Road to 2100

It’s been nearly four years since I started this blog with a post titled ‘Road to Grandmaster‘.  In the year following this announcement I worked quite hard on my chess, and made decent progress towards my goal, but in the ensuing three years my priorities shifted (to my degree, learning Mandarin in China and getting a job, respectively).  Although I never completely stopped playing or studying chess, with my focus elsewhere it’s not surprising that I wasn’t able to do more than maintain my level (at about 2000 rating, or weak ‘Expert’ strength).

The job thing is finally sorted: in three weeks’ time I will be moving to London to work for Network Rail, the company responsible for Britain’s rail infrastructure.  With this arranged, I find my thoughts turning more and more to resuming my chess improvement project and blog.  Of course, with a full-time job finding time for chess study will be challenging, and my chances of making Grandmaster don’t seem to be any better than they were when I started in 2010.  With that said, I enjoy writing about chess improvement, may still have some interesting things to say about it, and have found that at least a handful of people enjoy reading what I write.  This seems sufficient reason to start blogging again, though the blog will not be entirely as before: welcome to the ‘Road to 2100’.

Nope, it isn’t April the 1st.  While I won’t be changing the domain name, the revised aim, at least for the time being, is to achieve a 2100 rating.  I have been advised more than once either to set a more realistic final target, or to set intermediate targets, and this is me finally taking that advice.  The 2100 target is a bit of both; I certainly hope that the ‘road to 2100’ will prove to be merely a ‘large step to 2100’, and that before I know it I will be writing about improving to Candidate Master strength.  However, if and when I do reach 2100 (and any subsequent targets) I will make a decision about whether or not to continue based on my priorities in life at that time, which I can’t foresee now.

I also envisage the content of the blog changing somewhat.  Updates on my progress, tournament reports and analyses of my games will still appear, but they will be less frequent than before.  Instead, I hope to feature more content about the theory of learning in general and chess-learning in particular, and perhaps also instructional content helping lower-rated players with aspirations to improve to ‘Class A’ or ‘Expert’.

As before, my blogging will only be worth the time and effort which goes into it if I have readers who find some value or interest in my content.  I hope many of the old readers who have been with me from the beginning will continue with me in this new phase of the blog, and I welcome any new readers who have just found it.  Please say ‘Hi’ in the comments section below, and let me know if you have any ideas for what you would like to see on this new old blog.

13 thoughts on “Road to 2100

  1. Hi Will, good to see things are back on track 🙂
    Had come across your blog a few years back and I was wondering about your progress…
    It’ll be interesting to see how you document the “road to 2100”, especially taking into account the London chess community.
    Good luck!
    Andrei

    1. Hi Andrei,

      The London chess community is certainly a lot bigger and has more going on than the Somerset chess community. Looking forward to playing in the London League. In reply to your other comment, my rating is 2007.

      Thanks,

      Will

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