Week 37: stuck at 1000 Elo, with the blunders to prove it
Week 37 is what being stuck at 1000 Elo looks like from the inside. Between September 16 and 22, 2024, I played 37 rapid games, won 18 and lost 19, and my rating moved from 1007 to 999. In between I climbed to 1039, lost seven games in a row, dropped to 975 and clawed back. Stockfish counted 93 blunders of mine, two and a half per game.
The week in numbers
| Games | 37 (#871–#907) |
| Wins / losses / draws | 18 / 19 / 0 |
| Rating | 1007 → 999 (-8) |
| Average accuracy | 77.0 % |
| Blunders (my moves) | 93 (2.5 per game) |
| Most played openings | Queens Pawn Opening Zukertort Chigorin Variation (9), Giuoco Piano Game (4), Queens Pawn Opening Zukertort Variation (3) |
The most played opening was again my 1.d4–Bf4 setup with White, labelled "Zukertort Chigorin" nine times (5 wins, 4 losses). Overall I went 12–7 with White and only 6–12 with Black.
Being stuck at 1000 Elo, in three numbers
93 blunders, 66 of them in losses. In my 18 wins I blundered 27 times, about one and a half per game. In my 19 losses I blundered 66 times, about three and a half per game. The losses were not close games decided by one bad move; they were games where the mistakes piled up. Seventy of the 93 came in the middlegame.
11 wins that got away. In 11 of my 19 losses the engine had given me an 80 % or better chance of winning at some point. At 1000, my problem was not getting good positions. It was keeping them.
14 abandoned games. Chess.com records 14 of my 19 losses as "game abandoned": I left instead of resigning or playing on. Some of those were hopeless; some, judging by the missed-win count, were not. The seven-game losing streak, from game 878 to game 884, contains five of them. That streak took me from 1030 to 975 in about a day and a half.
Three winning positions where I chose the weaker move
The three key moments of the week have something in common: in all of them the engine already rated my position as "winning" or "completely winning", and I played a move that gave a big part of it back.
Game 873: one pawn move, one queen check
With Black against Lancelot_2011 (1028), the engine had me at -6.27. White's knight on g5 was bothering me, so I kicked it.
h6 attacks the knight, but the engine's answer is Qh5+: a queen check that sends my king to d7 and brings the score down to -0.54, "slightly better for black". The engine's choice, Nf6, develops the knight first and keeps "black is completely winning"; in its line h6 comes a move later anyway. My opponent replied 13.Nf3 instead of the check, and I won the game by resignation.
Game 874: retreating the bishop instead of bringing the queen
With White against ahmedelsayed102011 (1026), my bishop was deep in Black's position on h7, next to the black king on h8. The evaluation was +7.92.
I pulled the bishop back to safety. Position.py describes Qg6 as a queen move "close to the enemy king" that attacks the undefended pawn on h6 (it also stops defending my knight on b3, and the engine doesn't care). Qg6 keeps "white is completely winning"; Bd3 drops to +2.61, still "clearly better" but no longer crushing. I won the game by resignation after 77 half-moves, with this and two more blunders on the way.
Game 875: the knight I could have won
The next game is the one I'd most like to replay. With Black against Fair_Play_1200 (1062), the engine had me at -6.62.
f5 attacks the knight in the centre, and in the engine's line White's queen steps away and my pawn simply takes the knight: 15...f5 16.Qe3 fxe4 17.dxe4, "black is completely winning". My Re8 was not a blunder in the usual sense, since I was still "clearly better" at -2.62. But from there this game became a collapse: 9 blunders of mine, all in the middlegame, and a loss by abandonment against an opponent rated 1062.
The lesson of the week
When the engine says I'm winning, I tend to play the "safe" move: kick the knight, retreat the bishop, move a rook. In all three positions the engine wanted something more direct: develop the piece that covers my king, bring the queen next to the bishop, attack the knight with a pawn. Being stuck at 1000 Elo, for me, meant being good enough to reach winning positions and then not asking the one question that converts them: what is the most forcing move I have, and what is the most forcing move my opponent has? Asking it would have found Qg6, f5 and the Qh5+ check against me.
