My Chess Bio:..
In the summer of 1987 I met a guy at a party who looked to be as bored as I was so I introduced myself. He told me his name and in the same breath asked if I played chess. At the time I knew how the pieces moved but nothing more. By the end of the night I was fascinated. After work the next day I raced to the local RadioShack and bought a computerized chessboard. It had 10 skill levels, and I remember playing it on the first or second level and getting stomped. Within a couple weeks I was still getting stomped, but it was taking longer todo it. This went on for several more weeks, and I remember thinking it was going to take a lot longer to reach that Level 10 setting than I had imagined. Luckily, three weeks later I suffered a life altering spinal cord injury in a diving accident and completely forgot about the game... for 20 years.
Fast forward to 2007, I rediscovered chess on a website called itsyourturn.com. There I played turn-based chess almost daily. When that website folded (or maybe went up on their pricing) I wound up here on chess.com. Since then I have played turn-based chess (3 days/move) almost exclusively. In that time I have bought dozens of chess books and even read a couple of them. Then several years back I decided it was time to buckle down and get serious about the game, so I saved my money and took some lessons. After working with three different coaches, two NMs and an Expert, here's what I've learned. I am unteachable. A real imbecile. One of my coaches, after just a half-dozen lessons, told me that if I took it seriously and worked hard on my game for ten years, studying every day, playing long games every day, analyzing those games every day, he thought I might reach 1300. "But I'm rated 1200 now," I explained. "Yeah, that's all factored into the estimate." I am now back to studying on my own.
I blame the sharp blow to my head back in '87. That's why I am unable to master this game. That and that alone. The truth is I have gotten worse. Occasionally I think I'm getting better but my rating does not agree. My correspondence rating has gone down several hundred points from my brief peak during my 15 years here on chess.com.
UPDATE: August 2021 --
With only two years of therapy and counseling after that last chess lesson, stupid coach, I was able to pull myself together and spend more money in pursuit of my dream--being a good chess player--maybe a 1500 or so. Daily tactics, end game study, live games (using a clock and everything) along with postmortems and/or analysis without the engine after every game. And again, I think I might be getting better (or just about to get better). Like I said, I have thought that before, but this time it feels different. This time I think it's really happening. I think I'm about to make a breakthrough.
UPDATE: August 2022 --
Spaced repetition my ass.
If you want a game, G30+30 or slower, drop me a message.
- Greg
