Time to Reevaluate Your Game

There comes a time in chess as well as in life where we have to reevaluate ourself. Sometimes we reach a point where we are stuck and are unable to make progress. It seems as if there is no where to go but down.

I was recently faced with that choice in life. After being crippled for a week on two occasions, I decided that I had to change. So, after a period of weeks, I gradually removed bad things from my diet until my health improved. And as you have seen this before: I lost 30 lbs in the last year. Of course it's a long-term comittment not just a few weeks of change.

In chess we sometimes reach these barriers where it is difficult to improve. That's when we should "take a step back" and ask ourselves if we want to keep improving or just lose until the game is not fun anymore. If the answere is "yes" then you should ask yourself what you can do to improve. This is more difficult than it seems because it's hard to see what you're doing wrong. In this case, it might help to have a stronger player to look at some of your games to help get you pointed in the right direction. You might consider one of many International Masters or Grandmasters and e-mailing them a few of your games. I'm sure they won't do it for free unless you are lucky.

At this point, I know a lot of my own weaknesses. I can improve at calculation and tactics and my middlegame needs work. At the same time I can do some endgame work.

I'm a firm believer that in life as well as chess you are either "going up or going down." Sometimes success can be a bad thing if we let it go to our head. In that case, we tend to "rest on our laurels" and stop improving.

Years ago I got up to 1800. But keep in mind I played the same five or six guys over and over to get that result. When I entered a tournament and saw "new looks", I was crushed like a child over the board. We have to keep in mind there's a lot more styles of play we need to get prepared for. I've seen 2000 rated players go to tournaments and lose two or three games to 1900 rated players or below. In my opinion this shows something is missing from their game. Could it be a lack of confidence? Or do they just need to see different styles of play from time to time?

A few months ago I reevaluated my game and my play began to improve. Then I let up and my play became stale. So I decided to create a chess journal and keep track of my training on a daily basis. This will help keep me on track hopefully.

It takes time to get good at this game. Sometimes when you bring new ideas into your game your rating will drop until those ideas click and then you're rating will begin to rise.

So, if you're performing at a level lower than you should, then it might be time to make a change.

Try it. You'll be impressed at the results over time.

Cheers

Paul