How I Gained 2200 Elo in Just 2 Years

[@jacksarkisian]

Contrary to what's mentioned in this video, I've just launched a website for my coaching & courses. Currently there's a completely free introductory course for you guys to watch if you're new to Chess. If you have a lot of free time I highly recommend coaching yourself using free online resources. I'm continuing to post videos like this on my channel to help you do this. But if you don't have the time due to other commitments, or you've found yourself in a bit of a rut - coaching may be your best option. www.jacksark.com

[@CarlJancorda]

How old r u sir?

[@Vepporizer]

Not playing too many games is the best advice to increase rating. If you play too much you just end up exhausted and playing mindlessly

[@OMG-si3wn]

bruh, look at tyler1

[@diiq5531]

@@OMG-si3wnlook at his games though, lots of them seem suspicious when his opponents resign for no reason or abandon after a few moves

[@melh937]

​@@diiq5531You would be surprised by how many players resign at the first sign they've met a tough opponent Maybe they checked his profile and decided to go chill with the homies?

[@utopicworlds]

​@@diiq5531actually this is pretty normal and it happens a lot with someone who plays everyday

[@allovereverything7824]

IF you have a short attention span, if you're able to focus for long periods of time while critically thinking, then long sessions are fine. But yeah this advice is great, yesterday I went from 900 to 950 to 850 elo because I have adhd and my attention span is not the best. I go from beating 1300s in tournaments to losing to 800s.

[@neandercrash]

Bro first off amazing video, the new lighting is so much better and you can clearly see the hours of effort that went into this edit, you deserve this!

[@ZDTF]

Cwash🤑🤑🤑🤑

[@jacksarkisian]

W crash man so inspirational

[@PURAHAN]

Still plays the London, unacceptable. Amazing video to be honest, motivated me to turn from 2000 to 2200.

[@jacksarkisian]

soon 2200 surely

[@edk1124]

Ding Liren literally played the London against Ian in the world championship match twice, and won one of them.

[@dg3872]

if ur 2000 in blitz or bullet, you can just switch to rapid and ul get there immediately due to recent rating inflation in rapid

[@tobi4812]

​@dg3872 how is there rating inflation in rapid? Genuinely curious

[@schrodriguez47]

​@@dg3872when you peak 2200 in rapid, the cuality is similar to blitz, when you are 2300 rapid your Blitz probably is higher

[@Witty_AlienClips]

Fantastic video! Bravo!!! ‼

[@ZDTF]

Real?

[@jacksarkisian]

thanku witty bro

[@thunderstrikebs5556]

You're the reason I'm scared playing caro kann😢

[@Wrawiie27]

​@@thunderstrikebs5556play h6

[@Wrawiie27]

​@@thunderstrikebs5556when they try to play Alien gambit

[@andrewwilson9123]

14:23: Tal was awarded the GM title for winning the 1956 Soviet Championship

[@jacksarkisian]

had no idea about that, super cool piece of history! apparently its happened as recently as 2016 with GM Abdelrahman Hesham after he won the 2016 African Chess Championship. as far as it seems its a major rarity though.

[@sealandball3043]

@@jacksarkisian You can gain titles by winning tournaments, so it's not that surprising. :)

[@cominoengenharia]

​@@sealandball3043it happened so few times in history that it is indeed quite surprising!

[@hostnik777]

Clearly he was a fake champion! FIDE should delete him from history.

[@kaitlyng7850]

Im 1800 Rapid and I’m vibing here for a bit but damn 2200 in 2 years is wild. Hopefully 2000 is in reach over the next couple months but idk

[@jacksarkisian]

a big part about getting from 1800 to 2000 is the mindset & confidence. right now you probably look at 2000s thinking they're miles better than you - but as soon as you beat a few of them comfortably you'll realise how plausible it is to get to that Elo yourself. good luck bro.

[@UpQuark127]

I’m very close to 200 am 1950 rn

[@LéandreBonzom-Niquet]

Yeah me too i'm stuck at 1800 elp in rapid. I've been playing for 2 years at chess and i don't progress anymore

[@MelloRoadToMaster]

Saying from someone who peaked 2,000 elo myself. 1700-2000 is not that big. I fluctuate between those ranges {tilted rn} and the only difference I saw are "positional sacrifices" for 2000 elo. But everything else is basically the same.

[@pooper2831]

zen mode in lichess is very good to avoid getting intimidated by opponent's rating

[@hish33p32]

24:34 I was really scared there that you wouldn't mention this guy, glad you did hahahaha

[@danielstarr3715]

I went from 800 elo to 1000 in 1 month because of this video, thank you man

[@checkmyvideos8118]

Congrats, took me 4 years to reach a 1000 ._.

[@fishnessess1211]

2 years ago I also started chess. The only difference is I became hyperfixated on it, it was an addiction. I became 1700 in a matter of mere months. Then, I abruptly quit, it was too much, to be honest, I played way too many games and became tilted. Not playing too many games is crucial and it's better to spend your time spread out throughout the different aspects of chess, I completely agree with this video btw. (getting back into chess rn after a year)

[@neeyz535]

1700 in months is very impressive

[@fishnessess1211]

@@neeyz535 i quit again after scoring badly in a pretty big tournament

[@b_6126]

⁠@@fishnessess1211 can i ask what you would say your weak points were in not scoring better in the tournament? like not enough experience or etc.?

[@fishnessess1211]

@@b_6126 Well, whenever I got a winning position, my heart rate spikes and I get nervous because the games matter way more than if it were merely an online game. I lost a lot of games that were above +5 on the eval due to this. In terms of theory, my theory was "ok" but because I played obscure openings that no one bothers to learn a lot of people had trouble against it. (minus the one guy who somehow still knew the book move 20 turns in)

[@fishnessess1211]

@@b_6126 Anxiety. A good portion of my games I had a winning position, even had one up to +5 and just completely threw it away. My heart right must've been the same as while running.

