Discipline
It sucked for the week except for one day – yesterday – Saturday. Only that day I woke up at 5:30 AM (after the three hours’ sleep) in order to have time for practicing chess.
I know that following the chess practice plan I created for myself is way above my capabilities. I will have to push myself 200% to fulfill my own expectations, but let it be this way. I am not a huge fan of the 1% principle – marginal gains by small and continuous improvements.
For example, if I want to wake up early in the morning, at 5:30 AM, and my usual wake up time is 8:30 AM, I am not going to wake up each day 10 minutes earlier than the previous day. I will go full throttle.
Though when I shred my routine in this manner, and when I don’t sleep well, it becomes very difficult to concentrate (obviously). So I am not sure if my approach is correct or not. But let’s keep the initial stage this way for some moment, analyze the results, and act upon the results after that.
Performance
According to my daily logs, the following chart describes my performance during the week (orange color being planned hours (goals), the blue color being hours of actual practice during the week).
// Cannot put the image here
Such a weird distribution! I will try to explain why, but that doesn’t justify my mess.
My main weaknesses being opening preparation and calculation, I should have allocated my main attention to these areas. So I decided to read Jacob Aagaard’s e-book Excelling at Chess Calculation, which soon turned out to be named incorrectly (it was Excelling at Chess – another book by Jacob Aagaard). I had already read the first chapter, so I decided to not switch to a different book before completing what was in hand (remembering Henry Miller’s commandments – numbers 2 and 3: Work on one thing until finished. Start no more new books).
And then I was eager to finish the book quickly (it’s a great book, but I want to start Excelling at Chess Calculation as soon as possible). That’s why ‘other’ took nine hours, instead of two and a half.
When it comes to openings and calculation, I should admit that I was lazy. The book was interesting, so I usually found myself reading that book, instead of solving problems, or analyzing opening variations.
When it comes to ‘endgame’, I think I will ‘glue’ this area into ‘other’ at least for some time. The next chapter of Aagaard’s book is fully dedicated to endgame anyways.
In spite of Coronavirus outbreak and lectures and midterms being postponed, and having enough free time to practice chess (though I have a deadline for tomorrow night in Cisco Packet Tracer), I couldn’t manage to reach my planned weekly practice hours (coming short of five hours). But then I had six days at my disposal, so everything must be fine for now (though I have no idea what is going to happen after the ‘holidays’).
Openings
Regarding my openings – I had difficulties. As I have mentioned, I want to play 1.d4, but also I need to be more aggressive in my games. And guess what, 1.d4 leads to more positional and less aggressive play. I knew this fact, but Avrukh’s famous book on 1.d4 with all the fianchetto lines suggests even calmer positions. So after taking some time going through variations, I decided to analyze Kasparov’s games starting with Queen’s pawn, and build my opening repertoire based on his games with White pieces.
But it is hard and time-consuming work, and I am not sure about its worthiness. So I postponed studying 1.d4 and began studying Sicilian Taimanov. Till now, everything is alright.
Blogging
I have noticed that blogging takes too much time. I like writing and I like how it helps me to generate ideas and structure my thoughts. But I also like good visuals and tidiness in my writing. And everything costs time. I could have spent my time on writing blog posts to solve tactics puzzles, but then, I assume it is blogging that keeps me disciplined and motivated to work harder. I will blog, but I should think about ways to outsource some stuff or be more chaotic and less structured in my writing (in order to benefit myself in time).
What Else?
I took notes from the book Excelling at Chess (EverymanChess, 2002). I reviewed it and I’d like to publish my review with highlights from the book. Probably, I can do that – the book is old. But I decided to be a little respectful and sent an email to EverymanChess asking for the allowance of using material from the book as a blog post. I hope I will get the answer. I also hope it will be positive.
For now, I am okay with my (lack of) social life. I don’t feel much of an urge for it, but I know that this need will strike me at one point. And when that moment arrives, I am gonna party like a madman.
Physically, everything is not that great. I swim occasionally (twice a week), but I have to box as well, at least three times per week.
I could manage my curiosity well. I don’t do everything that interests me. Yes, I’d like to study psychology or learn a new language (which all of my peers are doing), but I must not. My main goal cannot handle such distractions. Dostoevsky rule.
Why were the shortcomings? What could be done better? What am I planning to improve? How?
I guess it is just the beginning of the road, and not being disciplined is a part of it. The more I am willing to achieve my goal, the more ambitious I am, the more disciplined I should get. Paul Graham was right about that. And I am obliged to follow my schedule, there can be no shortcuts.
As I have noted, the new allocation of the practice areas is as follows:
// image
And again, it is prone to change. But one thing is certain: I should not act upon my interests and desires, but do what actually needs to be done. Also, blogging and everything related comes after. Commandment number one: Chess is first and always.
But how am I going to discipline myself? I have no idea. Probably, I will simply have to.
---
I am an International Chess Master (soon officially). If you are interested in my detailed methodology, plan, and goals, you can check my blog out: flements.wordpress.com
So you must have FM at this point. When did you get that?
