A Reawakening

Playchess: 1205
Gameknot: 1316
Red Hot Pawn: 1225*
--> I just restarted playing RHP after 6 months off.





I have not had the opportunity to blog for some time...as a matter of fact a new home and coaching duties with football really have kept me jumping (we did win the championship though...and the parallels to chess are astounding). I have made little progress on my dissertation...'nuff said. My chess is pretty neglected...I asked for PCT for X-mas but now the site doesn't work (!?!). I find it ironic that the debate between CT-Art and PCT is a minor topic right now in the blogsphere!

I have started the chess club at my school and we have 21 members so far. I spent some of my own money on chess sets (BTW...the football budget from the Booster Club and fundraising was $24,000!!) and a few clocks. It is very hard to get the school to purchase such items. Anyway...we will elect officers and gear up for our own fund raisers next year. Mostly though...we want to play and get new members! This week we will go over ideas for 'classical theory' and then perhaps begin looking at recording a few of our games the next week.

I am also looking into what it might take to begin/administer a website like Gameknot, uchess, or Red Hot Pawn for younger players -- one that is more protected and geared for middle school players. Mine will have teacher/sponsors that have been checked out and are responsible for the basic behavior of their students.

All in all, it has been great taking the time to travel around and read the chess blogs! As for me, the goals are the same...1400 by the time I'm 40 (next June) --at least in Playchess and Gameknot.

A Long Winter's Nap....

This has been a very busy time for me as work, school, and home seeking took much of my time. I played heavily on Gameknot and RHP. As a matter of fact I played the maximum number of games I was allowed most of the time. I now have mixed feelings about the sites in terms of chess improvement. Perhaps many people do well with this but I seem to have clearly lost any edge I gained over the last few months. My play on ICC and Playchess.com have been horrid!

Blitz (5/12 or longer):
ICC: 837
Playchess: 1099
Average: 968
My goal for April 1st was 1025. I am clearly well below my pace (although I was well above this a month ago).

I think much of this has to do with trying to keep track of so many games at once. When I have blundered it has almost always due to confusing games. To be honest, I've seen my opponents do the same things as well.

Currently my wife and I are in the process of selling our home in Naples, Florida (anyone want to buy a great 1-bedroom condo in paradise? click here) and working on acquiring a home here in Atlanta. This has taken a long time...and I hate to use chess in an analogous manner...but dealing with builders and lenders takes a lot of the same thinking in terms of strategy!

Nonetheless, I hope to devote more time to chess this month and especially ICC where I can quickly go back through my games when I'm finished.

To Blitz or not to Blitz...

The topic of tactics has come up amongst many blogs and, after taking all the ideas in, I've changed my routine to reading a concept from Seirawan's Tactics book and then practicing the same tactic in the "303 Tricky Tactics" book. That is all I plan to do for now in terms of tactics as I'm still an emerging player...I need to play and play often. I do think that I could be ready for the "Chess Tactics for Beginners CD" someday soon. Is there a better way to invest my next $23???

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Perhaps the best and worst that I've done the last few weeks is playing almost all of my games from the correspondence sites of: www.playtheimmortalgame.com (see my games here) as "edukator" and www.gameknot.com as "recess_bully" (see my games here ). I did this to slow down my games and perhaps lower my blunders (and perhaps it has done this) but it has also probably lowered my blitz ratings. I attribute some of this to the fact that I love to play the Scotch opening as white in blitz and I am certain that it confuses people at first (a definite plus in blitz) but it does little in the correspondence games. I also wonder, however, if the fact that I've played fewer chess games as a whole in correspence than in Blitz has something to do with my lower blitz ratings as well.

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I have been playing with the French defense with black just out of interest as it really seems to change the type of game in ways I'm not sure I understand (more later)....

