Merry Christmas

Well gang it’s been an even longer period of time between posts for me.  The good news is the job has settled down, Christmas is officially over (in my professional life anyway) and I’m ready to start my chess training and blog posting once again.

I have my training method in place and I have chess firmly in its appropriate place in my life.  Which unfortunately for chess means a little less of the royal game than I’ve dedicated to it in the past, but hey, a hobby is a hobby.

I would like to wish everyone a joyous, happy and safe Christmas and New Year.  Also a happy Chanukah, or Kwanza or Festivus or Winter Solstice or whatever it is you’re celebrating at this time of year.  Be happy, be grateful, be with your loved ones and be safe.  I’ll see you all on the other side of 2011.

With affection and goodwill to all,

Wang

the chess advantage in black and white and miscellaneous grievances…

Ok kids its been awhile since I posted and things haven’t been going for me the way I had hoped. The new job is awesome and I have no complaints on that front, but its just been taking up more of my time than I would like it to so chess has been on the back burner.

That doesn’t mean that I don’t have chess stuff as well as non chess stuff to talk about so here we go…

Larry Kaufman’s The Chess Advantage in Black and White is being updated and re-released by New In Chess! A few of you have left me messages asking where you could get a copy of this book that was originally printed by Random House under the McKay Chess Library brand. Unfortunately the few copies out there were being sold by people who were asking exorbitant prices for a new or even used copy. Amazon has a new book going from $95.81 all the way up to $345.09! So to those greedy piggies or booksellers who simply don’t know much about chess, time to lower your prices! The bad news is it won’t be published until February, but it is coming. The good news is that since it is a New In Chess product the book should be bigger with a an easier to read format. The original is a smallish sized book and my copy is about ready to fall apart, so this its happening just in the nick of time. Oh, the new title is The Kaufman repertoire for Black and White.

Over the past two plus years when I was finishing school and starting the new gig, I didn’t get a chance to play much chess. Thinking that this was going to be a pattern for me, I started toying around with changing my repertoire to something a little more one size fits all type of thing. I have always been a bit envious of Donnie’s (AKA Liquideggproduct’s) simple opening repertoire and how he has success and never worries about the opening. I have played the Modern with no losses to date and can even use a Modern – type setup against 1.d4 with some success. Replacing 1.e4 in my repertoire has been quite another story however.

I tried the English, the Reti and even a 1.Nf3 heading towards a Catalan setup, hell I even toyed with the idea of playing the Queen’s Gambit. Bottom line is I can’t do this! I can dabble with the Reti from time to time and I enjoy it, but I can’t see playing like this full time. The other choices, well, I’m just done with openings! I’m regressing to my early playing days repertoire and that’s that. I’m done, I just want to play and study chess, all phases of it (except the opening) and get to as many OTB tournaments as possible.

I have played well my last few times out and I am +5/=1/-2 in my last 3 tourneys. My performance over that time has been 1723 and it has netted me 57 rating points. OK so it’s not the kind of performance that’s going to lead to a smoking book deal but I’ll take it.

My two losses were rather pathetic affairs, an ill fated Caro Kann and an even worse Dutch. Why I attempted the Dutch again I have no idea, but I can assure you it won’t be happening again anytime soon! Other than that my games have been really good, the thing is with sporadic (read, nonexistent) study how have I managed to play so well? It took me a long time to figure it out, but it was simply due to the fact that I have been working day shift. I no longer have my head in a daze as I trudge off to a tournament because I’m out of my circadian rhythm. I never thought that being  a vampire would affect my chess so dramatically but it’s the only thing I can come up with that makes sense.

Miscellaneous Grievances…

Amy Winehouse:

I’m not sure if the phrase hot mess was in wide use before or after she became famous, but she certainly exemplified it. I enjoyed her music and thought she was pretty cool, and I always hoped she would find a way to exorcise here demons, but I guess it just wasn’t meant to be, sad.

Politics:

I could go on for days and days about our supposed “leaders” in Washington D.C. but suffice to say they all need to be given new opportunities for employment that do not include public service, I plan on doing my part in making this happen for all of them in November 2012. Perhaps they have forgotten that they are public servants, or they are just plain incompetent, either way it’s time for the vast majority of them to be promoted to private citizen.

