Tournament Study Routine (I suffer from CSS Can’t See S**T)
Monday:
Did 41 problems on level 20 of CT-ART Scored 80%, best so far!
Worked through CTTP for about 25 minutes, only got 3 pages through, like I said earlier this is the toughest chapter.
Played 2 G15's. Man am I rusty, I played two really terrible games, it's been 7 weeks since my last OTB game and 3 1/2 since my last G15. I really need to knock the rust off.
I played against a Scandinavian which I normally eat up and missed a simple tactical shot at move 19 that would have given me an advantage, instead I blundered a few moves later and lost the game.
I played an absolutely awful Alekhine in my second game. I was cramped and overall didn't play like me. I lost and I rightfully deserved it.
Kept entering my repertoire in Chess Assistant, working through the Moscow Variation of the Sicilian Defence. I am now wondering why this thing gives me fits, apparently you have to go back an look over your repertoire choices from time to time, to make sure they are still fresh.
Tuesday:
Skipped CTTP, because I got carried away with my opening repertoire database entry. I took 50 minutes to do this today.
Did another 41 problems on level 20, scored a respectable 77%.
Played a G15 once again terrible, I can't seem to actually see anything at the board, it's like I'm paralyzed. I got a good game but lost on time, I don't quite know how to remedy this.
Wednesday:
Another 41 problems at level 20 only scored a 69%. Just fantastic now my tactical drills are sucking too! This is not good...
Worked through CTTP for another 25 minutes, I only got through 2 pages this time. One of the examples in the book was just fucking wrong! The game continuation was, well just stupid; it took me awhile to figure it out.
Played 2 G15's, I lost my first one, a Colle. Good news is I played the opening correctly, bad news is I made a stupid counting error and got the worse position out of it. Good news, I got a chance to redeem myself a few moves later, bad news, I screwed that one up too...
My second G15 I won, yay, finally! I played ok, my opponent blundered a piece. I played pretty well to seal the deal, but I missed a forcing move, I still won, but the best continuation escaped me.
Overall I'm still playing pretty shitty; I have to confess to being a bit concerned about the upcoming tournaments. My tactics are dull to say the least and I am in this constant haze of indecision. Nothing left to do but try again tomorrow.
Thursday:
Did another 41 problems in CT-ART, scored 80% again but it took me a little over an hour. I will slow down my pace on CT-ART problems in order to improve my results. A minute and a half is a reasonable amount of time per problem. I was really tired (still haven't been able to sleep more than 4 hours at a clip) so I took a nap before work.
Friday:
Did nothing today! I don't know if it was the 5 hours of sleep I got last night or the fact that I didn't have work OR go to school today, but I was feeling too good to stay in the house for long. I ran errands instead.
I got my car detailed, just in time too, it was getting a bit funky. Bought a Father's day gift for my...well my father, parked myself in a Barnes and Noble for awhile and had a $5 cup of coffee bought some clothes, actually some shirts, and I had dinner with Mrs. Wang. Awesome day, but it won't improve my chess. I’ll hit it hard tomorrow.
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Saturday:
Slept 9 hours last night! WOOHOO! I haven’t slept that long in over a month! I feel fan-dam-tastic! Made myself a bowl of oatmeal and started studying…
Did 2 sets of 41 level 20 problems, got 73% and 79% respectively; it took me a total of an hour and a half to complete both sets. Overall a little better but I don’t seem to be making big strides with this. I spent the rest of the day with the wife shopping and hanging out, something about me working nights and not seeing me too much….
So much for hitting it hard today, I’ll have to start up again tomorrow
Sunday:
Did the last 40 problems for level 20, took me 41 minutes and I scored an 86%! This is an all time high for me. I finished the third pass at this level at a total of 78%, a 4% increase over last time. For those keeping score at home I did my first circle at 70%, second at 74%, and my last at 78%, I’m averaging a 4% increase with each successive attempt.
Finished CTTP it took me 4 hours total. Seeing as I spent extra time during the week on G15’s and opening prep, I skipped that and will pick up again on Monday.
Overall not too bad I kept the schedule flexible as I still work and have other obligations. I will start throwing down some book reviews this week so check back often. I am going to start with Endgame books, and surprisingly there are 5 book reviews that I can do. I had no idea I had so many endgame books.
Have a good week folks.