SIR ROCKY ROOK

Tagged

2007-07-08T10:12:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Korsmonaut, I've been tagged. Rise and Shine, you're it. My reply is over at my main blog.

Day 10: Quest Complete

2007-07-07T15:50:00.000-05:00

July 7, 2007: 1-500

Like I did the last two days, I worked problems 500 to 250 first. Then I whipped through problems 1-250. I actually did a lot better on the 500-250 problems today.

I took lots of breaks ... working 25-50 at a time and then taking a break to watch golf of Kung Fu movies.

I am calling my "Circles" training complete.

It really feels good to be done with this.

As to the future ... I'm not going to spend so much time on tactics now. Now that this quest is complete, I will cease posting here and continue to post my improvement plans and goals at my main blog.

I have a lot of chess books I need to get to. The first one that I want to actually finish is Logical Chess Move by Move by Chernev. Reading this book has been on my to do list for a long, long time. So I'm going to finish it.

After that, I have some other chess books I want to read. I need to start working on openings, endgames and all that other jazz. I also plan on keeping at CT-ART to keep improving at tactics. There's so much more to do. But getting these circles completed is a relief.

Thank you, Knights Errant, for the encourgement and interest!

And one last thing ... I remember starting this blog on 6/6/06 and now my last post is on 7/7/07. I planned the 6/6/06 date, but I didn't plan on ending this on 7/7/07, so it must be my lucky day.

Day 9

2007-07-06T22:07:00.000-05:00

July 6: 1-250

These are the easiest problems in the whole set. It's like playing a video game ... just blowing through them like nothing.

Tomorrow will be an endurence test for me. I recall one day a while ago when I did 300 problems in CT-ART and 301 on CTS. That was pretty fun.

I'm down to the last day! Although I've cut this program short, I'm still a little in awe that I've kept with this thing for 10 days.

Day 8

2007-07-05T20:24:00.000-05:00

July 5: 500-250

I decided to get the tough ones over with first and then cruise on through the rest. The good thing about going backwards was I was able to remember much more from when I covered these problems yesterday. My percentage was much higher today than yesterday's.

Two more days to go!

Day 7

2007-07-04T22:27:00.000-05:00

July 4: 333-500

The remainder of the 300's and up to around 460 were fairly easy to somewhat tough. The last 40 or so problems were tough. I'm planning on going back (after I'm done with this quest) and pound those last 40 or so in my head.

3 days to go! They'll be the toughest.

Day 6

2007-07-04T18:05:00.000-05:00

July 3: 200-332

I forgot to post yesterday after finishing. I had a meeting to get to and I simply forgot to post the update. I was slightly amazed to get through these fairly quickly too. Perhaps all that work before wasn't all for nothing.

I have 168 to work on today.

Day 5

2007-07-02T20:46:00.000-05:00

July 2: 1-200

On to the 3rd circle now. I'm supposed to be working 167 a day, but since I have a meeting tomorrow night, I worked a few extra so I won't have to do as many tomorrow.

The first 200 were very easy ... blew through them this time.

5 days to go.

Day 4

2007-07-01T21:39:00.000-05:00

July 1: 376-500

Took me quite a while today to polish off the 2nd circle, but I finally did it. Problems 376-460 were tough to remember. 461-500 were problems I've not seen in a long, long time ... so I had to take my time to figure most of them out.

Thank you for all the comments of support as I push to finish The Circles.

To answer BDK ... I'm using CT-ART 3.0 and more specifically, I'm going over the practice problems (1-500) which go into the Level 30 problems.

Circle 3 is next!

Day 3

2007-06-30T20:14:00.000-05:00

June 30: 251-375

I took my time today ... working on the 125 problems here and there throughout the day. Since I really focused on the 300 range problems before, I was pretty accurate and quick.

125 more to go for this circle.

Day 2

2007-06-29T22:32:00.001-05:00

June 28: 1-125
June 29: 126-250

It's been so long since I've worked consistently on tactics that I'm struggling a tiny bit. But the vast majority of the problems so far have been fairly easy to solve ... I'm just not as fast as I was a few weeks ago before vacation.

