The Patzer Chronicles: Going Where No Man Has Gone Before
First off, the title is a little pretentious, don't you think. Yes, it is ridiculous, but...
Okay, here it is, I'm committing once again to improve my ratings at chess.
My goal is within eight months to move above 1400 again. My rating as of July 12 was 1074. (I've won a couple games this week, but for the purpose of this challenge, I'm starting with the July 12 nadir.)
Some of you who have followed this blog might remember (probably not, who am I kidding) But anyway, some of you might remember that about four years ago, on October 18, 2020, I had fallen down to a rating of 1074. (Notice the parallels? Freaky, don't you think?) At that time, I made a commitment to improve. I developed a system. I hired a coach. And I worked at it. I studied puzzles. I did the lessons on Chess.com, I read books, and I played seriously with intention. My chess coach, King's Bishop (who by the way is still on Chess.com) gave me some pointers. And I did improve. I worked my way up to 1425 in about 21 months. That is about 16 points a month improvement.
But since I have been there before, I think with work I should be able to do it in 8 Months! Or 40 points a month. Or more realistically two years.
Now I am going to give myself a slight reprieve. I do tend to travel via truck and trailer, and I have found the Wi-Fi in RV camping to be very spotty. If I was doing it full time, I would invest in another Wi-Fi source, but ... alas... So, if I am traveling, I get a dispensation, that month does not count against the eight. (You know these are my rules and I can make them up as I like!)
So, how am I going to do it? With forethought and a plan.
Every week I have objectives I have to reach:
End Game Theory (20 minutes)(6 days/week), Opening Theory (30 minutes)(6 days/week), Tactics (30 problems per day), Live Games on Chess.com (60-minute games)(3 per week) Computer or Over the Board games (7 per week) Annotation of all live games on Chess.com, Visioning (3 days a week) Blindfold games (versus computer) (2 per week) Blog (at least once per month).
Some theory behind the above plan is that in most disciplines you need to spend at least three times as much time in practice as you do in games.
So, that's the plan. Which also means I am going to hold off on writing any new novels for a little while. (If you're at all curious, you can look me up on Amazon under Marvin Brauer.)
So as of today, I'm at 1107.
Let me know in the comments what your goals are.
And here is a game. Please note there is a question on move 18. If you are an expert player, I'd love your opinion.
