Back from a Break

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

I took a meditation break for 2 weeks. The first week I took off because I was sick, the second week I took off because I didn't want to exhaust myself before a tournament. I will discuss the tournament later in this post.

I did 2 types of meditation this week. I did a chess-focused visualization-based meditation where I went over lines of theory in my head. I also did a more traditional meditation where I tried to focus on a sensation and clear my mind of unrelated thoughts. On the former I was able to meditate 11 minutes. On the latter I meditated 8 minutes. It is about what I achieved 2 weeks ago, which is good for having took a break.

My results at the tournament were good though not as good as I would have liked. I lost a game to a 2000 and won a game to an 1800. My loss was due to 2 factors. 1. The time control was longer than I'm used to (30+15) (there was an endurance issue) and 2. Being too aggressive. I sacrificed material for a very strong attack, and he successfully defended by sacrificing some of that material back. I honestly did not even consider the counter-sacrifice. So, after the attack was diffused, it was an endgame down a pawn, which he converted very well. The other game I won because I was stronger tactically. I will probably gain points from the tournament because both opponents are rated so much higher than me. I'll find out when the results get posted to the USCF. I think a priority right now is to get the duration of my focus ability higher. I actually felt the exact moment my focus started to falter during the game. My mind suddenly started to wander. I think it is essential that I am able to focus throughout an entire game. In the future, I will try to emphasize duration over intensity. 

My USCF Classical Rating: 1658 (provisional)  

My USCF Rapid Rating: 1624 (provisional)