First Club Tournament and My Usual Diary
#1000ELO #club #chessfactor #online-courses #trapped-pieces #philidor #queens-gambit #diary #my-progress #solo-chess #ambassador #topbloggers
Hi all!
What happened in the last days?
CLUB TOURNAMENT
I have been to a club last Wednesday, probably the most popular in Berlin, Schachfreunde. They meet on Wednesdays, every Wednesday they do a different kind of tournament. The first of the month they play 12 minute rapid, the one that actually would be best for me (and would anyway be too fast). Last Wednesday it was 5 minute blitz. I already have a hard time seeing the board when I play on a board that has the tournament size, with blitz I was simply reacting as fast as I could. I lost all the games, I got mated twice I think but in all other games I lost on time since I cannot really think that fast. There was one game I could have won if I had another couple of minutes.
All in all a good experience, yet I did not talk much with others, we did not have much time to do it. I even did not have great questions about the games, it was everything too fast. Next time I will be prepared a bit better!
I had to play against the Queen's gambit at least 3 times out of 11 games, I do not see it that often online. Is it more popular otb than online, or at an higher rating?
How was your first club tournament, if you ever attended any?
https://schachfreunde.berlin/
AMBASSADOR CHESS BOARD
I actually found a chessboard with pieces I like! I have been thinking about buying a chess board of official size to get used for tournaments. I know I am bad, but I want to get rid of all the issues that are not connected to me being a beginner. You know what? I also thought to go to tournaments with a cushion or a thick book to put on the chair, to see the board from a higher point of view and be able to see everything all at once.
https://www.amazon.de/-/en/gp/product/B01N9R7G1J/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=AKYT3CJNMO9RO&psc=1
CHESSFACTOR
I found a new site. I mean, I stumbled on videos from Alex Astaneh pretty often, but never realized they were created for a well structured site that promoved chess learning. Courses seem very well made, there is a good amount of puzzles for each topic, and they are quite challenging even if they are related to relatively easy themes. I did so far only the elementary courses, I will next do the openings I am regularly doing to see if I can understand them better, and probably also the openings that I cannot really handle when I am on the other side, to see if that makes it a bit easier for me. There you can also play games and do random puzzles, like almost anywhere, I did not try those functions extensively.
Have you checked out chessfactor, or other sites that teach chess, that you found interesting? We all know courses on chess.com and on lichess (and probably not all of them). In general, what courses did you find more useful? Even on the most famous sites I just cited.
I am honest, I think using more than one site does not bring anything away from others. It should be a help to improve. Right now chess.com is becoming even closer to a monopoly after having acquired Play Magnus group and I think it is more important than ever to check other sites, and to keep them alive. If only chess.com would be around, it would be a loss for the whole online chess community. Chess.com included.
https://www.chessfactor.com/dashboard/
PINS
It looks like I am improving. I started seeing them. I do not see all pins, but I start seeing them. All videos and puzzles did in the last weeks must have worked in the end!
TRAPPED PIECES
Since I have been focussing on pins for quite some time, I will focus on trapped pieces next. Not that much of an hanging fruit like pins, you have to calculate a bit more usually, yet it should be helping a lot. And trapping a piece is a huge material advantage. So... it sounds like a good thing to do. Would you go for it or for something else? Do you know any good material focussed on trapped pieces? What is your weak point? In the next posts I will share material about trapped pieces, if I find something interesting!
SOLO CHESS
I tried it in the last stream. Have you ever tried it? I think it is not something that really works in stream, but maybe it could help improving calculation and board vision. Have you ever tried? Did it work out for you? I have my doubts, but maybe I will play it when I feel like I don't want to do other stuff. And will see if it is working somehow.
https://www.chess.com/solo-chess
PHILIDOR DEFENSE FOR WHITE
Yes, another thing I should learn. Yes, if you are playing regularly with me and always winning with the Philidor despite it being not the best opening out there, you know that I want to become a bit more comfortable with it because of you. But I also always lose when I do my beloved Caro-Kann. Wait, Lichess gives 1. e4 c6?!. Caro-Kann is an inaccuracy for Lichess, I should rather do the French Defense. Really, Lichess? Maybe I will focus on The French next. 
I have anyway looked for some videos about Philidor for white, and the most interesting one was so far was from @thechessnerd.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BxjT3x-wDU
TOP BLOGGERS
I got recently in the top blogger program. I have been in the past, but I did not write for a couple of weeks since I had visits around and then I lost the status. At least, I think I was a top blogger, I am sure I had a band in my profile for blogs, but not so sure it was for a top blogger! Are there other bands here on chess.com you are aware of?
FAVOURITE CHESS STUDY COMPOSITION
Last but not least, the weirdest question I received today in my last twitch stream. What is my favourite chess study composition. I am so new to chess that I do not have one. Do you have one? Or a favourite style, author, favourite type of... whatever? Now I come to think at @Renate-Irene, and she spoke about the magic, harmony and perfection of some positions, puzzles and studies. Maybe she could jump here and say her vision about it! I am sure she would have a lot to share, but please, to anybody else, share your opinion as well!
For the sake of it, you can find here my last stream on twitch where you can see my warm pajama, since they did not switch on the heating yet! Oh, wait, I like that pajama too much, it deserves to be the cover image of this post!
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1606261006
