Tired of Not Improving at Chess?

Week #3 Day # 3 (of my 12 week plan to improve) Rating 1252 +86 currently on an 11 game win streak!

This is the Chronicle of Excheqquer a chronic nonimprover, a static patzer, a languid chess player, an inert blob that stank up the 64 squares, in other words I was stock-still, and my ratings were leaden, and I decided to give the Chess.com Study Plan a test. 

If you identify at all to the paragraph above you can find the study plan by clicking on learn/articles/study plan, because  It doth appear that knowledge of chess can be an aid. 

On the docket I continue to work through the section for the Endgame.  What I have read before suggests that knowing the endgame is the best place to improve your game. Apparently Chess.com buys into that theory, because the section on the endgame is longer than the other sections. 

First off find my music. I think some John Lennon today. 

Okay to work on the first 40 lessons of this course 

Pawn Endings: Beginner to Expert by IM Eric Tangborn and FM Thomas Wolski-- check really valuable.  And time consuming. But no one ever said chess was easy!

Watched this video:

• Rook Endgames: Beginner to Master - Part 1 by IM Daniel Rensch  - learning, or rather relearning the Lucena Position and Philidor defense. I had learned these several years ago, but since I had not put them to use, the ideas were very rusty. Always good to keep reviewing. 

Now time for Puzzles 808 -1107  30 puzzles 26/30. I really liked doing yesterday's Puzzle Rush Survival, and will probably use that mode in the future rather than resetting my puzzle history. But for the present will get myself back up to highest levels of around 2100. That should take me a few more days. 

And then for the game of the day. I'm very conscious that I am sitting on a career best 11 game winning streak. I am also aware as I'm improving the quality of my opponent keeps improving. Today I could get a player rated as high as 1444.  That would be my best ever win. 

My opponent is Garitru from Serbia. He is rated 1130, but only has 39 rapid play games.  He plays a good game, and I expect if he gets serious about his chess he could have a good run. 

Rating 1257 +91 12 game winning streak!

By the Way if you enjoy reading well done annotations check out Colorfulcake's blog here: How Differently Do an 1850 and a 2000 Think? | Game Analysis Comparison Part 2 - Chess.com

Now back to study another video . 

• Rook Endgames: Beginner to Master - Part 2 by IM Daniel Rensch -- with some more advanced ideas when it not quite the philidor -- ie king on the short, rook on the long and at the end weight on the 8th.   Now I think i should go do lessons to drill in the ideas. 
• Do or Die with Rook Endings by IM John Watson -- I found these lessons the least helpful of any I have done thus far.  I haven't finished judgement, but so far I'm not putting Watson in the Rensch  or Pruess class. 
• Do this drill: Two Rook Checkmate -- as I have previously pointed out since Chess.com has undergone multiple revisions, these highlighted attachments to drills no longer work. 
• and then I do Some Rook and Other Endgame lessons by IM Silman. I like his lessons  better than IM Watson's, but that's just a personal preference. 

And that about does it for the day.