A Dragon´s Quest

Day 27, Tactics, tactics...

2005-07-21T13:53:00.000-07:00

I have really gotten into the mood of solving problems again. I guess I have just had too much to do lately. First of all I have an exam in anatomy and fysioligy coming up on the 15th of august, and then there is of course my wedding at the 30th of july. So you might just say that sometimes my head tends to be filled with other things than chess, wich of course is a good thing. I don´t think you could consider me to be sane if I fled the altar and the love of my life just to keep up my daily quota of problem solving. I´m not that hardcore!

Problems soved so far:

CT-Art: 457 problems. 61 problems solved at level 30 with a 71% succes.
Combinational Motifs: 168 problems solved.

Day 26, Alive & kicking again

2005-07-20T17:09:00.000-07:00

Ok. So I got over the first hurdle and I´m solving problems again. Sometimes you sit there in front of the computer and the easiest puzzles seem impossible to solve. No matter how much you try your brain just won´t allow you to see more than one move ahead and you fail utterly, problem after problem. But than after a couple of days, you´ve somehow managed to get your head back on straight, and you think every problem that comes in your path is childs play. So the old pyrotechnic knight is back in the saddle, heading for new adventures in the black and white unknown...

Thank you for all the support. It was greatly appreciated.

Day 23, Tired...

2005-07-17T07:31:00.000-07:00

I guess I´ve hit the first plateu in my program. The last four days I have hardly solved any problems, mostly due to lack of time. When I have sat done with a problem, I haven´t really been able to focus though. Mostly been sloppy and hurrying through them. This has also led to less succesfully solved problems and a decline in motivation and enthusiasm on my behalf. I know I just gotta keep on going, but man, today it´s not easy.

Day 19, The Final Plan

2005-07-13T15:06:00.000-07:00

Puh...I think I have finally found a plan that works for me. Since I don´t have all the time in the world to devote to chess or in front of the computer, I´ve had to figure out a way to make the most of all the spread out little time-windows that appear during a day.
Since I rarely have my computer around when I have time left over for tactics, I decided to include a book in my training for these moments. The book I have chosen is M. Blokh´s Combinational Motifs which, from what I understood, was used as a basis for creating the computer program I´m also using; CT-Art. This means that a lot of the problems in the book are present in the program as well.

I have decided to study these two seperate sources of tactics in different ways though. The problems in the book have been structured according to combinational motifs and patterns with an increasing difficulty within each section. This structure will hopefully increase my combinational vision. The problems in CT-Art I´m solving in true MDLM-style; starting with the easy level 10 ones and moving up to harder levels without knowing the combinational motifs and patterns beforehand.

The plan is to finish the Seven Circles with CT-Art as fast as I can. Since I never know how much time I can spend by the computer every day, I have no set deadline. During the same time I will go through the 1206 problems in the book and try yet again to solve the ones I failed when I´m done.

Problems solved so far:

CT-Art: 411
Combinational motifs: 129

What would De La Maza do?

2005-07-12T10:40:00.000-07:00

Fellow knights. I have ended up at the crossroads and don´t know wich way to choose and have therefore called for your assistance. I´m at my first circle with CT-Art and have justed finished level 2 with a succes rate of 81%. Now...what do you guys and girls think I should do. Should I keep on going through level 3 or should I go through level 2 again until I get around 90% of them right.

How did La Maza do it? I never had a chance to read his book, so I don´t know if he brought this issue up. Did he keep pushing straight through level 1-10 not caring about how many problems he got right or did he just solve most of them succesfully the first time he tried? I read through his article 400 points in 400 days, but did not find anything enlightening on on this subject. If anyone know, please let me know.

Day 16, Chess improvment update

2005-07-10T03:05:00.000-07:00

For half a year or so I´ve had a rating at FICS that has been around 1600. Well, I guess it would be more accurate to say that I´ve been holding on to the 1600-marker for dear life. Since I started the MDLM program 16 days ago, I´ve played four standard games at FICS (15/15 min) and have won them all. What´s really sweet about these four wins, is that all the players had higher rating than me. One had 1600+, two had 1700+ and my last opponent had a rating of 1900+! I have hardly ever beated such highly rated players at FICS before, especially not one with 1900+.
This has also meant an increase in my rating from around 1600 to 1678 in only 16 days! Man, I´m so relieved to finally be leaving the 1600 plateu and move on to higher altitudes.

Day 15, structurising...

2005-07-09T03:48:00.000-07:00

I have realised that I don´t have as much time to sit by the computer every day as I thought. But no prblem without a solution ey! So I´ve decided to structure my studying on Blokh´s book Combinational Motifs. The structure is quite simple; go through each chapter and redo the problems I failed the first time around. I´m hoping that the combination of using CT-Art to solve problems that increase in difficulty and the book to solve problems grouped in combinational motifs but with varying difficulty will prove effective.
Since yeasterday I´ve solved the first 37 problems in Combinational Motifs. Out of the 37 problems I failed 9 of them. This gives me a succes ratio of about 75% so far.

The last 3-4 months I´ve been playing mostly blitz over the net. I haven´t felt motivated enough since the last tournament I played earlier this year to put in more time into my games. But now the will to play longer games has steadily been coming back. It doesn´t feel like I learn very much in blitz games anyway. I´m starting to enjoy the time at the chessboard again; on a constant lookout for new bloodcurling tactical schemes and attacks.