[@willtaylorchess]

Love it mate, congratulations

[@jacksarkisian]

cheers bro, love your vids! should set up a match on stream sometime ❤️

[@willtaylorchess]

@@jacksarkisian For sure man, I have exams for my degree rn but this summer we should run it

[@jacksarkisian]

@@willtaylorchess lets do it, good luck with your exams bro. my dc is jacksark, hmu whenever you have some free time 🤝

[@prabhnoorsingh5138]

You both have different styles of playing.will may have higher winning chances because jack struggle with defending

[@leonardosciolis9620]

Watching specific opening speed runs was an excellent advice. Thank you for that!

[@CrazyGamer690OO]

First he played re8 capturing the king and that’s how he won in those 2 years💀

[@jacksarkisian]

cursed chess taught me everything i know 💀💀

[@CrazyGamer690OO]

@@jacksarkisian 💀🔥

[@uninteresting-content-dump]

despite your opening bit sounding (and looking) like your generic "don't call this number at 3am (gone wrong)", complete with intense eye contact, I'm glad I made it through the whole thing. great video.

[@jacksarkisian]

hahaha glad you enjoyed bro, filming for these KZbin videos is very new to me, I speak with my hands irl & have to focus on keeping my hands still while recording 😭

[@uninteresting-content-dump]

@@jacksarkisian if this is you being new to these type of videos, you'll blow up. jokes aside, 0 to 2200 in 2 years is beyond impressive. much love, and take care

[@itskurtle]

Such an insightful video! Great job🙌

[@jacksarkisian]

thankyou man i appreciate it ❤️❤️

[@mikhails5483]

It's really different if you started playing as a kid. No matter if you just played a bit your brain is able to build on the subject faster.

[@mevadavraj4178]

Right now i am stuck at 2150 , not reaching 2200, 2 years ago i was stuck around 1500 , then in last 9 months i gained rating rapidly and reached 2100+ , main reason i started watching youtube videos of daniel naroditsky speedrun it gives lot of insights how grandmaster thinks . But now i am stuck at 2150 last 1 month .

[@jacksarkisian]

you definitely reap the success of what you surround yourself with. if you start watching educational chess content regularly, you will definitely see that mindset reflect on your rating. its why I highly recommend people properly watch professional Chess tournaments too. as for being stuck at 2150, don't sweat it too much. being stuck at certain rating levels for months on end is normal post 2000 Elo. it took me a year to bridge the gap from 2000 to 2200 Elo. be patient and keep grinding 🙏🙏

[@skycaptain95]

At this level you need to start doing deep analysis with a coach or an engine to get better. You still have some kind of weaknesses and you may not even know what they are yet. Reason I would recommend a coach is because a human stronger than you is more likely to see the flaws in your play, whereas an engine coldly plays the best move even if it is nearly unfindable for even a top grandmaster. Secondly, you must start playing openings that you have studied that challenge your opponent. Most of the people I've seen play at this level have a few solid studied openings for each color, but may not strike viciously at their opponents when the time is right. The London is great, but too easy for black to equalize IMO. Once you get to 2300 I have nothing more to say. I've been hard-stuck for two years there. Maybe I have reached my genetic potential or I do not even see where I am failing.

[@mevadavraj4178]

@@skycaptain95 ya right now I am focusing on academic stuff ,but after 1 month i will be free as it would be my std 12 to college transition, so I am thinking I will get a coach and actually play fide tournament

[@skycaptain95]

@@mevadavraj4178 Good luck and remember chess is for fun! None of us can be top grandmasters unless we start at 3 years old or whatever. So we may as well enjoy the game.

[@mevadavraj4178]

@@skycaptain95 ofcourse 😄

[@bencash4967]

nice video so far, when you mentioned tilt, I thought of my own games, and for some reason I tilt more on rapid than on blitz, sometimes I'll go to 2150 rapid, just to fall back to 2080 in one day, while I stay fairly consistent on 2050-2080 on blitz (doesn't matter much how many games I play)

[@jacksarkisian]

Rapid is definitely easier to tilt in than Blitz or Bullet. it can take just 1 hour to lose 10 Rapid games, but can take 10 hours to win all that rating back. limiting yourself to only a handful of Rapid games per day is the only fix I've found so far to avoid that tilt - can really ruin your mood hahahah

[@WHAT-gm1xm]

Share me your chess id

[@gravitraxrocker]

This was an awesome video with very nice tips. I started around a year ago and now I'm stuck between 1600-1800 Elo. Now I realized it's time to put more work in to eventually hit 2000. I regularly watch Naroditsky, by far the best content that is out there for free.

[@pnksmigge5324]

very impressive! overlooked great opening for black in low elo: alekhines defense. hardly anyone in low elo knows what to do, and even if they premove Nc3 to defend the pawn instead of pushing, you just go e4 and go alekhines scandinavian line and have your opponent out of his prep on move 3 or 4.

[@tarkusvontortellini1877]

Got taught to play chess 15 years ago as a child, had pretty good intuition and I estimate I effortlessly had about 700 elo or so after a couple years just playing casually against family and friends. Joined the Uni chess club a few years back and got up to around 1400 just from having eager peers. Now Im graduated and playing chess mainly as a hobby. But recently i kinda wondered what would happen if I started actually learning theory and making an actual conscious effort to improve, instead of just going off intuition. Gone up to 1500 in a month and your vids are helping me improve. 2000 ELO (rapid) by 2026 😎🔥

[@DensiBensi]

Hey this video was really instructive and super helpful, thank you so much for posting!

[@jacksarkisian]

thankyou bro i appreciate it!

