Chess players are supposed to be good at pattern recognition. Well, here’s a pattern I have recognized.
When I first started playing organized chess in the 9th grade, the coach of my school team, who introduced me to US Chess rated tournaments, was rated around 1800. To me, that was the pinnacle of chess strength.
In 1992, when I stopped playing for almost 20 years, I was gaining around 80-100 points per year (pretty good since there were only a handful of events I could play in) and was hopeful that “maybe someday” I could become that strong myself.
In 2011, when I returned to chess, I again started gaining 100 or so points per year. This took me from 1500 in 2011 to 2014, when I first surpassed 1800. That year, I peaked at 1896.
I then played in a tournament where I experienced a setback. I drew some games against lower-rated players, which caused my rating to dip slightly, and then, after peaking at 1896 in July, I was down to 1714 by the end of the year.
This didn’t lead to some continuing epic collapse. I’ve always been a streaky player. So I still peaked over 1800 the next three years, with 1851 in 2015, 1855 in 2016, and 1812 in 2017.
However, from 2017 to 2022, I was unable to surpass 1800 again. As 2023 began, I reached 1800 at the start of the year, and although my peak rating was only 1849, I maintained a score over 1800 for essentially the entire year.
Then, at the start of 2024, I dropped back below, then immediately went to 1810, my peak for the year.
As I type this, I’ve managed to collapse below 1700 again and sit at 1694.
Earlier, I said I spotted a pattern. That pattern is that I think in terms of “1800.” As I said, when I was younger, that was the pinnacle to me—the absolute height of chess achievement.
So now I am working to retool my mindset. I’m mentally launching “Project 1900” as I think of it. The intention is that I shouldn’t think of 1800 as the place I am trying to get to. I need to think of it in terms of being a stepping stone on the path.
If I stay focused and make it to 1900, then I’ll have to retool things to see what it would take to continue to try for new steps along the path.
No fancy training plans. No crazily detailed outline of how to get there. Just a renewed focus on the real goal.
For the last couple of months, I haven’t spent much time training, and it shows. I’ve gone from 1680 → 1730 → 1694. Flat. I estimate my normal playing strength to be somewhere around 1750ish, but when I train regularly, that’s when 1800 comes into view.
So the first key will be for me to get my normal strength up around 100 points. Once I do that, I’m only one good result away from getting over 1900, even if my actual playing strength isn’t there yet.
My only plan to get there is to work consistently (at least a little every day) and to analyze my own games more thoroughly. Ideally, I will analyze every game I play as I work toward this goal.
Let’s see what happens.
Til next time,
Chris Wainscott
Writing as an ex-2000+ (now down to 1810) player, my short and long term goal is the same - win against players up to 100 rating points above me and draw against the rest. Losing to a lower rated player is disastrous - losing 10-15 points in one game means that you spend the rest of the tournament just catching up.
I too have similar goals. Had a set back over the last year but I built my mindset back to where it was when I was on the rise. See you 1900 but I’ve set my sights on breezing last it to 2000 over the course of the next year. Mindset for us adults is super important I think. I recently talked about it in my latest blog post.