The long read
My chess journey
The full story, from a cousin's computer to 1548.
- Age 11 or 12
A cousin's computer
I first met chess at my cousin's house and played on their computer. I won, but only with help from the computer. I forgot about the game because I was young.
- June 2022
The ₦1,500 pocket board
I walked into a supermarket and bought a small plastic pocket board for ₦1,500. It looked so cute that all my siblings loved it, even though none of us knew how the pieces moved. We even killed the King during a game. Weeks later we finally read the manual inside the box.
- 2022 to 2023
Just moving pieces
I took the board to school, but my friends were not any better, and only one or two could really play. I also played on my Mom's phone. I did not care about ratings and had no idea what an opening was, let alone tactics. I just wanted to move pieces.
- 2023
Exams and a new chapter
I finished secondary school, wrote JAMB and WAEC, and got into university.
- University
People take this seriously
That was where I realised people take chess seriously. We even had a tournament in school, but I was too scared to play.
- November 2024
Day one: 500
After 100 level I opened a new Chess.com account, started from 500, read a book on tactics and pushed to 700.
- Jan to Nov 2025
The 1400 wall
I set a goal of 1500 in rapid. I hit 1000 around April and kept playing and watching videos. I hit 1400 in November, then could not get past it. I got scared to play and took a break. It was sad to miss the goal.
- January 2026
New goals, new formats
New goals: 1000 in blitz and bullet, and 2000 in rapid. My rapid dropped from 1400 to 1100, so I stopped playing it and pushed blitz from 700 to 1200 in a single month, which hit my goal for the year. I also took bullet from 500 to 800.
- April to May 2026
Documenting on X
I slowly came back to rapid. On holiday in April I looked back at how far I had come and started documenting my journey on X, where I met a lot of wonderful people. I got back to 1200, then 1300 in May. I wanted 1500 before May ended, but I did not make it.
- First week of June 2026
1500, finally
I finally hit 1500 in rapid after all the struggles, with help from @NCbassey and @voltronsworld.
- Now
1548 and climbing
Rapid is at 1548, the road to 2000 continues.
“I might not be where I want to be now, but I'm certainly not where I was when I started. I'm a fan of little improvement.”