All games this week
| Game # | Date | Colour | Opponent (rating) | Result | Opening | Accuracy | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 871 | Sep 16 | White | x-4693554563 (1013) | Win | Queens Pawn Opening Zukertort Chigorin Variation | 92.8 % | game |
| 872 | Sep 16 | White | Prashanth_b17 (1002) | Win | Queens Pawn Opening Zukertort Chigorin Variation | 94.3 % | game |
| 873 | Sep 16 | Black | Lancelot_2011 (1028) | Win | Giuoco Piano Game | 66.1 % | game |
| 874 | Sep 16 | White | ahmedelsayed102011 (1026) | Win | Queens Pawn Opening Zukertort Variation | 84.2 % | game |
| 875 | Sep 16 | Black | Fair_Play_1200 (1062) | Loss | Kings Pawn Opening | 62.8 % | game |
| 876 | Sep 16 | Black | CoronelBelzebu (1017) | Loss | French Defense Steinitz Attack | 63.7 % | game |
| 877 | Sep 16 | White | worldpeopleinglondon (1016) | Win | Queens Pawn Opening Zukertort Chigorin Variation | 85.8 % | game |
| 878 | Sep 16 | Black | hiaroov (1027) | Loss | Bishops Opening Boi Variation | 83.3 % | game |
| 879 | Sep 17 | Black | Jaydenkcn (1035) | Loss | Kings Fianchetto Opening | 76.9 % | game |
| 880 | Sep 17 | White | JohnJep (1043) | Loss | Queens Pawn Opening Zukertort Chigorin Variation | 83.8 % | game |
| 881 | Sep 17 | White | TarbizShams (1010) | Loss | Queens Pawn Opening Zukertort Chigorin Variation | 76.8 % | game |
| 882 | Sep 17 | White | Michel_uchiha (1015) | Loss | Queens Pawn Opening Zukertort Chigorin Variation | 76.7 % | game |
| 883 | Sep 17 | Black | elmokoma (1019) | Loss | Center Game Accepted Paulsen Attack | 50.5 % | game |
| 884 | Sep 18 | White | Tanabata_Tsuki (1000) | Loss | Queens Pawn Opening Zukertort Variation | 98.0 % | game |
| 885 | Sep 18 | White | olinz24 (977) | Win | Queens Pawn Opening | 90.5 % | game |
| 886 | Sep 18 | Black | German0071 (961) | Win | Giuoco Piano Game | 79.1 % | game |
| 887 | Sep 18 | Black | Daniellopezcarrillo (990) | Loss | Giuoco Piano Game | 58.8 % | game |
| 888 | Sep 19 | White | Adityak01 (953) | Win | Queens Pawn Opening Accelerated London System | 91.8 % | game |
| 889 | Sep 19 | Black | DraoxT (977) | Loss | Richter Veresov Attack | 84.0 % | game |
| 890 | Sep 19 | White | sl0wlydeadly1 (956) | Win | Indian Game | 90.4 % | game |
| 891 | Sep 19 | White | Tbax23 (1002) | Win | Queens Pawn Opening Zukertort Variation | 80.5 % | game |
| 892 | Sep 19 | Black | Chhharlesss (992) | Win | Colle System Anti Colle Variation | 82.7 % | game |
| 893 | Sep 19 | Black | cmamz (1033) | Loss | Giuoco Piano Game Main Line | 49.4 % | game |
| 894 | Sep 19 | Black | AbdulqudosAlwazer (967) | Win | Giuoco Piano Game | 94.0 % | game |
| 895 | Sep 19 | White | OBGONE (1019) | Win | Queens Pawn Opening Zukertort Chigorin Variation | 88.8 % | game |
| 896 | Sep 19 | White | EduardoChile (1017) | Loss | Englund Gambit | 80.3 % | game |
| 897 | Sep 19 | White | GmRaichev (1015) | Win | Queens Pawn Opening Krause Variation | 90.8 % | game |
| 898 | Sep 19 | Black | christianrj93 (1015) | Loss | London System | 66.3 % | game |
| 899 | Sep 20 | Black | JATINDERSINGHINDIAN (970) | Win | Italian Game | 78.7 % | game |
| 900 | Sep 20 | White | arefbehrad (1006) | Win | London System | 87.4 % | game |
| 901 | Sep 20 | Black | allan6240727 (1049) | Loss | Kings Pawn Opening Tayler Opening | 61.8 % | game |
| 902 | Sep 20 | Black | Gigachadboi2013 (996) | Win | Queens Gambit Accepted Accelerated Mannheim Variation | 87.9 % | game |
| 903 | Sep 20 | White | slaughterman2003 (1020) | Loss | Queens Pawn Opening Zukertort Chigorin Variation | 54.4 % | game |
| 904 | Sep 20 | White | bocacampeon (1044) | Loss | Queens Pawn Opening Accelerated London System | 49.9 % | game |
| 905 | Sep 21 | White | cutonguudot (991) | Win | Queens Pawn Opening Zukertort Chigorin Variation | 84.0 % | game |
| 906 | Sep 21 | Black | volodimr453 (1046) | Loss | Center Game Accepted Normal Variation | 58.7 % | game |
| 907 | Sep 22 | Black | Irunon_77 (1030) | Loss | Giuoco Piano Game Main Line | 63.3 % | game |
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Frequently asked questions
Why was I stuck at 1000 Elo?
In week 37 I made 93 blunders in 37 games, 66 of them in the 19 games I lost. In 11 of those losses the engine had given me an 80 % or better chance of winning at some point.
How many blunders does a 1000-rated player make?
In my own games that week, 2.5 per game on average: about 1.5 per game in my wins and about 3.5 per game in my losses, judged by Stockfish.
Is it normal to lose seven games in a row at 1000?
It happened to me this week, from game 878 to game 884, and my rating fell from 1030 to 975. The week still ended at 999 because I won 13 of the next 23 games.