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Blitz (mainly 5/12 Blitz) as "edukator":

ICC: 899

Playchess: 1163

Average: 1031

Disseration: Proposal to be worked on for President's Day :)

Addendum (correspondence chess):

Playtheimmortalgame (RedHotPawn): 1409

Gameknot (as recess_bully): 1301

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I have collected a series of "checkmate-in-one" games and my students seem to enjoy them...I can see them pointing to the sheets and trying to find the checkmate before their buddies. This is promising...perhaps I should add "Checkmate-in-two" soon.

A Surprising Change of Pace...

I've found a wonderful way to tone down the blitz habit. I (re)discovered this site, which is really Red Hot Pawn in disguise, on many other blogs but didn't seem to make any connections until recently (click here for my games). It has allowed me to play six games at once but spend a good amount of time digging into the positions...and has greatly limited my blunders. The irony of it all was that I had joined it a few months ago but now vaguely recall thinking it was boring. I didn't do a thing with it until now. I've continued my solid play on the site and even improved my ratings on ICC and Playchess even though I've probably only engaged in 4 or 5 games on these sites over the last few days.

Ultimately it is wonderful having the time to attempt grasping the details of each game and also more time to read other chess blogs (from the incredibly advanced to clubs [esp. in England] to people like me [or were like me not to long ago]).

Blitz (5/12 and longer)
ICC rating : 948
Play Chess: 1165
Average: 1057
Dissertation: HELP!

Plans: Continue with "303 Tricky Tactics"
I am thinking of purchasing: "Chess Tactics for Beginners" CD on advice from BDK's Blog.

Reconciling Both Marriage and a Burgeoning Chess Habit.

Just a few observations on my part...but perhaps others could add to this?! (or is that "!?").

I don't want to have my wife feel like a "chess widow" and I've went to a few extremes to show her how I appreciate her patience. I have found a few promising practices:

1. Show "Searching for Bobby Fischer" and promise to work with children on chess.
2. Start a workout routine between internet chess games. I gained a few pounds that I can directly attribute to chess. Now I am beginning a regime emphasizing a different set of exercises after a game. So say, two sets of push-ups, then a game, a few sets of push-ups, then a game, etc.
3. Similar to #2...solve chess problems (for circle training) while on treadmill. I even have enlarged and laminated around 100 problems (mainly mate-in-2) for this purpose. Could this mean I am running circles around my competition? How about calling the session "circuit and circle training"?
4. Avoiding humor such as the last comments on #3.
5. Attempt to play people from the Philippines and then brag about how good they are (actually those on chessbase are almost always at least 500 to 600 points better than myself). My wife is orignially from the Philippines.
6. Time for her.

Any suggestions for a spouse?

Ratings Inflation: You too can improve 112 rating points in two weeks...I'll show you how.........

Tip for rapid improvement: It isn't quite as hard to gain 400 points in 400 days (if that is your goal) if you start in the low 900s.

Joking aside...certainly the biggest lesson I've found so far in this game is that of making sure to be alert and rested before I play. Caffine in moderation is a plus :) Since cutting the late night "doh" sessions ("dohhhh...why'd I do that?", "dohhhh...I never saw that coming!", "Dohhhh...I fell for that AGAIN!") , and playing when I'm alert, I've clearly made gains -- in a very big way. In many ways this has very little to do with actual chess skill though.

My goals have been to gain at a pace of ~25 points a month. I figured this based on the fact that I'm starting very low to begin with...I have "regression to the mean" on my side!! I'm sure this will not be so easy to do if/as I improve. My goal for January was to average (between ICC and Chessbase/playchess) 975, February 1000, March 1025... all of which would lead me to 1400 by the end of June 2008 (my 40th b-day). But I've been playing very well this week...very well. These are ratings from blitz games but I can only recall one game below 5/12 or 10 minutes (it was against one of the 'bots' on ICC). But...officially for January:

ICC Rating: 952
Chessbase: 1128
Average: 1040
Dissertation Progress: Desperately needed!

