British Rapidplay: Express report

Tournament report

I’ve just got back from playing in the Major (U171) section of this year’s British Rapidplay in Halifax.  I scored 50% – 5.5/11 – with a grading performance of 155.  I was in the bottom quarter of the field grade-wise, and performed a little above my rapidplay grade of 150, but it’s still a slightly disappointing result.

My results were not at all evenly distributed between the two days of the event; I scored only 1.5/6 on Saturday, but came back strongly with 4/5 on Sunday.  My opponents were, on average, higher-graded on the first day, but I think tiredness (and dehydration) had an impact on my poor score that day.  I had to get up (after five hours’ patchy sleep) at quarter to six in the morning on Sunday, and helped set up for a couple of hours at the venue before playing.  I had just one bottle of water with me, and the taps at the venue were labelled ‘non-drinking water’, so I was pretty thirsty by the time I got to my Travelodge after the day’s play.  I’ll consider getting there the night before next year, although it would mean paying for an extra night’s accommodation.  Even so, playing under adverse conditions can’t always be avoided, so look out for a post about my ideas for training for them later in the week!

GM David Howell won the very strong Open section with an impressive 10.5/11 (a repeat of his performance two years ago).  I’ll be posting some of my games from the event over the coming week, and you should expect to see all the usual blunders, unsound sacrifices, and crazy time scrambles of rapid chess!

Weekly Progress Report #5

Progress report

This week I fell short of my term-time target for the first time, and only managed 6 hours 20 minutes. However, this was expected as I had a fair amount of uni work to do, and I should exceed the target again this week (I’ll be preparing for the British Rapidplay during the week and playing it at the weekend). Here’s the breakdown:

Monday 8th: 20 minutes Chess Tempo tactics problems

Tuesday 9th: 10 minutes Chess Tempo

Wednesday 10th: 10 minutes Chess Tempo

Thursday 11th: 10 minutes Chess Tempo, 25 minutes playing 3x 5 0 games on PlayChess + brief analysis

Friday 12th: 20 minutes opening preparation for Team 45 45 game, 2 hours playing Team 45 45 game

Saturday 13th: 15 minutes PlayChess tactics training + 10 minutes reviewing mistakes, 20 minutes playing 2x 5 0 games

Sunday 14th: 20 minutes ICC TrainingBot, 40 minutes playing 5 0 games on ChessCube

The training continues to be a bit unstructured, and from this week I’ll be attempting to keep at least the tactics problems element constant by doing it at the same time each day.  I’m going to force myself out of bed in the morning by putting my alarm at the far side of the room, and do at least 20 minutes then, to be topped up later in the day when I have the chance.  I’ll also be changing my problem source each day, between ICC TrainingBot, PlayChess and Chess Tempo.  I expect most of the rest of my week’s training to focus on opening preparation for the weekend, though I also still have my 4NCL games to analyse properly.

4NCL, game 2

Game analysis, Tournament report

For Sunday’s game I was again not sure who my opponent would be, so I looked up the games of Holmes Chapel’s bottom three boards, all of whom could have been put on board 5. I focused mainly on the games of David Bennion (rated 2014), Saturday’s board 5, and initially felt like I was trying to prepare for Vasily Ivanchuk. ‘Chucky’ plays just about every opening in existence, and David Bennion plays both 1. e4 and 1. d4 quite regularly, which is unusual at club level. Fortunately a more thorough look through his games revealed that he does play e4 significantly more often, and after 1… e5 he usually goes for the Bishop’s Opening, so this is what I was expecting.

When I arrived at the venue I found that I was indeed paired with David Bennion, but he surprised me on move 2 with Nf3, and we went into a Giuoco Piano. At 5. c3 my book knowledge came to a sudden end, but I vaguely remembered seeing a game of his where he had played like this against a strong opponent, and my memory of that game helped me to play the next two moves. He soon seemed to be on unfamiliar ground too (the disadvantage of playing a wide variety of openings), and I think with 9. Rxe4 he made a mistake (though I’ve yet to run it through the computer). Here’s the game:

With that a successful weekend for both me and for the team (who won both matches) was concluded.  Thanks to Malcolm Armstrong for analysing the game afterwards with me, and thanks to Simon Edwards for inviting me to be on the team.

