Breaking the 1500 Barrier...A New Playchess High

It was a week ago I played a rated game on Playchess against a 1664 and won. This sent my rating upward in a crisp fashion. Most of my victories come as a result of taking advantage of my opponents inferior position, a position he/she creates for themselves. One day, I will be good enough to force this on lesser opponents, but that requires many boring hours with static positions from a book by IM Jeremy Silman or IM John Watson. For now, the tactics that can be found as a result of inaccurate play from across the board is my gain!

My Playchess Rating...Revisited

I have done this before, I gave everyone a wee peek at my rating on the Playchess server. This time it was G10. As I stated before, I tried to keep my opponents Elo within 100 points of my official USCF rating of 1294. Today, I went all out and challenged a 1784 rated player in a rated game. It seems I always have the black pieces against the higher rated; nevertheless, I won. He seemed quite upset, as he never gave me applause nor did he offer a rematch.

Doing the problems in PCT has given me the confidence to play progressively higher rated opponents. I still make loads of mistakes, but I notice that my opponents due too. This processes has increased my vision at the board and has this has lead to an increase in creativity in my play. Hopefully, I will be able to post the game from today and get feedback.

My Playchess Rating

I thought I would give everyone a little peek at my rating on the Playchess server. This is the Blitz tab, but it's really G15. I have tried to keep my opponents Elo within 100 points of my official USCF rating of 1293. The other day I went out of the limb and played a 1590 rated player in a rated game. Fate gave me the black pieces, but I held him to a draw. I imagine he was quite upset, as he never gave me an applause. He didn't stick around for a rematch.

The tactical training is going slow due to my school studies. However, I have seen some improvement in my games. Proper chess vision is important at the board. Rarely do I drop a piece, unless I sacrifice it form some tactical shot (both real and imagined). My problem is I play inaccurately, meaning I don't play the move the position calls for. It is my belief that a person can see only so far ahead and once there he/she has to play intuitively. Most often my chess intuition has let me down.