What it takes to reach 2000 FIDE
It's been a while
Alright so before getting into the topic I want to discuss today, a few things to get out of the way… (feel free to skip ahead)
Future of this Newsletter
It’s been a while since I’ve written up a post - October 27 of 2023, to be precise.
I wanted to limit the time I spent on content/“marketing” at the end of 2023, so I narrowed down my focus to Youtube, with fairly decent growth in 2024.
Despite somewhat popular reception — I decided to archive all the previous editions of the newsletter as of late 2024 on Substack (I may revisit this decision), for the reason that much of what I said did not resonate with myself anymore.
While I do believe on the whole that video is a better medium for most chess content, I do have a soft spot for the written form. At the same time, many of the topics I cover on YT are perhaps more conducive to text, and then perhaps converted into video afterwards.
For now, I have set (very loosely) the goal of sending out an email once a week.
My own Chess in 2024
As a player, I also recovered from what was a pretty bad 2023 (dropped from 2256 FIDE to 2125, after having taken a break from serious study/play), and have now found myself heading back towards 2200 FIDE.
Most recently I played in the Singapore International Open towards the end of 2024, and then the Australian Open Championships earlier in January to start off the year.
I’ve identified some areas of study I believe need the most work on my game (well, more like they were screaming out to me from the games I played), namely:
Calculation (currently solving endgame studies from ‘Endgame Labyrinths’ from Quality Chess — some of these have been… tough to say the least)
Dynamics (analyzing games of strong dynamic players — mainly Tal for now)
Not doing ‘stupid’ stuff (mostly prevalent when approaching low time — practicing speed chess mainly to help)
Putting 2000 FIDE in Perspective
Getting into the actual topic of discussion…
For many chess players who begin playing in tournaments, a common goal is to someday reach the rating of 2000 — often this is with their FIDE rating.
It certainly was for me at one point.
So much so, I remember when I was 12 years old even (I started chess “late”), thinking there was no way I could ever reach it — certainly not with the way I was struggling against players who barely had a 1000 national rating.
It’s also pretty common to see players settings goals to reach 2000 on their online rapid or blitz ratings. These are certainly good milestones for many to strive for, but as most tournament players know — there is a noticeable difference between being rated 2000 online, and having an OTB rating of 2000.
There is also the whole discussion of FIDE ratings being unevenly distributed geographically — i.e. the average 2000 rated player from India or Vietnam is probably a tougher opponent than the average 2000 rated player from Denmark or the Netherlands, for instance. I am not here to whine about the rating system today, unfortunately — I want to keep things of practical relevance.
Practically speaking, what you need to know — is that 2000 FIDE is not some monstrous feat of chess playing ability.
It’s nothing to be sneezed at of course, but anyone who is at that level can probably tell you that they are no one special.
Things like talent do of course exist, but 2000 is something achievable for many players if they put in the work.
In the city I grew up in — Melbourne, Australia — a good percentage of the players who took up the game as a junior had reached a FIDE rating of 2000 (or higher) by the time they were around 18 (those who did not quit, at least). Many of these players I would not have considered very talented (of course, improving when you’re a junior vs in your 20s vs 30s, 40s, etc are not all the same difficulty).
Age and time constraints are two big factors that make things progressively more difficult (unfortunately these often go hand-in-hand) — so scaling expectations with these in mind is recommended. However, there are still many other things that are within our control outside of these, and it is probably more conducive to improvement to focus on these, rather than “I’m too old to reach X rating” etc.
I would also add that many players probably are already spending a good amount of time on chess, but they’re just allocating it incorrectly — but this is another topic in of itself.
The Traits of the Average 2000 Player
So now, getting to the important part.
From having been at this level before, and having observed the games of many players at this level — I can tell you that you only need to be kinda good at one or two things in chess.
A lot of people like to throw around this idea of “work on your weaknesses!”.
While this sounds good in theory, it’s often more productive for many players to do the opposite — i.e. getting better at the things that come most naturally to them.
For myself, when I hit 2000 FIDE, I would say that my main strengths lied within my positional understanding, and to a lesser extent my creativity.
Sure, I did have weaknesses, but I was also able to lean into my strengths.
I see too many players who are fixated upon this idea of being “well-rounded”.
The reality is that most 2000 rated players know some ‘basic’ opening + middlegame stuff, and outcalculate most of their lower-rated opponents, along with the occasional higher-rated one mixed in there.
Should you strive to be this one dimensional player, though?
A barbarian who only knows how to attack, but barely knows what an IQP is?
No, it’s a bit more nuanced of course.
There is a certain bare-minimum that has to be met in most areas of the game, while also being strong in a select few — the bar is just not as high as many may expect.
Now all this is not to necessarily to say it is ‘easy’ to hit 2000 (not for most of us at least), because it requires time and labour.
However, the ‘ingredients’, so to speak, of what constitutes a player of this strength is often quite unremarkable — but therefore also accessible for those willing to put in the work.
If you’re looking to improve your game in 2025, and are looking for 1:1 coaching — fill in this form.
Oh, finally someone who clearly states what we have known to be true since our first games of D&D!
good to see you are back to wring blog posts. Thanks Sam.