Isaac's Intermediate Adult Learner PLan

Ok, starting this from Monday, but setting this as a reminder. Day 1 begins soon!

Pop off King. Slay.

Alright so day 1:

Completed all base study work. I have 3 daily games going already so spent time on them (should've had one instead of 3 lol). What I'll do is focus on those by using an actual timer to make sure I spend 5 minutes per game.

Played a 15|10 game. Rapid rating: 1459 -> 1447

Story of the game: Played at a late time of day, hung a rook in the endgame.

Positive takeaways:

1. My opening was solid, and I had a general understanding of what to do.
2. Finding the pawn sacrifice 11... b5! to encourage a trade of light-squared bishops. 

Improving takeaway:

• Discounting hanging the rook - putting down to playing the game so late - my one takeaway is not considering the imbalance of pieces on the board. Around move 14, the position is open, and instead of trading the light squared bishops so that my opponent doesn't have two bishops to use on an open board, I preserve the knight. This also allows my opponent to grab a free pawn on h2. My awareness of tactics for my opponent was not sufficient.
• Summary for this: consider trading off a pair of bishops on an open board to nullify the opponent's bishop pair advantage. 

Day 2:

Completed all study work. Continued Daily games, played 4 blitz games.

Rating: 1099 -> 1113 (2 wins, 2 losses)

Game 1:

Positives:

1. Taking advantage of weak queenside light squares.
2. Simplifying throughout the game successfully.

Improving points:

• The f3-e4 plans aren't always the best idea. Look for other options. 

Game 2:

Positives:

1. The opening was played very solidly. The stonewall structures seem to do well.
2. I had good attacking ideas with rotating the queen to the kingside and created good weaknesses in my opponent's territory.

Improving points:

• I missed an easy fork! Take the time to scan for tactics.

Game 3:

Positive takeaways:

1. Got a familiar position from the opening with the Carlsbad structure on the board.
2. Got my knight to a good square on c5, using tactics to keep it as an outpost.

Improving points:

• I had no idea about the plan! With the knight on c5, look for tactics to win a pawn on the queenside.

Game 4:

Positives:

1. I played the opening solidly, and got a position I felt comfortable with.
2. I utilised the open b-file to great effect!

Improving point:

• In blitz, try to make good moves. I don't need to look for the best moves, just good ones. I'm taking too much time early often, and getting into time trouble.

Summary:

• I need to not always go for f3-e4 plans.
• I need to take time where I can to scan for tactics.
• Look to make good moves quickly, rather than best moves that take a while to find.

Onto day 3!

Ok Day 3:

Completed daily games. No qualms there, one of them I won a piece today so I'll press until I win. Two more games apart from that.

Rapid 15|10 game: Rating: 1447->1439

Day 4! A lot better this time!

Completed daily games as normal.

Played 4 5|5 blitz games: 1141->1157 (won two yesterday whilst I was chilling)

Game 1:

Positives:

1. Stuck to my "play through the opening quickly, don't worry too much about getting the best moves" mantra and got a solid position, even if I missed the chance to win a pawn in the opening. 
2. Defended well by surrounding the king with pieces.

Improving points:

• I need to develop a "that's rubbish" attitude when the opponent threatens a sacrifice. Accept the material and look to refute it, or continue with my plan as necessary. This was evident after I played h3, and he didn't take. The knight was hanging, I chose not to take fearing the rook coming in, but there was nothing to fear!

Game 2 (not a notable game, was interrupted halfway through and just resigned the game.

Analysing what I did play:

Positives:

1. Punished early opening play successfully.
2. Decided to play with initiative through a3-a4 and Bc1-a3 to keep the king in the centre and sacked a pawn. I think practically this decision was awesome.

Improving points:

• Keeping the initiative. If I'm down material with compensation (as I rightfully felt I was), I need to look at ways to optimise my initiative. Ne5 instead of Qc2 would've been awesome!

Game 3:

Positives:

1. Kept to solid opening play. Missed opportunities to punish but at least was solid and happy with my position
2. Had a great middlegame position and even though I threw it away, I held my ground in the endgame despite being objectively the one to defend. 

Improving points:

• Play quickly through the opening and then when something unusual pops up, quickly ask myself "how do I punish this?" I had an opportunity to win a pawn. 
• Rook play - needed to control the open file and being passive with the rooks didn't help.

Game 4:

Positives:

1. Honestly everything I did in this game was an absolute positive. I played the opening well and transposed it to a Tal-like variation of the advanced. It very much suited what I knew.
2. Made the most of dark-squared weaknesses!

Improving points:

• Perhaps investigate the opening after 5. Ne2. What are some common continuations there?

Summary of improving points:

• Use a "that's rubbish" attitude when it comes to sacrifices from my opponent.
• Keep the initiative, spend a little more time on how to keep the initiative.
• Look to continue to move quickly throughout the opening but spend a little time thinking "how do I punish this" when someone plays unusually.
• Rooks belong on open files. Aim to keep them there!
• Look at 5. Ne2 variation of Caro-Kann, advanced, 3... c5 variation.

