Why am I stuck at 1000 Elo? Week 21, from 1026 back to 975
Week 21 (May 27 to June 2, 2024) is the week I slid back under 1000. I played 19 rapid games and lost 14 of them, with only 5 wins, and my rating went from 1026 to 975, minus 51. It was the first time I ended a week below 1000 since week 16. So the question in the title is not rhetorical: why am I stuck at 1000 Elo? I went through every game with Stockfish to see what the numbers actually say.
The week in numbers
| Games | 19 (12 at 15 min + 10 s, 7 at 10 min) |
| Wins / losses / draws | 5 / 14 / 0 |
| Rating | 1026 → 975 (−51) |
| Average accuracy | 71.9 % |
| Blunders (Stockfish) | 43, against 29 by my opponents |
| Most played openings | Giuoco Piano (3), Accelerated London (2), London System (2) |
| With White / with Black | 4–4 / 1–10 |
Three numbers jump out at me. First, Black: one win in eleven games. Against 1.e4 I played 1...e5 every time and scored 1 win and 7 losses, five of those losses in Giuoco Piano lines. Second, the time control. I tried a slower format, 15 minutes plus 10 seconds per move, and went 1–11 in it. In plain 10-minute games I went 4–3. And none of my mistakes this week came with less than 10 % of my time left, so the clock was not the problem.
Third, where the mistakes happened. Of my 59 mistakes and blunders, 23 came in the opening and 34 in the middlegame; only 2 in the endgame. I blundered more than my opponents (43 to 29), and ten of my fourteen losses are logged as "game abandoned", which means I left them. Tuesday, May 28 alone was six games and one win. In six losses (#475, #476, #477, #480, #483 and #493) I was winning at some point by Stockfish's standard of an 80 % chance. That is the uncomfortable pattern behind being stuck: the winning positions were there.
Three key moments
Move 5, and my queen was already attacked
Game #477, Black against waljara116 (996), a 10-minute game. White sacrificed a knight on g5 on move 4, my queen took it, and then White played 5.d4.
The pawn move 5.d4 did two things. It offered a pawn, and it got out of the way of the bishop on c1, which now looked straight at my queen on g5. That second part is a discovered attack: one piece moves and uncovers an attack by the piece behind it. I only saw the first part and took the pawn, 5...Bxd4. White answered 6.Bxg5 and my queen was gone. The evaluation went from −9.29, completely winning for me, to +6.48. The engine's 5...Qxg2 moves the queen to safety with a double attack on the rook on h1 and the pawn on e4, and in its line the rook on h1 falls soon after. I abandoned the game after five moves (game on Chess.com).
Chasing the queen instead of developing
Game #475, White against KriOnBoard2016 (1060), in a slow 15+10 game. I was winning, +4.31, with my rook already deep in Black's camp on g7, but my bishop on f1 had not moved yet and my king was still on e1.
13.Rg5 attacks the queen, which feels like progress. But the queen just steps back (13...Qf7 is the engine's reply), my rook has left g7, and I still haven't developed. The evaluation dropped from +4.31 to +1.59. Stockfish's choice, 13.Be2, is the boring one: bring the last piece out, get ready to castle. I was still clearly better after Rg5, and I still lost this game; it's one of the abandoned ones (game on Chess.com).
The x-ray I chose over the pin
Game #476, Black against Ya7yoot (1128). About equal, +0.14. My queen on e5 was active, but my knight was still on b8 and my king on e8.
Both queen moves attack a bishop with something bigger behind it. 11...Qf5 lines up the bishop on f4 and White's queen on f3. 11...Qe6 lines up the bishop on e2 and White's king on e1, which is a pin: that bishop can't leave without exposing the king. Stockfish wanted the pin. After my move, its reply for White is to castle queenside, 12.O-O-O, putting the king on the other side and a rook on the open d-file, right next to my uncastled king. The evaluation went from +0.14 to +2.57; my opponent played 12.Bd3 instead (game on Chess.com).
