Day 459: Playing chess every day until I reach a 2000 rating 

Don't quit. Play longer time controls. Maybe 15+10. Your channel is differentiated by the calm and peaceful audio experience, especially while you are deliberating your next move while not feeling rushed. Don't get discouraged by losses. You've made your channel more of a challenge by limiting yourself to one game per video per day. Give yourself permission to resign when you feel the game is lost, and go into the next game. I don't think anyone would be upset if a video had two or more games. Having a consistent video length could help with the algorithm as well. We're on this journey with you, Patrick - let's keep it going!

If it's not fun, there's no reason to punish yourself. You've reached a level where you absolutely must study to get better, but if studying chess is not fun for you ... well, you can see where I'm going. As far as RU-vid, I'll stay subscribed to this channel no matter how many games a week you post. Doesn't need to be daily. Your spirit has been admirable.

Take a break man, you'll feel refreshed. This feels equivalent to overtraining in the gym

You’ve reached a plateau you wont break through just by playing more games. Continued practice like this is actually making you worse because it reinforces your bad habits.

Chess is a mind game. I know that I play about 300 ELO points higher when I'm rested and not distracted, ready and motivated to punish my opponent's mistakes - compared to the opposite situation, being tired and/or having negative/distracting things on my mind. Nowadays I only play when I feel I can bring my A game and went from a long time at around 1700 to close to 1900. I do tactics puzzles but no real opening theory, and play the same openings every time. I admire your consistency, but I'd rather see less games than games where you're playing well below your abilities and I'm yelling at the screen. 😊

Damn I hope he doesn't quit I like his videos.

Maybe just play some easier opening for now, like a system, so you can play something again and again be more comfortable.

I’m not very good, but I find playing 30 minute rapid gives me enough time to think and play better. It’s rare that games last any longer than your average game.

Don't give up Patrick ! Rather change your mindset. Don't make it about getting to 2000. Just keep playing and uploading the games. That's what we like to watch. Don't pressure yourself to reach a certain point. You have improved over your journey. Don't lose track of that. There is nothing wrong with taking a break either, for a week , a month or even more! I'm sure you will come back :)

I had to sign in so I could comment here, and I never do that, so this is important. Never quit - never give up. It is precisely in these moments that improvements happen. This is the beginning of learning - not when it's going well. You were beaten before you started the game. Rage on.

Don't quit my man, just reajust your goals!

Don't you dare to quit Patrick. No retreat no surrender

Your experience isn’t abnormal whatsoever - every chess player experiences large rating fluctuations on their journey of improvement. It’s what makes chess so frustrating but equally rewarding. Ironically, “quitting” is part of many people’s journey too given just how frustrating it can be - but they usually come back once the itch returns! Maybe a break is all you need

Getting to 2000 is a full time job, need to be playing and studying 6-8 hours a day. Need to be very good in mid and end games. It's just not realistic for most people. Much more realistic to aim for 1500 elo which you have already reached.👍

Try 15+10!

Don't quit, but take a break from chess -- all chess activities including puzzles and studying -- for 30 days. Then come back and you'll be good as new. You'll forget your bad habits more quickly than your good habits, and you'll re-discover your joy of the game. You've been overtraining, and your mind isn't it in.

Your feelings are completely normal and justified Patrick. Chess is an emotional roller coaster. I've been where you are many times. Knowing I'm better than my play is representing. Breaks are good, but you are also developing quite a loyal following here. Do what is best for your own mental and emotional health which is far more important than chess or a RU-vid channel. 👊 I'll also add...the 500 points between 1500 and 2000 are the mount everest of chess. Only the strongest and most determined will survive the climb