Onto day 5!

ok so I have completed Days 5, 6, and 7. I just didn't have my laptop to post!

Day 5:

• Completed Daily games
• Rapid game: 

Positives:

• Played the opening to get a position which I felt I knew.
• Continued pushing my agenda throughout the match!

Improving points:

• F3-E4 is NOT always the plan. Look for the weaknesses I create in my opponent's side. 

Day 6:

Completed daily games as appropriate.

Blitz games:

Game 1:

Positives:

• Despite playing offbeat opening, I played the opening well!
• I understood the general plan in the position.

Improving point:

• Look at some of Alex Banzea's caro kann YT videos to get a better intuition for when to attack and when to defend in these opposite side castling positions.

Game 2:

Positives:

• Punished dubious opening.
• Developed pieces with tempo whilst kicking around queen!

Improving point:

• Missed a straight up hanging queen! Bit of a silly one! Look for tactics in these blitz games a little more!

Game 3:

Positives:

• Played opening really well! An early c4 against the advanced is easy to equalise, and made the most of the vacant d5 square. 
• Played really well against the backwards d4 pawn and found key tactics for myself throughout the whole game!

Improving point:

• Only one: Look out for tactics involving pins. I missed 12. Nb5, which my opponent missed too. I could've prevented this from being an issue by moving my queen to d7. 

Game 4:

Positives:

• Reached a good position from the opening.
• Went for the right idea in trapping queen (although forgot bishop was hanging when it could've just been moved and the threat was continued).

Improving points:

• Look at the weaknesses and pawn breaks. After 12... Nh7, I can continue pressure on the dark squares with Qd2 or open up the position and improve my bishop with c5. My knight was already good where it was and Nxg5 isn't a threat due to hxg5, where black's knight is trapped.

Day 7 was spent doing some endgame study (through Silman's endgame course). Just read through to understand where I was up to in the book, didn't feel too motivated that day. Onto day 8! Today I've already done daily games, I just need to do rapid game but I'll replace this with OTB games.

Summary of improving points:

• Try and look at opposite side castling games to get a feel for what's required in the position.
• Take a little bit of time in the blitz games to look for the tactics where I need to, either for my opponent or me!
• Look at weaknesses and how I can exploit them!

Continuing on from Day 8, here's the game I played OTB

Positives:

1. I managed to push my own agenda and although not playing accurately, I made my opponent bend to my will on the a-file.
2. I used my time appropriately and won thanks to this advantage.

Improving point:

• There's plenty that could be improved upon - however, I think the best thing would be to have a look at the opening. Don't be afraid of playing something like b5! See if I can convince myself that I can rid myself of the backward c-pawn.

Day 9 today! Time for fun!

Ok so day 9 done!

Daily games: continued as planned.

4 blitz games: Rating: 1169->1162. Had a rough day in the office with 3 wins and a loss, but got a lot out of it!

Game 1:

Positives:

• Played through the opening well, despite a little bit of inaccurate play. Got to an equal-ish position!
• Activated my light-squared bishop effectively! I was very happy with this!

Improving point:

• Look to not give an outpost square so easily to my opponent! 19... dxc4 allows white to get their knight to d6 with ease, which could create real problems for my position. Keep the tension and wait, Rfd8, Rac8, advance the a-pawn, there's plenty of improving moves I could do! Sit and wait!!!

Game 2:

Positives:

1. Punished the Marshall defense to obtain a PHAT centre.
2. Pushed my own agenda onto the position REALLY well, culminating in a successful attack! 

Improving point:

• Check to see whether king safety is a relative concern in the position. Castling queenside adds another supporter to the d4 pawn and activates the rook, tucks the king away, and black's king is still in grave danger!

Game 3:

I don't really have any positives from this game unfortunately. It was played poorly on my part.

Improving points:

• Get the king to safety! If my opponent goes up a pawn in the QGA, just focus on getting the king to safety if I really feel stuck about how to go about the position.
• I shouldn't feel afraid to gambit another pawn if my opponent's position is terrible!

Game 4:

Positives:

1. I developed an amazing position, winning a piece from the opening.
2. I continually developed with tempo and used my opponent's pieces to get my pieces super active!

Improving point:

• TIME TIME TIME! Remember to play solid decent moves! I played really well throughout this game, and still had an advantage when my clock fell, but I was very slow. Play quicker!

Summary of improving points:

• Avoid giving an outpost square so easily.
• Be patient in positions where I can afford to wait!
• If in doubt, consider king safety!
• Keep an eye on the clock!

Onto Day 10!

So day 10 was pretty terrible. I completed the daily games as required, but my 15|10 games (did two of them) were terrible unfortunately.

In both, positives is that I got a generally good position from the opening, but I was inpatient and needing to look at what the position required, as opposed to what I wanted to do.