[@lingtao969]

As someone who followed a similar path as you (peaked at 2200ish rapid like a month ago, currently 2000 blitz and started playing in around late 2021) I think your point on paying for courses may be wrong; for me, the chessable courses, especially opening ones, were actually very useful because of the detailed text explanations. Definitely no need to purchase video though, course only is fine and typically costs arouns 30-40$

[@lingtao969]

Just to add on, I think buying your first course at ~1800 rapid elo is very beneficial to advance your understanding of the game in general

[@jacksarkisian]

for sure, personally I think you should hold out until 2000 Elo (Rapid) to be spending any kind of significant money on chess improvement tools (significant being in the 100s of dollars). before the 2000 Elo mark, if you can find a course you're fairly certain would be beneficial for you at a price like $30-$40 then that's a no brainer - however I see far too many people forking out hundreds of dollars on sub-par courses when there's so many other glaring gaps in their game. congrats on the 2200 peak btw! 🥳🥳

[@MarsofAritia]

2 years in and i just now finally got to 1200. I've done zero learning and play Scotch pretty much every game lol

[@Troxite]

Why do you use it tho, you give up a pawn for nothing, if your opponent is good enough then with that 1 pawn down, you could pretty much lose the game

[@Troxite]

Why do you use it tho, you give up a pawn for nothing, if your opponent is good enough then with that 1 pawn down, you could pretty much lose the game

[@MarsofAritia]

@ because i like it, simple as.

[@Liormatalon]

kinda weird you didn't mention Hanging pawns at all - his videos are incredible for improving, more specifically, his Middlegame playlist is one of the best free resources for understanding the middlegame on the internet

[@jacksarkisian]

i've not seen too much of Hanging Pawns - so couldn't really add my 10 cents on if their content is worthwhile. there are probably lots of other creators that have great, educational content that I didn't mention as well. sadly there is also a lot of bad videos promoting idiotic traps, tricks and essentially hope Chess - my main goal was to direct new players to well-made, thoughtful content.

[@Liormatalon]

@@jacksarkisian very understandable, it is true there are a lot of great channels out there. I suggest you check him out regardless :) great luck on your journey

[@firehood9426]

@jacksarkidian His content is comparable to chessly courses, at the rate of my growth (I reached 2100 today) I’ll probably soon surpass his level. But that does not mean I will stop watching him. Just because he’s worse than me doesn’t mean I’ll have to stop watching him simply because he teaches chess better than most chess content creators have gained a following for teaching chess well. The only other content creators I could see potentially matching him are GothamChess and Daniel Naroditsky.

[@AlienBros]

​@jacksarkisian I have to agree Hanging Pawns is great. I learned a lot from the various theory videos he has up as Playlist. His stuff is good. Love Alex Banzea too. He is great and taught me probably more than anyone else. My only issue with Hanging Pawns is he sometimes puts me to sleep. He has one of those voices. I tend to watch him when I am about to go to bed. Makes falling asleep a lot easier. Kind of unintentional ASMR.

[@microitos9754]

Hes great but take his games with a grain of salt. One of his biggest weaknesses is playing undynamically. ”My piece is hanging, I must move it. This is scary, should I go for it. Free pawn, how messed will my position be if I get greedy. Why is my position so passive”. He would be titled if he passed the passive, submissive mindblock and practiced aggressive, dynamic chess.

[@GregTurismo]

I’ve seen so many of these videos and I never get any better.

[@jacksarkisian]

do you want to get better? do you have time to get better? sometimes peoples situations irl make it very difficult for them to become a better Chess player. if you're super busy and can only play Chess for a few hours per week its going to be incredibly difficult to improve at a decent pace. similarly - if you have little motivation to get better you'll see the same result. if you can tell me a bit more about your situation in regards to Chess maybe i could give you some more specific advice - but sometimes peoples situations aren't very tailored to improving at Chess.

[@GregTurismo]

@@jacksarkisian I play chess many hours every week, and watch and follow rules to help me improve. I try to memorize openings and tactics, I work on puzzles each day and I analyze my games. Still 1100.

[@MatthieuSCHREK]

@@GregTurismo Hang in there, man. It takes time, and we're all similar, but different too. We shouldn't get demoralized, and try to have fun playing ( while learning of course ).

[@Lolmanloco]

This is a very useful video , i will start today and at the end of the month i will do a video proving your statement powerful im currently 1600, and i believe at the end of the month ill be 1900+

[@jacksarkisian]

looking forward to it bro, good luck!

[@Lolmanloco]

@@jacksarkisian thanks it's all because of this amazing video 👑

[@batteo3318]

How did it go?

[@Lolmanloco]

@@batteo3318 I'm currently 1929elo at rapid

[@browhat6935]

what are you now?

[@josuebriceno6034]

I just got to 1200 ELO a month ago and your advices really help see what I need to improve. My goal for 2025 is to get to 1400, I have very little time to study chess but I want to prove myself that I can do better.

[@justrelax4084]

thats a masterclass thanks

[@jacksarkisian]

haha no worries, took an eternity to edit 😅😅

[@marcusbuffett9223]

Ridiculous progress, and love all the advice, 10/10

[@parikshitkulkarni3551]

0:35 bro really sneaked in gothamchess and thought we wouldn't notice💀

[@jacksarkisian]

do NOT tell bro about my speedrun series 😭😭

[@GarrotCarrot]

I will say Levy Rozman's courses on chessly are worth the money. The studies, drills, and quizzes really help you remember and understand the positions well.

[@jacksarkisian]

from what I've heard, Levy puts an insane amount of time & effort into his courses - I wouldn't be surprised they're of high quality. sadly the same can't be said about most courses though. one thing I didn't mention in the video is just because someone is a high-rated player, doesn't mean they're a great teacher. I've watched lots of videos from Grandmasters explaining concepts and tactics but they're teaching it just awful - nullifying their expertise to a certain extent. Gotham is a major exception though, great teacher.

[@MBou9]

Wow very cool video pointed at all levels loved it keep it up!