Boner Clinics:

Here in Arizona we have radio ads for an ED clinic that promises results for most men on the first visit. Now how exactly does that work? I go in with no boner and after one visit it’s standing at attention? I mean do they really think about what this sounds like? Then what do you do with said boner? Run home to the wife and….I don’t get it, I think there is a more genteel way to put this, although I haven’t thought of it yet. Again these are the types of thoughts that kept me out of the really good schools.

The deficit:

OK one more on politics and I’m going to leave it alone. I was watching the Daily Show last week and Jon Stewart had a graph that showed our current deficit at 14 trillion dollars and without the great deficit reduction deal it’s supposed to climb to 29 trillion by 2022, with this great deal it will only go up to 26 trillion dollars. This prompted me to look at Mrs. Wang and declare, “WHAT THE FUCK ARE WE SPENDING OUR MONEY ON?!?!” I mean seriously how could we have had a balanced, no shit in the black budget in 2000 and 11 years later not only are we in the red, it is going to double in the next 10 years, even after a herculean efforts by the brain trust in Washington? It just doesn’t make sense to me.

Reality T.V.

OK kids its over. There is nothing to see here. Are there seriously that many Americans that haven’t seen enough Surviving Slutty housewives of the Jersey Shore with Big Brother? Enough! I liked reality TV better in the 80′s when we called it wrestling and all agreed that it was scripted.

The NBA

The award for the most inept owners in all of professional sports goes to you guys. 10 years ago you had a lockout because you signed a shitty deal with the players and you were going broke. So your answer was to sign another shitty deal in which most of you are losing money yet again. I don’t feel sorry for you and you don’t deserve a professional sports team.

The Mets

Insert punch line here.

I think that’s it. Yup, that’s all, I feel loads better now.

Have a good week folks.

gay marriage law passes in new york

Late last week New York lawmakers approved a bill legalizing same sex marriage in New York State. The measure has been debated and has been stalled for years. Since I no longer live in New York I’m unclear as to how the measure finally came up for a vote, but it did and of course there was strong reaction to the bill passing. Early this morning the New York Daily News posted an editorial piece by Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, the bishop of Queens and Brooklyn. The piece may be read here. The bottom line of the piece is that marriage is under attack and gay marriage is just another attack on marriage and by attacking marriage, family the basic unit of society is under attack as well.

Throughout the debate over gay marriage religious organizations have protested that a marriage is between a man and a woman, this is their opinion and I understand where it comes from but it is just that, their opinion. This is a governance issue, states issue marriage licenses and marriage is a legal binding of two parties, marriage facilitates inheritance and property rights, but to think that it is the sole purview of any religious organization is wrong. Marriage existed before Christianity and no religion has a monopoly on it.

What religious groups have failed to grasp is that this is not about them. The government has no right to tell a church or religious organization to acknowledge or perform gay marriage, that would be an infringement of its rights under the constitution, and it is in the church’s rights to deny the acknowledgement of any marriage. But the church has no right to dictate to government whose marriage it should or should not recognize; when asked about taxes due to the Roman government Jesus said, “Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s.” Marriage rights fall under the Caesar category. To deny a group rights is a policy of exclusion, which the founding fathers did their best to avoid, the Constitution is a document of inclusion, a list of what the government cannot do to you, rather than a list of rights it gives you.

The Most Reverend Nicholas Dimarzio has stated that the family is under attack in today’s society and lists many ills that are plaguing us today. He is correct there are more strains on the family than ever before, households where both parents work, a family that spends less time together etc… but to lump same sex marriage as a contributing factor of this epidemic is wrong minded and hurtful to the gay community. Two people who are committed to one another and want to share a life together should not be kept from doing so simply because religious groups are uncomfortable with it. I understand that these groups think they speak for God, but what if I don’t worship your God? What if I don’t believe in God? Should I have my rights denied because you think that my legal, non-harmful activity upsets him, or worse yet, upsets your sensibilities?

