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50 years old Beginner trying to Get to 2000 rating. Any suggestions?

I've started my Chess Journey on June 19, 2025 as a pure noob with a rating of 184 getting trashed by 300-rated noobs. I was 2-month short of being 50 years old. Which seems to be a death sentence in the Chess world. I don't care, I don't feel at a disavantage at all. I don't have any issue playing 2 hours long OTB games and 4-hour Puzzle Rush and Rapid games sessions. I didn't had any problem visualizing the entire chessboard (square names, colors, diagonals, Knight movements, etc).

My 5 missions/goals/subjects/classes are:

Chess.com Rapid rating
Puzzle Rush Survival Top Score
ICCF Correspondence Chess
Book collection. I love Chess books.
Blindfold Chess.

You can follow my daily Chess training and evolution on ChessIsWar.com & 2000chess.club

All tips and suggestions are welcome.

Thank you!

I've started my Chess Journey on June 19, 2025 as a pure noob with a rating of 184 getting trashed by 300-rated noobs. I was 2-month short of being 50 years old. Which seems to be a death sentence in the Chess world. I don't care, I don't feel at a disavantage at all. I don't have any issue playing 2 hours long OTB games and 4-hour Puzzle Rush and Rapid games sessions. I didn't had any problem visualizing the entire chessboard (square names, colors, diagonals, Knight movements, etc). My 5 missions/goals/subjects/classes are: Chess.com Rapid rating Puzzle Rush Survival Top Score ICCF Correspondence Chess Book collection. I love Chess books. Blindfold Chess. You can follow my daily Chess training and evolution on ChessIsWar.com & 2000chess.club All tips and suggestions are welcome. Thank you!

I recommend joining a chess club and going regularly. Make friends with people who can help you on your journey.

I recommend joining a chess club and going regularly. Make friends with people who can help you on your journey.

That is one long journey ...

That is one long journey ...

Most importantly, don't watch PegasusChess YouTube channel and don't buy his products. He positions himself as a chess coach for adult improvers, but he's simply a scammer who understands nothing about chess and has multiple banned accounts on chess. com and lichess.

Most importantly, don't watch PegasusChess YouTube channel and don't buy his products. He positions himself as a chess coach for adult improvers, but he's simply a scammer who understands nothing about chess and has multiple banned accounts on chess. com and lichess.

"50 years old Beginner trying to Get to 2000 rating." * You can do that in 1 year.

"playing 2 hours long OTB games" * Over the board 90+30 lasts about 4 hours
"4-hour Puzzle Rush" * Do not do that. Puzzle streak is better practice.
"Rapid games" 15+10 is good. When you lose a game, analyze it thoroughly so as to learn from your mistakes.

"Chess.com Rapid rating" * Worthless. Play 15+10
"Puzzle Rush Survival Top Score" * Worthless
"ICCF Correspondence Chess" *That is scientific chess.
"Book collection" * Good.

"50 years old Beginner trying to Get to 2000 rating." * You can do that in 1 year. "playing 2 hours long OTB games" * Over the board 90+30 lasts about 4 hours "4-hour Puzzle Rush" * Do not do that. Puzzle streak is better practice. "Rapid games" 15+10 is good. When you lose a game, analyze it thoroughly so as to learn from your mistakes. "Chess.com Rapid rating" * Worthless. Play 15+10 "Puzzle Rush Survival Top Score" * Worthless "ICCF Correspondence Chess" *That is scientific chess. "Book collection" * Good.

Nice, I'm also an adult improver and have similar goals as yours. I would highly recommend you the book "How to Reassess Your Chess" from Jeremy Silman. The greatest challenge for an adult compared to a youngster is the limited amount of time we have to dedicate to our hobby.

I see that you have tons of books already, try to not get drowned with over information. You don't need a fancy endgame book now, you need the basics! Basic pawn king x king, basic rook endgames, Lucena position, Kings opposition, triangulation and so on. Create a small and concise opening repertoire, and the most important skill you need to learn, how to calculate!

