The Year of the Books and High Expectations

We enter a new year with high hopes and hopefully great expectations. I have decided to make this the Year of the Books. A betting buddy made a friendly wager with his loved one about the number of books to read in the year to come. Reading has always been a passion of mine but after the arrival of the small dear ones, the reading hours have been few and far in between. Passive Reading has been my cup of tea (i.e. “Have you been reading any good books lately?”)!

The third leg in me personal makeover will be linked to personal health: Less of me and more exercise!

The health goals will be reached with the help of the “6 Changes approach” which is based on the simple idea that a new habit is best established by a series of small steps. A few weeks from now, I hope to start each day with a 20-30 minute “Power Walk”.

The Year of the Books will of course influence my chess training. The first item on the agenda will be to study an appropriate chunk of Silman’s: “Complete Endgame Course” aiming at an Endgame IQ slightly higher than my goal ICC rating (1400+ by the end of the year).

Generic Chess Training Regime:

Monday: Chesstempo for 15+ minutes (CT), One problem from Chess Exam: You vs. Bobby Fischer (CE)
Tuesday: CT, CE, ICC Monthly Standard Tournament
Wednesday: CT, CE, Annotating tournament game
Thursday: CT, CE
Friday: CT, CE, Reading Silman
Saturday: CT, CE, Reading Silman, Chess Books Reading Group
Sunday: CT, CE

After brushing up my endgame IQ, I plan to start working on something like Stean’s “Simple Chess” and some collection of annotated games.