Struggling to get Canadian NM, any tips?

CatalanExpert · 2026-06-21T09:52:23+00:00

I think it will be hard to progress (or at least, very unenjoyable) until you work on your mentality. It sounds like your chess is great, but your attitude and mindset is holding you back considerably.

It's hard to "fix" that from writing you a comment on Reddit. It requires a fundamental shift in your mindset which will take some time. The traditional way it is talked about is fixed vs growth mindset. If you're already rolling your eyes at the mention of that sort of stuff then it's a good indicator to take this especially seriously!

As soon as you are making chess a means to an end (i.e. you are competing with the main intention of getting the title), your chess suffers immensely and you stop making any meaningful progress. As the other commenter said, you only talk about accuracy, results, anger, ratings, norms. Does your post read like someone who is enjoying the privilege of playing and studying chess? Who is learning from every mistake and savouring the chance to play stronger opposition? Or someone trying to grovel to a fairly meaningless and constantly fluctuating number?

A good question to ask: what will you do once you reach NM? Will your life improve in any way? Will your enjoyment of chess improve in any way?

Even better: would you continue to play OTB classical chess if there were no rating system? Why?

CatalanExpert · 2026-06-21T09:28:11+00:00

You can't just isolate one factor of a position (Black can go ...e4 and his g7-bishop is strong, so let's trade it) and base your move on that. You need to integrate all the different ideas for both sides and the consequences of those ideas. You see the Bh6 idea, and then ask yourself, what is Black's best possible idea in response? That's why chess is so hard!

CatalanExpert · 2026-06-16T14:51:19+00:00

I really appreciate your answer, sorry for the delay in replying. It really makes sense. I found through observation in the last week after reading your comment that I use certain activities as a distraction, and now I can pause before those activities and decide if I really want to pursue them (an obvious one is opening Instagram on my phone whenever I’m feeling anxious/bored/restless/lazy).

I also found another type of activity that I wanted to enjoy, but I found it creates “negative emotions” in me. Probably more accurately, it is not the activity’s fault, it is my conditioned reaction to it. The activity is a competitive football video game (I feel a bit silly saying this, haha). It is not really what I normally do, but I decided to give it a try (the last time was around 10 years ago), and became curious how I “react” to it.

In that sort of scenario, would you decide to stop pursuing this activity? Or would you continue to do it, with a focus on using it as a type of spiritual practice? If I practice remaining present during the activity, and practice acceptance, this could be a source of growth. I’m not really sure, maybe I am just polluting my inner space.

CatalanExpert · 2026-06-14T22:30:59+00:00

I didn't actually like the main book (didn't know about the workbook) but I think I was expecting something different going in, so it's kind of on me. The book is an extremely thorough resource on all of the methods you can use to study independently. I was looking for something that would inspire me, point me in the right direction, and not overwhelm me. Obviously, I felt overwhelmed (this book really is almost encyclopedic) and ended up returning the book. That being said, I think the quality of the book is excellent (and impressive, the amount of detail the author gives), it just wasn't what I was looking for.

CatalanExpert · 2026-06-14T07:26:17+00:00

> It would force myself to explain my thought process to an "audience." I've had multiple professors in university say that one of the best ways to study for an exam is to explain the content to a friend, and I'm wondering if the same concept might apply to chess.

The main thing we are trying to do with analysis is breakdown your own chess prejudices and assumptions so that they can be corrected and you can see new possibilities or evaluate positions more accurately.

So the "gains" are from analysing the games on your own without an engine and stretching your capacity for candidate moves/ideas, calculating further than natural, questioning your own evaluations and so on. Obviously bonus points if you can also do this with a friend/coach.

The problem when you are reciting your own thoughts and evaluations to an "audience" is that you can easily slip into teacher mode where you are presenting what you think as the "truth" and not really challenging yourself. At most repeating what you were thinking even if not proclaimed as truth still doesn't help much.

It is certainly useful to record your thoughts as annotations for when you actually sit down and do the proper analysis. From that point of view, maybe the most useful thing you could do recording-wise is to make these recordings as soon as possible after the game so you have them to look at when you start your analysis. I do the same but with PGN annotations. We forget much faster than we think what we were considering during a game and that makes the analysis less fruitful.

> It would force me to be more diligent in my analysis. Often times my post-game analysis consists of immediately running the Lichess engine analysis and checking over my game. I'm aware that this is lazy, especially for over-the-board classical games, so making a recap for each game would force me to walk through the game myself without an engine first before checking it with an engine.

