Back from a layoff, focus on a new plan

I took about about a year off from playing chess as I got into Bridge. Started playing chess again about a week or so ago. I’ve forgotten some of my usual opening moves, but have decided that’s not a bad thing. I have read many times that at my level I shouldn’t spend much time learning openings, anyway, since games deviate from book so quickly (among other reasons).

So, I’m going to focus on tactics and endgame drills and stop working on openings and stop playing bullet and see where that gets me. I’ll aim to do 25 chess.com tactics puzzles each day (that’s the limit with my sub I think), and then, if I have more time, do one of the drills.

In terms of measuring progress (or lack thereof), I planned to use my 10’ rating as my baseline, which was in the low 1500s when I stopped a year ago. But oddly, after playing about 10 games this week, my rating has jumped to the mid-1600s. Perhaps it will drop back again after another 10 games or so — none of my wins were masterpieces and they included blunders my opponents could have punished me for. (It does make me wonder if chess.com did a rating adjustment in the last year and added points to everyone; perhaps someone reading this can let me know).

Haha — yes, at daily chess. But that’s using all the resources you can throw at each game, including moving all the pieces around on the analysis board before playing one. My bullet rating, OTOH, is in the 1200s.