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.