10 Days

2007-06-28T20:58:00.000-05:00

Circle 1: 25 per day times 20 days = 500 (I'm skipping this circle)
Circle 2: 125 per day times 4 days = 500 (June 28, 29, 30, July 1)
Circle 3: 166 per day times 3 days = 500 (July 2, 3, 4)
Circle 4: 250 per day times 2 days = 500 (July 5, 6)
Circle 5: 500 per day times 1 days = 500 (July 7)

L10

2007-06-04T21:09:00.000-05:00

While we're counting down the days to go on our vacation, I've just been reviewing problems in CT-ART. I've told myself that if I can ace all the problems in each level, then I won't review them ever again (so I can spend more time hammering new ones in my head).

Tonight I did L10.

This is Really Pathetic!

2007-05-30T22:25:00.000-05:00

I've not done any tactics in a while. Things keep popping up (kids sick or I'm sick or work-related stuff) or I end up playing on FICS rather than studying tactics.

Additionally, I feel that I will never really be satisfied with my tactical studies and that they might continue for years and years (as they should).

So I've come to a realization that I need to find a way to end this quest while at the same time save my face. I've decided to end my quest at the 500 mark rather than the 1039 mark. I am going to do 4 circles in 10 days and then call this quest complete. Some of you may remember a Knight Errant by the name of Smith-Morra who did 500 tactics in 30 days. I'm essentially going to follow his schedule from Circle 2 to Circle 5.

Another reason to do this is that my family and I will be going on a long vacation in June. I will arrive back home at the end of the month while my dear wife will stay with her parents for a few additional weeks. When I come back home, I'm going to use all that extra time on my hands to finish this quest.

More importantly, yet another reason to cut this quest short is because some major career events are on the immediate horizon which will disrupt my schedule considerably. If I don't finish now, I will perhaps never finish any sort of tactical quest.

Maybe if I complete this quest, I might find courage to work on another 500 tactics. But for now I feel I need to come to a conclusion with this tactical quest.

So look for me to post again at the end of June and then hopefully my quest will end sometime in the middle of July.

Another Update

2007-05-22T22:10:00.000-05:00

I've decided to try to cut the number of tactics I do in a day. In stead of working 150 problems at a time, I'll work 75. This will free up some time to work on other areas.

Tonight I reviewed 75 tactics in CT-ART and 24 on CTS.

CT-ART: 301-376
CTS: 24 (2218 total ... 69.7%)

Status Update

2007-05-19T12:59:00.000-05:00

Since I last posted, life got really hectic. I laid off the tactics big time. The thing I need to realize is that I need to take a steady, consistent diet of daily tactics. I shouldn't gorge for a few stays and then starve myself for a week.

Perhaps the biggest challenge I face in completing The Circles is time constraint. There are just so many things to do in a day. Obviously work takes up most of my day and when things are slow at work, I wish I could use that time to study tactics. But since I can't install CT-ART on my PC at work, I've decided to just input chunks of 10 problems into pgn format and then study tactics from CT-ART that way (since I could install a pgn reader on my work PC).

I've also decided to dedicate more time to studying from some of the books I have as well as playing more games on FICS. So hopefully I can work a bit on tactics at work (when it's slow or on my lunch break) and then study and play on-line at night.

I'm still trying to stick to the plan I discussed last time. I'm up to #460 in CT-ART.

Finally a Plan I Can Follow

2007-04-26T12:19:00.000-05:00

I've been having a really hard time accepting the fact that I can "memorize" a tactic. I drill it and drill it but then review it several days later and go completly blank ... no idea how to solve it. So I decided that I need to review previously covered problems. As I started to review I found that all my time was being spent on review and that I didn't have time to cover new problems ... it's like I'm an over-worked piece!

I decided to divide all 1039 problems by 7 (days a week). This came about to be 148. To make things even, I say 150. Now I'm reviewing all the problems at least once a week and I have time to study and memorize new problems.

