Week 80: stuck at 1200 in chess? Two losses and back where I was in January
This is what being stuck at 1200 chess rating looks like from the inside. Week 80 was only two rapid games, on August 4 and 6, 2025, both with Black, both lost, and my rating went 1217 → 1200. That number has a history: the last time I'd been at 1200 was January 3, 2025, game 1262. Seven months and 367 games later, after climbing as high as 1334 in January and 1317 in April, I was exactly where I started the year.
The week in numbers
| Games | 2 (both Black) |
| W / L / D | 0 / 2 / 0 |
| Rating | 1217 → 1200 (−17) |
| Average accuracy | 53.5% (my opponents: 71.8%) |
| Blunders | 5 (my opponents: 3) |
| Openings | Van 't Kruijs Opening (1), Pirc Defense Harmonist Variation (1) |
Both games were lost by abandonment, one after 9 moves and one after 22.
Sixteen weeks in one table
Week 80 closes a stretch of the diary that started in April at 1267. Putting weeks 65 to 80 together:
| Weeks 65–80 | |
|---|---|
| Games | 203, all 10-minute rapid |
| Record | 90 W · 103 L · 10 D |
| Rating | 1267 → 1200 (−67); peak 1317 |
| Blunders | 423 (about 2.1 per game) |
That's the plateau in numbers. Not one disaster, but two blunders a game, every game, against opponents who also made about two. Some weeks it averaged out in my favour (week 66, +27), some weeks it didn't (week 67, −32). Over four months, it drifted down.
Moment 1: the recapture that dropped a rook
Game 1628 against tbo199524 (1203), Black, Van 't Kruijs Opening (game). White had opened 1.e3, brought the queen out early and grabbed my b7 pawn on move 5. On move 8 his bishop took my knight on d7 with check, and I had to recapture.
My queen on d8 was the only thing defending my rook on a8 against White's queen on b7. When the queen recaptured on d7, the rook was left alone, and 9.Qxa8+ took it with check. The evaluation went from +0.27 to +8.85. Bxd7, taking back with the bishop from g4, keeps the queen on d8 guarding the rook, and the engine calls that equal. White's 8.Bxd7+ had actually been a blunder; I found the one recapture that turned it into a win for him. I abandoned right after.
Moment 2: the queen goes shopping
Game 1629 against Michel622 (1271), Black, Pirc Harmonist (1.f4 g6 2.Nf3 d6 3.e4) (game). Here I was winning: my queen had taken on f4 early, and on move 12 the engine had me at −4.52.
Ng4 attacks White's knight on f2, next to his uncastled king. Qd5 aims at g2 instead, a pawn with a rook behind it, and the evaluation dropped to −1.85. Then White played 13.c4, attacking my queen, which the engine marks as a blunder (−4.68 for me again), and I answered by grabbing the pawn: 13...Qxg2. The engine's reply for White is Bf1, attacking my queen deep in his camp, and the evaluation flipped to +2.34. The game became a mess of blunders on both sides, and by move 22 I was lost.
The lesson of the week
Both games turned on a capture with the queen: one recapture on d7 that stopped guarding a rook, and one pawn grab on g2 that put the queen where it could be chased. A queen is a defender as well as an attacker, so when it captures, two questions matter: what was it guarding before, and can it be attacked on the new square?
As for being stuck at 1200: the sixteen-week table is the honest diagnosis. I didn't need a new opening. I needed fewer than two blunders a game. The next week of the diary is where I start from 1200 again.
All games this week
| Game # | Date | Colour | Opponent (rating) | Result | Opening | Accuracy | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1628 | Aug 4 | Black | tbo199524 (1203) | Loss | Van 't Kruijs Opening | 59.5% | game |
| 1629 | Aug 6 | Black | Michel622 (1271) | Loss | Pirc Defense Harmonist Variation | 47.5% | game |
Previous week: week 79 · Next week: week 81 · The whole journey · Count the blunders in your own games with Chess Coach's AI analysis.
Frequently asked questions
Why am I stuck at 1200 in chess?
In my case the data is blunt: across weeks 65 to 80 I made 423 blunders in 203 games, about two per game, and my opponents made a similar number. At that rate results depend on who blunders last, and the rating stays put.
Is it normal to drop back to 1200 after reaching 1300?
It happened to me. I was at 1200 on January 3, 2025, reached 1334 on January 19, touched 1317 in April, and was back at exactly 1200 on August 6, 367 games later.
What kind of mistakes keep players at 1200?
In my two week 80 games: a queen recapture that left my rook on a8 without a defender, and a queen raid on g2 that walked into an attack. Both were captures I didn't double-check.