I WAS
asked earlier this week how I accounted for my Fide rating rising 300 points in five years, despite being in my 60s.
The facts are clear, as can be seen from these annual checkpoints.
October 2021: 1731
October 2022: 1764
October 2023: 1858
October 2024: 2013
October 2025: 1941
October 2026: 2035
To a certain extent, those numbers hide numerous fluctuations, but the general trend is clear - over five years I have gained an average of marginally over five points a month.
While looking for the causes, it is perhaps best to start with some likely suspects that, in my case, do not apply.
Retirement, for example, can result in players' ratings rising, at least temporarily, as they have more time to devote to chess, and no longer face games after a hard day's work.
However, I left my job in February 2016, and was no longer receiving freelance commissions after about a year, so work, or rather its absence, cannot take any of the credit.
Similarly, my homelife and most of my personal circumstances have hardly altered, so what has changed?
FIDE'S BOOST
In February 2024 my elo was 1766; a month later it was 1876, a rise of 110 points.
Part of this increase was due to my gaining a combined 27.4 points from two events: the Cambridge International Open and weekend three of the 4NCL.
The rest of the 'improvement' was due to Fide giving a one-off boost to ratings for everyone under 2000, to combat what was perceived as long-term deflation in the system.
TEETOTAL
I gave up alcohol in September 2024, one of the results being I have lost weight, which has almost certainly improved my stamina.
This does not explain rating rises before September 2024, but I was probably already, to some extent, cutting down on my drinking, before I took the final plunge to quit.
BEAU CHESS
Mikhail Botvinnik is credited with encouraging generations of players, including Garry Kasparov, to publish their games, complete with notes.
I know many club players (the elite do not have this option) try to keep their games secret.
A friend - I will call him 'Vic' - goes so far as to avoid those events where there is a reasonable chance his games will reach the databases.
This is arguably a futile exercise in that, despite his best endeavours, Vic has 103 games in ChessBase's 2026 Mega database.
On the other hand, there are very few players - maybe just me? - who go to the other extreme of publishing all their over-the-board encounters.
This obviously gives opponents ample opportunity to see what I play, and prepare accordingly, although I partly counteract this by employing a fairly wide variety of openings.
However, I believe the discipline of going through all my games with a thoroughness I would probably otherwise not undertake, has helped, and continues to help, my chess.
SENIORS
Most of my tournaments - certainly the more serious ones, ie those of at least seven rounds - are in age-restricted events, where the minimum age is at least 50 (actually, due to how Fide's regulations work, such tournaments often include 49-year-olds).
There is no doubt most seniors, especially those who play infrequently, are overrated, just as it is widely accepted many juniors are underrated.
However, it would be wrong to over-attribute my rating rise to this factor as I am also performing relatively well against a field of chessplayers not restricted by age.
Last season, for example, I played 30 times for my club, Battersea, achieving a performance rating of 2012, well above my actual rating in those games, which varied from 1889 to 1954 (these are ECF ratings, rather than Fide ones, but the point remains the same).
CORRESPONDENCE CHESS
I play at the Fide-recognised International Correspondence Chess Federation, mostly for various England teams.
Engines are allowed, and are widely employed, which means most games, but by no means all, are drawn.
However, I find it a useful (and enjoyable) exercise, even if perhaps the only major benefit for my over-the-board chess has been to eliminate, or at least decrease the frequency of, some of my wilder opening choices - the Albin Countergambit is not a paying proposition at correspondence.
PUZZLES
I used to virtually never look at chess studies, tactical-exercise positions, etc, although I did play over master games, trying to guess the next moves.
Numerous strong players recommend solving puzzles as a tried and tested road to improvement, and I have belatedly joined them, albeit in a somewhat modest and inconsistent way - but nevertheless better than my previous non-practice.
TEAM EVENTS
Playing for a team seems to bring out the best in my chess (as an example, see above in SENIORS).
I am unsure why this is, but it may be I play more responsibly when it is not just my tournament standing that is on the line.
My first seniors' team event was at the European championships in Dresden in 2022, where I played for England 3 in the 65+ tournament. My Fide was 1764, but I scored +5=4-0 for a tournament performance of 2082.
The following year I played at the European senior team championships in Poland (rated 1800, but performed 1914) and the world senior team championships in North Macedonia (rated 1850, but performed 1927).
Two years later, in Prague at the world 65+ team championships, I was rated 1896, but performed 1978.
The trend has continued this year, in Albania (rated 1908, performed 2147) and Crete (rated 2003, performed 2095).
Clearly, these five team events have contributed more than their fair share to raising my rating.
CHESSBASE
A software system, such as ChessBase, makes it much easier to prepare for opponents, especially when time is short.
ChessBase, with its associated Mega database, is not cheap, but it is good, and, although it is theoretically available to everyone, I get the impression that many players who are not native English or German speakers do not use it.
This is probably because, even if Czechs or Poles, for instance, are quite fluent speaking English as a second language, they are perhaps not comfortable with it as a written language.
What this means, in my opinion, is that such players with a rating of, for example, 1800, will be closer to 1700, or even lower, when it comes to playing the opening.
Correspondingly, they will be quite a bit higher than 1800 later in the game, so it is incumbent on players with a ChessBase-aided rating to gain as much of an advantage as possible in the opening - an advantage that will hopefully hold up in the middlegame.
I feel that, by playing reasonably sharply, and taking my opponents' tendencies into account, I am able to boost my rating when up against the non-ChessBase world.
CONCLUSION
There are many reasons why I have been able to raise my Fide 300 points in five years, probably including factors of which I am not aware.
Only time will tell whether I can continue this trend, or at least slow its reversal.
OR AM I FOOLING MYSELF?
Below is the checkpoint list from the top of this post, but with my English Chess Federation ratings added.
DATE FIDE ECF
October 2021: 1731 1979
October 2022: 1764 1952
October 2023: 1858 1820
October 2024: 2013 1968
October 2025: 1941 1889
October 2026: 2035 1944
As can be seen, far from rising over the past five years, my ECF has gone down, albeit perhaps not as sharply as might be expected for a pensioner.
It is also noticeable that my national rating has fluctuated much less than my international rating.
What all this means, is anyone's guess, but it is possible that most of what I have written above is nonsense ...
