though as I've found myself playing much more attentively in endgames lately. I just need to learn to slow down and not always trust my instincts, because endgames are tricky. Hoping next week to get back to my game reviews and How To Reassess Your Chess as well, hopefully, I'm not dealing with multiple feet of snow this week.