[@louismeadows5728]

My favourite commentary duo is David Howell and jovanka houska I think their chemistry is great, I also enjoyed Peter leko and Daniel naroditsky together in the world championship

[@gmludovic]

crazy progress tbf 👍

[@jacksarkisian]

thankyou 🙏

[@erikaradzvilaite2247]

Not you calling me out with Ruy Lopez opening, feel so seen haha. But I knew this opening, as much as I like it, wasn't working for me at all just yet, clearly missing some understanding and skill. Inspiring video though! I have started kind of learning last month, learning how the pieces move and all that jazz - complete newbie, so this was useful. Somehow need to settle on an opening for white and overcome my fear playing with real people, can't be playing bots forever haha

[@jacksarkisian]

playing bots is great when you first start playing Chess, its a really good tool to practice your openings. if you go to "Chess.com > Learn > Openings" and select whichever opening you want to study, you can actually click "Practice vs. Computer" at the bottom of the example Chess board. you can also change the difficulty of the computer you're facing. this is super useful when you want to practice an opening, but the computer won't play into it. good luck with your progress!

[@CBFW_KO]

You did it "without spending a single dollar"? You're a diamond member buddy.

[@jacksarkisian]

for the most part, I got my Diamond membership for free. there are multiple ways to not pay for it, like winning tournaments, claiming event bonuses, watching twitch streams, etc.

[@muhammedamanullah5893]

​@@jacksarkisian Can you explain how?

[@OplifeV2]

@@muhammedamanullah5893he just did 😭

[@josiahjaramillo6998]

Why would it even matter when he explains his own unique knowledge on the game?

[@raj_ski]

Congratulations on your achievement! Gaining 2200 Elo in just 2 years is no small feat. It's inspiring to see your dedication and progress. Keep up the great work and continue sharing your strategies and insights with the community. 💪🏼🔥 #ChessGoals

[@great2642]

yooo chatgpt whats up bro

[@jacksarkisian]

Thank you so much for your kind words and support! It's been an incredible journey, and I'm grateful for every moment of it. I'm glad to hear that my progress is inspiring to others. I'll definitely keep sharing my strategies and insights with the community. Together, we can all reach our #ChessGoals! 💪🏼🔥

[@mohitjadhav6561]

Just 2 years

[@blackman7186]

From this video i may or may not have learnt about chess, but i sure learnt that your favourite colour is blue.

[@jacksarkisian]

hahaha is it that obvious? 😭😭

[@blackman7186]

@@jacksarkisian it's so obvious that I would notice it even if I was blind hahaha 😂

[@capivaraocapivara6137]

Congrats my friend

[@jacksarkisian]

thankyou bro

[@raghavendrabhat6035]

A great video. At 1300 will try to reach 2000 this year

[@jacksarkisian]

super achievable bro, I gained 2000 Elo in my first year of playing chess, then 2200 in my second year. good luck!

[@raghavendrabhat6035]

​@@jacksarkisian thanks. Keep up the great work and such insightful videos.

[@andrewunthank3521]

Currently 1100. Thanks for the video. Unsure where I should set my goal for this year.

[@jacksarkisian]

how much time can you spend playing chess per day? i could probably give some advice on a realistic goal for you :)

[@andrewunthank3521]

@@jacksarkisian I can dedicate about an hour to watching content and about an hour to playing. Thank you!

[@jacksarkisian]

@@andrewunthank3521 by the end of the year i'd definitely think 1500-1600 is a good goal to set. in 2023 i set my end of year goal as 2000 Elo - i ended up reaching it in July. if you end up reaching 1500 earlier than expected, just keep pushing for the next 100 Elo mark. 🤝

[@andrewunthank3521]

@@jacksarkisian Soumds good man. Thank you.

[@zebecuro]

As someone who cannot even get to 200 elo you are at the event horizon for me

[@jacksarkisian]

how long have you been playing for?

[@joeroberts6362]

This is a great video thanks very much. I'm currently 1350 elo, if I could be 2200 in 2 years I would be very happy

[@jacksarkisian]

as long as you keep dedicated to your goals you'll 100% get there bro, be sure to reply to this comment in 2 years to flex 😎

[@MatthieuSCHREK]

@@jacksarkisian Or yet better, in only one year !

[@estrouse123]

Win rate by time of day can be deceptive. It also comes down to the exact players you played

[@JOHNTUCHESS]

Amazing video!

[@jacksarkisian]

thanks bro ❤️

[@Filipios35376]

Kramnik: Very Interesting

[@jacksarkisian]

i'm gonna be Kramnik's next victim 😭😭

[@Zorro_x_daniel]

​@@jacksarkisianguard yourself buddy

[@yarik1778]

really useful information! Thanks!

[@lucase6077]

I have played chess for a while when I was younger, but I stopped for a few years and just picked it back up a month ago. I'm currently rated 1290 (peaked at 1333, but tilted back to 1260 and am playing less now). I can usually dedicate an hour per day on chess, what do you think I should focus on to improve and what rating level would be realistic for me to reach in the next couple of months?

[@jacksarkisian]

at around your Elo i would probably recommend endgame studies. you can easily get +200 Elo from studying endgames alone. right now you probably have many occasions where endgames feel very luck-based, where the game can entirely shift out of someone's favour because neither you or your opponent are quite proficient in them. they're super easy to learn and a really nice way to make that next step up towards the 1500 range!

[@lucase6077]

@@jacksarkisian that's what I'll be focusing on next, then. Thank you very much!

[@redfinance3403]

Because of the huge number of games I’ve played i know how to play the opening pretty well but I’ve never actually spent the time to learn an opening yet and I’m 2200 😭. Solid advice tho, nice.

[@jacksarkisian]

that's exactly how I learnt my opening actually. I watched Gotham's 10 minute opening lesson on the London System - everything else was self-taught over 2 years!

[@misomiso8228]

Do you play any OTB Chess? Do you have a Fide rating for Classical as well? Would be interesting as 2200 is Candidate Master level!

[@jacksarkisian]

I started playing OTB in January this year - currently around 1750 FIDE. Have only played 3 FIDE rated classical tournaments so far, living in Australia where capital cities are so far away from each other makes it hard to compete regularly. Hoping to break 2000 Elo OTB at some point!