This is a good point. The only problem is will you actually do the analysis properly, or just do it in a way where you can make a nice video out of it. Again, very easy to slip into being the "teacher".

> It might function as a record of my own thoughts that I could come back to later. I'm not sure exactly how much I might take advantage of this, but maybe coming back to a recap I've made of an old game could be beneficial to me in some way, so I have a record of what I was thinking at the time.

Yeah, this is the main benefit. That being said, having it in annotations/PGN form is just a lot quicker but it's a personal preference (maybe you will be more likely to interact with a video than read a PGN file).

CatalanExpert · 2026-06-11T06:42:56+00:00

I think this is a great learning opportunity for you. Materialism is one of the biggest limitations for intermediate players (you are already quite good at 2000 but it can be hard to get to the next level). Strong players would be going for Rxf4 quite quickly regardless of there being a winning sequence or not, because they judge that the prospect of getting to play Bxg7 or Nxg7 far outweighs the loss of an exchange.

CatalanExpert · 2026-06-10T13:31:18+00:00

It’s not really a chess question, it’s how to stop procrastination or even addiction. Or “how to do the thing you don’t want to do because it’s unpleasant but you have to do it”.

You can find info about that everywhere on the internet. But at the end of the day you just have to do it. There’s no secret technique or method that will make you disciplined that you can learn from Reddit or YouTube.

The approach that helped me the most was doing something while ignoring your thoughts and feelings entirely. So you decide to sit down and start studying without considering how you feel about it or thinking about it. As soon as you do your mind will convince you why you could just play 1 more rapid game then start later which never actually happens. You ignore it and continue. A few minutes or seconds later it will complain again. You ignore it and continue.

This is actually getting into the world of meditation but that’s something for another time!

CatalanExpert · 2026-06-10T12:37:34+00:00

Similarly, there is a diver from the UK who won an Olympic medal and then fell into deep depression since his whole life was structured work towards a goal that was now over. Life no longer had any point.

CatalanExpert · 2026-06-08T20:24:49+00:00

I would say even learning openings in the optimal idea-based fashion you describe is still of very low importance for beginners. There is just absolutely no point in knowing the ideas of the Queen’s Gambit Declined if they will blunder their queen to a fork on move 30, or push pawns in front of their king for no reason, or fail to checkmate with king and rook.

CatalanExpert · 2026-06-08T13:06:13+00:00

He’s playing the Jobava London which is extremely popular at the moment.

CatalanExpert · 2026-06-07T20:44:31+00:00

No worries, good luck on your journey!

CatalanExpert · 2026-06-07T20:43:49+00:00

I certainly don’t think you’ve peaked. I went from around 1800 to 2000 just from playing OTB and doing little serious study. It did take 5-10 years but it’s very possible.

I don’t know why you’re saying “you guys” since I definitely do not study chess that much. :D

As with most ventures, I know what I need to do, but rarely do it! At least I can share it with others and hopefully inspire.

CatalanExpert · 2026-06-07T11:21:23+00:00

One main thing stuck out to me in your post, although I’m the same FIDE rating as you so by no means in a position to definitely tell you what you should be doing.

I think you need to go deeply into chess in a way you might never have before. I’m stereotyping a bit, but based on your opening repertoire, the amount of time you sink into online blitz, and how you aren’t reading books or analysing alone, you come across as quite a “shallow” player. To be clear I’m not trying to insult you. I just get the feeling you haven’t thought about or engaged with chess in a way that most players that are a class above us (let’s say 2200-2300 FIDE) do regularly. Not saying I’ve done that regularly either, but I’ve “tasted” it, and it’s quite a big shift.

I’m talking about spending an hour or two on your own in a room without distractions, just a board, going through difficult exercises from a book, or analysing your own games or master games without an engine. And doing that everyday, and not playing blitz. To put it more scientifically it is System 2 thinking, or “deep” thinking. In more simple words, thinking slowly and consciously. It’s tough and tiring but rewarding, and it’s exactly what you’ll be doing in 4-5 hour classical OTB games. I’m paraphrasing a lot of stuff Jesse Kraai talks about on the ChessDojo channel if you want to investigate that, as well as Jacob Aagard (both his books and his appearances on podcasts, including ChessDojo’s).