    Bottom line; there is more at stake here than your religious beliefs. There are the freedoms and civil liberties of the citizens of the United States, no matter their sexual orientation or religious beliefs.

Have a good week folks.

so what is it that you are looking for (be the next you final chapter)

I know that I have previously posted the final chapter in the be the next you series of posts, but that was over two years ago, a lot has happened and I felt the need to update it with what I have learned, so here goes…

chess is like Martial arts

The Martial arts are a very personal thing. Some people take them for self defense; some people take them for competition, some people like the discipline and physical fitness aspect of martial arts practice. There is no best art, simply a best art for you.

When I started almost two decades ago my art of choice was Aikido (literally blending spirit way), It is a “softer” ju jitsu (gentle art), bigger movements, generally you stay on the outside of your opponent’s attacks, is not competitive and you generally don’t roll around on the ground with a would be assailer, at least that’s the plan. After about 2.5 years of Aikido I switched over to Judo. Why? Well what I was looking for changed. I wanted to compete.

I was no longer content with learning a self defense art with a more spiritual emphasis, I wanted to get onto a mat and pit my skills against an opponent, although Judo means gentle way the gentle is misunderstood, it is referring to the practitioner rather than the attacker, i.e. gentle means easier, when an opponent pushes you pull and vice versa, the results are anything but gentle for the poor person being thrown or held. I loved Judo and never stopped loving Aikido, but what I was looking for changed, hence my art of choice changed.

Similarly chess means different things to different people. I love the competition, I love improving and I love studying the game, but what is my primary objective? I just want to have fun playing and studying. When I started competing regularly three years ago I wanted to get better and become an expert and possibly a master. I slaved away at tactics puzzle books and got a little into Silman’s thinking technique. Now I am content to make as many tournaments as I can and study my vast collection of chess books. Why? A few reasons, firstly following a regimented improvement plan is time consuming and like it as not I’ve got shit to do. Things that get in the way of studying chess full time. Secondly I have found that following a regimented plan can lead to burn out and having parts of your training to become un-fun. Who wants a hobby that is not fun?

I know it sounds namby-pamby, after all an Aikido practitioner and a Tae Kwon Do practitioner are hard to compare, but in chess we have ratings, they are absolute. Well yes and no (I have a game at the end of the post that should tie this together)

Don’t get me wrong I’m not abandoning chess study, but I’m taking a more relaxed approach to it. I am keeping the things I like about chess and cutting away what no longer works for me. So no more circles, no more chasing and buying the latest book that promises to make me a champion and no more “quick fixes: and for God’s sake if I don’t feel like doing something, I’m not going to do it!

do something

I do believe that almost anything you do at the patzer lever will improve your game. If you like endgames, study them it will help your game. Are you at tactics junkie? Then get yourself on chess tempo and go nuts. I do believe some things are more beneficial rating wise than others, I’m still a firm believer in tactics study as the most economical way to improve your game, but if circles make you miserable…

Pick a path and stick with it for awhile, you’ll see improvement; at the very least it will stay fun for you.

what’s your game

I really don’t have much of an opportunity to make long time control games, stuff like 40/2 SD/1 (that’s 40 moves in 2 hours then sudden death in 1 hour) I have to be content with G60′s. Similarly I’m sure that some of you reading this can only get to G15 or G45 tourneys. This colors how you prepare. At shorter time controls I believe your opening repertoire is a bit more important, you either have to memorize a few openings (not wise, your opponent will deviate at some point and you will be wont for a plan) or you have to chose something that is more forgiving (I think this is a better choice). If you have longer time controls you can afford longer thinks. As a G60 player I allow myself two long thinks a game, by that I mean 10-15 minutes, so 20 upwards of possibly 30 minutes are going to be chewed up on two or three moves. Anything more than that and I’m probably in for a losing game.

Now if you shorten that you’re playing rapid chess and I think tactical vision is even more important, in G25 there simply is no room for long thinks, at least the definition is changed to 5-7 minutes and even that may be too much. What I’m trying to say is that if competition is your thing then you need to tailor a plan that fits the reality of your game.