[@felipepiacentedeoliveira8357]

@@jacksarkisian Do you have your profile at Fide? I didn't find it

[@Bigguy13-sy6mk]

Nice I went 1100-2000 blitz/rapid in two years. Kinda stopped because 2000 was the goal. Maybe should go for more because it felt pretty easy to do

[@salemtv5808]

OMG! i thought i was alone reviewing my wins and ignore my losses.. i thought i need a shrink to sort this weirdness 😂

[@jacksarkisian]

to be fair its wayyyy more fun to review your wins 😂😂

[@salemtv5808]

@@jacksarkisian thank you really appreciate it i was expecting agreeing to get my brains fixed hahahaha

[@TheRealHappyRabbit]

great ,i found out i actully also start2022 march and now 2300rapid and 2500 blitz

[@jacksarkisian]

2500 blitz 😳😳😳 ggs bro you completed Chess 🤣🤣

[@macdonaldnnadi]

Send ur account I’m very curious. I started 2022 and I’m 2200 rapid but sheesh 2500 blitz is crazy

[@shacharchess]

An impressive achievement and an informative breakdown📈

[@PranitSuman]

And here I am fricking depressed went from 1000 to 700 and still going downhill both in life and chess

[@jacksarkisian]

700 and 1000 Elo are super similar, much less of a gap than you think. i bet if i paired you with a random 1200 Elo player without showing you their rating - you'd give them a run for their money. at sub 1500 Elo, all it takes is one thing to click in your Chess and your rating will skyrocket. just wait for that moment bro 🔥

[@abdoulaziz5644]

​@@jacksarkisian I think you are underestimating 1200 rated players because you are way stronger than that level. Just like when Hikaru says that 2400 rated players in blitz don't even know what they're doing

[@jacksarkisian]

@@abdoulaziz5644 i don't think a 700 Elo player should expect to win against a 1200 Elo player consistently, but they'll definitely not be blown off the board. likewise for me, i beat a 2360 rated player in Rapid yesterday when i was at 2200 Elo flat. its moreso that players find themselves sitting at ratings that don't deserve, some 700s deserve to be 1000s and some 1000s deserve to be 700s. lower level Chess can be very luck-based and weird like that. i definitely get what you mean though, it is a little hard for me to see it from the same perspective as other ~1000 Elo players, but based off what my community on Twitch tells me and from my own experiences this seems to be more or less the case.

[@RicherDaniu]

You don’t know what real stupidity is I „studied“ chess for one year and got 200 elo I am a rtrd I am bad at everything else in life too I recently got diagnosed with the tism Theoretically I am still smart enough to get a job and life You can do everything

[@isaacolajide7852]

Tania by far my favorite commentator, she makes the games so much more exciting.

[@jacksarkisian]

Tania is fantastic, sadly I see a lot of people with different opinions, thinking only male commentators are knowledgeable enough to commentate on big events. she's definitely one of the best in my opinion though - makes a great team with David Howell, Simon Williams and James Canty as well 🔥

[@viharikrishnan5588]

@@jacksarkisiannobody said that

[@jacksarkisian]

@@viharikrishnan5588 people constantly say it the chat of Chess.com broadcasts, its very quickly deleted by their Moderators though, i also see it quite a lot of comments on Chess.com's official TikTok, which is mostly unmoderated.

[@viharikrishnan5588]

@@jacksarkisian Ohh first of all that's not okay but maybe what they meant by that kind of comment is for men matches they want male commentators i think that's why but that doesn't make it right. In any other sports i probably fully agree with them but in chess i think she commentating is not a bad thing because it's not physical or aggressive sport

[@jacksarkisian]

@@viharikrishnan5588 yeah i agree with this. in most sports, women and men cannot legally compete with one another due to safety risks. but Chess is a grey area because while in some cases they do compete with one another, most invitational events only include male masters. personally i think women are more than capable to commentate on such events (Judit Polgar for example was only worse than 6 other men at her peak).

[@Chess_After_40-v1s]

Thanks for the vid. I also played the London for a while, love it. KIA/Pirc at the moment

[@zytaxrr4192]

I just reached 2000 elo, best feeling of my life.

[@VivekSingh-ts1ec]

Congratulations 🎉 how much time did it take

[@WillySalami]

This video is probably the best I've seen on this matter and it's probably 'cause you're not trying to sell us anything: just practice, that's all we need.

[@CrazyFactsYouDidntKnew]

good flag!

[@WillySalami]

@@CrazyFactsYouDidntKnew Thanks!

[@daft2114]

congratulations! I make very slow progress. First i established 1600 than 1700 and now 1800 but i played for years. I think one thing that's bad for my rating is switching openings all the time

[@jacksarkisian]

yeah switching up openings will do that to you, but on the bright side you're probably more well-drilled in a variety of openings than someone like myself 🔥

[@daft2114]

@@jacksarkisian true it's also helpful when teaching kids (which I do).

[@nicolas.m3309]

This video is so down to earth and as someone who recently reached a 1000 rating, I can't be more thankful. But, I play only online since I have no one nor time to play OTB. Will my chess knowledge still be the same OTB as online?

[@jacksarkisian]

generally I don't think there's much of a difference between OTB and online. I think the rule of thumb is you're probably 100-200 Elo weaker OTB than you are online. it can take a lot of time to get used to classical time controls though. I'm currently approaching 1800 Elo OTB (I've only played 3 FIDE rated tournaments, so I think I can get to 2000 relatively quickly). But as for 2000+ Elo I couldn't really speak on the discrepancy, things get way more complicated at that level due to tournament availability, rating inflation, etc.

[@nicolas.m3309]

Awesome, Jack! Thank you so much for that explanation. I wish you the best in your advancement, and we look forward to more videos!!

[@vedbhanushali608]

thanks huge journey ahead.

