A Guide That Will Help You Reach Your Prime

The Plateau

I have been playing chess for six years. Recently, something shifted — or rather, stopped shifting. No matter how many games I played, the results refused to budge. If you are reading this, chances are you have felt the same weight at some point.

Here is the truth most players do not hear early enough: this is normal. Progress in chess is rarely linear. It arrives in bursts, often after long, quiet stretches of stagnation. The players who break through are not the ones with more talent — they are the ones who refuse to stop working during the silence.

Recognizing the plateau is the first step. What follows is the plan to leave it behind.

The Breakthrough Plan

To help with this, I will be posting weekly middlegame and opening crash courses alongside detailed analyses of games played at the highest level. The goal is straightforward: break down complex ideas into practical concepts you can deploy in your own games.

Here is what you can expect:

Weekly Crash Courses — Focused middlegame and opening lessons that distill grandmaster-level strategy into actionable knowledge.
Game Analyses — Move-by-move breakdowns of top-level games, highlighting the ideas that decide the outcome.
Monthly Arenas — Arena tournaments and simul sessions to test your progress in a competitive setting.
Community Growth — A team environment where we learn, compete, and sharpen our understanding together.

If you follow along consistently and apply what we cover, this will not just be passive learning — it will be active improvement. Step by step, we will work through the struggles, sharpen our understanding, and dismantle the plateau together.

Prove It on the Board

Theory without practice is incomplete. Each month, I will host arena tournaments and simul sessions designed to showcase what we have learned. These are not casual games — they are opportunities to test your progress under real pressure.

To take part, join my team: The Classroom of the Elite. This is where we gather, compete, and hold each other accountable.

Forget the Rating. Trust the Process.

During this journey, I want you to let go of the scoreboard. Stop refreshing your rating. Stop counting wins and losses. Lock in. Focus entirely on the work — the patterns, the calculations, the positions.

When you finally sit down at your next tournament, you will not just compete. You will dominate. Not because of a trick or a shortcut, but because you put in the work when no one was watching.

Together, we shall reach our prime.

— Ayanokoji Kiyotaka