My official DWZ - The German Elo

It finally happened! I got my DWZ. In this post you'll see what my rating is and a quick recap about the 8 games I've played to archive it.

Greetings everyone!

You heard it right, I now have a DWZ.
What's that you're asking? Well the strength of a player in chess is measured by something called Elo.
It estimates just how strong a player really is.

You can get that by playing online, but those ratings oftentimes don't reflect your real strength.
What do I mean by that? My rapid elo on chess.com is around 800 while on lichess I'm around 1200 in the same format.

That's why there are official Elos.

The most known one is the Fide Rating. Fide stands for (translated from french) International Chess Federation.
And that fits it pretty well. It's the most well known and most respected rating system we have.

But what's a DWZ then? It's Germany's answer to the Fide Rating. Build on the same foundation but, as they claim, reworked to improve it.

Enough of the explanation, what did I get?
I was hoping to get something above 1000, but wasn't sure since I didn't perform that greatly in the last few matches.

But low and behold, my rating is 1162!

I'm incredibly happy about it since it surpassed my expectations by a lot.

I always thought based on my skill that something around 1100 should fit me and that my chess.com rating is a bit too low.
But on the other side, I often missed some sweet tactics and didn't really know any openings.

Those things are changing now!

This season is over, and the next one begins at the end of this year, so I have a lot of training to do.

I learn mostly on Chessly, where I currently learn 4 openings.
The Ruy Lopez and English for white and for black the Dragon Sicilian as well as the King's Indian Defense.

This gives me flexibility for white and an answer for 1. e4 and 1. d4 as black.

I also bought books about the Ruy Lopez, Anti-Siclian for white and of course the most complex opening out there, the Najdorf Sicilian.

I know this isn't really appropriate to say, but the Najdorf is just sexy and beautiful.

Besides that, I'm saving money to buy the Lifetime Repertoire of the Najdorf by Anish Giri on Chessable.
This costs quite a lot of money, but I think I can improve with it a lot.

After learning openings, I'm going to start learning tactics, but everything at once would be way too much.

Now that I've given you enough information to prepare and absolutely beat the crap out of me in a game, we can look at exactly that... games. Better said the games I've played to get my rating.

My 8 games

All my games can be found with this Lichess Studie link: https://lichess.org/study/Jc8zbVXD

Game 1 - 11.01.2026

The game itself opened with D02 Queen's Pawn Game: Chigorin Variation according to the Lichess Database.

My opponent made an Inaccuracy with the move 7. Ne5.
He should've gone c4 since I now could've capured on e5 with my bishop and after pawn takes my knight would've taken back and I'd been a pawn up.
I didn't see this and instead played O-O.

The inaccuracy with the move 8.. Qe7 can only be described as a slow waiting move by me. At least that's what I guess since the best move was Ne4, jumping into the black position with my knight and securing a dominant square. White should then play Nd3 which I can understand since it's the same sequence where the pawn would be lost if I decide to take the cool thing is if white doesn't play that move and instead decides to attack my knight, I would give a check. White needs to block with a pawn where I would then sacrifice my knight to win a rook.
A pretty nice sequence which I didn't see at the time.

For some reason I then decided to play h5 which obviously looses a pawn. My opponent saw that quite fast and decided to take.

g6 was another mistake by me. Allowing the queen deeper inside my position.
But as I planned my opponent got scared and instead decided to move the queen back to e2, giving me some peace and making it hard for my opponent to re-enter with the queen.

Then, move 14. c4 was apparently a blunder by my opponent.
But even when playing to top engine line, I don't get much more of an advantage than I already have. Only thing would the then very weak king of my opponent after I infiltrate with my queen.

Not seeing how this would help me, I instead played the very natural move rh7, trying to double my rooks which is a blunder once again for some reason I can't fully explain.

15. Ndf3 is another blunder since it doesn't stop my idea of the rook doubling.
Some inaccuracies later from both sides, we traded queens after I got into his position with my rook.
Without the queens, I pushed my pawns and after securing the escape square on f3, I played Rh1+ after which my opponent resigned since the only legal move is Kg2 which leads to a forced mate in 1 after R8h2.

