Being Lazy

I haven't been good about getting back in the swing of things chess-wise since we have returned from our vacation at the beginning of the month.

I will be starting today though since I have today off from work.

Today is a master games day, so I will continue to work through some more games in McDonald's Chess: The Art of Logical Thinking. I might also play through some stuff in the NiC Yearbooks I received today for my birthday.

It is amazing how easy it is for life to intrude and interrupt things. My New Year's resolution will be to work harder on not letting things distract me from my chess work. Some times it is not avoidable, such as with work (if I want to keep getting a paycheck), but I should be able to do a better job of jumping right back in if there is an interruption in studying. I need to keep my eye on the ball if I am going to ever reach the level I want to. Another New Year's resolution will be to get back to playing frequent over-the-board chess. Nothing does a better job at helping your improve and assimilate knowledge you have gained than sitting down across from someone and playing a slow game.

The way things worked out I didn't get much otb chess in the last half of the year, so I didn't hit my goal of 1200 -> 1600 this year. I did hit 1504 in June, so if things would have kept going I should have easily broke 1600. I have still been improving though and working with my teacher so I think I can still strive to hit 1800 this coming year. It will be hard goal to reach though, but one worth going for.

Happy holidays to everyone.