Basically I really did well...gaining over 110 points in two weeks. I know reality will set in sometime as if I had continued success at this rate I'd be at 1400 by the middle of March!! LOL. I'm sure there will be times when I regress but it has been fun to be on the winning side more often. Furthermore, I have played a lot of games and, as noted above, I will need to tone down and get more finished on my dissertation. Next week my plan is:

• Continue playing (toned down) on ICC and Chessbase/playchess.
• Continue working through "303 Tricky Chess Tactics"
• Play challenging games with "Chess Genius" on my PDA and study moves w/ blundercheck.
• Next Thursday (Feb.8) I have penciled in a trip to a chess club in Marietta.
• Paying less attention to ratings...especially when seeking opponents!
• Purchase a chess clock for my classroom (I use chess as a "center activity" and a 5 or 6-min blitz would work well in a class that often has 15 minute centers).
• Optional: Begin replacing "Blitz" with "Standard" (based on numerous posts on other blogs...clearly seems like sage advice!)

If My Wife's Hormones Were to Mimic My Ratings....

...I would have had one of the worst months as a husband!! Fortunately my wife is not nearly as moody as my ELO ratings have been. The last two weeks are good testaments to that. After nearly falling to the bottom of the scale in both Chessbase and ICC (at one time having an ELO of 950 on Chessbase and 754 on ICC) I clawed back to not only beat my January goal of 975 but, for at least one game, average a wild 1006. My regime? I did five things:

1. Study some tactics from the "303 Tricky Chess Tactics" book as often as I could
2. Worked with the "Chess Genius" program on my PDA...utilizing the blunder check and studying my errors as I played
3. Avoiding play when I was tired (and trying my luck on Yahoo as "recess_bully")
4. Limit games with players whose ratings are 400 points above mine...at least avoid playing 3 or more games in a row.
5. Attempted to limit my game playing to 3 or 4 per session. No blitz games under 5/10.

This morning I woke up early to play. I brewed some coffee (I believe coffee in moderation has added at least 50 points to my ratings...is this akin to doping?) and, while brewing, played a few games against the computer (Dasher). As expected I was horrid and blundered quite often. After my first cup I beat the computer kids (Rated 1000 and 1100) twice and went on to play on Chessbase.

Chessbase is a great place to play on Saturday and Sunday mornings...there were over 7,700 players on today alone (my guess is that those in Europe and the Middle East are playing during their night). I played very well...I swear I anticipated moves and could see at least three or more moves ahead at times. I did not keep count but I believe most of the combinations I planned actually panned out! I also managed to play and win a game on ICC as well (it doesn't seem as busy at these times). Nonetheless...my status as of today (as "Edukator" of course):

ICC Rating: 883
Chessbase: 1088
Average: 985.5
Dissertation Progress: I've given it a lot of thought..perhaps I should hire help?
My January goal was 975...February will be 1000 (for at least 2 different games).

My plan for the next two weeks:

Stay the course! Although I do have a new book "Best lessons of a Chess Coach" by Weeramantry and Eusebi. I may take it more seriously as I get through the chess tactics book.

ALSO...as stated earlier...if my average goes above 1000 I will join the local club and the USCF. I would possibly like to have some fun at a tourney similar to Blue Devil Knight has done. It would almost seem silly not to do so.

As always...are there any suggestions for a guy whose ratings fluctuate so terribly?

Previous Posts........

The following 2 posts were posted as "recessbully.blogspot.com" but are being moved to this site:

Monday, January 15, 2007

Downward Spiral....
Let's face it, I suck right now. It would seem that the statistical property of 'regression to the mean' alone would be helping me at this point but ultimately I seem to only be merely regressing. Three observations:
It is possible to burn-out on chess. Symptoms include: making silly blunders, beginning games haphazardly, and/or seeing double.
It is possible not to know you are burned out when clearly, upon reflection, this is so.
While it appears obvious now, getting into a losing streak fuels burnout.
My current ratings (as "Edukator")
ICC: 811
Chessbase: 1034
AVE: 922.5
End of January Goal: 975
Dissertation: Pulled from drawer and on table...but have plans and great intentions.