4NCL, game 1

Game analysis, Tournament report

Last weekend I played my first two FIDE-rated games, competing in the 4 Nations Chess League (Northern division) for Cheddleton 2.  I managed to win both games, but both were full of tactics and could easily have gone the other way if I’d slipped up.  The first featured probably the most interesting time scramble I’ve been involved in.

I tried to do some opening preparation beforehand, but this was a bit tricky as I only knew which team we would be playing, and not who my opponent would be.  From the list of players registered for Jorvik (our first opponents) I determined my three most likely opponents and did a quick search for their games.  Consequently, when I turned up on Saturday morning and found out who my opponent was I knew he was a Najdorf player.  By then I only had about 15 minutes before the round started, but I went over some Najdorf lines/games quickly to make sure they were fresh in my mind.

I played 6. Be2 – a line I’ve not played before, but one my opponent seemed even less familiar with as he started to use a considerable amount of time.  His time consumption increased drastically in the ensuing sharp middlegame, meaning that by move 17 he had used an hour and forty-seven minutes and had only thirteen left to make the time control at move 40.  I still had about an hour left at the time, and felt sure that if I didn’t flag him I could play more accurately in the complications.  However, I spent a lot of time double-checking variations, and, feeling a little nervous in my first FIDE-rated game, I started to panic.  The result was that I eventually got into time trouble too.  At move 30 he had just 32 seconds, and although I still had 6 minutes the time seemed to fly by and by move 35 we both had around 10 seconds left to make 5 moves.  We started banging out the moves without pausing to think, and, a little later, I stopped playing and pointed out that I had run out of time whereas he still had 3 seconds.  Fortunately an arbiter had been recording the moves and could confirm that we had definitely passed move 40; the digital clock had simply failed to add on the time.  My opponent left the room for a few minutes to recover from the time scramble, and, when I turned my attention to the board again I noticed that I had a mate in two.  He also realised this while he was outside, and returned soon to conclude the game.

The walk to the station after the game was enough to freeze the blood of even the most fearless of Frankenstein-Dracula Variation practitioners.  It took 30-40 minutes in almost total darkness (except for when there were car headlights), with the first half along the very uneven verge of a main road, and the second half through a tunnel of trees which was completely enclosed overhead.  Fortunately I made it back without twisting an ankle or being eaten just in time for a train; if I’d missed it I’d have had to wait more than two hours in the cold for the next.  The report on game 2 will follow soon (probably tomorrow).

Weekly Progress Report #4

Progress report

I managed to keep to my target, doing about 12 hours 10 minutes.  However, the time was again somewhat unstructured, with most of it being spent on three long games – a local league game and two games in the 4 Nations Chess League (4NCL) Northern League.  I was blown off the board in the local league game, but the 4NCL weekend was a success as I won both of my first FIDE-rated games.  Here’s the breakdown:

Monday 1st: 30 minutes Chess Tempo problems

Tuesday 2nd: 25 minutes playing a 2 20 game (odd time control, I know)

Wednesday 3rd: 20 minutes Chess Eye visualisation training (I was without internet), 100 minutes playing a league game + quick discussion

Thursday 4th: 10 minutes Chess Tempo

Friday 5th: 10 minutes Chess Tempo

Saturday 6th: 45 minutes opening preparation for first 4NCL game, 4 hours playing 4NCL game

Sunday 7th: 1 hour opening preparation for second 4NCL game, 3 hours playing 4NCL game + 20 minutes reviewing

This week I’ll be a bit pressed for time, as I have a few bits of uni work ongoing, so all I’m going to aim for is to keep up some daily tactics and have a look over last week’s games when I have the chance.  I should be able to put in a decent amount of time over the weekend to make it up to the 10 hour mark.  A report on the 4NCL weekend, which was most enjoyable, will follow shortly, and a post about my first three local league games of the season can also be expected at some point this week.