Generally the schedule will go like this:
Sun: 1-150
Mon: 151-300
Tue: 301-396 (396 is the last "memorized" problem)
Wed: 397-410 (adding new problems)
Thu: 397-420 (review new and adding more new problems)
Fri: 397-430 (review new and adding more new problems)
Sat: 397-440 (review new and adding more new problems)

Sunday I start over with 1-110. Eventually Tuesday will be 301-450 and then I'll only have Wednesday through Saturday to add new problems. I think you get the drift.

Assuming I keep up every day with this pace, which is completly do-able, then I'll finish around the 3rd week of September.

Last night I had some time to work on tactics.

CT-ART: 397-410
CTS: 40 (2056 total) 1393 rating

Continued Review

2007-04-17T22:05:00.000-05:00

I finished my review of the first 396 problems. I think I'll move on now to new problems. I'm still not satisfied with my poor memory retention. I plan on continuing to review 111-396 as I add new problems.

CT-ART: 201-396

I'm also trying not to get burned out (as I've read how some Knights have burned out). My view is to steadily study tactics every day and try to avoid burn-out. We'll see how it goes.

Backwards and then Forwards

2007-04-11T22:56:00.000-05:00

I've been slumping with my tactics the last few days. Tonight I got back into it. A couple of nights ago I did 111-200. Tonight I worked on 201-300 again. I'll probably go over 111-396 again this week before moving on to 397 and beyond.

Barrier Broken

2007-04-05T22:31:00.000-05:00

Here is some more proof that the tactical studies are at least helping. I broke the 1700 barrier on FICS for the first time. Granted, the players accepting my seeks are usually lower than me (although I've beaten a fair share of those rated higher). Even still, a few years ago I was dropping games right and left to these same rated players. That's not the case these days.

Here is the winning tactic that took me over the edge:

White to play and win.

Before logging on to FICS tonight, I worked some more on CT-ART and CTS. In CT-ART, I feel like I really need to go back and solidify problems 1-396 ... so I'm doing a hard review of all those tactics and trying to get them down pat ... speed and accuracy.

CT-ART: 1-110 with a multi-review of those I struggled with
CTS: 75 (1966 total)

L10 and L20

2007-04-01T22:09:00.000-05:00

Today and yesterday I worked on problems 1 to 396. I did OK for L10, but for L20, I forgot a lot of the problems.

CT-ART: 1-396

I'm thinking about switching up the next 604 problems a bit ... I'm thinking maybe I should do some form of mini-circles ... such as this:

I'd continue to memorize chunks of 20 and then work my way up to a chunk of 100 problems. Once I get to the 100th problem, I'd review that set 6 more times. So I'd do 7 mini-circles for each 100 problem set until I finish the 1000th problem. Also I wouldn't go back to review as often, if at all. I'd just focus on the 100 problem chunk and then move on to the next 100 problems without going back to review previous chunks.

CT-ART #379

2007-03-29T21:33:00.000-05:00

I've heard it before that CT-ART has its flaws. To be honest, I haven't noticed that many. For the most part I am satisfied with the explanation given. But I came across #379 tonight and I'm not sure I agree with the explanation.

Number 379 is from an actual game (Rashid Gibiatovich Nezhmetdinov vs Vladimir D Sergievsky, 1966). The game ends with 20. Rxf6 gxf6 1-0 (see below).

CT-ART has the position continue with 21. Ne4 Qa7 22. Nf6#. What threw me off was I was expected 21 ... Qe7, not Qa7. Even if Qe7, white will still go on to win, but it's better than letting the game go with Qa7.

For what it's worth, I've seen lots of problems in CT-ART where mate could have at least been avoided, but it is not. It's not big deal, but since I put a little research time into this one, I decided to blog it. Go read the kibitzes on chessgames.com for this game ... they proved to analyze better than CT-ART.

Just Keep Moving

2007-03-27T23:41:00.000-05:00

I felt much better tonight after sleeping in this morning. Now if I could just get my exercise in each day ... there are just not enough free hours in a day to do everything!

