Woodpecking tactics to chess greatness! Chess Training during lock-down

Had to re-upload as I lost "Top blogger" status on this post. I assume it was a copy-right issue?

Over a week ago I wrote a blog detailing my improvement plan during the Lock-down: . With the recent announcement by my government that we would not be reaching full normality till July earliest, it is fair to say I have been given a big extension to my training. Thank goodness I thought to myself... I have been rather lazy as of late. After 12 straight days of analysing my classical games, I started to feel the slog of persistent training. Having to get up everyday and motivate myself to play a classical game was one thing, but to then properly analyse it afterwards! - Most days this could take me up to 2-3 hours to do! Chess starting to feel like work a little... Instead of enjoying a beautiful checkmate/tactic or enjoying a positional crush I would then feel discouraged by some silicon engine kibitzer criticising my dynamic play! My plan to do loads of end-game training fell off the wagon a little and my classical chess analysis had become infrequent... 

The burn-out was real!

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Action_Day_Burnout_Kawasaki_ZX_10R-3644.jpg

As a result, I have instead been trying to enjoy my free-time off as much as possible and doing things I would not normally be able to do. For one, I have spent a lot more time with my partner  - You may think I should be doing this anyway, but my normal work pattern is slightly out of sync with hers (I work Wednesday-Sunday and she works weekdays as a teacher. Also on Tuesday's I do all my chess...). Suddenly all this free time has allowed us to enjoy quality time together that we would not normally be able to. We have been working our way through different Netflix series (although to be fair I have a terrible attention span for them!). I have also been enjoying other pursuits like cooking from scratch, engaging in a bit of physical exercise and tending to my jungle of a lawn! But what about the chess? Apart from my weekly 4545 lichess game, chess has taken a little bit of a back-seat...

My solution?

So in order to alleviate the monotony of chess and ensure I stay as motivated as possible, I have decided to incorporate a few adjustments to my training. 

1) Well-being and mindfulness: In these stressful times, eating, sleeping and exercising properly has perhaps not been on the forefront of my mind ( for most chess-players, ever!). Condition of the mind/body is an often neglected aspect of our chess training. At the end of the day, has checkmate ever been delivered over a dinner plate? - I think not. With the weather changing to a beautiful British Summer (admittedly very short-lived) I feel there is no need to be cooped up in the house all day wallowing over a chess board (or in these times of Lock-down: a computer screen). The point of all this: It has been said that a cleaner and fresher mind has been proven to help cognitive functioning and overall mental health well-being. I felt , at the very least, whilst this may not help me improve in chess at all, at least it will may help me become more productive and healthier in my current routine. 

Sleep has also been a factor of my life that is often neglected. Whereas my partner can get to sleep at exactly 10pm every night like clock-work, I tend to struggle with this aspect of my life. One thing I have found helpful in the past is to improve my sleep hygiene. When I first moved into my house, I enacted a screen-free policy in my bed. This was great for the first month, until I ultimately relapsed and gave into my phone/tablet in bed... This has resulted in me getting poor quality sleep and feeling less motivated during the day to do any chess work. I have found that if I don't see a computer screen an hour before bed and enjoy a good book (a sneaky chess tactics book...). I have found that I get much better sleep that way! 

2) Enjoy other pursuits for at least 2 hours a day. It is sad to say, but any time I have spent away from a chess-board has felt like I have been skiving off school or procrastinating from doing my home-work. I am not sure why I get these feelings, after all, I haven't sat in a classroom lesson for years! There is of course more to life than chess and outside chess, I love watching documentaries (I have recently watched both Tiger King and Last Dance in their entirety...) and playing card games either with my partner or playing an online TCG (my current favourite is a WWII inspired game called Kards). If you have any documentaries and TCGs I should try please let me know!

3) A regular structured break in middle of chess study. I have noticed that I can easily become absorbed in chess to point that whole hours can be wasted on one particular aspect of the game! My proposal, to ensure that everything stays in, to have a break at least every 50 mins. When I was revising for exams I used to have a ten minute break for every 50 minutes of work. This allowed me to reset my mind and re-focusing on revising after the break thus avoiding anything escaping my mind/eventual burn-out

With these adjustments, my schedule looks a little different:

• Morning session: 2 hours of study (two 50 minute blocks)
• Afternoon/evening session: 1 hour of study (one 50 minute block)
• + Any scheduled classical game I have online/correspondence games I have on the go. 

Well-being mindfulness: 

• My partner at I have been enjoyed at least one outdoor walk a day to a shop to get essential supplies
• Good sleep - No screens before bed!
• A controlled 2 hours of whatever I want to do - documentaries/TCGs

Tactics, tactics, tacitcs!

Despite my apparent short-comings, one thing that I have been making sure to continue doing is lots of tactics! I am still working my way through the woodpecker method little by little and with each cycle (I am on maybe my fifth cycle now??) of the first 500 puzzles. My tactical vision is definitely becoming much sharper. I have uploaded some of my thought processes on the book on my channel. Definitely check it out! 

I would love to post how much I have improved since doing the woodpecker method but the empirical evidence, in my view, is not robust enough. What I have found in doing loads of tactics is that I am becoming more unafraid to enter complications and have been enjoying more dynamic positions:

One of my most recent struggles online in my lichess4545 league

Even in the London, I am finding exciting developments in my game

I hope you enjoyed this blog. Let me know what you think of my adjustments in the comments below. Stay safe and I hope to post more soon!