Pins, Study Method, Get More Blog Views

Hi all!

There are at least three main topics I would like to talk about.

• pin videos
• another study method for games/positions in diagrams
• how I dislike that sound posts like the past one get 28 views and 0 comments

I am still wondering if I should rather write at least two different posts, let's see. In the end this blog is taking the direction of a chess diary, so it makes sense to write about everything. If anybody would prefer to read about a topic only, just let me know.

Tonight I am too tired for streaming, my result with puzzle rush was 18, less than the 22 I would like to do to be fit for playing a long time control game. Wait, wasn't the number 20? I raised it to 22 when I passed the 1000 mark! Then, blog time!

PIN VIDEOS

You know I am now focussing on pins, doing pin puzzles on top of my puzzle rush sessions, and now I decided to check some pin videos. The most of them are on the top of the search in youtube, so I am not telling you anything new, yet... I think all these videos are worth watching, for a reason or another.
The Pin | Tactics | ChessKid
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjpKC9SMvKs
Wait, isn't it a video for kids from @chesskid @funmastermike ? It is a good starting point if you are new to chess or want to see some obvious pins.
Pins! | Chess for Beginners - WGM Jennifer Shahade
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2CHth9h79s
Another kid course, this time from Saint Louis Chess Club. They usually cooperate with a lot of master players, and record the courses. I have seen a bunch for kids. This video is very interesting, asking continuously why playing something instead of something else and seeing wrong variations helps a lot!
The Power of the Pin - Beginner to Chess Master # 14
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=851pCMJv2Sg
Despite being a bit slow, the video is interesting and it stresses over and over some important concepts, especially that the value and power of the pinned piece and its defender is dramatically lower than the usual value they have. These concepts are also written on the right side of the screen, another great reminder. I still have to see the last part of the video, yet it is very instructional. Good job, @chessnetwork !
28 Days To Better Chess Tactics - Day  1 - Pins!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohx5zY3XGkg
Quite some examples and definitely not obvious, I did several wrong and was convinced the solution was another.

Many of these videos are parts of broader courses that also cover other tactical themes. There are some more pin videos I would like to see or watch again and share, but I will do it in another post!

ANOTHER STUDY METHOD FOR DIAGRAMS

It is very difficult to figure out what is happening in a given position or game for me. I am trying to study positions from the free sample of a book, The Art of Checkmate. One of the examples appeared in 3 videos, and I have shared it in the last post. The next endgame was not occurring in any video, yet was part of a game, Fairhurst - Reshevsky 0-1, Hastings, 1937. What was I doing? I tried to familiarize with the game first. Seeing a mate in 7 sounds a bit too difficult, I simply found the moves of the game, loaded in a lichess study and started to annotate with everything I see for every move. Without getting too crazy, without looking for tactics like crazy. Just listing what I see. I actually commented 11 moves out of 34, but it is better than nothing, or moving back and forth in the game without understanding a thing. You can find the study here, I will slowly go on commenting. https://lichess.org/study/JyUue3nD/IyyC6o0B

POST VISIBILITY

I have already complained with chess.com. Some posts simply get no visibility in the "All Blogs" page, since around the same time somebody decides to get the 10 post award, and posts 10 (or more) empty blog posts. I have told them to limit at one the number of posts from a person in the section, and possibly to put in separate sections chess and non chess posts. I would delete spam posts to be honest, but maybe it is not in the interest of the platform to keep only chess content there for some reasons that I cannot understand.

I know my posts are not perfect, yet I think people do not check that much the a"All Blogs" page for the spam issue.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

• @danheisman always says to review many games, many games, many games to start seeing patterns. Going fast, like a breeze, without overfocusing. For that I could start watching videos from games related to the master games I analyze. Games from the same players, games from the same tournaments, games with the same opening... But I would need all the time in the world...
• I have been said to check games from people that have my style. What is my style? Some people tell me I should attack more, I do not want to check games from people that attack only a little, I also think this is something to fix! Yet, in general, how to assess my style? I have also been said to accept and follow suggestions for the same reason only from people with the same style. I think the most of the suggestions, even the ones that we can't apply at the moment, even the wrong ones, have some truth in them and surely are worth a reflection.
  I have been given tons of suggestions, and of course I could not follow all of them, yet only thinking what I could follow, what not, deciding what I wanted to do, sometimes independently from the suggestions, trying to prioritise things to learn in chess following what was more fun at the moment, what seemed easier, what seemed to give more results in a short time... That has been an interesting process, and it is still ongoing.
• I think confidence and owning what we decide to do is super important in chess, like everywhere else in our life. It has been difficult to trust the process and my decisions when my ELO was stuck, and it was difficult to continue to believe that I am still a bit underrated and that I am making constant progress. Yet I did not give up, I went on doing my games, and the day came when I started winning more games. I tried to be more regular with streaming and posting as well, to share my progress and my trainings and be accountable, which is also a part of the process that I did not always follow.
• I have to find some sound answers to d4. I usually do d5, but then I do more or less random stuff. If you have anything to suggest, let me know. Today I was actually watching a video by @JapaneseTutor which suggested several books, among others one for opening for black, Chess Openings for Black, Explained: A Complete Repertoire. The video for reference: https://lichess.org/study/JyUue3nD/IyyC6o0B. I am not really sure that playing 10 minute games. 10 puzzles a day and reading 5 books only would have made me reach 1700 in a year. For me playing slow games has been great. Let's see how much more time I would need to reach 1700. And I won't talk about 1700 otb!