Streaks

I failed on something like ten problems in a row on tactics trainer before my first cup of coffee this morning. Has anyone done worse?

Not sure worse, but I've often achieved similar feats on TT.

Hooo Ziryab !!!

 You know, you must not play before the coffee !

only 10 ziryab?

I went from 2500 to 2250 in a matter of minutes. That was because I had ran around and played with my dogs outside so when I came back, my heart rate was still 150+. Therefore I couldn't really concentrate on TT... lost points, got mad and kept playing because I wanted my points back... lost more :)

My losing streak is probably like 15 and my winning streak is also around 15 also.

My new strategy is that if I miss 3 TT's in a row,  I stop, rest and come back to win points! I want to break 2600 soon.

Wow! 2500! Amazing. Oh, to fall from such great heights.

What is focus? I solve tactics problems to wake up, not when I am fully awake.

Then there is luck, good and bad. One problem took me a full minute to work out all four moves, but a mouse slip (touch-pad actually) caused me to drop the rook on the wrong square on the third move. Then, two problems later was a position I had been looking at last night in Lev Alburt's Chess Training Pocket Book, and that featurtes the same tactic I wrote about in "Blitz Luck" and "Coincidence?" One second, one move, 100% pass! The latter was problem 0024245.

 Me too, wakes me up and gets the brain functioning at 5:30 am before work

I'm quite energetic. So I usually don't do anything to completely wake up besides running up and down the stairs like 3 times. Then I'm all hyped up!

Yes Ziryab,  I'm getting better at tactics :) TT is a great tool. I can only focus when I'm calm and tired lol. I have to breath deeeeeeeply for a few minutes and calm down. Once I'm calm, I get my TT's right. The moment I get 2 wrong in a row is a signal that I'm worn out or can't focus anymore. So I stop. It is hard to stop sometimes!

Samething with one minute chess. If I'm full of energy, I play stupid 1min chess. Otherwise I steal your points ziryab!!!

I fell from 2800 to like 2600+ when I was worried about my baby.  One shouldn't solve tactics when being distracted or with something else on his/her mind.

yes. I'm always get this "yikes I have 5 hours of hw" feeling when I'm doing tactics trainer problems and I have pending homework due the next day.

When I was in HS, I would bring a stack of books home from school, set them in the space downstairs, go up to my bedroom, get out the chess books, and start studying.

The consequence of this behavior pattern: I attended Mediocre State University instead of Princeton.

I have my eyes on Princeton, Stanford, Cal Tech and MIT. I also want to be a chess master before I graduate HS. I want "Chess Master" on my application!

I will study more chess this summer than I have all my life. 8 hours a day for at least 2 out of the 3 months. I improved about 450 between EWO and DC Mem.

I think I'll have an improvement of at least 100 b/w DC mem and Inland E. Open.

I will catch up to you soon! btw, chess gods are preventing me from taking the SAT on may 1st so I guess I'll come to the  inland e. Open.

I didn't know what "opposition", "slav", "english opening", "ruy lopez" etc were when I came to the EWO 5 months ago.

I want to know more! So what I do is chess when I come home and then stay up till 1:00 am doing hw. I have 19 hours of homework over springbreak which starts today! I will spread it out among the nights of next week. chess chess chess the rest of the time. :)

Hard work will pay off, but you don't make master without playing in tournaments. If that's your goal, I suggest that you find the resources to get to events in Seattle, such as the Washington Open on Memorial Day weekend.

It's interesting that we usually talk about "winning strings" but "losing streaks".

That's true ziryab however I can drastically improve my opening knowledge just through MCO and the internet. That's where I'm weaker I think. If I get into an equal or better middle game, then I can mess around with tactics.

I need to understand a larger scale of openings. Such as what to do against the French more in depth. if e4 e5 occurs, I'm happy and also happy if e4 c5 occurs. Caro-kann, french, etc tends to get me.

I'll be there at the I.E. Open most likely and hopefully will gain a 100ish more points. I'm currently working on openings and understanding complicated positions

Good to know. We might play one of these days, and I'll need to know what to play if I have Black.

We will play at the I.E. in either round 4 or hopefully.

I know you like the French. You should know I like the Sicilian and am fairly good with it! I've also created a tiny repetoire against your d4.... so the next time you play d4, I know what to do.