[@jacksarkisian]

thankyou bro you too ❤️

[@cyrillewatthee8376]

Great video, straight to the point and concise! I agree with pretty much all of what you said, except for the very first part (as a beginner, learn a couple of simple openings). In my opinion, this is great for people of intermediate level, but as a complete beginner, sticking to a few openings you know well can 'narrow' your understanding of the game, which likely will cause you to progress less quickly (just my opinion). I picked up chess at the beginning of this year (I used to play chess when I was a kid with my father though, so I was not completely new to it) and climbed to 2000 elo in a matter of a few months, without playing any specific openings for a long time, but doing pretty much everything else you highlighted (play rapid, which gives yourself time to think about your moves / review your games / don't play too much games a day / solve your daily puzzles / watch high level players and listen to the commentary / ...), except for the opening part. I just now started to pick some openings I like to study their lines more deeply, but for me personally, I think it helped me a lot not to have any standard opening prepared as a beginner. This forced me to really think about my moves and my opponents moves, every moment of every game. So my openings have varied a lot, based on what my opponent was playing and what my own plan was that game. And yes, as a beginner, this means that you will fall into a lot of 'noob traps' at first, but if you review your games, you will learn from those experiences and your understanding of the game will grow far more quickly than if you just spam the 'safe' moves of your favorite opening pretty much every game, at least that's what I think. Just my opinion though, you obviously made it to 2200 only playing the London System just fine, so yeah, it clearly works! But I personally think that it's better for complete beginners to not focus too much on a few openings, but more on basic concepts, tactics and opening principles that will help them improve their general understanding of the game. Have a good day!

[@jacksarkisian]

that's a super interesting route to success, i've not heard of many people doing it like that. i think learning a specific opening does give a good sense of structure - it also makes you very coachable if you should choose to hire a coach later on. is also very much depends on how much time people have to study chess, and how they are at learning and picking up new concepts. your method seems like a major gray area, where you could set yourself up for some serious glory, or you might need to go back to the basics at some point. regardless congrats on your fast success - super interesting!

[@twgs60]

@@jacksarkisian hello, your progress is very good and I'd say the fact that you did it with the london is even more insane. Memes aside, I am rated 800 after almost 500 games and 2.5 months of playing and I use the Italian, and sometimes Vienna for e4 or Queen's Gambit and London if I am in d4 mood. As black, I just respond with e5 and d5 and follow opening principles. I am thinking of learning the ruy lopez as well, in some time but I have heard that it has a lot of theory and shouldn't be played below even 2000 level but I believe that most people won't know ruy theory at my level and it is a very intuitive opening which follows opening principles and is quite self explanatory. Should I learn the ruy or should I avoid it? Given that no one will play theory probably, should I just learn the ideas behind it and play a few games with it to get a grasp on them? This is somewhat similar to what I did with the London and Italian. Hope you read this. Great video, best of luck in your chess journey and I believe you'll reach 2000 OTB faster than you think if you put in the time! Also, Mikhail Tal is my inspiration but I am not at the level where I can replicate his type of play in middle and end games. I think he is up there with Magnus, Fischer, Paul Morphy and Kasparov!

[@jacksarkisian]

@@twgs60 i would say wait until you're a bit higher elo to learn the Ruy Lopez. whilst your opponents probably won't know the theory properly, you will also make a lot of mistakes at your level trying to master it. i'm very far away from playing similarly to Tal as well, he's a one of a kind player & you'll have something to be very proud of if you can even fractionally replicate his playstyle. good luck to you bro!

[@twgs60]

@@jacksarkisian I see, well it won't hurt to leave ruy for some time later and I'm doing pretty well with italian and Vienna... currently I am focusing more on improving my endgames and doing many puzzles and tactics. And yes, Tal is one of the best players ever for me, and I honestly think playing like him is almost impossible, witty alien does get close but Tal was a different species in that sense!

[@Anonymous-8080]

Sagar Shah is my favourite commentator too. Infact, I started playing chess because of him. Only if you would have understood Hindi, you can see watch his funny side too lol. He is so much funny especially when he's with Samay Raina. 860 elo player here.

[@jacksarkisian]

Sagar Shah reminds me of a Premier League commentator in a way - he’s not afraid of making commentary cinematic & thrilling. I feel like a lot of commentators are afraid to show too much emotion in their commentary because it’s a “gentleman’s game”. Definitely wish I could see more of him outside of Chess!

[@Anonymous-8080]

@@jacksarkisian Well said. Same with Tania Sachdeva.

[@pratypt]

0:08 you started playing on 1st jan 2022 and were already near 2 thousand ELO within 4 months?!

[@jacksarkisian]

yep, I got to 1700 pretty quickly, then I had 4 wisdom teeth removed and stopped playing chess for quite a while (and struggled to get back into playing regularly). during those 4 months I would play for probably 8 hours per day, I was only going to university 3 days a week so I had lots of free time to study & practice!

[@haliddrobo9117]

Great video, I have been playing chess for around 12 months and I am currently in a pretty strange position considering my rating. Reached 1500 back in January after a very quick climb of gaining 120 elo in 10 days, and I stayed in that rating area for a decent time.Then a completely insane tilt followed, dropped down to almost below 1300 in just a single week. Recently I hit 1400 again and I am climbing back up to 1500 in a more stable and controlled manner, albeit much slower this time. Any idea why those jumps and falls in elo happen? What should i be on the lookout for to prevent it from happening again?

[@jacksarkisian]

this is pretty normal actually - the reason for this is you're not a consistent Chess player yet. whilst you might have some really nice games, you probably are constantly blundering positionally, not to mention hanging pawns and pieces every so often as well (which can also lead to very tilting sessions). i think it goes to show how little difference there is between a 1300 and a 1500 on Chess.com, you simply need to work on consistency. usually the easiest fix for this is grinding puzzles to improve your board awareness, also brushing up on some of your openings could help a lot if you believe the mistakes are occurring extremely early on.

