How it all started

From a Weekend Warrior to a Chess Monk

Just a few months ago, already in my mid-fourties and a with FIDE-rating of around 2050 (being constant at that level for many years),  I started to give it a try and start some chess lessons, aiming to reach around 2150 within the next two years (next to fulltime job and family). Possible?  Impossible?   Not sure yet, but with a good coach those approx. 100 rating points don´t seem totally illusory...

Now, after some 4 months of some 90 minutes training per week and rather not really a rating improvement, I asked my coach - an english FM and former England chess coach - what it would take to achieve the desired rating. In summary, he adviced to

• "re-think" some of my openings and enlarge my repertoire
• do some 2h of training per day
• plus half a day instense training about once a month
• and, finally, participate in tournaments at least every other month.

Given my age, my professional career, my family and my current life in general, I accepted to give it a go - for 365 days with weekly 10 hours of training + additional training of half a day per month + one new opening to be learned/included into my tournament repertoire.

So, after many years as a part-time weekend warrior of chess, together with the help of my coach, I am now turning myself into a chess monk (ascetic, eager to learn, with patient persistence)!

This blog will accompany the journey...