CT-ART: 301-370
CTS: 156 (1800 total)

My rating dropped dramatically on CTS tonight. I think I just got tired head and couldn't calculate accuratly and quickly enough.

Slowly, But Surely

2007-03-26T21:04:00.000-05:00

I'm still here ... I'm slowly going through the tactics.

Currently I've been working my way through 301-400 in CT-ART. I'm up to 350. I've been so tired at night that I can't push beyond 350 and so I've just been reviewing problems 301-350. I'm going to bed early tonight in hopes that I'll feel better tomorrow and can tackle new problems.

Chug, Chug, Chug

2007-03-19T22:55:00.000-05:00

I'm upping the ante.

CT-ART: 301-320 memorization
CTS: 63 (1644 total)

I've decided to start working on chunks of 20 rather than 10. IF (and that's a big IF) I can keep up this pace, I may finish some form of the Circles by the end of May. We'll see how it goes.

I won my OCL game on Saturday. I'll post on that later. Nothing spectacular, but I was impressed with a potential tactic that I saw in the game that eventually helped me win it. Although later analysis showed that it wasn't a slam dunk, it did give me a pretty good advantage.

300

2007-03-15T23:35:00.000-05:00

Today I decided to do tactics 1 to 300 in CT-ART and then do 300 tactics on CTS.

CT-ART: 1-300 (90%)
CTS: 301 (1581)

I did it!

This morning while in a boring conference call, I plowed through problems 1-300 in CT-ART. I seem to struggle the most with problems 111-200. I had a lot of mouse slips, so that affected my percentage a bit.

Tonight I mowed through 301 tactics on CTS. My rating dropped a bit, but I am so impressed that I stuck with it.

I'm 1/3 done with the circles!

Getting Up

2007-03-13T23:45:00.000-05:00

I get the feed for Indexed and I thought this one was applicable for me today.

I haven't done tactics for almost a week now (4 days) and so getting back at them felt good tonight ... I missed doing tactics.

I didn't do a whole lot ... I just felt I needed to do something.

CT-ART: 201-300

Tomorrow I'm hoping to go through 1-300 to get a solid review before proceeding to 301.

Tactical Training Works

2007-03-07T21:37:00.000-06:00

Suprise, suprise ... the tactical training seems to be helping. The evidence isn't hard, but I have a premonition it's working. Of course if I don't have a solid thought process and manage my time properly, I'll still lose games. Anyway ... here's the update.

CT-ART: 201-290 review and memorization
CTS: 57 (1280) hit a new high rating of 1417, but currently at 1409

As you may guess, I'm not reporting every single day as I often forget, but I am providing a quick update as to where I'm at. To see detailed progress, click on "New Approach" link to the right ... that spreadsheet tracks all the gory details. I try to upload the current file once a week.

Chipping Away

2007-03-05T22:29:00.000-06:00

Bit by bit I'm chipping away at the 1000 tactical chunk.

After going back to problems 1-110 and from 111-200, I've found that I need to review these problems regularly. So I've incorporated a review in each session. This chews into my CTS time, but CT-ART is the primary focus, so I'm not too concerned about missing out on CTS problems.

CT-ART: 1-110, 142-172, 201-280
CTS: 23 (1223)

For CT-ART, I'm taking 10 to 15 minutes to review 1-110. Next I take a chunk of 30 from the 111-200 range. Lastly I work on 201 up to the point of memorization ... so tonight I went up to 280. The whole cycle takes about an hour. It's amazing how I just do the problems without much thought. Tonight I went into "new" territory without knowing and I just hummed right along without missing a beat. It must be working.

Ververific

2007-03-01T21:57:00.000-06:00

I had a really good session tonight.

CT-ART: memorized 241-260, reviewed 201-260
CTS: 53 (1174)

I didn't work on tactics last night, so this morning before going to work, I memorized 241-250 and then tonight I memorized 251-260 and then did a review of 201-260 and then 251-260 again.

