- Glass Chess Set
I bought this set years ago at the Village Chess Shop. It was between this one and another set where the “black” pieces were frosted like the white one’s are in this set and the white pieces were clear. Ultimately I thought this had more contrast although I should have gotten the other board, as the white and black squares on this one are too similar for my taste. Unfortunately I’m far too rough with my pieces when analyzing for this to be a viable everyday set for me.
Monday:
Tidied up my databases, I mean I literally had files and crap all over the place on my computer, well, no more.
Tuesday:
Did 50 problems on level 20 of CT-ART, scored 72% again in 45 minutes. So far on my second pass I’m averaging 72%, my first pass was I scored 70%. I guess that’s progress, albeit slow. The funny thing is the problems I know I bang them out instantaneously. The ones I don’t recognize right away, it’s almost like I’ve never seen them before, no matter how long I look at it, I will get something wrong.
Wednesday:
Started Lesson 6 in CTTP, this lesson gave me a hard time last go around so I’m re-reading it. I also did another 50 level 20 problems in CT-ART. Got 83% (my highest score so far) in 39 minutes (my shortest time soo far).
Thursday:
No chess for me today, got home a little later than normal and couldn’t get to sleep until 7:00AM! I did play some “correspondence Chess at Chess.com, more on that later.
Friday:
Worked on Lesson 6 in CTTP some more. I’m going through this bad boy really slowly. I find a lot of the combinations in this lesson to be “speculative” inasmuch as they go on for so many moves that I don’t have a completely clear picture in my head of the final position. I can always get the correct first 2 – 3 moves but I’m not sure what everything will look like in my head at the end.
These are the hardest types of endeavors to begin in OTB play. I know because when I started playing in tournaments I was fresh off of doing a bunch of tactical problems and suffice to say I thought I could sac all the time and I would come out on top. Needless to say when this blows up in your face a few times it tends to make you a bit gun shy.
Saturday:
I did the last 36 problems on level 20 and scored 78%. This completes my second go around (dare I say circle) on level 20 and I scored 74% a 4% increase from my first go round, but still very far away from my goal of 95% on a level before progressing to the next level.
Sunday:
Finished my accounting, one last week and I will be done for the Summer!!!
Weekly Wrap up:
Well I have two internet (slow, correspondence games) going at chess.com, but once they are finished I will not start any more. While it is great fun to really be able to think about your moves and it makes you feel all smart and even a little bit like a titled player, I don’t think it will help my OTB results that much. Bottom line is that it is a different form of chess and if I want good OTB results nothing is going to help me more than mimicking those settings as close as possible.
Post Script:
I had quite an increase in weekend activity, I know that a big part of this was BDK mentioning I had some good book reviews on the site, and I’m sure the promise of book reviews by a fellow patzer had something to do with it as well. Anyway this got me to thinking I should write all of the book reviews I possibly can. I figure I have another 12 or so reviews I can do right away, so I’ll be posting 1 or 2 a week until I get them all done.
The links to the posts will be in the “Book Reviews” Tab on the top of the page. I was also wondering if anyone had a book review they would like to share here just e-mail it to me and I’d be happy to post it. I think its always good to get a fellow patzer’s perspective on books that come out. My e-mail address is wango@chess.com
Have a good week folks.
Filed under: Training, Weekly update
I think i had such other set like you descriped with the frosted glass pieces that suppose to be the black once. I won it at a tournament. I have given it a few years back to my brother for his new year.
I hope the accounting goes well so that you can really enjoy your summer!
Good to see the training updates.
It is really annoying to have a gorgeous set with an obvious flaw. My set the black pieces match the black of the black squares so closely it is literally sometimes hard to see the black pieces on the board! They become invisible.
Impressive performance.
Man, staying up until 7AM that’s crazy!!! The first time I played through the game Oblivion I did that and boy was that depressing.
So I am really digging the Alburt Pocket Training book. (with brown bag so no one can see the cover in public!)
I am using to do the long look tactics study my coach gave me to do. I am only looking at 1 or 2 positions a day. They are great positions. What is cool is that by really looking at a position and trying to see as much as I can see, even when i don’t see it all, I still remember the lesson better because I did look at it for so long at the board.
I think Alburt is under rated in the chess improvement world. I still dig his endgame book. It and Silman’s are a great 1-2 punch!
Chesstiger:
Yeah, I think I’m going to end up selling this one on Ebay or something, I like it but it’s completely useless to me.
BDK:
Yeah I normally get home between 3 – 4 AM. I usually try to be in bed by 5AM. Things just didn’t work out that way that day.
Tommyg:
Yeah that book rocks! Although the cover art leaves something to be desired. I also agree that he is underrated, but I have no idea why.
I see this same sort of thing in the music world. Certain teachers get a rep as being “sexy” and others get a rep for being “unsexy”. Pedagogical merit seems to have nothing to do with it. In ches even Chernev gets ripped by people and he is an expert at explanations. Meanwhile books like the First Book of Morphy which have little or no pedagogical merit are considered “great”.
Heck, even John Watson is lauded as a “genius” for suggesting that the position in front of us is more important then the rules or principles. Chernev says that same exact thing Logical Chess quite a few times. (I don’t mean to bag on Watson..I LOVE his book Play The French! It is arguably one of the best reference books on any subject I have ever seen.)
It is all in the marketing I think. (and let’s face it Alburt could have not picked a WORSE picture for the Pocket Training Book!)