A Chess.com Study Plan Blog

Week # 3 Day # 5 Rating 1257 + 91 on the plan. 

I have hit a little rough patch in my devotion to the plan. My wife is not as convinced that this chess study constitutes meaningful activity. She would prefer that I pick up dog poo, do home maintenance, clean up cat litter boxes,  and go shopping with her.  But if studying chess is not meaningful that I am at a loss as to what the word meaningful means. Am I wrong?

Hopefully having paid my dues I can get a little significant study time in this morning, and finally get another game in this afternoon. Yes, it is true I play at least 60' games and they require blocks of dedicated time. 

First off some puzzles. 

puzzles . I am reworking my way back up after doing a reset.  33 problems 1404 - 1510.

Also I would like to give another shout out to colorfulcake who is also doing a Chess.com Study plan blog. He is a better player than I, so it will be interesting to see how the chess.com study plan works at that level. I am reasonably certain when you get over 2000, further improvement comes slower. Then again I was an inveterate nonimprover.  But check out his blog: Tactics Training Day 1 | Puzzle Rush - Chess.com

Well, I am now on the final section Putting it all Together Section 5.

The first video is Amazing Games for Beginners: Tunnel Vision by IM David Pruess -- excellent, showing an interesting attack along the h file in a Nimzo Indian game. I've never seen this line before. I'll have to watch for it. 

Then there is the idea of visualization. Staring at the board, knowing the position. 

Then these videos:

• Everything You Need to Know: Bringing It Together by IM Daniel Rensch
• Tactics Do Grow on Strategies by IM David Pruess -- Pruess shows a tactics that you black can sometimes get in the Benko Gambit. Interesting. I'll have to watch it a couple more times, maybe I should play the Benko as black against d4.

And here are the top 10 reasons why lower rated players lose according to the study plan. Which ones fit you?

1. I did not see (or underestimated) my opponent's threat(s). -- I have had this a few times.
2. I did not develop/get castled. -- I'm working hard on trying to avoid getting distracted. 
3. I ignored a passed pawn that ultimately promoted. -- gotta keep playing the games
4. I sacrificed prematurely to attack and could not find a checkmate.-- I've done this a time or two. 
5. I got behind on material from bad tactics.
6. I could not stop a mating attack. --I hate it when this happens!
7. I did not try my hardest (lack of focus). --If you really want to improve you have to stop playing when you are no longer able to focus. 
8. I played too fast. --I keep working on this as well. And I'm doing much better. 
9. I took too much time, and eventually I ran out of time or blundered. -- rarely my problem.
10. I did not have any idea how to proceed or find a plan. -- occasionally I'm not sure, but I'm getting better. 

My biggest problem is wrong calculation. Which is why I keep doing the tactics. 

Game of the Day:

Here is the featured game of the day. It was a 60 minute game. My opponent was 4uru4. He is 1120 player from Mexico. He plays rather infrequently, only one or two games a month, if that. The game was a Queen's Gambit Accepted, Central Variation, Greco variation.

There were some elements where I was n't sure of the appropriate line. Here are my annotations. 

He played a 62 % accuracy and 45% best move. I was 92% with a 58% best move!

Before I started the Study Plan I was routinely losing these games. Before I started the study plan I would get early advantages and then give them away in the late middle and end game. For the present I am able to convert these games into wins. 

This is now my 13th win in a row

Rating 1262 + 96 points 13 wins in a row.