I love chess...

Yes, I am a passionate chess player! I am not that good player at all, but I still enjoy it tremendously. My rating is in the range 1500-1600. The best chess players in the world have a rating of about 2500-2700! (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_rating_system) Hmm, If I could only improve my playing to a point to reach a rating of 1800, that would be awesome...

Why am I talking about this complex strategy board game? What does it have in common with Steemit?

Chess rules vs. Steemit "rules"

So, let's begin with chess rules first. Well, chess is played on a square board of eight rows. There are alternating white and black squares and each player has 16 game pieces...
No, no, I won't go any further than that. This is not a chess tutorial and the game is actually rather complex one and it takes some time to grasp all the rules (e.g. movement, castling, en passant, promotion, check, checkmate, draw...)

Although I am very fresh here on Steemit, I can already see some similarities between the chess game and the Steemit "game". Steemit also has its own "rules" and it is good to learn them as quickly as possible to become a solid Steemit player. What are these rules?

• Try not to be here just for money's sake (I love the inspirational thoughts that @jonesteemit outlined in his post: https://steemit.com/steemit/@jonesteemit/2zazad-steemit-is-not-only-about-earning-money-or-steemit-or)
• Be encouraging, positive, inspirational, make others happy (@biddle wrote this great post: https://steemit.com/positivity/@biddle/one-of-the-best-parts-about-the-growth-of-steem-is-to-see-the-happiness-of-others-on-here-who-have-become-friends-of-mine)
• Be simply you, the person you truly are, be unique
• Express your thoughts freely and sincerely after carefully reading other Steemians' posts
• Don't spam others with valueless comments

Strategy is a must!

In chess it is very very hard to improve your rating. A couple of years ago I came to a "brilliant" idea that I will improve my rating by simply playing chess day and night! And I did play till exhaustion. The result? A gain of some 100 points and then a sudden drop to my previous rating and then even going further down. What?? No, this just didn't work. I stopped playing for some time. After a while, I decided to try it differently. I invested some time to learn a few chess openings and strategies. Better? Yes, this time it worked. I spent less time playing, but started to enjoy it much more and I was finally able to improve my rating for some 250 points and keep it there. The lesson?

On Steemit you can also just hop around, spending tons of hours with no real success and satisfaction. I can see some (read: many) people posting every couple of minutes!?
As I can see they receive very little attention from other Steemians, but they still keep their routine. They seem to be hoping for a magic moment when suddenly everyone will start commenting and upvoting their posts or something like that. I don't know, I'm not here long enough to understand this "destructive" behavior...

I assume that Steemit reputation and success don't come by chance or by spending a lot of time on Steemit, but rather by having a good, ingenious plan or strategy and sticking to it. Some Steemians have such a great ideas and it is a real fun and enjoyment to read their posts. (Some people that I really enjoy following: @papa-pepper, @kus-knee, @thebatmanbiker, @charles1, @opheliafu).

Learn from Grandmasters

There are so many people here that we can learn from. I think that it is wise to follow them, observe their strategies, their moves, their behavior. Try to find out what makes them different, what sets them appart. Don't just click or tap randomly, look for excellence, look for quality. I believe that in the long run quality is the only thing that really matters.

I have set a goal for myself to try to learn as much as possible from Steemit "grandmasters" and I think that every Steemian should strive to follow this course. Why? For a very simple reason - your "rating" or Steemit reputation will grow much quicker when learning from the best!

... And I love Steemit

Did I mention that I love chess? It is really an awesome game and there are great many people that play it every single day. Do you know how many people on our planet play chess?
According to one source: "World-wide there are approximately the same number of chess players as regular Facebook members, and in the U.S., more people play chess than tennis and golf, combined!" (https://en.chessbase.com/post/che-redux-how-many-people-play-che-)

In contrast to chess game, Steemit is still in its infancy, taking its first baby steps. And how a beautiful baby it is! I fell in love with Steemit almost instantly because of its unique characteristics. (You can learn more about my first impressions on Steemit from my first blog post ever: https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@nedy/my-first-10-days-on-steemit)

In my mind's eye I can already envision the time when there will be as many Steemians as there are chess players worldwide (or even more). Yes, its future growth is inevitable! This great community will grow for sure and I strongly hope that the overall quality will grow with it as well.

So, why don't you make a personal goal to improve your Steemit skills by learning from "grandmasters" and thus become a role model for future generations of the Steemit game players?

Do you agree with my thinking? What are your thoughts?