Discipline
It sucked for the week except for one day – yesterday – Saturday. Only that day I woke up at 5:30 AM (after the three hours’ sleep) in order to have time for practicing chess.
I know that following the chess practice plan I created for myself is way above my capabilities. I will have to push myself 200% to fulfill my own expectations, but let it be this way. I am not a huge fan of the 1% principle – marginal gains by small and continuous improvements.
For example, if I want to wake up early in the morning, at 5:30 AM, and my usual wake up time is 8:30 AM, I am not going to wake up each day 10 minutes earlier than the previous day. I will go full throttle.
Though when I shred my routine in this manner, and when I don’t sleep well, it becomes very difficult to concentrate (obviously). So I am not sure if my approach is correct or not. But let’s keep the initial stage this way for some moment, analyze the results, and act upon the results after that.
Performance
According to my daily logs, the following chart describes my performance during the week (orange color being planned hours (goals), the blue color being hours of actual practice during the week).
// Cannot put the image here
Such a weird distribution! I will try to explain why, but that doesn’t justify my mess.
My main weaknesses being opening preparation and calculation, I should have allocated my main attention to these areas. So I decided to read Jacob Aagaard’s e-book Excelling at Chess Calculation, which soon turned out to be named incorrectly (it was Excelling at Chess – another book by Jacob Aagaard). I had already read the first chapter, so I decided to not switch to a different book before completing what was in hand (remembering Henry Miller’s commandments – numbers 2 and 3: Work on one thing until finished. Start no more new books).
And then I was eager to finish the book quickly (it’s a great book, but I want to start Excelling at Chess Calculation as soon as possible). That’s why ‘other’ took nine hours, instead of two and a half.
When it comes to openings and calculation, I should admit that I was lazy. The book was interesting, so I usually found myself reading that book, instead of solving problems, or analyzing opening variations.
When it comes to ‘endgame’, I think I will ‘glue’ this area into ‘other’ at least for some time. The next chapter of Aagaard’s book is fully dedicated to endgame anyways.
In spite of Coronavirus outbreak and lectures and midterms being postponed, and having enough free time to practice chess (though I have a deadline for tomorrow night in Cisco Packet Tracer), I couldn’t manage to reach my planned weekly practice hours (coming short of five hours). But then I had six days at my disposal, so everything must be fine for now (though I have no idea what is going to happen after the ‘holidays’).
Openings
Regarding my openings – I had difficulties. As I have mentioned, I want to play 1.d4, but also I need to be more aggressive in my games. And guess what, 1.d4 leads to more positional and less aggressive play. I knew this fact, but Avrukh’s famous book on 1.d4 with all the fianchetto lines suggests even calmer positions. So after taking some time going through variations, I decided to analyze Kasparov’s games starting with Queen’s pawn, and build my opening repertoire based on his games with White pieces.
But it is hard and time-consuming work, and I am not sure about its worthiness. So I postponed studying 1.d4 and began studying Sicilian Taimanov. Till now, everything is alright.
Blogging
I have noticed that blogging takes too much time. I like writing and I like how it helps me to generate ideas and structure my thoughts. But I also like good visuals and tidiness in my writing. And everything costs time. I could have spent my time on writing blog posts to solve tactics puzzles, but then, I assume it is blogging that keeps me disciplined and motivated to work harder. I will blog, but I should think about ways to outsource some stuff or be more chaotic and less structured in my writing (in order to benefit myself in time).
What Else?
I took notes from the book Excelling at Chess (EverymanChess, 2002). I reviewed it and I’d like to publish my review with highlights from the book. Probably, I can do that – the book is old. But I decided to be a little respectful and sent an email to EverymanChess asking for the allowance of using material from the book as a blog post. I hope I will get the answer. I also hope it will be positive.
For now, I am okay with my (lack of) social life. I don’t feel much of an urge for it, but I know that this need will strike me at one point. And when that moment arrives, I am gonna party like a madman.
Physically, everything is not that great. I swim occasionally (twice a week), but I have to box as well, at least three times per week.
I could manage my curiosity well. I don’t do everything that interests me. Yes, I’d like to study psychology or learn a new language (which all of my peers are doing), but I must not. My main goal cannot handle such distractions. Dostoevsky rule.
Why were the shortcomings? What could be done better? What am I planning to improve? How?
I guess it is just the beginning of the road, and not being disciplined is a part of it. The more I am willing to achieve my goal, the more ambitious I am, the more disciplined I should get. Paul Graham was right about that. And I am obliged to follow my schedule, there can be no shortcuts.
As I have noted, the new allocation of the practice areas is as follows:
// image
And again, it is prone to change. But one thing is certain: I should not act upon my interests and desires, but do what actually needs to be done. Also, blogging and everything related comes after. Commandment number one: Chess is first and always.
But how am I going to discipline myself? I have no idea. Probably, I will simply have to.
---
I am an International Chess Master (soon officially). If you are interested in my detailed methodology, plan, and goals, you can check my blog out: flements.wordpress.com