There are very, very few people who have ever played chess that have not been where you are. It doesn't matter their potential, the age they started, or how fast they progressed by whatever method of measurement. If you really want to quit, then there are people like me who won't judge you, and still admire what you've done here. You've proven that there is a niche market for this particular flavor of chess content, and that in itself puts you in the top 0.000000001% of RU-vid consumers and maybe the top 0.1% of content creators. There are millions of people creating and posting content that will never see more than a handful of views. Your accomplishments are something for which you should be proud. I'm proud to have gotten to know you a little bit on this journey through our ever so short chats here or other social media. I hope we get the chance to bump into each other one day at a conference or traveling like we both do. Chess will always be there for you when you are ready and not so burned out. (Also, I know we're all supposed to accept the supposed truth that at a certain age our brains aren't elastic enough to grow and adapt to the type of challenge chess presents, but I don't believe that. We may not be as absorbent the sponges we were when we were five years old, but we haven't gotten that brittle yet. [That feels more like some people's attempt to justify their elitism, frankly.] Statistics be darned. We won't allow our life choices to be defined by someone else's statistics.) Don't forget, mijo, you are in precisely the season of life that pulls you in a number of directions all at once, and those competing priorities will not forgive you down the road if you put them off to focus more on chess or content creation. Just stay as active in your hobbies as your life will allow and one day you're going to find that you cemented relationships and other accomplishments and have the time, patience, and perhaps money to devote yourself wholly to whatever hobbies you choose. This fan base will be forever loyal to you no matter what, more because you are a kind, decent human being than anything else. Forever forward, Patrick. :)

Patrick, time to play longer time controls. Whilst I’m a lower elo than you, I have found playing longer time control’s has helped me significantly. Take a break for a week or two. Come back refreshed.

If it’s not enjoyable then take a break for a couple of weeks and see how you feel after that. If after that you still don’t have any enjoyment from playing then maybe an extended break. I think you reached a level 95% of people who play don’t reach and this roughly 170 point slide has really knocked you down hard. Harder than I think you realize…

I would say you need to spend atleast 20-30 % of your training at spamming out lots and lots and lots of 3 minute games. Where you arent to worried about analyzing and all that serious stuff. But it will put youre brain through seeing loads of different positions which will affect your subconcious. If I where you id keep playing like this but also maybe have another account where you dont care about your rating at all and just spam games as i said, and combine with spamming lots of easy and hard puzzles (BOTH)!

Hey man, tons of people in here telling you not to quit, and you'll get there someday, and it's right around the corner, etc. Here's some hard truths for you though, you aren't gonna make it to 2000. After a full year and a half you haven't progressed at all, and you're doing "the right stuff", it's just not gonna happen. Now here's the uptalk, don't stop playing chess. Maybe stop posting a video a day, or doing puzzles, but play to have fun. Ignore all the things you don't want to do in chess and reignite the love for the game you have. Having a 2000 number on a screen on a website should never make you more happy then actually playing the game. Final advice is to stop. Stop the puzzles, stop the openings, stop posting, and take all the pressure off. Stop the idea that you can only play rapid once a day, and play 20 rapid games in a day and upload none of them. Mess around with random openings in blitz and bullet, have fun again man. You are clearly miserable when playing because of this imaginary pressure you have put on yourself, and you won't improve because of it. All love man. Hope to not see you tommorow ; )

At first watching you hang a queen here and there was kind of funny, but now it feels just sad, man. I'm on a similar level to you, 1300-1400 in rapid. So not gonna pretend like I'm in position to teach you how to play, but what has really caught my attention is that most of the times after you make a blunder, you spot it immediately in like 2-3 seconds. You got into this bad habit of making impulsive moves without double and triple checking if a move is valid. Maybe before each move you can ask yourself questions like - is it a move that improves my position, is it a move that keeps the position stable, is it a move that worsens my position. And I agree with other comments, that you should indeed take a break. Usually I've made my best records just after a break. For example I couldn't break 1000 in blitz for like forever but after one longer break, I came back and smashed 1100 in like 2 days. Mainly just please focus on verifying the validity of the moves you make.

I would be so sad if you quit Patrick, I watch your games every day. You do look like you need a couple of weeks' break though, it's felt like you've been playing on auto-pilot the last few weeks. Perhaps take a week off chess entirely, and then another week where you just focus on puzzles without playing any games before coming back to it. You can make it to 2000 but don't burn yourself out. Like you sometimes say, it's a journey and it doesn't matter how long it takes!

