snits

Gerard Snitselaar
Phoenix, United States

Member Since: Jun 6, 2008
Last Login: Dec 1, 2008
Profile Views: 887
Points: 165
Status:   out of town with my wife until Thursday. (3 days ago)

Birthday: Dec 26, 1971

Occupation: Software Engineer

USCF Rating: 1504

About Me:

I think the first time I saw a chess board was in the 5th grade.

The first time I played was a game against a girlfriend right after high school (a humiliating defeat).

I had been interested in chess and followed the game for quite a while, but I didn't get serious about playing and studying until January 2007. I played my first rated chess then and started with an illustrious rating of around 480. I ended the year at ~1200, and this past Spring jumped up to 1500. Until this past June I had lost only 1 game to a player rated lower than me, unfortunately the total now stands at 3. :(

I mainly play chess for enjoyment, and because I find beauty in the game, but my goal is to achieve the best level that I can. Unfortunately starting to play serious chess at 35 means it will be a long, hard road. The hope is that with 5-7 years of hard work I will achieve a NM title. My goal at the start of this year was to reach 1600, and I reached 1500 by June. I got busy with work over the Summer and early Fall, so I still have a bit of work to do to reach 1600 by the end of the year. I have been playing pretty good against B and A players this year though, so I am not worried if I achieve the rating or not for the year. The rating will get there in the near future, and as long as I play well my rating will improve.

 

Currently working through:

Amateur's Mind by Silman

Silman's Complete Endgame Course

Understanding Chess Tactics by Weteschnik

Paul Morphy: A Modern Perspective by Beim

Think Like a Grandmaster by Kotov

snits's Recent ActivityViewsCommentsDate
Training Update 28 0 11/28/2008
Happy Thanksgiving 39 4 11/27/2008
Training Update 33 0 11/25/2008
Weekend Training Update 47 3 11/24/2008
Training Update 50 0 11/22/2008
Game that ended, was later aborted? 149 7 11/22/2008
First game as a greeter! 68 0 11/21/2008
Training Update 43 1 11/19/2008
Training Update 35 0 11/17/2008
Short - Timman, Tilburg 1991 42 0 11/16/2008
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snits's Latest Blog Post

Training Update

Submitted by snits on Nov 28, 2008 2:04am.

I did manage to get some training done tonight. I finished the pawn ending section for class C in Silman's Complete Endgame Course.  I did a few problems in the tactics trainer. I finished playing through the games from Morphy's match with Lowenthal...Read more »

» posted in Patzer Plays Chess