There is no I in Fun

On the plus side, I'm enjoying the problem-solving aspects of playing chess.

On the downside, I'm not enjoying the 'oh crap, why did/didn't I ...' moments.   

On the plus side, all this is taking place in the quiet anonymity of the Internet.  

I mean, it's not like I'm flailing away in a public setting and I've played some really bad pick-up basketball games where the point isn't the grace and beauty of athletic competition but rather to have middle-aged out of shape guys strain themselves to the point where they need medical attention.

Which explains why the local chiropractor sponsors the community Mens Over-50 division.    

As does the local pub.

So, I'll keep flailing away at Tactics Trainer and going through the lessons.  The thing about Tactics Trainer that I find mystifying are the two-step/three-step solutions where the computer's response isn't what I would have predicted.  So it's just a complete muddle from the get go.

I think there's a way to play out the different scenarios in the Analysis Engine.  I might try that a bit just to see how off my solution was.