Take a break but the most important thing to note is that you now know that you can't just do what you're currently doing to reach 2000. You definitely need to spend more time analysing your games and maybe even play 2-3 games a day too.

doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result, you go gurl

Don't quit dude your videos are great and very enjoyable. You don't need to post everyday and don't worry too much about reaching 2000. It's a steep goal to achieve. We all watch your videos because of you. There are a million people doing chess journey vids but I only watch yours and GothamChess' journey to GM. If you need to take a break, take a break Patrick. Ive been in chess slumps before and taking a break to refresh and clear your mind can work well. Play because you enjoy it

My homie is having an existential crisis.... :) Chess is hard. To be honest you don't play enough. To get to 2000, you gotta play alot. Like alot. And lots more blitz so you get quicker at playing and seeing tactics quicker which will FINALLY give you a time advantage in rapid. Study yes, but play alot. Couple hours a day at least. But you got a family, so no time to really put in to get there and thats how it should be! You got your priorities straight! Either way you gave some good joy to all of us who watched!

Anyone who’s 2000 has gone through a lot more ups and downs than you have. You’re doing great so far on your journey. You made that blunder in ten seconds, if you looked for ten more seconds you would have spotted your mistake. You have to decide when to do some more thinking and you were solidly in the middle game making a very committal move. You’re making other errors that a little study will help you see or get a coach, it’s a great investment and not to many 2000’s make it there without coaching. Please continue the journey, the chess world needs you!

Man, just do what you like to do and how you like to do it. You don't have to win to please viewers, you don't have to upload every day if you don't want. Feel free to change things, to keep enjoying process. This channel is still success even if you don't ever come close to 2000 💪

dude, in my opinion dont get so down. you're way better at chess than i am, but the thing is, 1400s bluinder all the time, it's totally normal. even if you get to 2000, you're still going to blunder here and there lol, cuz you'll be playing guys maybe rated 2300. chess is a grueling test of character. also, you're giving commentary talking to us, where maybe your opponent is completely focused and had 5 coffees lol

Don't quit, but making no progress in one year is definitely discouraging

I enjoy the videos alot man. No one likes a quitter.

I have a smiliar predicament. Similar goal of getting to 2000. Chess is hard and after having somewhat easy beginning. I feel getting to the next level will be hard and I am not sure if I will make it. Not sure how I will proceed. Puzzles and enjoying that, not being too obsessed with rating I guess.

Hang in there. These hard times in progress are opportunities for growth. You need the losses to assess and improve. We've all been there I think. The ELO is just a number, try not to tie your worth to it. Just focus on what's needed to improve, enjoy the game and the rank is a byproduct. Today we learned "no automatic moves". Work it into your thought process. Naroditsky once said to always give yourself at least 15 seconds for every move. No matter how obvious it is. Just to assess the board. And one last related quote from Lasker: "When you find a good move, look for a better one." Good luck!

If posting a game of chess on the Internet is causing actual grief, then you should quit. You won't be quitting because it's a difficult challenge. You've already hung in there for more than a year.

Taking a break might be the way to go. You will probably want to come back sooner or later and then you will have more motivation and play better. Or you could go over to an episode instead of day format and not upload every single day

You will NOT give up, because the Chess will not allow it. You're in too deep now, buddy. We're all invested in your progress. Ok, i'm speaking for myself. I can't say what other people's motivations are, BUT you should cut yourself some slack. Tilt happens and it gets the best of us sometimes. We all make bad moves ( Just check out some of my games ). But in the end, it's about the learning, not winning. Winning comes with learning and so too will rating follow. Let these things go from your mind and focus simply on how to play that same game better next time. When you analyze ask yourself WHY the engine is saying the best move, is the best move. Learn the ideas. You've come far and you're selling yourself short. You can hang with 1500's and you did for a long time. I would recommend 15|10 as your time control. The more time you have to think about a move, the better. I fear the blitz bug may have gotten you in this game as I see you've been playing a lot of bullet and blitz. May have to stick to longer time controls for a while. And I tell you what, I'm sure we would ALL be here waiting for you to come back if you decided to take a break. Burn out is a real thing. I'm currently taking a mental health break from chess. It's quite freeing, even though I think about chess constantly. But at least when I think about it, there's excitement that builds knowing i'll come back to it with a fresh mind. Take care of yourself, Patrick. We got your back, buddy.