I think this is why some old – timey recommendations aren’t as germane to players of today. We are told to start with open games first. Well what if you don’t have the time or inclination to learn the open games, especially if it comes at the cost of many lost games? What if you prefer just to use the KIA and get a stable form of development and figure things out? What if like me you are drawn to obscure openings? My advice? Play them, you may never become a master but at least you will enjoy yourself. My game at the end of the post should shed some light on this.

different strokes for different folks

A few examples of what I mean. Blunderprone likes studying the history of the game and annotates the games of past greats, I’m not sure if he’s still doing circles or not, but if you want to know something about a historic tournament he’s your guy. TommyG likes playing over master games, Donnie…well Donnie hangs out with a sentient egg and plays the KIA and KID almost exclusively from what I can tell and he’s shown improvement and enjoys the game. BDK pops his head up from time to time to lay down some of his ruminations about the game.

Who’s on the right path? All of them are. They are approaching chess in a way that is fun for them. Don’t get too hung up on ratings, I believe it’s unhealthy.

so what’s my plan

My new reality is going to be internet games, my new work schedule is Wed – Sat so weekend tourneys are out of the question for awhile. No biggie I will play in the G60 monthly STC tourneys at ICC. Although the time control is the same my reality has changed. I will no longer need the mental stamina to play 4 games in one afternoon. The downside is that if I am on the wrong side of a miniature I will not be able to recover until the following week; there will be no resetting of pieces and trying to recover in the next round that might be only an hour away. Psychologically it poses different challenges.

My study plan is simple, 15 minutes a day of tactical puzzles on the computer; I simply have no more time for this during my workweek. Two G60′s online followed by a deep analysis of the games, and work through a chapter of The Comprehensive Chess Course. All told that is about 7 to 8 hours of chess per week. That’s it that’s all I have time for right now.

As far as ratings go, I’m not too concerned. I will track them but I’m sure that if I stick to this plan my rating or more importantly my strength will go up.

relax

Relax and take your time, even if you are chasing after a master title it is going to take some time, so why not enjoy the ride? Don’t make this a job, you’ve already got one of those and you’re probably not thrilled with it, so why have another?

Before you start your chess journey, ask yourself what is it you’re looking to get from chess, and don’t be afraid to change the answer when it actually changes, be flexible.

as promised an example

Two weekends ago I played three rounds in a local tourney. My last game was against a gentleman whose last name contained almost all consonants. Hardened weekend warriors know this to mean a Russian dude whose rating may or may not indicate his true playing strength. I had black and in round 1 I played a very poor Caro-Kan against an opponent who outranked my by over 200 points. I played the opening very poorly and got a challenging middle game which I completely mishandled. I decided that for this game I would play something a bit more familiar to me and chose the Modern defense. Again my opponent out ranked my by 200 points. The game is below, with no annotations. The one challenge in playing something like the Modern is that since there are few forcing variations I typically have a hard time analyzing the game during the opening and early middle game stages finding a better move can be challenging or even confusing; although I have found this to be a blessing as I think I’m learning more about the game. I am still analyzing this game and didn’t want to include any incomplete analysis as I wanted some feedback from you folks unbiased by my opinion so here is the game unedited.

A few notes to the game.

1. My opponent normally plays in longer time controls.
   
2. He doesn’t much care if he wins or loses; he wants to create something beautiful over the chessboard. I believe him to be far stronger than I am.
   
3. I spent all of 5 minutes of clock time on my first 16 moves; the Modern is great that way.
   
4. I spent almost 40 minutes on moves 17 through 34. During his attack there were plenty of places for me to go wrong.
   
5. After the game everyone was telling us what a crushing attack he had, they even showed his force checkmate, but they were not entirely correct, they were referencing a variation where it was my turn to move not white’s, around move 27.
   
6. At the time I agreed with everyone that his attack was brilliant and almost felt bad that I had won. Now that I’ve been looking at the game for awhile, I think I played a pretty damn good game – no apologies from me!
   
7. What do you folks think? I’d love to get some feedback on this game.

Have a great week folks.

