Greetings players and fellow patzers.
Well I have done it. I have reached my first goal and broke 1600 here on RHP
(please note I do not have a FIDE or USCF rating, as I have not as of yet played a tournament/rated event of this stature.
I have perhaps dedicated more hours to chess than I should have, considering my status as a final year student in university,
however I feel as my time has not been spent in vain and it has thoroughly been enjoyed.
With regards to chess, I still have much more to learn, this I know.
But I have learned the following:
1 - Analyse the safety of your current position before each move/sequence of moves... this includes king safety, pawn structure, piece set-up etc.
2 - Note strengths of position, including territory held, and find ways in which to gain more territory e.g. Holding a certain key square to either solidify an attack, or weaken the threat of the enemy.
3 - Chess is a lot of fun 🙂
Ok you always have to be watching out for things,
and no matter how good you feel you are playing, there's always gonna be someone better than you coming along to whoop your @$$ and remind you that, yes, there is still more to learn,
and by beating you they are in fact helping you raise your game.
I didn't start playing online until I joined here early September.
I am now rated 1622
My next aim is to break 1800.
Hopefully see you all again with the next update in the near future 🙂
64.
p.s. What goals do you currently have? And have you broke any recently?
It's a good feeling when you make a breakthrough; I've recently made it into the 1700's and my current ambition doesn't go beyond staying there. I'm not a complete ratings maniac but it's a good way to see how you're getting on relative to others. I live in darkest Indonesia so no chance of playing OTB, RHP is my only 'in' to the world of chess. I don't possess or read chess books or any computer aids, and have no idea of any of the names of the openings or how they should be played, I play with whatever ability and experience I have. On that basis there will be a limit to how much further I can go, the ceiling is up there somewhere soon, but I would hope to make 1800, one day....Good luck anyway, Phil.
Originally posted by Indonesia PhilMy breaking goals are to still un-subscribe and to play out the remaining games in honour.
It's a good feeling when you make a breakthrough; I've recently made it into the 1700's and my current ambition doesn't go beyond staying there. I'm not a complete ratings maniac but it's a good way to see how you're getting on relative to others. I live in darkest Indonesia so no chance of playing OTB, RHP is my only 'in' to the world of chess. I don ...[text shortened]... here somewhere soon, but I would hope to make 1800, one day....Good luck anyway, Phil.
winning this game made me a 2000 player here.
not that i ever thought of 2000 as a goal, and therefore I shouldn't even post in this thread, it does feel quite nice being 2000+, at least for a while.
More satisfying than breaking 2000 was the quality of the game.
The bishop sac on move 20 was based on intuition (and hope!), in retrospect it may even be correct. In any case it forced my opponent on the defence and although he did well the game always felt like it could go my way sooner or later.
And ending with a back rank mate fullfills the feeling of a very good game for me!
Originally posted by greenpawn34My goal is to lose about 50 pounds of fat this year.
What goals do you currently have?
Just once I'd love to play a totally positional game and win it instead of my
tactical whack hacks at the King. (just once....is that too much to ask?)
I'm like the clown who wants to be taken seriously and play Hamlet.
Originally posted by dcpkI would second dcpk on trying to get tournament wins.
I only play tournaments. Would like to win one this year. I once cared about ratings - hit 1900s, but dont have time to keep a good rating. Also make too many stupid errors.
Dave
Banded ones give you a fighting chance against your peers.
If you have a bit of competitive nature it can make you try extra hard for a few games 😉
I would love to pick up a hardcore tournament win but they very rarely do banded ones, and i would need to be considerably better to challenge for top spot on the open ones (top player can sometimes be as low as 1950 or so)
Originally posted by delnzMy goal is to become a GM. I know what people say but I wont ever be content in my chess ability until I attain that status... I will still enjoy the games along the way, mostly the wins, never the losses and sometimes the draws.
I would second dcpk on trying to get tournament wins.
Banded ones give you a fighting chance against your peers.
If you have a bit of competitive nature it can make you try extra hard for a few games 😉
I would love to pick up a hardcore tournament win but they very rarely do banded ones, and i would need to be considerably better to challenge for top spot on the open ones (top player can sometimes be as low as 1950 or so)
If you want to improve, then I think goals are vital. I was rated 1290 by the WCU when I came back to competitive chess last year, having been a 70 BCF grade when I was younger in the days when our loving neighbours used our subs to fund their international team. I have since risen to 1504, and hopefully will continue to rise. In January I wrote out a twelve month improvement plan, in the same way I draw up the five year plans for my business and it has been fun. I looked at the comparitive strengths and weaknesses in my game, set myself a schedule for improving my tactics (Chess Tempo), learning two basic openings, one as black and one as white to a decent enough level for club chess (I've watched Romans Lab DVD on the KIA and am currently reading Jovanka Houska's book on the Scandinavian Defence. I have a good book on endgames, but I'm leaving that for now as it was the least weak facet of my game. I also set myself a target to grade wise, and split the necessary points between the ten scheduled games I had in a six month period, I found that the points I needed per game was over optimistic, so I've activley gone out and found a few more rated games to give me a chance of hitting my target.
I am going to review my progress when the July rating list is out. All a bit sad, but It's nice to be able to chart my progress against a graph of where I need to be if I am for example to become a 1650 OTB player. (120 ECF).
Sub heading: "maintaining goals" 🙂
Having reached 1600, I recently dipped back below by playing a series of dumb moves here and there
(and yes, some were drink related)
I'm starting to think I should ban myself from playing when in this condition
I trust I'm not the only one guilty of this!