Dont quit yet Patrick! Maybe try switching to 15:10 as was considered a while ago? And doing maybe a few games a week and see if that helps

It just seems like you put too much pressure on yourself. I’ve seen you play good chess. Maybe take a break from the rating grind? Post puzzle videos. Puzzle Rush, Puzzle Battle, etc. sometimes I stop playing games for a while and just do puzzles. I always feel like I come back stronger.

It’s up to you if you wanna quit, or maybe just take a break from chess for a while. Personally, I was hoping to hear more of your music; you seem really good.

You definitely shouldn't quit chess outright. Sure, you're on a plateau, but 1300 still is a good rating. Though with how daily posting, like you said, eats into time that you could be spending on studying, those should probably stop for the sake of improvement. The rude comments certainly don't help either. Perhaps weekly or bi-weekly videos would be better. Definitely don't quit chess though, even if you decide to stop posting altogether.

Took quite a fall, didn't we, Patrick? And why do we fall, Patrick?... So we can learn to pick ourselves up! You GOT this!

Hey Patrick, if it's not fun, you should just take a break! You can still post other content on the channel, we've always enjoyed watching you, you're a pretty cool guy :)

I would love to be 1300. Hang in there.

failed Patrick. stop rushing attacks. pointless unless you just want for play for fun. then play blitz...

Also you need a coach bud!

You have definitely have lost intensity, not focused. So keep playing and posting, less often with time controls you like. Have some fun watching other streamers, watch some titled Tuesday games,

Dont quit, real losers quit, just take a break

Ya you were never gonna make 2000 by just playing a game a day. I think you know that already. As far as becoming RU-vid famous/rich, I’m sorry it did not blow up as much as you wanted. Maybe try poker? More lucrative and popular on RU-vid. Good luck!

You have good vibes you need to realize that you can't get to 2000 if you not spend time to study. one year and half you didn't progress Maybe it"s time to stop here buddy. I'am with you

All these positive reinforcement messages make me sick. Patrick I for one think you should quit and do something you enjoy that isn't so ridiculously hard. Just stream yourself playing Subnautica and then Subnautica 2 its an awesome game, you have a fun personality, you'll have WAY MORE FUN and make WAY MORE MONEY with WAY MORE SUBSCRIBERS. And it REALLY ISN'T a guarantee that you will reach this ELO. People are stupidly optimistic in your youtube comments for no good reason. What if you are just fundamentally too slow for this game at your time control? What if no amount of practice can make up for it? This isn't like growing a muscle this is your brain's speed and it can only be flexed to a certain amount according to neuroscience. You can't just "become a genius" that's silly and the people here ruthlessly pushing you forward are just setting you up to fail, in the same way people pushed into academia without having earned it on merit end up failing out because its way too hard. Stop trying to achieve mastery in things you never enjoyed or were never good at. Look at achieving mastery at the things you ACTUALLY enjoy and ACTUALLY are good at. What are you going to do next, get a PhD in pure mathematics? Become a rocket scientist? Cure cancer? Please stop listening to these crazy people in your youtube comments, not for my sake but for your own betterment. What does your hat say?!?!?! HAVE MORE FUN. THE OPPOSITE OF CHESS, WHICH ONLY ENSLAVES MINDS

2 videos ago I left an instructional message to assist you in your journey (as a professional chess coach with over 10 years of experience). Go back and watch it. I’m now starting to feel that I’m wasting my time by trying to help. Do you get that many people over 2200 USCF who teach chess professionally trying to help you? If so I apologise for the effort. God Bless you Sir. He says “Nobody knows” ok so you’re saying nobody can help you. In that case, you are right!

GO PATRICK QUIT IT WOOOOOOOOOOO :DDDDDD

It would be good to recharge your batteries! You’ve shown you can play at a higher level than the last month you’re just burned out probably the comments aren’t helping either