Hello! glad you decided to join me and hopefully read this journey which is to take place starting now! Ok first ill tell you a little about myself, im currently 17 almost 18 around christmas. Im currently rated around 1800 fide but this is pretty inaccurate due to the fact that i have been inactive for chess for over a year now due to gaming but thats another story. Ok so as a chess player i started getting serious about the age of 16 or late 15 and i was probably around 1300ish in about the time of a year i made it to 2000fide in just over a year! Now as we go on with this journal ill explain my repetoire as it grows, and basically what im doing so that WHEN i do make that 2200 (hopefully you'll be right beside me) you'll see that it is possible and YOU can do it too!

Ok so you know a lil about me now i will explain to you my ambitious goal for all of us, yes thats YOU too! ok for all of us hovering around class a or even b (1600-1999) i have a goal for you, which is to reach 2200 in 1 year along with me. Now for all of you negatives out there reading this saying "this is nonsense can't be done" "I CANT DO THAT!" "he's insane!" these are all negatives you don't need in your life and your chess life either all these negatives are in most of our lives as we are human but if you know anything about hypnosis they affect you life in a really negative way we must change this as our first step in this journey together! ok so the first thing i want you to do if you agree to go on this trip w/ me to 2200 i want you to say these things to you as many times as you want or say different things but i want you to say these things to yourself in your mind they may sound silly but your unconcious mind believes everything you tell it so just do it!

"i can make 2200" "i will make 2200 through hardwork" "i will face challenges and overcome them with a positive attitude" etc you can make your own and just say them over and over to yourself each time to feel negative or you say something like "wow what a blunder im so STUPID" correct yourself and say "a blunder like kramnik! but im a very strong chessplayer these things happen" of course these things sound silly to our concious mind but these things are key to your mental game and your unconcious mind trust me you can find these hypnosis techniques all over the internet!

Ok on to the chess for the first part and this will be a major factor to our trip to mastery, TACTICS! yes some of us love them some hate them but you've got to learn to love them! (which i do) ok so the major difference between almost any two rating classes which limits you from being a class b player and not a class a player is simply tactics we all know this but neglect this so the first task for you to do is focus your training not on opening theory or anything else spend the majority of your time say you have 2 hours a day for chess then spend atleast 1 hour on tactics the rest on what you find fun but tactics is probably the most important factor in your chess improvement to the 2200 level. So get to it! Good luck untill we meet again

good luck on your way to 2200

When I set my mind to it starting from where you are starting it took me about 400 days. Good luck on your journey!

Crash

For me it took about 2 years to get to 2200+, but I can't really say I worked hard for it. I barely did anything for it, just played some games occasionally and studied some openings (that was my major weakness). If I played more in those two years I would have probably been higher than 2200 now, but I'm not that ambitious. What's to get in chess anyway? You get 2200 or 2300 (or even 2400) and then what? Make money? A decent job will get you ten times more money...

Very ambitious. As everyone is saying, it's definitely doable but requires a LOT of work. Good luck

Some things we don't do for the money. I don't think it occurs to anyone to try to get good at chess so they can make money. That doesn't take away from the fun or the pride of being good.

What's not to get out of chess? At that level, you could easily teach, write books, do simuls, etc. I don't know about you, but a life where I get to travel around and play chess for a moderate amount of money would blow having a well paying job that I hated out of the water! I think you have a point in saying that the majority of people can't get by on playing chess alone, but that's not to say because of that it's not a worthwhile endeavor..

Meet you at 2200!

Just to be able to know, and say to other people, that I am a "Chess Master" would be worth all of the money and effort. A "Master" Wow. Think of the millions of people that play chess. Even regular people who just know the moves. All over the world, possibly the most played game. Out of the countless millions who play and push the pieces over the board, just knowing that you are simply a different level than all of them, that even the people who everone thinks are "really good" would get crushed by you....well, that would be worth quite a bit to me.

Good luck to ya! i am also trying hard to get to at least 1500 to 1650+. This site will help alot.

By a very similiar logic; perhaps you should consider embarking on a journey so as to become a high-dan Jui-Jitsu blackbelt.

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To even get around on chess (no luxury, just being able to get by), you will at least need 2400 and perhaps a little higher. With 2300 on 2200 you must not think you can afford travelling.

And about the pride argument: sure, it's nice to be able to say you're a master. But like I said, what's next? Really, I know many people at 1400-1500 who enjoy the game as much as I do. I don't think you'll enjoy it more if you reach 2200. So if it's not effortless: is it worth all the effort just to get the pride?

Since I've gone up and up, I've noticed how many people are still above me. First I also thought it would be world elite to be 2300+, but now I really doubt it's one in a million who has 2300+. But maybe I've been playing at a too high level, not noticing that there are so many players a lot lower than me. It's like climbing a mountain: you won't look down until you reached the top. At 1500 you're envying the masters at 2300, but at 2300 you're envying the masters at 2600 instead of looking down on the 1500's.

What is your argument? That it is pointless to improve? In every field that exists, there is a World Champion, and everyone else. You can always go higher unless you are the single top in the world. That doesn't mean improvement brings no joy, pride or happiness. Because the nessesary fact remains, the better you get, the more people are behind you. The more impressive it is to more people. The more credentials you have to say "I am good at this." The more people you can beat.

You don't have to be at the top of the mountain to have a better view than you did at the bottom.

Honestly, I have thought seriously about taking some Brazilian Ju-Jitsu. I have watched MMA for years, and I love it, and I highly respect the ground fighting. Unfortunately, we do not have any good coaches or clubs in my area. (Purdue) But it is not out of the question to take some sort of ground or submission fighting if a good place becomes available to train someday.

id be happy if i could reach 1900 in 365 days good luck with your 2200