The Cost of Mastery
I have always enjoyed the game of chess and I have been playing it leisurely since I was 7 (so 23 years now). While I participated in school chess clubs a couple of years through school, chess never became a passion. It was just something that I did to pass the time. As I have become older, I have always wanted to improve my game and my hope for when I retire is to play chess through my old age. I am starting this blog to invite discussion on how I can improve my own game while reflecting the simple things that I have learned.
Currently, I am attempting a couple of methods to improve my chess game. For the past month, I have tried to do 50+ chess tactics a day. I follow the simple mentoring program provided by Chess.com and I am watching the videos. I find these to be a great resource. I am also trying out the curriculum of Chesscademy.com, but I am currently stuck trying to beat the computer on the Attack and Defense lesson. I am looking into signing up with a local chess club and seeing how that goes, but a quick look at some of the members tells me that they are currently way out of my league. I know that playing those who are better than you can only help, but I am not sure how I would react to losing over and over again.
As far as this week, I have played a lot of games with the hopes of applying some of the things that I have been learning. I have been getting slightly frustrated with my personal play because sometimes it is hard to see your progress. For some reason, I thought that when I was in the USCF that my rating was 1100ish, but further research has revealed that it was only 660 and that made me feel better because I thought that I was no better than when I played chess as a teenager.
As far as what I need to work on this week: I need to take my time with some moves. Too often, I get locked into a plan only to have tunnel vision cloud my choices at the cost of a major piece. If anyone has any advice on how I can work on focus, I would welcome it in the comments.
Until next week...
