I'm in! 
Good luck with your training plan!
Birdsell’s June Bounty (Intermediate Rapid & Classical)
Sort:
May 27, 2021
0
#3
IgnoratioElenchi33 wrote:
I'm in!
Good luck with your training plan!
Great! Let's go Birdsell!!
Go Birdsell! You can do it!
May 28, 2021
0
#5
There should be a "new topic" button on the right, or on this page https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/chess-goals
Hi RaymondL2007! If you click the green “New Topic” button, you’ll be able to add a post to the forum.
Day 1 of the bounty is here! I’m going to continue from where I am currently in the Intermediate Classical/Rapid plan, so this will be week 6. I started it up yesterday (don’t worry, I won’t count it towards the challenge!) and got through Efficient and Maximize tasks pretty quickly, probably too quickly. 
I’ll be posting updates to this post every few days for the month of May. Looking forward to see how this whole challenge goes!
UPDATE: Thursday seems as good a day as any to provide a midweek update, so here goes. I’m on track after four days with the challenge. I’ve actually been maximizing the ‘Maximize’ tasks, which has been an absolute disaster for my blitz rating. I’ll not be doing any extra blitz play in the future.
Today I have a ChessGoals tactics class in the morning, then I’ll start working through the daily tasks.
Week one of my bounty challenge is complete! Holy COW is it a lot of chess! Last week had two longer format games, a 30|30 June event with the ChessGoals Discord crew and the Lichess 45|45 league match. That there was four hours of chess in two games! It’s a good thing my wife has hobbies of her own...
I almost missed a game analysis last Friday. I had played a blitz game and told myself that I would analyze it later. It got to be 10:30 at night, I was already in bed, and I remembered I still had to run through the opening! Whoops! My takeaway there is that I need to make certain I have time for the game AND the analysis before I start playing. On to week two!
Nice work @Birdsell. Love that tracking sheet
Today marks the halfway point of this bounty and I’m still plugging away! This is a LOT of chess. My wife hasn’t left me (yet) though she did ask if I loved chess more than her. The juggling of family/social commitments and a 17+ hour a week chess schedule is a lot to deal with. My ChessGoals Discord match from Sunday is a prime example.
Long format game, but we were celebrating at the in-laws’ house. I tried to block out an hour and a half, but between nieces and nephews, dogs, and inquisitive relatives, I had a predictable result. It’s hard to fit it all in and frustrating to not be able to try your best. Thankfully chess is a game and nobody is paying me to play, so I try not to take losses TOO badly.
Jun 15, 2021
0
#15
You're doing great! You set a very high bar for yourself plus you have work, family life, and other hobbies. It's all downhill to the finish line of this bounty :-)
FAILURE! (failure is probably a bit harsh given the task at hand)
Well... I gave it my all but slipped up last week. I had my Lichess 45|45 league match scheduled on a day where I also had 2 15|10's and 4 5|5 matches, all with analysis. While I got the games in, I neglected to analyze two of the Blitz games. Whoops. So that means I owe a study plan!
I did learn some things during this bounty challenge. I certainly found my (and likely my wife's...) upper limit of how much time I can spend on chess in a given week. Any more than 12 hours a week is too much, between work/family/other 'stuff'.
Trying to shove chess playing in between work meetings and family commitments meant that the chess I was getting in was rushed and inaccurate. Improvement takes focus and my ratings collapse during the challenge is partially indicative of forced play. I think it's better, at least for me, to spend less time on chess but making that time laser-focused. Practice does not make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.
So the future holds less time on chess, but better time on chess. Thanks to all of those who followed along!
I, Birdsell, being of sound-ish mind and relatively healthy body, do hereby declare that if I do not complete all tasks in the ChessGoals Intermediate Rapid & Classical plan, including the Maximize tasks, for four consecutive weeks starting June 1st, I will award a study plan to any ChessGoals forum member who posts four weekly updates in the month of June 2021. Progress will be tracked weekly in the Chess.com forums.