I have also got some good news! The future tournament that was one of the motivational factors for me to start the MDLM program is not in august...it actually starts in october, wich means that I have additional time to put into tactics! Jolly good, jolly good!

First Circle, Day 12

2005-07-06T20:00:00.000-07:00

After solving problems 111-322 at level 2 (CT-A) I have a succes rate of 82%. Looks like I´m gonna be doing my second circle at level 2 soon.
Had a couple of rough days were the last thing I wanted to do was solving another bloody problem. So for the sake of diversity I mostly solved exercises from Blokh´s book. Also played a game today at FICS wich lifted my spirits a bit. I have a rating at 1600 and managed to beat a guy who had a rating of 1700+. He had a fierce attack going on my kingside wich I managed to neutralise by giving up one of my rooks for a knight. After a couple of moves I managed to level things out by exchanging my remaining bishop for one of his rooks and ended things by taking the initiative and snatching his last rook.
I´ve already noticed a big difference in the way that I play. I´m starting to feel comfortable in wild positions where anything can happen and tactical tricks seem to be lurking around every corner. I also have an easier time seing several moves ahead...and it´s only been twelve days! I think the every day routine of solving problems has a lot to do with this.

To end this post this very early morning I would like to thank Pale Morning Dun for his warm welcoming, Temposchlucker for the gambits and Margriet for her motivational words.

Ps: My handle at FICS is "deevee". Hope to see some of you folk there some time in the near future.

Trust in tactics

2005-06-30T15:02:00.000-07:00

The day passed without any problems solved. I did have a couple of enlightening games of chess with a good friend though. As I have mentioned in previous posts, I have mostly studied books on openings and positional play. This has given me a feeling safety while playing certain openings, such as the Kings Indian Attack as white. I think that this feeling of safety is rather false though, since I tend to lose games against people who have never opened a book on openings in their entire life. I also tend to do a lot of moves that stems more from memorization than a true understanding of the postition at hand, wich means that I at times have no real idea of what I´m really doing! So today I decided to put my tactical abilities to the test and put a lid on my old trusy KIA.

My friend and I have been playing chess regurarely for years and are quite equal in strength. It has never been an easy task to beat him playing the KIA, wich I tend to play quite positionally. So it was with a mixture of excitement and nervousness that I ventured into unknown territory, playing more agressively as white than I ever have. To my surprise I won the game without much effort, finishing him off with a simple 3 move combination wich ended with his king and queen forked by one of my knights!

It´s not always easy to take a step away from all that you know and are familiar with. It´s not easy to stop using those supersolid opening moves that have been pounded into your memory and choose a more dynamic path. But hey, it´s worth it!
I´m not saying that one should consider giving up ones openings and base everything on dynamic pieceplay, but it doesn´t hurt trying every ones in a while.

I think it´s important to build up a strong confidence for the tactical abilities you aquire during training. In short; Trust thy tactics...

I would also like to send my sincere appreciation to Takchess for dubbing me a pyrotechnic knight.

The Plan

2005-06-29T08:36:00.000-07:00

Last january I decided to join a chessclub. After a few basic lessons on the rules of the game and a few tutorials on tactics, opening strategi etc, we (beginners) were all invited to take part in a club tournament. I played in the so called "small group" wich consisted of players with a maximum rating of around 1300-1400. Out of 32 players I ended up in fifth place with 6 1/2 points after the ninth (and last) round. Though happy with my end result, I was still dissapointed. I felt I had put in so much time years before the tournament reading up on positional play and openings. During the tournament I read more than ever but still lost material due to tactical blunders. It was around this time I came upon MDLM´s article. So I decided to dwelwe into the world of tactics and to enter the same tournament in august 2005...hopefully to kick some butt!
I´m not planning to finish the circles before the tournament, but I would have like to come a little bit closer to be a tactical monstrousity.
Since sunday I´ve managed to finish level 1 (CT-art) with 96% succes and have moved on to level 2. Here I have so far gone through 135 problems out of 286 with a 87 % succes. To move up another level I have to have at least a 90 % succes rate, or else I´ll just have to do them all over again. I also have M. Blokh´s Combinational Motifs wich I read quite sporadically and tend to go through problems wich I feel I have a hard time understanding.
I haven´t set up a dedline for when I should have finished the seven circles, I´ve just promised myself to solve a minimum of 15 problems a day. I wonder if I can keep that up when i hit level 10!? Probably not, but I´m trying to get a good headstart by solving like a maniac now that I´m doing the lower levels.
Last but not least, I would like to say thankyou for all the comments on my first post. It gave me a lot of motivation and I will add you all as links as soon as I find out how to do just that. ;)
Good day fellow knights, and may the force be with you!

A quest for knighthood

2005-06-26T05:08:00.000-07:00

I am a 27 year old chessplayer from Gothenburg, Sweden. I have mostly been reading books on positional play and haven´t seen any real progress. One day I read the article "400 points in 400 days" by La Maza and felt like a man who had seen the light in the end of a long dark tunnel. So with newfound hope i reminded my sweet girlfriend of my upcoming birthday and in the same breath blurted out the letters CT and A. To my surprise I was given a chessprogram called CT-Art for my birthday! To honour this magnificent gift, I decided to start a modified Rapid Chess Improvment Program. But something was missing. I needed an incentive, something to keep the spirits up when the going gets tough. That´s when I found out about the Knighthood. All I have to do know, is to figure out how to join...