Tired Head

I went through a major slump on CTS tonight.

CT-ART: 201-240 review and memorization
CTS: 64 (1121)

I missed dozens of tactics on CTS tonight making my rating plunge dramatically. Thankfully I was able to recover a bit.

Back on the Tactics

I took 4 days off for no good reason ... other things were going and I an simply didn't take the time to work on tactics.

Last night I fired up CT-ART again.

CT-ART: 201-230 ... reviewed and memorized
CTS: 57 (1057 total)

I actually hit 1400 for a couple of tactics on CTS, but then I blundered several problems and I'm at 1368 currently with a 70.2% success rate.

More problems to work on tonight ...

1000 Complete on CTS

I'm moving along nicely.

CR-ART: 201-220 memorization & review
CTS: 75 (1000) ... 70.7% correct 1386 rating

CT-ART was pretty easy tonight and I've finally hit 1000 problems in CTS. My percentage isn't that great, but I think CTS is helping me. The biggest thing I think that CTS helps me with is the practice of scanning the board and knowing where my pieces are. I've been burned so many times by not seeing a pawn or knight that would deliver the final punch. So I've been practicing scanning the board quickly and getting a feel for where my pieces are.

Fried Brain

My head was tired tonight.

CT-ART: 111-200 (94%)
CTS: 82 (881)

I missed a bunch in a row on CTS and then I started getting them. But it took me longer to solve the tactics ... my head is operating at half speed right now.

200 Down

I keep forgetting to post after I work on tactics. I worked on more memorization last night.

CT-ART: 181-200 ... memorized & reviewed several times
CTS: 64 (799 total)

Tonight I will review 181-200 and then do 111-200 before I move on to new problems.

I Can't Count

I played my first Winter OCL game tonight and I lost because I moved too quickly and didn't count correctly.

My punishment was to stay up late and work on tactics.

CT-ART: 111-190, then 181-190 memorization
CTS: 63 (735 total)

I will keep pounding until it is in my head. These mistakes must stop.

Sleepy

Last night wasn't good.

CT-ART: worked on 171-180 six times
CTS: 0 (627 total)

I worked on new problems in CT-ART and then tried to log on to CTS only to find that it was either down or the connection was very slow. I tried 3 or 4 times and then gave up.

I played one game on FICS and blundered big time early in the game. I knew I was in no mental condition to play chess. It had been a long day. To top all that off, our two younger kids were sick in the stomach all night and into today.

Sometimes life gets in the way of chess.

Maybe tonight I can get back on track.

Valentine's Day Report

Another day is in the bucket.

CT-ART: 111-170 ... I reviewed 151-160, then memorized 161-170, then did 111-170
CTS: 57 (672 total)

I had a great streak in CTS at the beginning of the session and almost hit 1400. Then I slid back down to 1386.

The CT-ART problems tonight were very easy.

February 13th Report

Another good night of tactical training.

CT-ART: 111-160
CTS: 53 (615 total)

In CT-ART, I reviewed 141-150 first and then I went on to memorize 151-160. Then I did 111-160. I'm starting to retain new problems much quicker and the recall on the problems I've already covered is getting better.

I hit a new high in CTS tonight too. I was up over 1380 for a bit.

February 12th Report

I worked on tactics last night, but forgot to post the report.

CT-ART: 111-150 then 140-150 a few times for review
CTS: 51 (562 total)

I think I finally worked out the kinks to my revised plan. You can click on the link to the right to see what the plan is. What will actually happen remains to be seen. The spreadsheet has two tabs. The first one tracks my plan and progress in CT-ART and CTS. The 2nd tab will track my rating stats. I'm using February 9, 2007 as my baseline. I'll try to post updates to this tab every week.

Another Punch

I celebrated my birthday this weekend, so I missed couple of days. I made up for some of it tonight. I'm hoping this week will be a good week to burn in the habit.

CT-ART:131-140 (memorize), 1-140 (test)
CTS: 54 (511 total)

One of my birthday presents that my dear wife gave me was the original soundtrack to the original Rocky movie. It is by far the best of all the Rocky soundtracks. I worked on my tactics tonight listening to Rocky ... very inspiring!

Daily Report

I was dead tired tonight, but I plowed through CT-ART and a bunch of CTS tactics.

CT-ART: 1-130
CTS: 44 (457 total)

I'm off to get some sleep now.

I Finally Have Some Time

We're finally in our new home, so now I have the time to do tactics again.

Until I get into the daily habit, I'm setting aside at least 30 minutes every evening to work on tactics. I've got this timer on my computer that helps me keep on task for those 30 minutes. Some days I'll have more time, but most days will allow me only 30 minutes. I'll update my progress every day.

CT-ART: Problems 111-130 (memorization)
CTS:43 problems (413 total)