Update 12.25.09 Here’s an update post on a quick overview of what I’m thinking and doing so far: The program is going to consist of 3 phases, each phase lasting 60 days. The first phase will focus on tactics and the following phases will be on endgame and strategy. At the end of each phase, I will…
I have started to evaluate tactical positions a bit differently than quiet strategic ones. For this purpose, I am using a tactical checklist, which is based on Heisman’s seeds of tactical destruction. I assessed the position in the using the checklist, and my evaluation is below. You can download a copy of the check list here.…
This has been out for a while, but I just got a chance to view it and it has a lot of interesting references to expertise and talent pertaining to chess. Highly recommended.
I am working on creating a Chessbase notebook (more on this in a much future post), and I am working out a way to effectively categorize my chess content. Below is a draft of the taxonomy I plan on using. For example pins would be categorized as Middlegame – Tactics – Pins, whereas King and pawn endgame…
Monday 12.07.09 Played G/15 game and drew against opponent rated 1826 in a winning position (I was up a minor piece), but opponent had counterplay and I was down to 4 1/2 minutes on the clock. Tuesday 12.08.09 Reviewed game. Confirmed that position was won. Opponent made a tactical mistake where he lost the exchange.…
Monday 11.30.09 Played G/20 20 game against opponent rated 1865. Played the Sicilian Grand Prix and lost in a rook endgame where I was a pawn down. Tuesday 12.01.09 Reviewed game. Made an interesting observation that I would not have picked up on if I had not reviewed game. I lost 2 pawns during the…
Started new program mid week, so entries will be from Wednesday through Sunday. Wednesday 11.26.09 Played G/15 5 game against an opponent rated 1687 on ICC (I am provisionally rated 1781 after this game). I plan on playing all of my standard games on ICC so that I can maintain continuity in tracking my ELO rating.…
Making it Difficult After several years of working on my chess improvement and from talking to both amateurs and masters it appears that adult amateurs tend to complicate their chess improvement by reading books and tackling concepts that are far too advanced for their level. So, here is my attempt to simplify my chess training…
Farbror the Guru has challenged the chess improvement community to come up with a list of chess goals for the coming year, so here are mine: Long Term Goals Increase USCF rating to 1400 (currently at 1283) Increase Chess Tempo standard tactics rating to 1850 (currently at 1700) Increase ICC standard rating (currently have a provisional…
Plateaus and You The brain needs time to assimilate and integrate new information as knowledge and to resolve conflicts with previously learned concepts and plateaus equate to slower progress while we assimilate new ideas. Not until we internalize these new ideas as knowledge are we able to move on to the next phase in our…