[@haliddrobo9117]

@@jacksarkisian Actually very true, you read me like a book haha. I am pretty inconsistent in regards to my chess, one game I could play almost perfectly with 90+ accuracy, the next i could blunder a simple 2-3 move tactic. Thank you for the advice, I will try my best to implement it.

[@Zorro_x_daniel]

​@@haliddrobo9117what's your rating now at the moment?

[@8hm1esic7sye2]

danya is so good at commentary

[@blackmirrorhenity3669]

Interesting I know vast improvements are possible at the lower levels, at the higher end of chess 2000 2600 rating, 100 elo is one of the best progressions that few players can acheive each year.

[@jacksarkisian]

i think online Chess is a lot different to OTB Chess though, one adjustment to your opening or endgame knowledge could boost your Elo by 100 over a few weeks online - but the same can't be said about OTB.

[@blackmirrorhenity3669]

​@@jacksarkisian agreed, but online chess rateings are not the same as over the board online grades are inflated significantly my online grade is 2300 over the board grade is 1930, but online grades over the board grades can be converted roughly, 300 / 200 points online worth about 100 points over the board which takes about year or longer depending on the time you put in.

[@cul1ture_cs]

Learning from a good teacher is good. I gained 1925 in 7 months from learning from puzzles and Levy.

[@jacksarkisian]

nice work bro! 2000 soon 😎

[@Zorro_x_daniel]

2000 yet?

[@ArshPlaysChess]

Very informative vid..❤

[@jacksarkisian]

thankyou bro

[@teegees]

Very solid advice

[@jacksarkisian]

thankyou bro glad you think so

[@nedhenry639]

Ruy López and najdorf mentioned.

[@WHAT-gm1xm]

Hello brother 👋🏻 i have a few questions can you answer me 1.My rating is 1200 elo should I play or learn Sicilian opening i usually play Italian opening 2.my thought process and openings are weak and my rating stuck in 1200 elo how can I improve sometimes i play closed position 😕 3. Knight vs bishop which is better and why? 4.what is your chess rating and who is your favourite chess player past and present 5. What is common mistakes in chess

[@jacksarkisian]

hey bro i'll try my best to answer your questions 1. i would stick to the Italian, try to learn as much of the Italian as you can through KZbin video's and free resources online (there are some good videos made by chessbrah and Alessia Santeramo namely on the Italian Game) 2. thought process and openings are sometimes in the same category, it means you don't always understand what your opening is trying to achieve. the advice from point 1 should help you out with this. middlegames become much easier for you when you know what you're trying to achieve out of your opening, you'd be surprised how good you already are at finding tactics. 3. knights are better in closed positions, bishops are better in open positions. in endgames where all of the pawns are on the opposite coloured square as the bishop, the knight will be better - if not, the bishop will be better (i will be making a video on endgames soon to help explain this more). bishops will also be better if you have two and your opponent have none almost 90% of the time (unless the knights are extremely well placed) 4. my chess rating right now is 2202, i peaked at 2249 a few weeks ago. my OTB rating is also around 1750 Elo, but i've not played enough tournament games to get a true rating yet. my favourite player would have to be Richard Rapport, very exciting player who never opts for the boring option in games. 5. the biggest mistake people make in Chess is underestimating themselves. people spend countless hours bettering themselves in Chess, and they think they're not getting better because their Elo isn't improving. its possible for your Elo to go down, whilst you're becoming a better player. sometimes you need to take 1 step back to take 2 steps forward 🔥

[@WHAT-gm1xm]

@@jacksarkisian thank you 😊 so much brother for sharing your experience and answering my question

[@allovereverything7824]

most instructive vid I've seen in a while

[@JuliusVerdadero-z2q]

I'm 1600 elo in 1 year and I'm a student I stopped playing chess in a few months and now I'm 1600 elo I want to improve and improve

[@ayush_x95]

3:38 I have been playing 3 or 5 min chess everyday since last few months and i am stuck between 500-550 ELO and i am going to start playing 10 minute chess more everyday

[@wthxrsh]

I am stuck at 1200 for so long... gotta study and make new strategies. Btw helpful video!

[@jacksarkisian]

thankyou bro i appreciate it. how long have you been stuck for?

[@wthxrsh]

@@jacksarkisian i have reached 1200 in october 2023 and then in dec to march i took break from chess... started playing again in april, reached peak of 1287 in may..and now i am at 1160s🫠

[@rishita3719]

Okay,let's make This a challenge I'm currently 1000 and stuck here since October I'll update u guys my rating climb or fall Next update on 4th september

[@jacksarkisian]

lets go bro, i believe in you 🙏

[@jacobchaaban5345]

Whats ur rating now?

[@somebody-who-thinks-hes-mature]

Hello?

[@The_AkashK]

Just play aggressive and forcing moves than defensive

[@PSYCHOMOFUCKA]

3 month later bro, how you been doing?

[@pichshrackers]

finally something more detailed !!

[@jacksarkisian]

this took me 4 hours to record & 8 hours to edit 😭😭😭 glad you enjoyed

[@donttalktome365days]

It's been 3yrs ,and i could only get upto 1700+... and now the elo only keep fluctuating between 1600-1700. At this point this is so frustrating.

[@fusion_not_pro]

Underrated video

[@jacksarkisian]

i appreciate it thankyou

[@Cl0udPvP]

I’m never playing the London system ever again after playing it once. Don’t play the London system unless you’re used to d4 or you have another opening to use (Italian game)

[@sleepyjoe9386]

1780 was my best result. Can’t improve it anymore. Currently 1650-1750. Depends how much I drink. 2 months with no progress. Anyone above 1800 looks extremely strong for me.

[@jacksarkisian]

the main point I got stuck at (before 2000 Elo) was the 1700 Elo mark, i spent a few months there trying to break it. went all the way back to 1500 at one point, its a super volatile area. how much time do you spend playing Chess per day? sometimes you compare progress to other people when its not suitable, for example if someone else can play for 6 hours per day, they can train way more than you and in turn will become better than you quicker - sometimes progress is not always so linear.

