Starting the experimental trial

For information about my experiment, please refer to my first post.

I did my first meditation session on Sunday (9/24). I managed to focus at a reasonable intensity for about 10 minutes. After that my ability to focus was completely gone and my brain felt like a wrung-out sponge. On the day after (when I'm writing this) my ability to focus is still a bit impaired. We'll see how quickly my brain adapts to the focus meditation. My plan is to gradually push up the duration of the meditation to something higher than 10 minutes (perhaps 30 minutes).

To be fair, my brain is tired for more reasons than just the meditation. I attended 2 chess clubs over the weekend. At the 1st club (Rose City Chess). I played 2 serious rapid games (against a 1700). In game 1, I was better positionally, but he found a beautiful sacrificial attack that won him the game. According to the engine, the sacrifice was sound. I think the lesson here for me is to never get complacent. The second game I won. At the 2nd club (Oregon City Chess Club), I played 4 serious rapid games (against a 2050). I won 1 game and lost 3. I will use these 2 opponents as benchmarks for this experiment (in addition to using official ratings). I will know if my scores against them improve or decline. 

My USCF Classical Rating: 1527 (provisional)  

My USCF Rapid Rating: 1498 (provisional)