My Training Diary

Here goes my first attempt at starting a blog. The purpose of this blog will be to share my trials and tribulations with improving at chess.

I have recently come back to the game after a 15 year abscense, apart from the very occasional game during that period.

To get my playing strength up I have decided to focus my training on the following areas;

1. Tactics - Using CT ART 3.0 and Lev Alburt's Pocket chess book with the 300 key positions.

2. Endgame, Both technical endgames and the strategy of endgames.

3. Playing. I play at a chess club once a week and fairly frequently on this site. My preference is for Turnbased On lIne chess for learning my opening systems. And Blitz and Long games for a bit of fun.

I have purposedly decided not to focus on openings for a number of reasons:

1. Most people don't play the theory variations anyway, so why waste so many hours to find an opening advantage when most people play so few "book" moves anyway? Instead focus on learning a couple of "systems" instead and the ideas behind them rather than the latest hot variation. To that end I tend to play Nf3 to start the game and then depending on response choose a Reti line up, English, Queens Paw or even a Queens gambit. Just play simply, get the pieces out, attack the centre and get the king safe. As black, I reply e6 regardless and the Dutch or French usually follows or the occasional Queens Gambit declined if I am playing turnbased chess.