Following my post four weeks ago, here is the next in my series of ‘T- reviews’.
Ratings
FIDE standard: 1957 – 1962, +5 points
FIDE Arena rapid: 1920 – 1920, +0 points (no games)
FIDE Arena blitz: 1936 – 1944, +8 points
I picked up a few points at the first 4NCL weekend, where I drew with a 1989 after missing a chance to be considerably better, and beat an 1810-rated junior rather comfortably. The 24 points I gained at the European Railway Chess tournament have yet to appear on the list, but assuming they do at some point I will be up to 1986. I have played very few Arena games, so tracking those ratings remains of little importance.
Assessment: Green (little cause for concern)
Study
The amount of study I am managing to do remains well below target; I have now done 1010 minutes of deliberate practice against a target of 3600. The same reporting issues remain as in the last report – i.e. I am still not recording time spent analysing my games or doing other chess activities as I am not convinced it meets a strict definition of deliberate practice.
The crumb of comfort in this area is that I may be having some success establishing a pre-work study habit. Initial attempts to establish a post-work study habit in a coffee shop before going home proved unsuccessful, as I was tired and hungry after my long day and just wanted to get home. Instead I have been trying to get into work a little earlier and do some study before starting my day, and I managed this in four of the last five working days in the period I am reporting on. It has been an exceptionally busy time at work, so I have reason to hope that I will fit in more early morning study in the future.
Assessment: Red (cause for concern)
The first big test of this phase of my project starts tomorrow: the London Classic. I will be playing in the FIDE Open – nine gruelling rounds of classical chess over eight days – and following that with the ten round ‘Super Rapidplay’. A post with some of my games will follow after the Classic, possibly incorporated into my T-36 review which is due on the 20th.
Wishing you all the best in your upcoming battles
Good news. London Classic should be exciting, looking forward to that!
Hi,
All the best for your games. I have just started playing chess a little seriously and have a question about the same.
Do you have any suggestions on how one can prepare/learn an opening?
Say for example, I wanted to learn about Ruy Lopez, where and how do I begin?
Hi Proto,
Thank you. I would suggest first playing through a number of high level games in the opening quite quickly, to give you a rough idea of the available plans and ideas. A ‘Starting Out’ or similar type of book would also be a good idea – maybe ‘Ruy Lopez: Move by Move’ by Everyman, which is good. After that you might want to make a pgn file with a few lines in it which you want to memorise – you can prepare this using an engine, database and any other sources you have such as books/DVDs. Playing some blitz games in the opening and looking up your mistakes afterwards is also quite a good way to quickly get familiar with it. Having said all that, if you are just starting out opening knowledge is much less important than practising tactics; you certainly don’t need to be memorising lots of 20-move long lines etc.
Best of luck!
Will