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What is your chess rating? Fav opening? Wanna play?
- Thread starter David Mary
- Start date
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2015
- Messages
- 17,781
Fell back down from that peak rating in 10 minute rapid all the way down to 900 and back up to 1144 (at the moment). But I decided in the last few days to play 3 minute blitz again, which is the time control that I lived in for most of 2021 and 2022. It's a lot of fun, but not generally recommended for players really trying to get better. I resign myself to improving only so much (no pun intended), but keeping it fun. The graphic below is misleading.
When I signed up for chess.com I erroneously said something like "intermediate" when I was asked my skill level, and it assigned me a provisional rating, but then I also played others with new accounts too, who had provisional ratings, so my rating didn't stabilize to reflect my actual ability until I had played a larger subset of other established players.
So even though my three minute blitz stats page on my profile says my highest rating in that time control was 1077, it's actually currently the highest it has ever been, as a reflection of my actual performance against other established players.
Anyway, all this being said, I do believe that I will continue a long term trend of improvement with a continual cycling of blitz, rapid, and daily time controls, along with periodically taking in video lessons, and doing tactics puzzles.
Also, I have told a few friends this privately, but not made it public yet. I'll share it here first. I'm doing a knife give away soon where playing two games of chess with me, one as black, and one as white is the entry requirement. I have not yet determined the time control or other details yet.
When I signed up for chess.com I erroneously said something like "intermediate" when I was asked my skill level, and it assigned me a provisional rating, but then I also played others with new accounts too, who had provisional ratings, so my rating didn't stabilize to reflect my actual ability until I had played a larger subset of other established players.
So even though my three minute blitz stats page on my profile says my highest rating in that time control was 1077, it's actually currently the highest it has ever been, as a reflection of my actual performance against other established players.
Anyway, all this being said, I do believe that I will continue a long term trend of improvement with a continual cycling of blitz, rapid, and daily time controls, along with periodically taking in video lessons, and doing tactics puzzles.
Also, I have told a few friends this privately, but not made it public yet. I'll share it here first. I'm doing a knife give away soon where playing two games of chess with me, one as black, and one as white is the entry requirement. I have not yet determined the time control or other details yet.
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2015
- Messages
- 17,781
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2015
- Messages
- 17,781
My tactical awareness suffered again for a while. Despite hitting my all time high in rapid of 1205 on February 12 2025, by the end of March I had hit 958. Nevertheless, I love chess, even though she hates me, and I persevered, and in the last month or so I have waffled between low 1100s and mid 900s. It seems like my lows came in tandem with tariff developments so I think my performance is tied in large part to stress.
I am still a little stressed over the border situation, but today after a month long climb back up from ~970, I climbed over 1100 again, just now, in a game as white against the Englund Gambit. I love when people play this opening against me. People at or around my level seem to think it is a good weapon because they are probably used to people falling for the trap. My theory is that their reliance on this unsound gambit is a symptom of poor tactical awareness, and if I can get the "out of book", they will blunder and give me the game. I think it usually works out in my favor (except when I blunder!), and this is one such example, which pushed me to 1107 today (10 min rapid time control).
BigBadManz (1081)
David Mary (1107)
And yet there is a terrifying video of Eric Rosen playing the Englund Gambit, sacrificing his queen, and crushing white.
I am still a little stressed over the border situation, but today after a month long climb back up from ~970, I climbed over 1100 again, just now, in a game as white against the Englund Gambit. I love when people play this opening against me. People at or around my level seem to think it is a good weapon because they are probably used to people falling for the trap. My theory is that their reliance on this unsound gambit is a symptom of poor tactical awareness, and if I can get the "out of book", they will blunder and give me the game. I think it usually works out in my favor (except when I blunder!), and this is one such example, which pushed me to 1107 today (10 min rapid time control).
BigBadManz (1081)
David Mary (1107)
And yet there is a terrifying video of Eric Rosen playing the Englund Gambit, sacrificing his queen, and crushing white.