So you have a chess set, you know how the pieces move and you are itching to play your first game of chess. I remember that day. My dad had an older plastic chess board that folded in half and the pieces were made of plastic. Even the board had a plastic coating on it. The instructions on how the pieces moved were printed on the inside of the top of the box. My dad had me sit down and read the rules of the game of chess for the first time. I finished rather quickly. I enjoyed to read you see. He made me read it a second time because he didn't believe that I could comprehend the information that quickly. I am pretty sure that he was correct.
Now my memory fails me here because I remember reading the rules for the the first time somewhere different from where I remember my first lost to my dad. Anywho, needless to say my dad beat me pretty easily those first few times. After losing several times and being a typical kid, I decided chess was not for me. Then the chess bug bit me when I was in 7th grade. I started studying and reading and playing as much as I could. I got to be pretty decent. Inn 8th grade I joined the school chess club. I was the best in the club except for the instructor. The lessons were great. This was the first time that I actually had someone teaching me chess aside from me reading from a book. I went on to win an in-house tournament with a score of 13 wins, 0 draws, 0 losses. Then I went to high school and I left chess for magic.
Once out of high school I went back to studying chess late at night for awhile. I wanted to play in a rated chess tournament but I lived in Concord and it seemed like too far to go to Charlotte to join a club or play in a tournament. Besides how was I going to afford the USCF to even be able to play anyway. I didn't have anyone to help me along with this process.
Then I met my wife and moved to Charlotte. She got me a membership to the USCF (I think she still regrets it to this day because of how much time I will spend studying and playing chess) and I signed up for my first chess tournament in 2011. It was the NC Open. From there I found a local club that met every night and played speed chess. It was run by Tony Hicks. He held some tournaments every once in awhile but a lot of times it was just playing for fun and playing speed chess.
This is what allowed me to see just how good I really was because I never really played anyone that was way better than myself except for my dad and I was beating him now. My last non-family member opponent was in 8th grade back in 2003 and it was now 2011. So I got beat pretty badly but the guys there knew I had some kind of talent because they could see the moves I made were not beginner moves.
I also felt that I wasn't playing as strong as I used to play and so I started going home and studying more. I got pretty strong. Then I found another club that played a rated game once a week in Charlotte (Queen City Chess Club) and that is where I met a great group of people, adults and kids alike, that really help foster my passion for chess. I was allowed to test my knowledge and skills against people who were rated much more higher than myself.
I continued to study and I continued to learn. I played in more and more tournaments. My very first non-provisional rating was 1240 (08/09/11) and as of 05/11/13 my rating is 1507 while I peaked at 1583 (09/18/2012).
So if you are just starting out in chess and are not sure if you can improve your rating or just have no idea where to begin, I want you to know that you are in good hands. I will show you the steps that I took to get to where I am and what I am doing now to get even better. I am not the best chess player by far. I do not claim to be and I do not even pretend that I am. I do however know, that when looking for that first step. Or even just that one person to hang out and play chess with, it can be difficult to find. Either you find people who are well below your level or the people who are rated higher than you and could help feel that you are only slowing them down.
I want to be that person that gives you the guidance that I never had growing up to find the right path to chess excellence. In this blog I will cover my games, I will post material that I learned from books that I own. I will do a daily chess tactic for your solve. It may be as simple as a mate in one or more complicated where you are only trying to improve your position. I will never give you a hint as to what you are trying to do other than who is to move. The side moving will always be the one winning.
Please feel free to leave feedback on the post and feel free to follow me so you get all the recent updates. Share this with friends and family that are trying to learn chess as well. Together we will get where we want to go.
Come play a game with me at Chess.com by challenging my handle: dblackw2
Checkmate,
David
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