There may be hope for me yet…

So I made two rounds at a local weekend tournament and I won both games! I outrated both opponents but the first game is significant because it was my first honest to goodness Open Sicilian as white! I have lost to players that I outrated by 100 points before so hey, I’m chalking it up as a win. The game is here.

Overall I am pretty happy, my opponent made a few mistakes early and I punished him severely for them, that’s what you’re supposed to do right? Anyway that’s all for now, got another tournament coming up this weekend, I’ll keep you all posted.

Oh, and by the by…I would like to welcome back my good friend Robert Pearson! His blog has been idle for a year now, and he’s got it back up and running and I for one am very happy to see this. For you chess blogging whippersnappers out there Robert is an elder statesman of the chess blogging world and a partner in crime that I have missed very much. So go to his blog already!

catching up with wang

As promised here is my big news…

I start a new gig on Monday! Ever since graduating from my MBA program I have been going through a mid life crisis. Not the kind where I was looking to start having an affair with a perky first year college coed, nor did I ever consider buying a sports car, I just had a run of the mill career mid-life crisis. I felt stagnated in my job and being that I spent so much time at work, not enjoying what I was doing was really beginning to take its toll on me.  I suspect that BDK is as bad at chess as I am but he has said before how he is good at and enjoys his job.  Although I was good at my job, I no longer enjoyed it and that can be a big suck.

My new job was previously a close second to my dream job, however my dream job was to be a business consultant, and the older I get the less attractive traveling 5 days a week becomes, so technically I got my dream job.

By the way here’s a picture of my graduation ring.

OK Donnie, I’m going to head you off at the pass and tell you right away that I have never considered becoming a hand model, nor do I think it is a viable career choice for me.

recent events

As for the news on Osama Bin Laden… well I am always uneasy when people celebrate the death of another human being (even an awful human being such as Bin Laden) I really can’t blame folks for celebrating. This is one dark chapter is behind us, with many chapters of our struggles against terrorism yet to be written.

what about chess

OK so here’s the scoop with me and chess.

Circles – I swear to God that the only thing these are good for is breaking your will to study or play the game! I completed one set of circles on Chess Tactics for Beginners level 1, but that’s it. I will not be doing that shit again. I mean it seems to me that I would almost rather do anything than do circles again, and that’s up to and including quitting chess. More on the limitations of circles later…

I have opted for a more complete study of the game. I will be working on the Comprehensive Chess Course Series (CCCS) by Lev Alburt. I will once again start with Chess Tactics for the Tournament Player (CTTP), this will be my third time reading this book, and I did get more out of it the second time around, I hope I can get even more out of it the third time around. My study goal is to finish the entire series by May 1^st 2012. I know this is aggressive but I want to give myself a challenging but realistic goal. I think it’s possible. For those wondering, after CTTP I have to read the King in Jeopardy (KIJ), Chess Strategy for the Tournament Player (CSTP), Chess Training Pocket Book (CTPB, That’s the one with the chess babe on the cover looking over Lev’s shoulders) and finishing off with Just The Facts! (JTF) All in all that’s 1412 pages of chess instruction that I am going to try and cram in my brain over the next 12 months. OK so to be fair if I don’t get to JTF I’ll consider it a victory and omitting this book would save a whopping 407 pages! I don’t want to settle for this as it’s the book I’m very much looking forward to reading.

speaking of goals

I am planning on going to the National Open in Las Vegas the weekend of June 10 – 12. That will be an ongoing goal for me; I would like to play at a national or big event once a year. I am also committing to getting back on track with tournament chess; I am going to do my best to play in a tournament once a month. When I say try, I really mean job schedule permitting, I don’t know what my new job’s schedule is going to be like, if I have Saturday’s off I should have no problems getting to the tourney’s. I am also getting back into playing two G15′s a day, my training games if you will. I realized that I’m not playing enough thoughtful chess and that is why my results have not been better. Studying chess is good (obviously) but you have to play enough so that some of what you studied can actually be used.

brokeback repertoire

1.e4, I wish I could quit you!

