Sunday 20 October 2013

Slow Week, New Goals

Yet another week that goes by without studying chess, due to catching a cold (and not making a schedule!). I'm finally shaking it off and if today's bad diet doesn't undo my recovery, then I shall be back on track starting tomorrow.

I've played quite a few 2|1 bullet and 10 min blitz games this week. I've mostly noticed that there is no way in hell I am getting above 90th percentile in 10 min blitz (and bullet).  where I feel I still have lessons to learn.I seem to have winning positions, yet lose every time. It went as far as being up a queen and losing on time, because I could not find straight forward simplifications. In hindsight, I should have traded a rook for the menacing bishop, but no matter, I am definitely not ready to make a go of 10 minute blitz games yet.

Then I started playing 15|10 games. I had stopped because I was tired of facing opposition 100-150 points below my rating. However, I found that if I can wait 2-10 minutes, I can get an opponent way above my own rating. This way, I got a few games in vs people rated from 1650-2000!!! I enjoyed these games much more, even though I only managed to win 1 out of about 5. The person I beat was rated 1714. The player rated 2000 just escaped me the first game, where it was an even fight for about 35 moves before he edged me out with just 1 pawn's advantage. I noticed these games are much harder, but they are thoroughly more enjoyable. I will get quite a few of them in this week and hopefully my win rate can start going up.

I still can't find much enjoyment from correspondence chess. It feels more like a chore than fun. Whenever I see a position I know is complicated I seem to procrastinate my move. I think I'll enjoy OTB much much more. Whenever I am in a live game it just seems more important and tons more fun. However, I will set time apart this week to practice Phillip Ochman's method in correspondence chess. I will also make sure to make a schedule this week, so that I can make some tangible progress as I did the beginning of September. I plan to finish "Chess for Zebras", do tons of tactics, study some endgame theory and play some well thought out correspondence chess.

My main new goal: Beat a player rated 1900+ in 15|10.

PS.- This week I read about a programme that takes 2 years to take you from 2,200 ELO to IM (2,400 ELO). Flipping heck... I really need to beat the norm here. It has to go quicker than that!!!

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