Then I logged on to CTS and whipped through a bunch of problems, getting most of them correct and thus boosting my rating up to 1397.

Tonight I listened to The Verve (Urban Hymns). I really like that album! I've noticed that I do pretty well on my tactics when I listen to Urban Hymns.

Tired Head

2007-02-27T22:42:00.000-06:00

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

2007-02-27T09:59:00.000-06:00

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

2007-02-22T23:03:00.000-06:00

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

2007-02-20T22:35:00.000-06:00

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

2007-02-20T14:50:00.000-06:00

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

2007-02-18T23:50:00.000-06:00

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

2007-02-16T13:45:00.000-06:00

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

2007-02-14T22:20:00.000-06:00

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

2007-02-13T22:57:00.000-06:00

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

2007-02-13T11:26:00.000-06:00

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

2007-02-11T23:17:00.000-06:00

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

2007-02-08T22:13:00.000-06:00

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

2007-02-08T07:54:00.000-06:00

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)

CTS

2007-01-17T22:34:00.000-06:00

Now that another major event my life is about over (buying a new home), I've been able to focus my attention on tactics.

I've read that a number of knights have been using the tactics on CTS. I've read mixed reviews. I registered at CTS back in March, but I havn't used it much since then. The last couple of days I've been logging on and doing a 100 tactics at a time. I must say that I like it.

It took me a bit to get used to the format and the 3 second delay. But now that I'm used to it, I'm steadily improving. I like the delay it gives by showing what the previous move is.

I'm still trying to focus on CT-ART 3.0 (memorization). After I work on my chunk in CT-ART, I "relax" and do a 100 tactics on CTS. So far, I'm liking this routine. I'm getting the drilling and the variety and practice.

The Spring OCL tourney is coming up. I've signed up for it. I hope that I'll do better (shouldn't be too hard) than I did in the Winter OCL.

More Details about New Approach

2006-12-19T09:38:00.000-06:00

Two of the biggest disruptors to my chess are work and family. After taking care of business at work, I enjoy a fun evening with the family. But after getting the kiddos to bed, I only have a few hours to work on chess. To help me save time with reviewing the problems I have trouble with in CT-ART, I use the print feature to "export" the problems that give me trouble.

CT-ART lets you print to a file (as opposed to a printer). Once I've printed to the file, I open the file and copy the image to a Word document. I capture all the trouble problems in the same Word document and then I print that file and post it up on the wall at work. So when I take my breaks throughout the day, I can grab the problems off my wall and review them in my head.

I figure this little trick will save me about 10-15 minutes an evening when I review those problems. This way I can use that time to work on "new" problems.

Status Update and New Approach

2006-12-18T08:01:00.000-06:00

Update

As many know, life gets in the way of chess sometimes (if you have higher priorities other than chess). Such is my case over the last month.

I finally finished my MBA and graduated earlier this month. I've also recently transitioned into a new position at work which is requiring more time than my previous position. And lastly, we're in the process of selling our home and buying a new one. So chess has been pushed to the backburners.

But I'm hoping to get back in the saddle and back in the habit of practicing tactics.

New Approach

I've been struggling about coming up with a plan that will allow me to complete some version of the 7 circles without having to sacrifice so much time. I want to have time to still play a few games a week. I think I may have found a decent schedule that may work for me. I'll give it a try and then do more tweaking if necessary. If I do stay on schedule, then I'll complete it sometime in August 2007.

My new approach will be to take chunks of 10 problems and work them over and over again in one evening. The next evening I will start at problem 1 and go up to the current "chunk" I had worked on the night before. The next day I will work on the next chunk of 10. The day after I will again go through all the problems from 1 up to the current "chunk."

I do this until I hit 400 problems. Then I start the whole process all over again but this time starting at problem 401. Once a week, I'll go back to problem 1 and work my way up to the current chunk. I work this method until I hit 600, then I start over again with a weekly review starting at problem 1. I continue this cycle at 800 and finally up to 1039 (using CT-ART 3.0).

Click the link "New Approach" to see the spreadsheet.

