My Journey To Getting Better At Chess #4

Howdy! I am back for another installment of this series. My primary goal for this post is to outline what has been going on with my chess, how I'm going to continue to practice, and what I want to accomplish. If you are new, this is a series about my "chess journey". So if you think that I am a selfish jerk jabbing about "me-me-me...", then now might be a good time to read another blog!

Dallas FIDE Open Conclusions

In case you do not know what I am referring to, I wrote about my first OTB tournament in 2021 here. The discussion I had with my coach after the tournament was primarily psychological based rather than about the moves, but we did have a good discussion about those as well.

He shed some light on my attitude in that accepting early draws and withdrawing with one round to spare was sort of a reflection that I was not giving it my all during the tournament. He even went on to say that giving it everything I have poses greater respect for the game of chess, which I think is a great point. When I play in my next tournament, and every tournament after that, my goal is to not leave anything on the table, aka, don't give up!  

We even played out one of my draws, coach took my side, and I took my opponent's side. He ended up finding a way to win! (I had included the moves, but when I saved and previewed, it all got erased  I might post it in the comments section).

My plan moving forward

I spent the weeks after my tournament taking it a little loose, simply enjoying chess. I got my Chess.com puzzles rating to over 2600, almost 2700 several times. I also got my Chess.com blitz rating over 1900 at one point. Lastly, I am at my rapid peak, currently 1847 as we speak (or type). Things are looking up online, but I hope it can translate to OTB chess! 

I will probably talk more about my tournament plans next week. I do have some. I was supposed to go to one last weekend in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, but due to the horrid weather conditions (and us fellow Texans know what followed), I had to drop out  

So... my plan for the coming weeks:

• At least one calculation exercise per day (whether it be Aagard problems or problems that my coach sends me). Probably do something like write down my answers, compare them to the correct answer, etc.

• One 30|0 game (or longer) every other day, and spend the off day analyzing it in some detail.

• Spend some time organizing my openings! My coach and I have been doing great opening work. I just need to take the time to organize everything and understand it. 

That is about it for tonight, good friends! Feel free to leave a comment, I enjoy reading those. Otherwise, have a blessed day, and I will see you around soon!