I was tagged

1) Blogger name and URL? The Retired Pawn/theretiredpawn

2) How did you learn about the Circles? I was searching for chess improvement ideas by visiting Susan Polgar's blog when I saw a post by "Chess for Blood". His ideas seemed sound, so I visited his blog and followed it regularly. He didn't subscribe to the ideas as outlined in the book "Rapid Chess Improvement", but he did practice tactics. When he closed his blog he recommended Blue Devil Knight's blog and I started following that. I started the circles as a way of holding my nose to the grind stone.

3) When? June 2007.

4) How long have you been going through the Circles, or if you have finished, how long did it take? Since mid-June 2007.

5) How is your progress? I have worked through 19 units of Tactics One in the prefab circles of the Personal Chess Trainer. This has help my OTB vision and my USCF Rating has risen from 1206 to 1293 thus far.

6) Would working with the Circles alone work well in terms of chess improvement, or does it help more to join the Knight Errant to monitor and discuss the Circles? I think one could do the circle by his or her self. That being said, I believe working within a group provides the support needed to follow through with the exercise.

7) Are you a scholastic player? No.

8) Would you recommend this method, the Circles, to scholastic players? Yes, I would! I believe the pattern recognition would be invaluable and last a life time. I would also recommend that they spend a considerable amount of time playing through and analyzing classic games, plus work on endgames and strategy in order to be a more complete chess player.

9) Do you use other chess training methods along with the Circles? If any, could you summarize them? Yes. I use books and I review my games. I found that Lev Alburt's Comprehensive Chess Course Volumes 1, 2, 3, 6, and 7 to be of great help. I would also recommend Jeremy Silman's Reassess your chess. I know the Knights dislike Silman, but I found it to be good advice generally. I find if I review my games 3 times over I derive a great benefit and find continuations that often would lead to a win. I verify with Fritz 10 all of my improvements.

10) Any general comments about chess training or the Circles you'd like to provide? Do post mortems with the strongest players you can find and listen to their suggestions on play. I would caution that you don't just accept what comes out of their mouth as the final word. Quite often I have found an error in their analysis, but it the ideas they provide that truly help. Simply put...all those years of experience often provide the correct path.

I tag: Hard Days Knight