The lesson of the week
In all three positions I was looking at what my move attacked. In #477 I didn't look at what my opponent's move had attacked, and that cost my queen on move 6. The lesson is the habit I most need: after every move my opponent makes, I ask what it changed, which squares it now controls and which lines it opened by leaving its old square. A pawn move like 5.d4 can unleash a bishop from the back rank. If being stuck at 1000 has one cause in this week's data, it's that I treated my opponent's moves as background and my own as the story.
All games this week
| Game # | Date | Colour | Opponent (rating) | Result | Opening | Accuracy | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 475 | May 27 | White | KriOnBoard2016 (1060) | Loss | Queens Pawn Opening Horwitz Defense | 52.4 | game |
| 476 | May 28 | Black | Ya7yoot (1128) | Loss | Queens Pawn Opening Chigorin Variation | 52.6 | game |
| 477 | May 28 | Black | waljara116 (996) | Loss | Giuoco Piano Game | 42.1 | game |
| 478 | May 28 | White | khaledkhaled67 (993) | Win | Grunfeld Defense Hungarian Attack | 96.8 | game |
| 479 | May 28 | Black | khaledkhaled67 (1001) | Loss | Kings Indian Attack Yugoslav Variation | 72.3 | game |
| 480 | May 28 | Black | admcastr (1218) | Loss | Giuoco Piano Game | 64.8 | game |
| 481 | May 28 | Black | VanExel (1045) | Loss | Kings Pawn Opening | 75.4 | game |
| 482 | May 29 | White | plycan888 (986) | Win | English Defense | 87.0 | game |
| 483 | May 29 | Black | sankardayal (989) | Loss | English Opening Reversed Sicilian Variation | 62.9 | game |
| 484 | May 29 | White | Walid_AL (975) | Win | Queens Pawn Opening Accelerated London System | 84.3 | game |
| 485 | May 29 | White | rrustemmorina (983) | Win | Queens Pawn Opening Accelerated London System | 48.0 | game |
| 486 | May 29 | Black | torcicki (1025) | Loss | Giuoco Piano Game Giuoco Pianissimo Variation | 66.4 | game |
| 487 | May 29 | White | Timur_Guldu (1022) | Loss | London System | 71.6 | game |
| 488 | May 30 | Black | Ihtiyarhan (1305) | Loss | Giuoco Piano Game Giuoco Pianissimo Italian Four Knights Variation | 84.9 | game |
| 489 | May 30 | Black | obadahdamrah (1134) | Loss | Bishops Opening Boi Variation | 93.9 | game |
| 490 | May 30 | Black | BuddhaSuTzy (976) | Win | Giuoco Piano Game | 50.8 | game |
| 491 | May 30 | White | JONIXMEYER (1137) | Loss | London System | 97.5 | game |
| 492 | Jun 2 | White | AlirezNoori (1050) | Loss | Queens Pawn Opening | 81.6 | game |
| 493 | Jun 2 | Black | Madridaporla15 (1074) | Loss | Giuoco Piano Game Main Line | 80.1 | game |
Before this: week 20. After this: week 22. Every week is on the journey hub, and you can review your own games like this to find the moves your opponent's last move set up.
Frequently asked questions
Why am I stuck at 1000 Elo?
In my week 21 it wasn't missing theory or the clock. Stockfish put 23 of my 59 mistakes and blunders in the opening, none of my errors came with low time, and in six losses I had at least an 80 % winning chance at some point.
Does a longer time control help at 1000?
Not by itself, for me. This week I went 1–11 in games of 15 minutes plus 10 seconds per move and 4–3 in 10-minute games.
What is a discovered attack?
One piece moves and uncovers an attack by the piece behind it. In game #477 White's 5.d4 moved a pawn off d2 and opened the line from the c1 bishop to my queen on g5.