Accountability Report March 2023 - The State of My Chess

Oof...

Accountability… I think it’s human nature to avoid it, at least initially. Our ego shrinks at the idea. It puts out reputation at risk. It’s holding you to a standard of performance. It means you’re going to have to “walk the talk” or “put your money where your mouth is”. There are so many trite ways of expressing the idea of accountability, but they all convey a single thought - I will be responsible for my actions. In this blog, these status reports will show you how I’ve been playing, warts and all. Spoiler alert - it’s been a little rough.

Accountability means owning up to all the good and all the bad in my play. Human nature of course is to focus on the bad and forget the good. (When I show you how I’ve played so far in 2023 I’m sure you’ll see lots of “bad” play. ) Accountability also means owning all of my actions not just the ones I’d rather forget. There were some pretty good moments and some real quality.

Accountability also means I need to be specific. What am I being held to? How will I measure it? I have decided to use Accuracy of Play as my north star. It’s measured consistently and will reflect how well I understand the position in front of me. There’s some good data to show that accuracy correlates to ELO. (The other option was Average Centipawn Loss but some people have strong opinions against that idea.)

One last note… I’ll show you rating as a general trend but I’m not measuring it per-se.

So here it is… my 2023 in chess so far in pictures with discussion below:

#1) Rating graphs for Lichess Classical

…and Chess.com Rapid

#2) Accuracy

2023 cumulative accuracy: 80.0% +/- 13

2022 cumulative accuracy: 81.1% +/- 10

#3) Aimchess Report

Discussion

Oof… that was rough. I played the most games by far in January. I’m writing this on March 20th so I suspect I’ll have more games to add. Still, I think we can make some conclusions.

First off, 2023 has seen an increase in the variability of my play. I’ve had higher highs and lower lows. Here’s my best win and my worst loss for 2023. Strangely they’ve all come this month (March).

Second, January was an outlier. I played my most games that month (15!) and had my worst overall monthly performance (75.5% accuracy) this year. For reference Jan 22 (72.3%, 3 games) and Jul 22 (75.1%, 8 games) were worse months but on fewer games. The larger sample size is concerning that maybe I’ve had a regression.

Third, you can see from the AimChess data that the problems not with my openings or tactics. Where I am weakest is in time management, resourcefulness, and endgame. I also could be better on capitalizing on my advantages.

That last one (advantage capitalization) matches up well with my experience. I feel my biggest areas of opportunity are:

1. Converting a win when I have an advantage

2. Fighting tunnel vision

3. Endgames

Here are two examples of advantage capitalization and tunnel vision, both from the game that would become my worse loss.

First, how do I win in a “won” position?

Here I’ve just won the exchange (knight for a rook)…but now how do I proceed? There’s a pawn loose on c6 and that knight on c5 is annoying. So I played Rb5, which is not a bad move. Still…do I REALLY need to save that pawn? Rooks like open files but can become vulnerable if too far forward. Maybe Rb8 was fine since Bxc6 loses to Qd6! (a move I didn’t see until analyzing the game).

I believe I had tunnel vision here, fixating on saving that pawn without really thinking “do I need to save it”? I can afford to give up the pawn in the hopes of activating that bishop on c8 as well. I never even considered letting that pawn go and fixated on it. My coach said this is typical of club players - that they always defend when attacked rather than looking deeper at the position as a whole.

Tunnel vision got me again later.

There’s one good move and a ton of losing moves. I was fixated on my mate threats only…not his. Black to move and lose! I played Be5?? thinking the mate threat forces White to respond to me. Instead I missed their mate threat of Qf8# which came the next move…

So, about that accountability. That’s where you come in. I’d like you to be my accountability partner. I’ll make a promise to you. Each month I’ll send what I’ve been working on and how things are going. I’d like to ask for your thoughts and suggestions. Please comment or email me if you prefer. I hope this journey continues it’s upward trend and that January is my rock bottom. It feels like I’ve taken one step back and I’m about to take two steps forward. Growth happens when we leave our comfort zones. Accountability has very much moved me out of my comfort zone.

What I’m working on:

• Daily tactics on Chesstempo.com

• Reading “Simple Attacking Plans” by Fred Wilson

• “Every Pawn Structure Explained” lessons by GM Hellsten

• Mate in 3 puzzles from “Chess” by Lazlo Polgar

• Starting Silman’s Endgame Course

What I’ve completed in 2023:

• “Chess Tactics for Champions” by Susan Polgar (strongly recommend for intermediate players)

• “Simple Chess” by Michael Stean

• “Winning Chess Tactics” by Yasser Seirawan

• “The Worlds Most Instructive Amateur Games” by Dan Heisman

Thanks again for reading. Next up: Knowledge vs. Skill