No matter what I keep being drawn to 1.e4. I have played it for over 3 years now, so technically I should feel ok with switching to another white repertoire move, but alas it has not worked out that way for me. I have once again opted to stick to my original plan and try the open Sicilian’s. I’m going to give it 10 games and then I will reevaluate whether 1.e4 is even right for me. Truth is I don’t like any of the anti Sicilians so this is my last shot, actually playing into an Open Sicilian.

I’ve been going over my games from my rescued database and thanks to the statistics feature in Chessbase here is some interesting facts…

I played and gave up the Dutch Defense after only 4 games. I lost every game and felt that it wasn’t the opening for me, my average rating during those games? 1388, my opponents – 1578, the one game where there wasn’t over 150 rating difference between me and my opponent was a game where I had a better endgame and lost, my opponent only out rated me by 77 points this was a game I should have won. The final analysis is that I gave up the Dutch too soon, in the other contests I would have been reaching for a win to begin with, and all in all, the opening wasn’t to blame. So I have a renewed interest in the Dutch Defense these days, expect to see some more of my greatest misses with it soon.

As for the Sicilian I have played some truly terrible chess when facing it. If there is a problem with my Sicilian repertoire it is with various anti – Sicilian lines, I have overlooked many tactics in these games, maybe if I play open Sicilian lines my mind will be sharp earlier on, only time will tell.

caro kann

Here is a position from a recent one of my training games.

(31…Nf4+ 32.gxf4, Qxf4 and white loses much material)

After a fairly long struggle to get equality I had finally gotten an even and then even a slightly better game. I was able to create a R+Q battery on the open c file, then my opponent played 31.Qa1?? This move gives Black a forced win. I have played it out against Fritz and I have won 3 times out of 3. Problem for me was I didn’t see it. Can you spot the best move for Black? Answer below the diagram, highlight it to see. My tactical puzzles didn’t seem to prepare me for this, granted I was only performing simple tactics but still it bothered me that I couldn’t see the continuation.  After this game I decided more chess playing and more even handed studying of chess materials was in order.

I had struggled a bit in the opening. I have a tendency to play the Caro a bit bunched up and being that I can be a bit of a pawn structure freak I will bind up pieces to prevent doubling pawns. I played the black side of a Nimzo Indian a few months back that I won but bound up my pieces pretty badly trying to keep both bishops. Lesson learned? When you play at the patzer level tactics, and missed tactics are going to play a very prominent role in your games, you shouldn’t be a slave to general rules if you can free your game and have active pieces, especially when playing with the black pieces.

So that’s it folks. I’m playing the Open Sicilian, the Dutch vs. anything other than 1.e4, and the Caro Kann, the Modern or who knows? Maybe even the Alekhine against 1.e4. So if you go out to the National Open, you are already prepared to face me.

wangschesshouse version 2.0

I’m just going to study and play chess, I’m not focused on one study method nor should you include me on any Knights Errant sidebars, it’s not for me.  With a job that I should enjoy, slightly better hours and a new study regime, well that’s the new wangschesshouse!

Have a good weekend and I hope to see you all at the National Open!

coming soon, Wangschesshouse version 2.0

I know my blog has gone silent this past few months but I assure all of you that there has been a lot going on. In a couple of weeks I’ll let you all in on the secret but rest assured I am planning on making a triumphant return to chess blogging and to competitive OTB tournament play. Despite not being able to study or play much recently I have been doing a ton of chess soul searching and I have been thinking constantly about the game. So stay tuned kids…

testify

Things sort of worked out for me this weekend. as I was able to get to a tournament and actually play a couple of games.  My last tournament was over a year ago so I just wanted to get back to basics, remember to notate correctly, remember to hit my clock and remember how to castle, you know real basic stuff.

My first game was against a YAK (Young Asian Kid) and technically so was my second, although he was about 12 or so an he’s Indian so I guess YIK is a bit more appropriate.

Reader’s digest version…I lost the first game and drew the second one.

My first game against a YAK is here.

Fritz has the position as dead = after 8 moves but I’m sure that’s going to happen a lot when you stick to a Reti opening structure.  The most important thing is that I was comfortable, felt no real stress and had a good amount of time left.