A nice game which I won after just 26 moves.

Game 2 - 01.02.2026

This game began with the Pirc Defense in the Classical Variation.

Nothing much happened until move 19 where my opponent who played with the black pieces made a huge mistake with Rf8.
I'll be honest here, I'm quite ashamed that I didn't see Bxe6 which would've won me the game on the spot since I'd be winning a knight on move 19.

I instead took his pawn on d3 with cxd3, making sure that advanced pawn won't become a queen.
And to be honest, the computer doesn't hate it at all.
Of course winning a knight is better, but it also risks a second queen for black if I'm not careful.

23. b4 was a blunder by me for some reason. Apparently trading of the dark squared bishop of black was better since it's a strong piece in blacks attack.
You can see how the eval bar dropped to 0-0-0 after that, but my opponent played a blunder themselves with Qb5, leaving the attack.

I then proceeded to sacrifice two pawns and two rooks to give a check with Qa1 (Qd4 would've been faster, but leads to the same result), which leads to a forced checkmate. Black can give up everything he has and still wouldn't be able to escape.

Another win for me, but the last one too since I from there on played 3 draws and got 2 losses (Spoilers).

Game 3 - 08.02.2026

I'll keep it short since nothing much happened in this game.
We opened with the Italian Game: Giuoco Piano and I offered a draw on move 23, which my opponent accepted.

I basically defended the whole game and on said 23th move, I managed to get a queen trade.
My opponent, not seeing a way in, accepted the draw with an advantage of +3.9.

After we finished, someone else analyzed the game and the result was quite shocking. With nearly perfect play, both sides could've still won this game.
Tho I guess we were both happy with the result since I can't imagine my opponent found a way forward and neither did I.

Game 4 - 15.02.2026

What can I say except that I'm ashamed of this game...

A boring Four Knights Game. Normally a solid draw but I resigned after just 15 moves.

It was actually pretty equal until I, as black, played c6 on move 13.
When you see the game, you'll see what I mean with be being ashamed.

I was thinking how to make progress. An idea I had was just a light squared bishop trade. The computer on the other hand suggest Nf6.
But even with those ideas, I always had in mind to NEVER play pawn to c6 since that would block the only escape square of my knight on a5.

But as it sometimes happens, I started overthinking. Forgetting every line I had in mind.

At some point I knew I have to make a move. So I played c6 with the Idea to then push my d5 pawn.

My opponent then spotted what I was afraid of. He traded the bishops on e6 and after I took back he played b4, supported by his a3 pawn.

You might've guessed it. This move totally trapped my knight.
In germany we have a saying, Ein Springer am Rande bringt Schande.

This translates to "A knight on the edge of the board brings shame."

I tried to find any good move, maybe sacrificing a piece, but nothing was there and even the computer said just push your b pawn and accept that you lost a knight.

So I did the only thing I could do and resigned the game.

You might be interested to know that my opponent had a DWZ of 1399, making him significantly stronger then I am.
This doesn'T excuse my blunder but might give you an idea of why I didn't try to play on down a knight.

Game 5 - 01.03.2026

This was the most intense game I've ever played. My opponent had a DWZ of 1580, making him my strongest otb (over the board) opponent I ever faced.

I have a daily game on Lichess that I won against a 2000, but if I remember correctly my opponent just forgot to make a move and ran out of time.

This game on the other hand... oh boy.
62 moves, missed winning chances and over 2 hours of gameplay.

We opened with the Queen's Gambit Declined. Three Knights variation where I played as white.

Until move 27, everything went quite smooth and I and an advantage of +2.2.
But then, for some reason, I insisted on a rook trade with 28. R1f2.
My opponent declined, grabbing another pawn after which I traded one rook.

And you know the old saying, only trade one rook in the endgame.
My stupid ass wanted to trade both rooks after that, which I'm sure would've lost me the game. Luckily my opponent didn't like something about that and played the rook back to e8.

