Chess Report: August 24

It was a good month

Welcome back to Chess in Small Doses. August was a good month for my chess. As I mentioned last time, I started some visualization training with www.dontmoveuntilyousee.it and Cognitive Chess. What I didn’t mention is that I also narrowed and focused my study plan in conjunction with my coach. Success however is never a straight line. Let’s get into it.

August Stats

Classical games played: 8 (6 online, 2 OTB)

Online Rating change: +106

USCF Rating Change: -34

Accuracy: 85.9%

Performance Score: 2235* (5/8 score)

That’s a pretty good month. As I mentioned above I changed some things (over the last few months) in my study plan. It’s felt like I was getting closer for the last month or two. In the July Report I said I felt like I was playing better, but the results weren’t there. This month I added visualization training and things have taken off.

What changed was that I accepted that getting to my goal (Class A Rated Player UCSF 1800+) was going to take time. Maybe 3-4 years. I determined that what would get me there fastest was not trying to get there fast. I needed to begin to learn what my mistakes were. So lets review what changes I made:

• Change #1, I took a long-term view towards improvement. I have started to analyze my games looking mistakes and then categorize them. No surprise, it’s still “Calculation” and “Moving Too Fast for the position”. However, “Passive Move” was a surprise revelation.

• Change #2 is playing 2 classical games each week (hopefully against higher rated opponents) and stop playing blitz (for now)

• Change #3 is doing visualization training regularly. It makes positions easier to analyze and calculated, at least for me.

• Change #4 - focus preferentially on tactics study. I found a cheaper Udemy version of Tactics Ninja from Chess Mood which I am working through in addition to my puzzle book.

• Change #5, in game I am looking for more active moves than before. Each move has to have a purpose. I don’t always have to defend every pawn or defend every attack. I do need to calculate concrete lines.

• Lastly, Change #6 is doing less. That may sound odd, but I put a time limit on my chess work each week. 8-10 hours max including game play and analysis. Yes 8-10 hours is still a lot, but I was probably trying to do much more but losing my focus.

These changes have been implemented over the last few months, with visualization and “doing less” coming this last month. I think the results speak for themselves.

I now sit at the highest rating I’ve had all year. I don’t expect to stay here though. I am committed to learning by playing and analyzing. I will keep playing higher rated opponents if I can, which means I will lose and maybe lose often. However, the lessons learned will be worth it if I can stop the behaviors that lead to losses.

The measured the Performance stat by using a website calculation tool, essentially statistically treating the entire month as a single tournament. The number is the performance score for my play this month. The last few months haven’t been as good.

• August 2235

• July 1769

• June 1812

• May 1807

This last month saw me not only play more aggressively but also against higher rated opponents. We’ll see how it goes next month. Stay tuned!

Thanks for reading and I’ll be back next time to conclude the What it Takes to Be a Chess Master post. Would love to hear any comments you have. Until next time!

(Below I go over the games I played this month. Only the hardy need read on.)

The Games

You can find all my games in a study here.

I began the month with an OTB tournament where I went 0-2 against two sisters. In both games I had solid positions out of the opening, but passive play led to two losses.

Game 1 saw me make a calculation error when she played Bxg2!? I saw Ne6 was possible but calculated incorrectly that it was worse for White. This was my last chance to equalize, but after Kxg2? I was worse and went on to lose. (It’s a useful calculation exercise to think how Ne6 would work out.) My mistake was moving too fast and not fully calculating.

Game 2 saw me playing Black against the sister of my Game 1 opponent. I had this chance to take the lead with Ne4 forcing her to play Rxe4!? which I hadn’t expected. Still I didn’t see how strong the pawn fork would be with f5! and instead played dxe4? I missed how strong my pawn structure would have been. My mistake was not considering other moves. After that I was on the defensive and missed my chances. I finished 0-2 ( I could only play 2 games that day).

Game 3 was online in the Lonewolf league. It was at this point that I began really trying to play more active moves.

I won the game from this position with two moves: 1.Nf5! Qd2?? 2.Qg4! My opponent could have resigned but played Qxf5 to continue the game, which ended in a win for me. I didn’t really have any mistakes this game.

Game 4 from LoneWolf was back and forth until the endgame when my opponent blundered, allowing me to enter into a winning King and Pawn endgame. After Rxh5 Rxh5 Kxh5 Kf4! I can get the opposition and Queen my pawn. (I had a mistake in the game where I got surprised by a move and got scared I’d missed something, but if I had calculated carefully I would have seen the win)

Game 5 was another Lonewolf game against a higher rated opponent who is visually impaired and plays with a special software. I discovered from this game that sometimes I panic when my opponent plays a move I didn’t expect. I ended up moving too fast to respond to the emotion and blundered.

The simple cxd would have won the knight and at least another pawn or two. Instead I played the inexplicable Nxd4?? and went on to lose a tough game due to a missed tactic. Ouch. Learned a valuable lesson though.

Game 6 was Dojo Classical Round 1 against a much higher rated opponent. I am proud to say I played well until we both got into time trouble. We both missed a winning move twice for my opponent!

White wins here if they find Ra5+! Kax5 Nc4+ and a fork but we were both down to 2 minutes. Thankfully I won the King and Pawn endgame after they blundered in time pressure.

Game 7 was Dojo Classical Round 2, again facing a higher rated opponent (2180 Lichess). I learned from this game a new way to face the Dutch. I was in a winning position until an unfortunate mouse slip by my opponent ended the game. Regardless, even if that hadn’t happened I was in a much stronger position and had played well up until then. However, I missed a win earlier. See if you can calculate what happens if White plays Nxd5!? in the position below. Make sure and go through all the forcing moves/captures that follow. You can look at my analysis for the answer.

Game 8 was my favorite of the whole. It’s worth a look but I’ll leave you with the final position to make you wonder how did we ever reach this spot? I was told the London is boring… not true!