Important lessons from this game:

1. When working towards a goal, in this case trying to get your opponent to weaken a pawn look to exploit it immediately.  19. h3 has me winning the weak e pawn (not that my d pawn is going to win any beauty contests..) and gives me a clear path to proceed down.

2.  Look for what your opponent might be threatening.  I did not blundercheck!

 

My second game is here.

Lessons from this game:

1. Blunder check!  Note I didn’t think him getting the exchange back was too terrible as I was still up two pawns, but I should have prevented it.  I should also looked a bit more seriously at 26…Qxh4.  I did this because I was more focused on getting to the King, since all of my play was on the White Kingside.  Although the game had shifted and I should have been looking to consolidate instead of going for a knockout blow.

2. Calculate, calculate, calculate!  I off the cuff rejected 37…Rxc2 because I feared the Bishop check capture on f7.  But its a winning move for me.  Instead I kind of drifted around aimlessly ran down my clock and carelessly let my opponent get away with a draw.

 

Overall my mistakes were game playing mistakes, I simply didn’t realize the turning point in both games and was playing without a real plan.  In the first game I could have won a center pawn and then tried to go for a win.  The second game I should have shifted gears and focused on simple ways of winning instead of moving around aimlessly.

Going forward I will.

1. Continue my circles.

2. Continue playing through my opening books.  Not in order to memorize any lines, my repertoire is very non-theoretical, memorization does little good; I merely want to see typical positions and plans so I can be even more comfortable.

3. Start playing 2 – 3 slow (Preferably G60) games a week and analyzing them.

4. Continue to play as much OTB as possible.

 

Have a good week folks.

first circle complete

First off I want to answer some queries from my last post.

Chesstiger:

Thanks for checking in. Unfortunately we are supposed to have three supervisors on the overnight shift but we are currently down to just two, so switching or changing my schedule for the time being is problematic at best. Tactics study followed with semi frequent playing and a good analysis of the games is always the best medicine for me. But I emphasize that I have to study and play.

Linuxguy:

Well don’t breathe too heavy a sigh of relief yet, I’m pretty committed to opening with 1.Nf3, but once again, more on that later.

LEP:

Bah!

Only blitz games, I’m hoping to break that habit this week though.

On to the circle stuff…

I finished my first circle and realized that my endgame prowess is rather underwhelming. It took me 9 hours and 13 minutes for the first pass. That is actual work time; I started this first pass 17 days ago, but only did tactical puzzles for 11 of those days. So if I study every day I should be able to do a circle in roughly 9 days for this next go around. I scored an underwhelming 82.7%. (Thanks Chesstiger)

I am very happy I started with chess tactics for beginners as it expands on many problems. In other words a mate in 3 might be a Rook mate in one problem from earlier in the course simply re-wound two moves. I find this really helps me to see and understand tactical devices a lot better.

I am going to start my second circle after I post this so I’ll keep everyone updated.

Qué vive los caballeros Errante!

stupid job

Well it looks like my 2011 tournament coming out party will have to wait.  I have to work Saturday and my new schedule will include Saturdays for the next few months, so no chess for me.

On the bright side of things I’ve decided to join ranks with the New Knights Errant, or the Knights Reborn or Knights Errant Redux or whatever they are calling themselves now.  Go over the Blunder’s sight, he’s completely lost his mind on this tactics thing.  I figured why not jump in the crazy pool with him?

Doesn’t look like I’ll be playing OTB for awhile anyway so I can undertake some more time consuming study.  I started my first circle today and am using Chess Tactics for Beginners ans I have to say that once I got used to using the software and resisted the urge to cheat, it is really quite beneficial.  I mean it took me several hours to go through Chess School Vol1A, but I’m halfway through the corresponding problems on Chess Tactics for Beginners.  It certainly allows you to go through the problems faster.

In addition to the circles I’ll be going through my repertoire book, had to shelve the English, it didn’t really suit me.  It just seems kind of wrong not to put a pawn right in the center when I have the white pieces, but more on that later.

Well that’s it, I’m off to watch some TV or read or something, have a good week folks.