Let me be real. After a hard year of doing tactical exercises until I am sick of chess and seeing the PCT program interface, I still suck at chess. Why do I say this? First, there is the annoying realisation that I still miss elementary tactics. I don't mean the positions I see in training. If any opponent would have the misfortune to walk into one the those he would be dead meat. No, I mean those new positions; the ones I haven't trained myself to see. I miss about a third of those altogether, and of those I can find something....hmm...tactical, I have about a 50 percent failure rate of seeing the correct solution from start to finish. So my fellow Knights, what is the payoff? Why do we (I) push so hard to improve? Maybe the answer is in the next tournament or perhaps in the next game even. I do know I have improved, but I feel I fall a bit short of the ideal.
This is my Playchess ratings chart. As you can see, I have improved over the course of the last year. At the start of this Knights Errant adventure, my rating was around 1250. The chart shows steady improvement until I reach my present peak of 1520. That might be all the payoff I ever receive...lol.
6 comments:
hey, 300 points is nothing to sneeze at.
Banatt: thanks for stopping by. Yes, 300 rating points is good. Nevertheless, I am missing some very simple tactics, therefore, prolonging games, or worse, losing them. BTW, my official USCF rating has remained static at just below 1300. When I see that rating climb I will celebrate!
retired pawn,
Thanks for the comments on my blog about IE7 hanging since I've added the viewer.
I test with IE7 (and FF3 and Opera and Safari) and have not had the problem. Googling for IE7 Hangs Flash 9 suggests that re-installing Flash may fix this problem. If this only happens on my site it could be that my site is currently a bit of a stress test (17 separate viewer instances on my main page).
Anyway, if you have the time and would not mind it would be great if you could re-install your IE7 flash and let me know if that helps. Using IE7, just go to
http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/ and install or re-install the latest Flash and try my site again.
Thanks again!
Glenn: Thank you! See my comments on your blog.
Even 2000+ players make a fair number of tactical errors, and even GMs miss mate-in-1 or hanging their queens. If you are sick of your current approach have you considered a few visits with a chess coach to help you revitalize you study program? Besides, just a few weeks ago you were tied for first in the Kansas City Quick Championship so you can't be doing too badly OTB. ;)
Likesforests: I had months of lessons from a National Master. I was a star pupil, but this doesn't carry to OTB. My current USCF rating in 1288. Well below par in my opinion.
My results in tournaments seem to be the same. I beat the players who are rated 1300 or below, I am 50 percent against 1300-1500, and above that is gloom and doom. So during a swiss tournament I get punished for doing well by being paired with a player 1800 or above. Since the Kansas City chess scene is small...I obtain the same results and the rating suffers. On the positive side, I make them work at it and they say so. Thanks for your kind words.
Post a Comment