Another birthday is about to hit and another year is about to pass, this year is different from the rest. 2020 started with great gala personally and professionally, wanted to get a break through in new markets where we expanded our business into, we got our first order.
Then came the lockdown, months rolled, we were already into two
months of lockdown. Time was moving slower than a snail, started to feel
restless, a genuine feeling for anyone who has been travelling a lot and was active
outdoors. Not seeing friends, not having the week end activities was taking a
toll on mental and physical health.
Now it was already the month of May, almost half a year gone
before I could realize, I have been rusting.
I need to get off this rust and galvanize myself with some
professional and personal coating, what better than to try out new things…
I learnt a new UI design tool, made numerous UI design to
the extent customers were Wowed, but this is not about it.
The other area was to learn some new game that would keep my
brain cells active, turned my attention to chess! Yes Chess!
I knew the basics of chess as a kid and has never played beyond
with family members, couple of dozen game during school days. It has been 25
year since I played chess…venturing into it was like learning to write the
first alphabet.
It all started with Agatmator’s YouTube chess channel, I
bumped into it when I started to search for some games…I started to watch all
of them, the stories of players, the blind fold chess, the openings and what
not…This started to kindle interest, can we start to play, dusted of an old
board game of chess and started to ask people at home to play, well children
don’t want to play anything that’s not on an electronic device…needed to find
alternatives, install Chess game on my phone and started to play vs computer. I
could pass level 4 computer and then never could win. “This is challenging me…”
how can I not pass level 4, then what about playing real people do I even have
a chance to win a single game…this started to prick me, so nervously decided to
play anonymous on a web platform and I was not wining, now my fear was
confirmed , computers and people can beat me easily. ”This is challenging me…”
I said to myself.
Let’s accept the challenge, so I signed up on May 18th
with Chess.com, payed my first game starting level 628 and lost in time
control...10min blitz game. I played a dozen games and my rating climbed to 836
by June 1st. A glimmer of hope you can win games but not all, I
thought if I can climb 200 point by playing 12 games lets target 1000 points by
end of June. Didn’t realize things doesn’t work that way, the higher you climb
the better players you meet and the scoring is going to be difficult, naive.. I
played 17 games in June, the reality did the rain check. My new score 764 end
of June.
Then I realized, there should always be a method to madness.
I need to figure out the method to get to 1000 points. The more I started to
read players journey, the reality sunk in will I even make it by the end of the
year. The demons woke up and the angels where questioning the loyalty of
self-belief.
Let’s make moves, baby steps, so I decided to get to 800,
then 900 and then 1000, well easy to say and no time pressure, let target by
Christmas to hit 1000 points. First let’s get to 800, I knew I cannot do the
same things that I did before and expect to hit 800, I have to do things
differently.
First run was to search for rating climb and I hit on one John
Bartholomew Chess fundamentals videos on YouTube. An eye opener course for all
openers like me. I saw it over and over to get the fundamentals right, easier
said than done, the games where intense and never could I remember to put what
I learnt to use. Then, his rating climb videos, totally impressed, this guy
could play while talking and still beat players. The moves are made in seconds,
time management was excellent. Equipped with new learnings, I get into the ring
one more time, with all my focus and attention I could neither keep up with
time nor with the moves, 800 started to look a distant dream.
By now I started to watch a lot of game play, learning from
the best in business, St. Louis Chess club videos, I completed watching all
videos posted in the Agatmator’s channel under, Morphy Saga, Capablanca Story, Mikhail
Tal, Botvinnik Games, Caro-Kann defence, Nimzo-Indian Defence., I am talking
about 300+ video of ~20 min length. This familiarized me with lot of classical
chess games and players, I was still lingering in the eight hundreds. .no
progress.
My rating slowly started to climb, I have played 247 games
in July and by end of July I was at 908. It was not at all bad, 6000+ minutes
of video watching, I watched them, every bit, whenever I was not working. From
waking up to going to bed these videos where playing continuously. I said at
this rate I can hit 1000 by August end. Did I know, things don’t move up the
same pace, I didn’t?
August angst!
I played 287 games, by August 10 I was at 940, I said to
myself, going good…at this rate 1000 will be in the next 10 days.. Hee Haa..
August 11th 8 game losing streak, I am back to
858. This is when you mind plays games, you are doing it too much, trying hard,
and time to take a break and many more thoughts, now even 900 seems to be a
distant dream. Soul searching, are their people who got burnt out like me,
google them to see what they got to say, they all said in chorus need to take a
break.., I know me, if I take a break, that break will be the longest ever and
I may not getting back, breaks are not my way…my way is to redo from start.
New Method to Madness…go aggressive, more search on more
steamers, who can inspire and instill self-belief. I bump into one Mr. Hikaru
Nakamura, a kid chess prodigy, now a super GM, his honesty and simplicity
pierced me like a pin pricking a banana. So became an ardent fan of him, then
his co-streamers, Gotham chess, Levy Rozman. Between them, on Chess.com or
twitch, sub battles and rating climbs, garbage openings, Title Tuesdays, there
was a plethora of chess, and even a damp sponge can absorb. Levey with his
tactical training ideas and selfless teachings you can learn tons from him. The
e4, d4 rating climb, his 10 min openings, Gotham chess guide, it’s an elixir
for beginners, and mid-level players.
Hikaru is brilliant, and who am I to even say that, you
should be at a different level to even praise him. He made it look simple,
easy, the emotions coming out of him was so genuine, doesn’t matter was he playing
or watching someone else’s game. Between the two it was like a theory class from
Levy and a practical lesson from Hikaru. They go hand in hand, the beauty of
reading and the imagination of seeing was happening to me. I have ended up in
the right place, end of August I was at 970.
Then I couldn’t move past that, one thing I realized was, I
now knew more about chess than when I started in May. Still something is not
letting me hit the 1000 mark. End of September another 102 games and my rating
was still at 970
Time for self-introspection. I was too stiff when I am
playing, my small sticky notes on points to remember, about backward ranks, hanging
pieces, Checks, Captures, Attacks and time checks all were in paper but not in
my head while playing, too engrossed in the game. I need to loosen up… I was
serious about Chess.com and my rating, is there some other alternate site to
play for fun and take things light, yes found Chess24.com, I signed up on Oct 1st,
purely to play for losing, learn from losing and to chill and take it light, I
played 120 games in October and on and off I would play in Chess.com, Today Oct
21st I hit the eluding magic rating of 1006..
Can I sustain I don’t know, but one thing I know for sure, if you have a method to madness, relentless pursuit, follow visionaries, practice with patience and chill…You can climb, you self-belief is a passed pawn to queen of success, is waiting…
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