You are already setting for yourself some really high goals. Blindfold chess is something that players develop when they already have years (decades) of constant playing. Focus on small improvement steps, from 200 to 200 rating points, analyze your games, see what's your weakest point. Analyze first by yourself, think by yourself, only then, get the engine on.

Learn to really enjoy the game. Enjoy replaying the games from masters of the old and now. Go down this road and enjoy the trip, see how far can you go.

Nice, I'm also an adult improver and have similar goals as yours. I would highly recommend you the book "How to Reassess Your Chess" from Jeremy Silman. The greatest challenge for an adult compared to a youngster is the limited amount of time we have to dedicate to our hobby. I see that you have tons of books already, try to not get drowned with over information. You don't need a fancy endgame book now, you need the basics! Basic pawn king x king, basic rook endgames, Lucena position, Kings opposition, triangulation and so on. Create a small and concise opening repertoire, and the most important skill you need to learn, how to calculate! You are already setting for yourself some really high goals. Blindfold chess is something that players develop when they already have years (decades) of constant playing. Focus on small improvement steps, from 200 to 200 rating points, analyze your games, see what's your weakest point. Analyze first by yourself, think by yourself, only then, get the engine on. Learn to really enjoy the game. Enjoy replaying the games from masters of the old and now. Go down this road and enjoy the trip, see how far can you go.

First of all, good luck on your journey. Looking at some of your games and your current rating, you can gain rating by focusing on not hanging pieces (not pawns) for free (not even getting an exchange for less material out of it) and taking free pieces when they present themselves.

https://imgur.com/a/342h1p0 These are rulesets from the chess improvement series Building Habits by GM Aman Hambleton (ChessBrah YouTube channel) that can help people with progression. V1 (the top image) is for absolute beginners (up to around 1300 here) and V4 is roughly the strength of a solid intermediate player (probably around 2000-2100 on this website). Red and blue are the main rules that had priority. You can ignore the premove parts and probably the time parts as well since this was a series balanced around 5+0 blitz chess. Also, if you think you've found a better move, feel free to break the rules and play it. Double also, feel free to work in your own openings if you want to (if you wanna learn a good gambit opening early on, go for it). Once again, good luck.

First of all, good luck on your journey. Looking at some of your games and your current rating, you can gain rating by focusing on not hanging pieces (not pawns) for free (not even getting an exchange for less material out of it) and taking free pieces when they present themselves. https://imgur.com/a/342h1p0 These are rulesets from the chess improvement series Building Habits by GM Aman Hambleton (ChessBrah YouTube channel) that can help people with progression. V1 (the top image) is for absolute beginners (up to around 1300 here) and V4 is roughly the strength of a solid intermediate player (probably around 2000-2100 on this website). Red and blue are the main rules that had priority. You can ignore the premove parts and probably the time parts as well since this was a series balanced around 5+0 blitz chess. Also, if you think you've found a better move, feel free to break the rules and play it. Double also, feel free to work in your own openings if you want to (if you wanna learn a good gambit opening early on, go for it). Once again, good luck.

@tpr said in #5:

"50 years old Beginner trying to Get to 2000 rating." * You can do that in 1 year.

Have you seen someone go from beginner to 2000 in one year? I find that hard to believe.

@tpr said in #5: > "50 years old Beginner trying to Get to 2000 rating." * You can do that in 1 year. Have you seen someone go from beginner to 2000 in one year? I find that hard to believe.

@Crosschoke said in #9:

Have you seen someone go from beginner to 2000 in one year? I find that hard to believe.
Yes, streamer Tyler1. The only legit and provable one.

https://www.chessiswar.com/tyler1-chess/

He was playing and doing puzzles up to 12 hours a day.

My personal goal isn't to do it in 1 year.

2 to 3 years would be great!

I'll see how it goes while enjoying every seconds of it.

@Crosschoke said in #9: > Have you seen someone go from beginner to 2000 in one year? I find that hard to believe. Yes, streamer Tyler1. The only legit and provable one. https://www.chessiswar.com/tyler1-chess/ He was playing and doing puzzles up to 12 hours a day. My personal goal isn't to do it in 1 year. 2 to 3 years would be great! I'll see how it goes while enjoying every seconds of it.

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