2162 in blitz - back from my break (somewhat)

I felt it already a few days ago. Tonight with pretty good internet communication and only one disconnection I broke that number I mentioned last time - I wanted to reach 2147, and when I had, it happened to actually be a round number - 2150. 

Blitz ratings are meaningless, they say. 

Unless you're a titled player, they say. 

Maybe, maybe not. 

I definitely get a feeling that my play is sharper. Players above 2000 aren't all that generous. They don't just let you score more points just because they are meaningless...

On the other hand - I have here a course by GM Smirnov that I bought a while ago and only started. 

The course is called "Calculate Till Mate". 

I just listened to the first lesson and a half and done a couple of drills - this was in March. 

It's hard to believe, but as of March this year (2016), my record in blitz was only 2037. This was a long-standing record, way back from 2012. 

I played thousands of games between 2012 and March 2016. I mostly stayed in the 1800s and the 1900s. It was pretty rare that I went above 1950. 

On the other hand, since doing that lesson and a half, for some reason I keep breaking record after record. Nowadays it's rare that I drop below 1950. 

I've been promising myself to advance further on the course. To listen to more lectures. To do more drills - the course is full of it and I know that benefit lies that way. 

But it was hard to resist the temptation of playing blitz. And that night last week (or was it this week) when I broke the record from 2117 to 2122 was particularly aggravating - I felt that I should get a higher rating than that. 

So tonight was the night. I will soon post some nice games - in one of them I again beat a near-2300 player and this will probably be the first one to show up (from me) on this thread. He's not quite a "best win" - I think he was like three or four points from becoming it. But the game was very satisfying. 

Now - I'm going to stop playing blitz online COMPLETELY - except maybe a game here and there if a friend here will want to watch me play - but never alone. 

This "no blitz" diet will be in force until July 15th - two weeks. 

After that it will work like that:

I will give myself a point for each completed lecture from GM Smirnov's course - and a further point for each meaningful practical assignment (not those inside the lectures) completed. 

After July 15th I will enter a "blitz playing regime" in which the "allowed" number of games per week (excluding those at the request of a friend who wants to watch) will equal the number of points I give myself on the course. 

I want to become a titled player - and I know that it does take some work, study and dedication. I don't think that it's doable through ONLY scoring high in blitz. 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I will use this comment to track my progress on the course and my "blitz points". 

It's now July 28th. I went through five complete lectures in the course - but I already had two before... so still, it's three points - three blitz games until the end of the week (July 31st). Let's play two now... 

The course is great. An eye opener and VERY VERY recommended. It tells you what to do and gives you the right attitude!! I love it!!

I will review the lectures many many times in the future. The material is intensely useful and can't be stressed enough!!

BTW - Logozar wanted to play a few games with me, so <Logozar>, whenever we meet online - we will play seven games, time control: 3 0. 

Congratulations! 

you already suppressed the throats who says blitz ratings are meaningless.Whatever 2150 is a nice rating and better than 95% player's in this site I wild guess.Greetings.

Great!!

<Phoenix_Scorpion> and <Harish73> thanks :-) !!!!

<Trojanstrike> I think that it's more like 99.8%... :-) but I'll check just to make sure...

The point is that I know that further improvement is available - and I should just get going an DO what I know will get me there. 

I have no excuses now - my blitz rating doesn't need improvement. My CHESS does :-)

I hope for you Belgium will win tonight...

That's mighty nice of you - but I'm not a Belgian. I'm just an Israeli. 

As one of us Israelis said on Facebook the other day - 

"Now that I'm watching the EURO games I realize that football is such a nice game! Why don't they also bring it to Israel... :-) !!!!!!"

So true, so sad...

let's keep talking about the marvelous games in this thread, believe me, it's better.

And yes, why not - I wish Belgium all the best... :-) 

I hope and believe that such will happen.

We all have fluctuations in form, and 200 points up or down, especially in fast play when you can play many games in a single day, is totally within the norm.

600 points, on the other hand, probably isn't.

And more from yesterday's bunch of games that got me to glory (and to temporary blitz abstinence) - 

People who always have to open new accounts, because the only thing they can do is talk abuse, are beyond pathetic. 

What good does it do to block you, if you soon pop up again as someone "new"?

Of course all of your accounts will be anonymous. Yet I don't envy the life you have. At least with your current identity you are no longer going to appear on my threads. 

The report reads thus:

Abuser posting on my thread. I blocked him. Please delete his account. I wonder, though, if he can be kept from opening a new one?

User: Aljekhins_knife

- - - - - - - - - - - - 

A general note to the community: 

Did you ever notice that the abuser type very often uses GENERALITIES when imparting a comment of a disturbing nature?

Look at that line - "Just a way of saying, we don't give a flying eff."

It's typical of the abuser type to use "we" rather than the more precise "I" in such a line. And who is exactly this invented "we"?

To use the words of a very wise man, it is natural for such people (the abuser type) to pretend as though "the whole society" is against one in some way, as the abuser type is typically SCARED of other people on a hidden level, and the whole society seems to the abuser type to be a big, menacing generality. 

That person tries always to make people smaller and less capable, in order "to reduce the threat" that he feels that other people pose towards him (or her). 

Such people do exist, of course. They comprise a small percentage of this planet's population - but sometimes we think that there are really many of them - exactly because of this tendency they have, to use alarming generalities... we often think that it's "everybody".... it really isn't. 

Watch out for people who often generalize bad news, or who try to make people around them smaller. 

It's not necessarily a bad idea to purge them out of your life for good. 

I think you should keep studying GM Smirnov's course!

I bought Calculate till mate in 2012/13, when it came out, and along with "The GM's Secrets", as well as sporadic lessons from a chess trainer, improved my rating ~500 points in less than a year (1400s -> 1900s, from September '12 to August '13). 

People at the time thought I was just advertising, but Smirnov knows what he's talking about. 

Yes - I made some progress (see post #2 here, in which I track it). I will keep studying, most definitely! :-)

Lecture 4 (which is the last I listened to at the moment) is really incredible as to the ideas it gives. 

I'm now going over the first five lectures again before advancing to lecture 5. 

(The lecture numbers are 1, 2.1, 2.2, 3 and 4 for those who wonder how come...)

Your achieved improvement is nothing short of amazing!

And GM Smirnov DEFINITELY knows what he's talking about... :-) 

His approach tells you that this is going to be "no-nonsense" training, based on real fundamentals. It's definitely worth close study.