Weekly Progress Report #3

Progress report

The target was 10 hours again, and I just managed it, with about 10 hours 10 minutes.  Details of the weeks’ training follow:

Monday 25th: 15 minutes visualisation training using ‘Chess Eye’, 15 minutes tactics problems with ICC‘s TrainingBot, 30 minutes playing a 15 0 game

Tuesday 26th: 15 minutes PlayChess tactics problems + 5 minutes reviewing my mistakes

Wednesday 27th: 60 minutes Chess Tempo tactics problems (I only had the use of a computer without ICC or PlayChess software during that hour, so I couldn’t play games or do any varied training)

Thursday 28th: 30 minutes Chess Tempo problems, 45 minutes playing 2x 15 0 games

Friday 29th: 15 minutes Chess Tempo problems, 10 minutes playing 15 0 game (losing quickly in a Dragon), 35 minutes reviewing 1st video of GM Ronen Har-Zvi’s Dragon series on ChessFM

Saturday 30th: 15 minutes TrainingBot problems, 25 minutes Chess Tempo problems, 3 hours at Chess Society (of which I’m counting 2 as useful training time), 1 hour playing 3x 10 0 training games with chessdi + analysis, 1 hour playing 3 0 blitz games with my friend Dave Brogan who used to give me lessons many years ago

Sunday 31st: 30 minutes Chess Tempo problems, 25 minutes playing a 15 0 game (Sunday was more dissertation-focused, following Saturday’s chess gluttony)

I may struggle to make 10 hours this week, as it’s necessary to spend more time investigating and writing about the [sarcasm]neverending fascinations[/sarcasm] of lidar.  It has been suggested that my training plan could do with a bit more structure, as at the moment the only constant element is the daily tactics problems, so I will consider modifying it for next week.

Weekly Progress Report #2

Progress report

The target this week was ten hours again.  Like last week, I exceeded it, doing about thirteen hours; like last week, the intended subdivision of the time was not exactly followed.  For the coming week I will have the same target, but I will attempt to include some ‘visualisation training’ (e.g. here or here), possibly eating into the tactics allowance a little.  A breakdown of my week’s training follows:

Monday 18th: 40 minutes ICC TrainingBot (tactics problems), 30 minutes looking over Najdorf games (in a database sent by Blitz-King), 20 minutes playing a 15 0 game

Tuesday 19th: 30 minutes TrainingBot

Wednesday 20th: 30 minutes TrainingBot, 2 hours 20 minutes playing a local league game, an hour and a half in the ‘Woody’ (local pub) going over the evening’s games – I have divided this time by three according to the formula Useful training time = Total time / Number of pints consumed + 1.

Thursday 21st: 30 minutes TrainingBot, 25 minutes playing a 15 0 game + brief analysis

Friday 22nd: 30 minutes TrainingBot, 100 minutes playing 3x 15 0 games + brief analysis, 10 minutes PlayChess tactics training, 30 minutes writing notes on the French Defense Tarrasch variation after 3…Nc6

Saturday 23rd: 10 minutes TrainingBot, 15 minutes visualisation training, 2 hours at Durham uni chess society (most of which was spent playing strong opposition, including FM David Eggleston)

Sunday 24th: 10 minutes PlayChess tactics training, 35 minutes blitz with GM derfel, 40 minutes chess.com video: Recent Trends In the French; Tarrasch by IM Thomas Rendle

A post about my last two league games, both of which I won, but neither of which I won by playing well, will follow soon.

Weekly Progress Report #1

Progress report

The target this week was ten hours, to include half an hour of tactics problems a day.  I exceeded the target by a decent margin, doing eleven and a half hours (after excluding chess-related time of no real training value), but fell half an hour short on the tactics over the course of the week.  Here’s what I did:

Monday 11th: 30 minutes ICC TrainingBot (tactics problems), 20 minutes blitz with GM derfel, 1 hour lesson with GM Damian Lemos

Tuesday 12th: 30 minutes TrainingBot, 20 minutes  chess.com video: The Four Knights Opening: Intro! by Roman Dzindzichashvili, 40 minutes playing weak opposition at St. Cuthbert’s Society chess club – not included in count

Wednesday 13th: 20 minutes TrainingBot, 90 minutes at Durham City chess club (60 studying rook endgames, 30 playing blitz against a strong opponent), 45 minutes studying with chessdi: blitz game & analysis, plus a rook ending

Thursday 14th: 35 minutes PlayChess tactics training + 10 minutes reviewing mistakes, 45 minutes analysing a complex GM game position with chessdi

Friday 15th: 20 minutes PlayChess tactics training, 20 minutes blitz with GM derfel, 25 minutes chess.com video: Shankland Teaches the Najdorf: 6.Be2

Saturday 16th: 30 minutes PlayChess tactics training, 2.5 hours at the university chess society (only counting 40 minutes as training, which was spent playing a tough game), 30 minutes independent analysis of the GM game position mentioned above, 60 minutes analysing a problem with chessdi and playing a guess-the-move GM game (Lputian – Kasparov)

Sunday 17th: 15 minutes TrainingBot, 30 minutes playing a 15 0 game plus brief analysis

I have had two unexpected bonuses on the training front this week: derfel(GM) on ICC has been playing blitz games with me, and chessdi on ICC has been acting as a coach and been very generous with his time.  Thanks to both of them.  The target this week will remain the same, as I have my dissertation to be getting on with.