[@sleepyjoe9386]

@@jacksarkisian I play quite a lot. Like 5-10 rapid games per day in average. Sometimes much more when I try to get my rating back :) Useless games. Plus some useless 3 min games. Just an addiction. But when I compare my profile to someone who is above me, they solve a lot of puzzles. May be this is what I should improve. Just to play is not enough for me looks like.

[@jacksarkisian]

@@sleepyjoe9386 playing useless 3 minute games is much better than playing useless 10 minute games. at least with 3 minute and 1 minute you're not damaging the Elo you care about progressing in. puzzles are definitely very important, it can also be very fun to try and continue beating your peak puzzle rating on Chess.com, should definitely give that a go and see if it helps your Rapid Elo at all 🔥

[@sleepyjoe9386]

@@jacksarkisian I will try wth puzzles. Let's see. I will get to 2000 sooner or later. Just a matter of time :) thank you for your channel btw. I watched some other videos too, Great stuff! I have lichess to damage my Elo :) Also you are right about volatility. I see so many opponents who have highest rating around 1800-1900 and they are currently at 1700. Literally every second opponent.

[@yashmehta9299]

Giri + Naroditsky is the greatest commentary combination. Sprinkle in a little Howell every 20 minutes, and it’s perfection 🤌

[@ii_Oranjey]

And Tyler1 has gotten to 1900 in just a year.. incredible

[@jacksarkisian]

with The Cow 💀💀💀

[@ii_Oranjey]

@@jacksarkisian FR :joy:

[@AngelicDemon-uy9ro]

10:59 I'm 1400elo and idh an opening i freestyle everything 😂

[@DonFunFait]

Imagine when you do learn an opening 💀 International Master level

[@Ohhh7777]

Great video bro

[@akshayysinngh]

I crossed 2000 elo today 😁 Hope I get to cross 2200 in a year from now!

[@jacksarkisian]

congrats bro, reply to this comment when you hit it 🔥🔥

[@ShadowMasher1]

3:50 I believe you. I quit chess for a year, and got bacl to playing 5min blitz (never a game of rapid) only to grow from 141 to 371.

[@olinke2]

Naroditsky, Polgar and Howell would be my favourite commentators

[@ixsai]

thank you man

[@jacksarkisian]

no problem bro

[@jheadley3667]

I play alot of blitz, but its mostly to have fun. Ultra attacking with weird sacrifices. Im 1200. Is this a good habit to have?

[@77jwn]

Imagine not mastering the Sveshnikov or Ruy Lopez from the very beginning like a lowly d4 player, lol

[@carokus]

I've been playing for about 1-1, 5 years and haven't played a single blitz game, got to 2200 rapid and decided that it is the time to start playing blitz, and I'm Fing shit, can you do the same video on blitz?

[@jacksarkisian]

blitz is a pretty lame indicator of skill in my opinion. people who are generally bad at Chess but good at flagging will try to convince you otherwise because "all the GMs play it" even though those same GMs are the ones competing in matches multiple hours long (which is the true indicator of skill, classical Chess). i recommend either playing 3+2 or 5 minute Blitz if you want to play that time control, i guarantee your rating will increase massively as you actually get time to think and the majority of games won't come down to who has better mouse speed.

[@dogestranding5047]

So how do you raise your elo if you only play twice a day? I only gain 8 points for wins at my level now.

[@danilo4916]

well 2 wins a day are 16 elo points, in a month thats 480 elo, thats a lot

[@chengalvalavenkata2401]

if the middlegame and endgame play is strong enough, opening theory isn't critical (unless we're in a sharp, tactical opening) for

[@jacksarkisian]

100% agree, especially if you play a Systematic Opening, the theory is very unimportant. however sometimes it can be difficult to play against gambits you've not seen before (the Stafford Gambit in particular is brutal if you don't know what you're doing. otherwise you're completely right

[@factzfactory4956]

I got my peak rating of 1000 elo 4 months back but I discontinued playing chess and now I'm again 700 But I wish to work hard towards it and reach 1500 at least

[@Jiten-pm5lz]

Hey man it would be really cool if you can respond. I hit my peak of rapid 2001 yesterday but my blitz and bullet has been disappointing to say the least (1250). I play rhe catalan and kid so since blitz and bullet are more tactically focused i cant keep up. But if i change my opening, the muscle memory i had will be gone. Do you have a suggestion on how i can keep my opening while also adapting the line and approach to support blitz, thanks.

[@jacksarkisian]

in my experience, muscle memory actually is specific to each time control weirdly enough. i play very differently in blitz, rapid, bullet and OTB. i don't think you would have a big problem in playing an entirely different opening in blitz/bullet. if you're still worried about it though, you could switch to a Queen's Gambit setup. its a lot less theory dense than the Catalan (so hopefully you won't get flagged so much) whilst keeping a similar if not identical pawn structure to what you're used to. i find the main thing that confuses players when switching between openings is the pawn structures, so really if you find any other opening with similar pawn structures to what you currently play, it should work out alright.

[@Jiten-pm5lz]

@jacksarkisian but I don't have an issue with theory. My problem is opponents not playing any theory. They would force tactics when I want to play positional. While I would castle my kingside, they'd do a pawn storm on the queenside. By the time I cure the chaos, I'm not down anything objectively but the moves I need to find are really obscure tactics such as sacrificing the a1 rook etc... which in blitz is not as practical when at this point its the middle game so you only have 1min to 1 and a half minutes.

[@macdonaldnnadi]

Same bro. I also got to 2200 in 2 years. 💯💯 I got 2k in 1 year and then gained only 200 more in the whole second year

[@jacksarkisian]

haha exactly the same as me, i wouldn't be surprised if its quite common. i got to 2000 elo, didn't want to lose it for a while so i sat on the rating - then later on that year i grinded to 2100, then 2200 to make it an even number 💯