A bit later we actually traded rooks and I got a passed pawn on d5.
We both had one knight but I had an two pawn advantage, making my position +5.6.

But my mistake was to only focus on the d5 pawn, leaving the other ones behind.
I played Kd6, which would secure the promotion of my pawn.
But in that time, my opponent took the other two pawns leaving both of us with a passed pawn.

If I had played my king back and made sure the other two pawns would surivive, I would've easily won the game.

But I didn't. Instead we got a race.
He sacrificed his knight and I still got to promote to a queen first. But it was already a draw.
The game ended a few moves after with the trade of the queens.
With no pawns left on the board and me having only a knight, the game ended in a draw due to insufficiant material.

The worst part is, if that was a rapid or even blitz game. I would've lost.
I was so stressed that I missed that I was in check two times.

A direct elimination in a normal game, but in a Classical game (1:30h + 30sec per move), this only applies at the third miss.

So yeah, I got quite lucky but I could've wone this game. But I'm still happy with the result against such a strong opponent.

Game 6 - 08.03.2026

A Italian Game: Giuoco Pianissimo, Normal where I played with the black pieces.

Equal and boring until the move 18.. f5, which was a blunder on my side.
It allowed black to double the rooks and leave my pawn hanging. The evaluation was +3.3 for white after just one more move pair from us.

Then my opponent made a strong blunder with 21. e4.
This gave me the time to trade one pair of tooks.

But it was still intense. One wrong move and I would've lost.

I had two options. The first one was to push my kingside pawn and create an escape for my king.
But I wasn't sure if I'd survive that so instead I played Be6, threatening a bishop trade why my rook covers the backrank.

White offered a draw which I accepted.
I wouldn't say white was winning when he offered a draw, but the eval is +1.3 with Stockfish 18.

Game 7 - 29.03.2026

The last game I needed to qualify for the rating with once again an Italian Game: Giuoco Pianissimo, Normal.

I had an advantager as black since white blundered on move 10 with Bxe7.
A zwischenzug from white.
I was on autopilot and took back with the queen.
But I cloud've moved my knight back which just took a piece and win the bishop.
A one mover tactic which I've overseen.
This zwischenzug does not work from white, but then again, I was on autopilot.

On move 20, I played Qc5 which was a blunder. The position was equal and there was no need for a queen trade.
He took and got an +2.5 advantage.

In the end, he simply played better in the endgame.
I tried to deliver backrank mate which my opponent spotted. After that it was game over and I resigned on move 29.

Game 8 - 03.05.2026

The last game of the season, and as you can see, a lot of time has passed since my last otb game.

My opponent surprised me with an English opening, which as you know, I'm learing now.
But at the time of the game, I did not know this opening.
Tho I played quite well and even had an advantage on move 11 where I could've played Nxc3, trading knights.
But I did not play that and instead played b6, trying to fianchetto my bishop.
My opponent took the knight and I took back with the rook.
I then saw that I ran directly into a queen fork of my rook and knight.

I decied to scarifice my rook for the f4 bishop.
My opponent took and now I needed to save my knight.
I played Bb7. a stupid move since I should've played Bd7.
A small difference, but I was now pinning my knight to the bishop.

My opponent then procceded to trap my bishop with the move b4.
I played Nd4, trying to attack the white knight with a check.

My opponent took my b7 bishop and after trading knights with a check, I freed my bishop with 17.. Bd4, attacking the rook.

But the white queen and bishop teamed up and so he took my rook with the queen. I took back and he took my queen with the bishop.

Sure, I could've then taken the rook, but then I had nothing against one rook and a bishop.

I then smiled at my opponent and we shook hands.

Final thoughts

This was quite a journey and I thought I would end up with around 900.
But I guess the draws against those strong opponents saved me a solid rating of 1162.

I'm fine with this for now, but at the same time I WILL get better.

Learning openings and tactics, maybe some endgames, will secure me a strong place in the next season.

But that's it for today, write a comment if you want to say/know something and remember ... Stay private. Stay root.