"Ok ok ok ok" - Leo Getz (Lethal Weapon 2)

I know I've been slacking on updating everyone on my chess progress so bear with me as I go over the last couple of months, briefly.

Opening Study
I completed my opening rep. and have been putting it to good use over the last couple of months. No major tweaking so far but I still forget some of the lines I play and leave book before my opponents.

One of the great benefits of opening study is you kill two birds with one stone. First, you increase your rep. with each game you play and analyze. Second, opening study is basically studying the first handful of moves of current master games.

Studying Master Games
This has turned out to be a daunting task. I try to review at least two or three games a day on my Palm while I'm on the bus or at a coffee shop. After a month I'm still on the same issue of TWIC! Heh. By the time I'm done with the thousand games in that issue my grandkids should be here.

Thank goodness for Fritz. There are a few games where I was completely lost. I kept asking myself "Why doesn't he just take the Queen?" or "What was that Rook move for?". Mr. Fritz can usually clear things up pretty quickly.

Playing, playing, playing
I brought down the time limit of my games considerably. This allows me to get more games in every day as well as force me to play with a faster time control. I was prompted to do this after my coach told me that I take a long time to arrive at an incorrect move. This is due to not looking at the immediate threats (captures, mate threats, etc.) I figure, the more wrong moves I play in a short time period, the faster I'll learn to think correctly. Of course each game is followed by the ritual head slapping and "Stupid idiot!" "WTH was that?! Look at all captures you dummy!" Kind of like Self Flagellation, in homage to PMD's site.

Chess coach
Did I just say chess coach? Yup. I don't know if anyone one remembers way back in March when I posed the question about hiring a chess coach. Well I did, and I just completed my eleventh (and final for this year) lesson in September. There was a LOT of stuff to absorb and to work on for the forseeable future. His advice has helped to focus my studies and point out the problems in my thought process. Most of these things I've pointed out in previous blog entries but one of the most important was where the big gaps in my knowledge was coming from.

If anyone else is considering a coach I would not hesitate to recommend him. Leave me a comment and I'll get the info to you.

Well that's about it for now. I'll post one of my more interesting games in my next entry for your amusement.