Nightmares in Chess

I returned to chess in 2024 after a break from the game during much of 2023. So what does my chess capability look like after a year of activity? Take a look at this yearly summary on my return at chess.com, the world's most popular site for online chess:

I started the year with the somewhat vague notion of improving my chess. I gave this notion no metric for measurement other than to increase my Elo rating for the daily chess games I play inside chess.com. I have had a presence on this site for more than a decade and have been playing chess in various forms since I was a teenager but have never felt thoroughly satisfied with my Elo rating. Between 2014-19, I was a member of a chess club in the UK, playing semi-regular OTB (over the board) chess, yet my rating stagnated.

But having said I wanted to improve my chess, I entered 2024 with no real improvement plan in mind other than to play more chess. Practice makes perfect, I said arrogantly. For much of 2023, I rarely played chess – a number of defeats had sucked the fun out of the game for me, to the point where I felt no inclination to continue playing. However as 2024 approached, some interest and enthusiasm returned and I resolved to play more chess online. In this regard, I achieved a measure of success in 2024, completing 107 games during the year, an amount which far exceeds the games I have completed in previous years. And the fact that I won or drew around two-thirds of the games I played is a cause for some celebration.

However my end-of-year rating of 1122 is rather telling – my Elo rating fell during 2024. And this is where chess can be cruel. Rating points for results are very much related to who you play against; if you beat someone whose rating surpasses yours, watch your Elo rating fly. Of course, get beaten by a lower rated opponent, and the rating points dribble way. Yes, it is cruel, but overall,the Elo rating system is a remarkably rational method for the relative measurement of player strengths (see some of the maths and statistics behind it here). Interestingly, the average rating of my opponents during 2024 was 1025, meaning that they were typically 100 points weaker than me. On paper these are opponents whom I should beat, however, clearly this did not happen enough times, and my rating suffered accordingly. Whilst I did beat someone rated 1442 (their name redacted to protect the innocent), my victories were typically against opponents on average rated almost 300 points less than me!

The year itself at times saw some improvement, and by the end of August, I was rated 1189. 1200 seemed to be within touching distance. However the last quarter of the year saw me plummet close to 1100, although some gains were clawed back before the year-end.

So, what does this all mean for me and chess in 2025? Firstly, I end the year with a high degree of enthusiasm for the game. I am still enjoying chess, despite some of the setbacks this year. Those chess defeats that in the past that would have tempted me to throw my chessboard/pieces/laptop at the wall were less impactful this year, and I put this down to the fact that I was playing several games simultaneously. This meant I had little time to dwell on past mistakes and move on. This momentum I want to retain, but equally, I have to be more reflective in my chess, actually looking at my mistakes and establish how to avoid repeating them.

The logical consequence of all this is for me to finally overcome my stubborn and somewhat arrogant view of chess improvement and to embrace it in a systematic way. I have never been opposed to the idea of chess study, but I have frequently dodged the topic. In short, I could not be bothered pursuing any meaningful improvement. This blog represents both my desire to commit to some form of sustained improvement in the game, but also a willingness to be held accountable for doing the necessary improvement work. I plan to document the path I take to become a better as a chess player.

So why call this blog Nightmares in Chess? Well I think this process will be very painful for me. Whilst I like to think I will be celebrating some victories and successes here, most likely the blog entries will refer to blunders, ill-considered moves and missed opportunities to claim a victory. These will be the stuff of nightmares. However, part of being reflective about one's capabilities as a player is to look at defeats and understand why one lost a game. Fun for a reader with an interest in chess, painful for yours-truly. But this could be extremely interesting.

Welcome to my nightmare!