Very nice!
lmplay’s Intermediate Rapid & Classical Plan
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Jan 30, 2022
0
#103
Thank you @dbusse.
Week 12, Day 4
- 15|10 2 draws against opponents of the same rating
- game 1 is disappointing as I had a big lead and then stopped thinking in the endgame because "it was obviously winning". Draw by an obvious blunder on my part.
- in game 2 I also head a big lead and then misplayed a winning endgame
Jan 30, 2022
0
#105
The end of the program
It's been 12 weeks (slightly longer because I missed some days).
- Rapid: 1093 -> 1321 (+228) with 1337 peak followed by a drop to 1241 and now I'm back.
- Blitz: 903 -> 1139 (+236) with 1189 peak followed by a drop to my current rating.
- Daily: 400(unrated) -> 1576 (+1176) which is also my peak
- I've lost only one game which was against an opponent who was banned for cheating.
- I have a decisive advantage in one ongoing game
- I have two ongoing games which can go either way (but I don't evaluate them as equal).
- Puzzles: 2169 -> 2403 (+234)
Overall. I'm very happy with the results and with the plan.
I also see other changes:
- Endgames
- I understand endgames much better than before.
- I also appreciate the depth of what I'll have to learn in the future.
- I think that I'm good in this area for now.
- The main things here for me are:
- Don't relax in the endgame too early.
- Keep focusing on queening pawns, but also look for checkmates (I miss too many opportunities once the endgame starts)
- I like the Yusupov book.
- I was going to postpone it until I get better at tactics because it was time-consuming for the wrong reasons (i.e. I was slow in calculation).
- Now I think that it's ok to continue. Mostly because I've got max points on the last test which motivated me to stay with the book. However, I'll keep it as optional, fun activity.
- At some point I realized that I started the "intermediate" program too early (I looked at the Rapid rating but the program is for 1100+ Blitz) which explains why the book was very hard (especially the openings chapter).
- Repertoire
- Most important for me: I'm very happy with all lines that I play. I'll probably stick with this repertoire.
- Scotch (from e4 course by ChessGoals) is the only exception since I started playing it only recently (instead of Vienna). I plan to stay with it, but I may go back to Vienna or Italian one day or even switch to KIA entirely if I I find lines/positions that I don't like.
- Everything else is set because I played it for awhile and I really like what I get on the board. I have plenty to learn about my openings, but I'm unlikely to completely switch. For now, I won't research other openings.
- I understand my openings much better than before both in terms of knowing ideas and plans but also in the number of lines that I remember.
- In Caro-Kann specifically, I also know much more about lines suitable for my rating (thanks to ChessGoals course) than before and I see that as a major improvement.
- Most important for me: I'm very happy with all lines that I play. I'll probably stick with this repertoire.
- Tactics and blunders
- I very rarely hang pieces now (including in blitz).
- I very rarely miss taking hanging pieces.
- I'm faster and more accurate than 12 weeks ago but this is still one of the main areas to improve.
- Most important: puzzle rush gave me a very bad habit that I need to break: I sometimes see a winning line and then play it out automatically without pausing on every move. I lost two games very recently because I had a combination involving a sacrifice that I played and misplayed the last move (in both cases, I had mate-in-one) because I miscalculated it ahead of time. I've been in trouble many times because I blitz a move without thinking (it's "pre-calculated" after all). There's no reason to do that.
- Time
- I still occasionally get 10m+ behind in a 15m game but now it's a conscious choice of when to spend time despite the opponent blitzing moves.
- I like blitz now (but not slower than 5|5). It gets more enjoyable once you stop hanging pieces on every move. I enjoy 5|5 and 15|10 about the same now. I don't like 10m.
What's next?
- I'm going to start a new thread. I'm going focus on playing games for the next few weeks with everything else (puzzles, endgames, study, etc.) as optional. See https://www.chess.com/blog/SmarterChess/how-to-gain-400-rating-points-in-12-months
- Thank you to @SmarterChess for putting together great plans that clearly answer the "what should I do?" question and also for discussing the next steps with me.
Week 12, Day 3