All in all, my ratings took a nose dive in one night when I lost 19 of 11 games on ICC by both players near my level (there weren't too many below!) all the way up to the 1200 range. This sent my rating diving from the low 900s to the high 700s. My Chessbase went a bit better...I only took a dive only losing 7 of 8 (but the win was a much higher rated player) and sending my rating down to 950...which on Chessbase is pretty bad. All in all...I played way too many games that evening...almost all 6/12 blitz games or longer.

I took two days off only spending time reading forking tactics (303 Tricky Tactics) and playing a few games on my PDA. This appears to have done something as I have now won 8 of 10 games since. My plan is to begin "circling" with the tactics book and limit my game playing to 5 or 6 a night (at the most).

Lesson Learned: Burn-out happens and needs to be monitored.

Ancillary lesson: Drinking beer and playing on Yahoo Chess is quite therapeutic...my name is "recess_bully" (rating:1199). I sure hope Yahoo ratings are generally higher as the notion that I'm better while drinking is both discouraging and, in some ways, enlightening...I just can't fathom being a better chess player under the influence of a few beers!?
Posted by Edukator at 9:25 AM 1 comments


Monday, January 1, 2007

Wow...my first blog...
I am short on time but thought I'd go ahead and quickly explain where I'm at in my chess development at this time...the first day of 2007! Having just spent a few hours exploring the blogs of other 'like-minded' folk I felt compelled to try it on my own!I began playing for fun at the end of November 2006 and ended up hooked a few weeks later and ended up joining a few different internet clubs for Christmas. Most of my game are longer Blitz games (at the very least 5/10) but I do try to avoid lengthy games. Currently:

ELO Rating ICC ("Edukator"): 871
ELO Rating Chessbase("Edukator"): 1045
AVE for ICC/Chessbase: 958
Progress on Dissertation: None

Certainly I'm not the best of players, and have a long way to go, but I do have a growing interest in the game and clear interest in the process of improving! Actually each of my ELO ratings are over 100 points better than what they were merely two weeks ago. So with this in mind, my goals are to be at or near 1400 by July of 2008 and then, God willing, I would like to progress to 2000 by the year 2018.Roughly, my plans are to work tactical problems, studying books such as "Chess: The Art of Logical Thinking" by McDonald, practicing on Fritz or Chessmaster, and playing online. Once my rating averages around 1000 I would like to join a club and once I'm beyond 1200 I will look into CT-Art software (or something similar). I'm assuming that, with effort, I will improve more quickly at first since my ELO rating is low at this time. All in all, I'm more interested in the process than the actual goals at this point butI do find having a direction helpful...I consider these goals as tentative. Any suggestions?

I do have a few quite general questions I would like to explore as I go about this process:

Which skills in chess transfer to real life (I'm using the term "real life" very loosely on purpose)?

I would also be intersted as to the extent of this transfer. "The Morals of Chess" by Ben Franklin sometimes comes to mind.

To what extent are Football and Chess related (I'm tapping into the 'Chess as Sport' theme)?

Currently I use chess in my classroom to enhance "visual" learning. I need this skill since, as an Earth Science teacher, I'm constantly preferring students to visualize processes (such as orbits, layers in an atmosphere, atoms, etc.) but I wonder if the time used on chess (about 30 minutes a week) could be better spent elsewhere?

I've been thinking of ways to use ELO in the classroom...perhaps having a rating might motivate some students to study more (especially boys).

I would love to see more girls involved in the chess events at school. How has this been done in the past?

I would like to have more tournaments with students from different schools involved. The club at my school has something similar since it places the chess club within the confines of other "strategy game" clubs (such as Warhammer or Magic).

I am looking for ideas.I could go on and on..but this seems to be a great start!