Tactical Vision

Uncategorized

I’ve been doing lots of tactics training this week, and hope my tactical vision is improving.  The same cannot be said for my ocular vision.  I’ve got a double organometallic chemistry lecture over lunch this year, and the lecturer is rather unreasonable with his lunch breaks.  Today we were released ten minutes late and told to be back in seven, so I rushed to the café to grab something.  Unfortunately all the good things were gone, and in severe time trouble I made the dubious choice of a chicken, jalapeño and cheese panini.  Upon my return to the lecture I decided that the jalapeños needed to be picked out, before rubbing some sleepy dust from my eye.  Chilli in the eye is not a pleasant experience, and my immediate attempt to wash it out with water from my bottle proved unsuccessful as I’d already used all the water to quench the fire in my mouth.  Fortunately my friend Nicola was on hand with another bottle, and I spent the remainder of the lecture trying to wash my eye, and pouring most of the water into my lap.

Anyway, on to the chess.  I’ve been doing tactics training in two different ways so far: with ICC’s TrainingBot, and with Playchess’s Tactics training.  The former consists solely of mate problems, and gives you 20 minutes to solve them (so essentially unlimited time).  I’ve been trying an interesting method promoted by Jim Grange, where as soon as you make a single mistake you erase the record of which problems you’ve done and return to the start.  The idea as I understand it is to ‘hard-wire’ common tactical motifs into your brain, so that seeing them becomes automatic.  His video can be seen here (may not be working at the moment), and an interesting article about a similar technique for the game Go can be read here.

Playchess’s Tactics training is a little different.  You are presented with tactical problems – sometimes mates and sometimes just the winning of material – and given a minute to solve them.  After solving each you are immediately presented with the next problem.  In addition to the minute for each problem another clock is counting down from five minutes, and when this reaches zero the session is over.  The aim is to solve thirty problems within the five minutes, but I haven’t come close yet.  This approach puts you under pressure and forces you to try to think quickly, but on the other hand I am sometimes obliged to ‘guess’ the right move rather than calculate everything out (generally calculating everything until you are sure is what I hear recommended).

I’d be very interested to hear your thoughts on the pros and cons of each tool, your opinion of ‘hardwiring’, and tips for removing spicy things from eyes in a hurry.

Training Schedule

Uncategorized

After some consideration I have decided to dedicate 10 hours a week to chess study during term-time. “10 hours a week?”, I hear you cry! “10 hours a day would not be sufficient!” Well, perhaps it’s not enough, but I think it’s important to start with a manageable plan. If I find I’m coping easily, I can increase it. Conversely, during exam period or when I have big assignments due in, I can decrease the number of hours. The one thing I don’t want to do is start trying to cram chess into every waking moment, only to burn out quickly and stop abruptly. I know from experience that my ‘8-hours-a-day revision plans’ mean nothing will get done, but with a more modest aim then constructive work can be achieved. As for the other objection, that 10 hours a week is too much as I have a degree to pass; well, that still leaves 30 hours of the working week, which is more than enough for any degree if used efficiently.

I intend to split the time up roughly into one hour every weekday, and two and a half hours each day of the weekend. Half an hour each morning, before I go to lectures, will be spent on solving tactics problems. I still make lots of blunders, and my calculating ability really needs to be improved, so I think this may be the most important thing to do for a while. Every evening I’ll spend at least half an hour playing online games, or doing bookwork. Bookwork at the moment will consist mainly of working through Silman’s ‘How To Reassess Your Chess’, Maurice Ashley’s ‘The Secret To Chess’, or chess.com video lectures which I’m currently trying out. The extra time at the weekend will be spent on longer games, more bookwork or preparing for my weekly lesson with GM Damian Lemos.

Each week I will post a summary of what I have achieved, either on the main page or on a separate page made for this purpose, in order to hold myself to account. Comments or suggestions on my schedule are very welcome.