Members of the Movement --- Please Join!

I have noticed a few Chess posts on New Year's Resolutions. Please update me about other members of the movement!

Members of the Movement:

ericmittens
deepgreene
Begin Chess
Russ Bastable
PetrS
MidwayChessClub

Weekly Training Log (week 1)

November 30- December 6

This will be the first week of my new Training Regime. Tactics will still be the meat and potatoes but the goal is to add one new topic each week.

Weekly Topics:

week 1 french with Nc3, Nd2 when we can capture on e4
week 2 endgame 1 basic checkmates with major pieces
week 3 tarrasch when bishop develops to e2
week 4 endgame 2 1000-1200 part 1
week 5 colle 1
week 6 endgame 3 1000-1200 part 2
week 7 french advanced white plays e4-e5
week 8 endgame 4 1200-1400 part 1
week 9 tarrasch when white places his bishop to g2
week 10 endgame 5 1200-1400 part 2
week 11 colle when black plays kings indian setup with g6, Bg7, pawn d6-e5 or c5
week 12 endgame 6 1200-1400 part 3


Goals for week 1:

• Daily Tactics Sessions using Chess Tempo and/or Chess Magnet School
• Start studying the basics of the french defense
• Play 1-2 League games
• Improve my ratings at Chess Tempo (1805) and Chess Magnet School (1330) by at least five points
  

Monday:
Daily Tactics Team League game Reading Purdy (Action Chess, pp. 77-83)

Tuesday:
Daily Tactics Reading Purdy (pp. 58-66) Analyzing League game

Wednesday:
Daily Tactics Reading Purdy (pp. 66-69 )

Thursday:
Daily Tactics Reading Purdy (pp. 70-73 )

Friday:
Daily Tactics Reading Purdy (pp. 74-77 )

Saturday:
Team League games (2) Reading Purdy (pp. 83-90 )

Sunday:
Daily Tactics Reading Purdy (pp. 90-98 )

All Time High at ICC!

Winning is sweet!

New Year’s Chess Resolution

The Guru hereby invites all fellow chess improvers to join the New Years Chess Resolution Movement! I strongly believe in simplicity, goals and peer pressure. I kindly invite blogging chess improvers to do the following:

• State a Long Term Chess Goal (possibly linked to a suitable number of short term goals)
• State a Chess Promise
• Defining a penalty for failing the chess promise

Hopefully the members of the movement will blog about their efforts and support fellow improvers with feedback on their blogs. How does that sound?

Farbror the Guru's New Year's Resolution:

• Long Term Goal: Reach 1400 at ICC
• Chess Promise: Daily Chess Training (30+ minutes) and Keeping a Weekly Training Log
• Penalty for Failing: Not to buy any books for a year

Members of the Movement:

ericmittens
deepgreene
Begin Chess
Russ Bastable
PetrS
MidwayChessClub

Monday Night League Game

Weekly Training Log

November 23-29

Goals:
Read a chunk of Art of the Attack
Reach 1800+ at Chesstempo
Some work using the Step Method Disc

Monday:
Team League game, Chesstempo +1.5, 12 minutes, a little Art of the Attack

Tuesday:
ChessMagnetSchool.com's Rating Test (scored 1470)

Wednesday:
Chesstempo +11.3 (1804!), 15 minutes, Chess Magnet School +4, 30 minutes

Thursday:
Chesstempo +2.6, 20 minutes, Chess Magnet School +6, 20 minutes

Friday:
Team League game, Chess Magnet School +10, 30 minutes

Saturday:
Chess Magnet School +7, 30 minutes

Sunday:
Chess Magnet School +2, 30 minutes, Chesstempo -1.6, 15 minutes

Please forgive me for bragging my heart out!

I will add some more notes as soon as I touch the ground.

Weekly Training Log

The Guru will be updating an online training diary:


Monday:
Chesstempo +7.8, 24 minutes

Tuesday:
Wednesday: Chesstempo +5.4, 18 minutes, Art of the Attack, 15 minutes, Three Online 15/10 games (2/3)

Thursday:
Chesstempo +5.9, 24 minutes, One lesson and some test exercises using the Step Method

Friday:
Chesstempo -6.0, 30 minutes, Step Method 3.11 + tests, 30 minutes

Saturday:
Team4545 League game (Bragging in process)

Sunday:
Chesstempo +6.4, 20 minutes

Required Reading

Mr Silman posted a Great Article on how to design a Chess Study Program. It is time to spend a little more time on reading Chess Books.

Learn Basic Tactical Patterns: The Art of Attack in Chess


Create an Basic Opening Repertoire: FCO (pretty, almost done!)


Positional Play: Weapons of Chess, Simple Chess (waiting for the revised/rewritten Reassess Your Chess due in April 2010)


The Endgame: Silman's Complete Endgame Course (to a suitable level)

Time Frame? This reading package will probably take forever but I am OK with that. I will still do my Chesstempo sessions etc.

The challenge will be to find a suitable "Chess Hero". I think I have falsely been under the impression that tactics is my main skill (relatively speaking!) since I have done tons of tactics problems. A dear friend pointed out that my best games might have been more of positional chess. OTB I do not mind grinding out a win but I somehow do not feel comfortable assuming any degree of positional chess skills. I just don't have any training in playing positional chess. Furthermore, it is so much more fun to look at master games filled with fireworks.

My understanding of Silman's article is that the areas suggested above should be covered before starting the heavy work with master games. That will give me some time to find and accept a Chess Hero.

All input are most appreciated. Both suggestions on what hero to choose but also which annotated game collection to study.

I do think that "Best Game Collection for Improving Players" has higher priorities that "Most Appropriate Chess Hero". "Learning" as compared to "Pretending to be", if you get my drift?

Winning streak of one!

The Legendery 10 Ply Patzer Repertoire for Black

Well, I might have joined the dark side to become a d4-player. My next bullet on my agenda is to decide on a repertoire as black. I think I have a few ideas using e6 as a backbone. The Guru's Guru Purdy suggested in his articles (collected and published as Action Chess) a certain line of the french against d4. IM Martin, clearly inspired by Purdy, suggested a slightly more sharp version.

The main reason for trying e6 is to have the option to wiggle into either the french or the Tarrasch against almost anything.

My beloved fellow patzers tend to find some artistic free spirit move well before move five so my Opening research/Studies will be limited to "The Legendary 10 Ply Repertoire for Black"

Chess Book Reading Group

I would be interested in a online Reading Group. Any takers? Lars Bo Hasen's book looks promising and interesting.