Cooper-Carlson

I'm a USCF 2000 player, recently returning to serious study of the game, trying to make master.  I am taking lessons with Melikset Khachiyan, and I am fortunate enough to live in the L.A. area so that I can meet an excellent chess coach like Melik face to face.  My goal in creating this blog is to document my progress towards my goal, and also to help the process along, by reflecting on what I learn in my lessons, and annotating some of my games based on my thoughts during the game, combined with recollection of my teacher's comments.

The annotations in these games will not generally have a note of confidence.  They are more written with the tone of a struggling, improving player, rather than the sage judgments of a strong expert.  Also, I will not always be trying to get to the absolute truth of the position, but more focusing on the mental obstacles I need to overcome to improve, which is not necessarily exactly the same thing as just correcting the moves made and giving a winning line instead.