Dries Buytaert

A couple of months after reaching 1600, I hit another milestone: Elo 1700!

When I reached an Elo rating of 1600, I expected the climb to get more difficult. Surprisingly, moving up to 1700 was easier than I thought.

I stuck with my main openings but added a few new variations. For example, I started using the "Queen's Gambit Declined: Cambridge Springs Defense" against white opening with 1. d4 – a name that, just six months ago, might as well have been a spell from Harry Potter. Despite expanding my opening repertoire, my opening knowledge remains limited, and I tend to stick to the few openings I know well.

A key challenge I keep facing is what my chess coach calls "pattern recognition", the ability to instantly recognize common tactical setups and positional themes. Vanessa, my wife, would almost certainly agree with that – she's great at spotting patterns in my life that I completely miss. To work on this blind spot, I've made solving chess puzzles a daily habit.

What has really started to make sense for me is understanding pawn breaks and how to create weaknesses in my opponent's position – while avoiding creating weaknesses in my own. These concepts are becoming clearer, and I feel like I'm seeing the board better.

Next stop: Elo 1800.