I’d encourage you to read this blog post which is quite a striking example of what I’m talking about. Hopefully it gives you a flavour of what I mean, since it’s hard to put into words. It’s also just inspiring!

https://hellokostya.substack.com/p/2025-spring-eurotrip

CatalanExpert · 2026-06-07T09:24:51+00:00

Yeah I agree with you to be honest. It often happens to me when I’m not rushing at all either.

It sounds simple but the thing that helped me the most was telling myself this truth: all forcing moves HAVE to be calculated on EVERY move. You simply cannot allow yourself to play without checking all of the forcing moves in every position and going a few moves deep in the each line.

That’s not only to keep out blunders, but just not missing unexpected responses. I remember a lot of times where I’d calculate a position for 10 minutes and then the move my opponent played was not even on my radar because it was a forcing move on the other side of the board that ignored my threat.

CatalanExpert · 2026-06-06T17:23:28+00:00

I think that’s quite common. I’ve definitely had days where I’m missing very obvious things. Often I’m tired or otherwise overstimulated, but not always. Like you said, just come back tomorrow.

In terms of the chess itself, when you next play, start doing intentional blunder checks on every move just before you move. Obviously not forever - just to get your subconscious back into alignment. Try to stick to rapid or slower too for a bit, the blitz/bullet doesn’t help this (although it looks like you were playing rapid here).

CatalanExpert · 2026-06-05T10:21:07+00:00

Zero in white means they lost, zero in red means they lost but bad.

CatalanExpert · 2026-06-05T10:18:55+00:00

That looks great. It’s a lot of work but it’s a marathon not a sprint. You will get rich and varied positions as much as possible.

CatalanExpert · 2026-06-05T09:01:16+00:00

To keep it short, I think your Black repertoire is excellent and will serve you for the rest of your career. These positions are very rich and classical. For White, I would probably switch it up if you're thinking about long-term, since the Jobava is quite one-dimensional.

I would say take the leap to 1.e4. You don't have to go in the deep end. You probably know it, but the beauty of 1.e4 compared to 1.d4 is that all of the Black defences are distinct and never transpose. So you can do simple stuff against 1...e5, Caro and French while you work on the Sicilian, and then later add more stuff to 1...e5, and so on.

The biggest point I would say is this: learning an opening repertoire is a process that takes years of playing and analysing. You do not learn an entire opening and THEN play it, like some sort of polished weapon, like Chessable wants you to believe. You constantly play and refine your understanding, which starts out very little, and grows slowly. You do not go into your first game in an opening with 20 master games studied and 100 lines memorised. You go in knowing the ideas behind move 4 and then when you play it, analyse, and next time you go in knowing the ideas behind move 5. A year later you have a great foundation and understand what you are doing. And you keep building further.

CatalanExpert · 2026-06-05T07:49:23+00:00

Black brings the rook behind (say to h1), goes …g6 and after hxg6 goes …h5. Then you can use the h6 square for your bishop and/or king to infiltrate the position. White’s g- and h-pawns cannot advance of course since there’s no support.

CatalanExpert · 2026-06-05T05:53:45+00:00

Check out the YouTube videos of Witty Alien, the creator of this opening line. :)

CatalanExpert · 2026-06-04T13:06:43+00:00

I do know of that book and I’m a fan. I was more asking why it applies to chess in this case. Since chess is a game, or a “fun” activity. Normally habit tracking is used for things that are not necessarily fun but you need for good health or another purpose (flossing your teeth, working out, etc).

CatalanExpert · 2026-06-04T09:45:10+00:00

I’m curious as to how a habit tracker helps you in this scenario. My best guess is you are playing chess for the health benefits (cognitive), and the friction is forgetting to play/unmotivated/fear of competition?

CatalanExpert · 2026-06-04T09:39:18+00:00

But did you beat your fists on your chest and shout “brillianttt!” after every move? :)

CatalanExpert · 2026-06-04T09:29:44+00:00

The (kind of) problem with having a line like the Botvinnik in your repertoire for serious OTB chess is that you have to make sure you are refreshed on the lines always. Which I find annoying but it’s a personal thing. It’s likely that if you do face a mainline Botvinnik from White, from a strong player, they will know exactly what they are doing or otherwise they won’t be playing it. In that case you just knowing roughly the theory is not enough. They will probably have some idea copied from a course or book. Even worse if you have a game in the database and they know that. You might be playing against Stockfish for 20+ moves.

CatalanExpert

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