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The Chess.com Study Plan Challenge, Strategy.

The Chess.com Study Plan Challenge, Strategy.

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Excheqquer
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Week # 2 Day # 4 Rating 1212 +46 points on the plan to start the day

I, Excheqquer, am a chronic non improver. Despite doing puzzles, annotating games, doing lessons, I continued to have a static rating. Thus I decided to put the Chess.com Study plan to the trial. This blog is a record of that test. 

I continue to work through the curriculum for the strategy section of Plans for Beginning Players - # 4 Strategy. Today I'm going to watch these videos:

  • Amazing Games for Beginners: Pillsbury’s Attack by IM David Pruess-- David Pruess is an excellent commentator. I really like the way he explains things.  After watching the video I went to the learn/explore tab and looked up the game he talked about. Then I was able to run through various options on how it was played, and how if I was black I could defend against it.  For example 
  • In this position black has Ne4, h6, or c5 all of which are completely even games. So while the Pillsbury attack can be a powerful tool for white. With some reasonable defense black does not need to fear it. 
  • Amazing Games for Beginners: Magic Outpost by FM Elliot Liu-- a very instructive game showing how to set up a knight outpost. It is really helpful to find which instructors match for my learning style. Elliot Liu is in the plus column. The white player made frequent use of  Zwischenzug, and potential forks, potential trapped queens to achieve his results. 
  • Magic Outpost 2 by FM Elliot Liu
  • Chess Vocabulary: Pawn Structure by IM Daniel Rensch-- Danny is probably the best at doing videos. Just a natural teacher.  I knew a number of the  terms, pawn chains, isolated pawns, backward pawns, didn't know what a wedge was, and I had heard the term minority attack, but had never paid much attention to it. I learned a lot, going over it again. 
  • Isolated Queen Pawns: Introduction by IM Daniel Rensch-- watched this, showing how the isolated queen pawn structure should be played. It is an older video from When Rensch first got his IM norms.  Fun. 

I'll read this:

Do these lessons:

Do puzzles 31 and 32 (only) in this lesson:

Endings, Openings, a Taste of the Middle by IM Jeremy Silman and NM Mike Arne  -- In which I learn under what circumstances doubled pawns are good versus bad. So the key is if the lead pawn of a doubled pawn can be protected by a pawn than doubled pawns can be a strength, plus it will give you an open file.  I always learn from Silman!

Of course I'll do my puzzles.

Puzzles 1740-1855 12/13

And get in a game 

Rating 1218 +48 points on the program.  End of the day

That's 8 wins in a row. That ties my best streak. I'm overdue for a correction.