I'm not giving up yet! I will finish eventually.

Level 10 Complete

2006-11-13T21:08:00.000-06:00

I'm going back over each level to "master" it ... meaning that I'm working on accuracy and speed.

Tonight I finally got my average time per problem down to 10 seconds for Level 10. The accuracy is pretty high too. Out of the 110 problems, only 6 seem to take me longer than normal.

I plan to go through all 110 one more time without stopping before moving on to Level 20.

The Fall 2006 OCL is over and I went 1-6 ... pretty pathetic. The last game was a 24 move waste of time. I had other important things on my mind that night so I ended up blundering and resigning. Sometimes I'm in no mood for chess and this last game was one of those times.

I plan on playing some long games between now and the next tournament. I'm shooting for one long game a week. So if anyone wants to play a long game (60 15 or longer) then drop me a comment. Obviously, I'm RockyRook on FICS. I usually like to play Friday, Saturday or Sunday nights after 6pm FICS time.

Level 60 Problems & Circle One Complete

2006-10-18T13:10:00.000-05:00

I finished today at lunch ... all 1,039 problems (no, not all at once). The average time it took me to complete each problem was about the same as Level 50. I've been doing about 20 a day for a while.

The next phase ... practice and practice and practice each level until I consistently score a 90%.

This could take a while.

Level 50 Problems Complete

2006-10-12T15:56:00.000-05:00

Obviously they are getting more complex.

I'm still chugging away ... slowly but surely.

My average time per problem for each level is:
10: 28 sec
20: 88 sec
30: 109 sec
40: 119 sec
50: 122 sec

During the last 100 problems or so that I worked on, I gave myself two minutes before forcing myself to move. Sometimes I could work and solve the solution while other times, it took me a bit longer to figure out.

I'm getting a bit antsy ... I want to hurry up and finish this first round and then get started on hammering the L10 problems in my head.

This is going to be a long battle.

Gauntlet - 821 Problems Done

2006-09-29T22:42:00.000-05:00

I'm trying to push through the remainder of the tactics as quickly as possible while still trying to do some calculations.

I finished the Level 40 problems tonight. I just need to get through Levels 50 and 60 and then I'll be able to go back and "master" the levels. I'm doing about 20 a day.

I'll start working on mastering Level 10 around October 10th. Who knows how long it will take me from there.

The OCL starts this week. I'm not on a board in round 1. Currently my FICS rating is 1688. My RD is still high with that rating. My official highest rating on FICS is 1650 set on February 23, 2003. So as I go through the tournament and as I play more long games and as I study these tactics, we'll see how many "points" studying tactics will get me.

I'm not so interested in my rating, but that is pretty much the only quantitative measurement I can take to demonstrate improvement.

Excuse me now as I need to go to the restroom again ...

More Info on Plan Revision

2006-09-22T10:34:00.000-05:00

I knew I had read it before ... I was over at Chessville.com today doing some reading and I was curious about their advice on studying tactics. So I found their article about studying tactics. Evan (the writer of the article) sums up pretty well what I think I'm going to do with CT-ART 3.0.

He suggests working on each level until you've mastered it. He says it better than me ...

Once you’ve worked your way through the entire set of level one problems, go
back through them again. This time, you should be able to go through them with
greater speed and accuracy. You’ll probably remember some of them, and be able
to solve them instantly. Some of them may require that you work through them
again as described above, but will go more quickly. Others will take a just as
long as before, and still others will stump you all over again. Just make sure
that you work through them again as thoroughly as you need to solve the ones you
can and understand the ones you can’t.
Q: "How many times should I go through the same set?" A: Until you can go
through the whole set (preferably in one sitting, or at the very least in as few
sessions as possible) and score at least 90%. Then you’ll be ready to move to
the next level of problems. Repeat the process until you’ve worked through all
ten levels. There’s no set schedule for this – take as much time as it requires,
even if it’s a year or two or more, as long as you work through them thoroughly
and spend at least a little time on them every day. As you can probably tell,
it’s quality rather than speed or quantity that I’m advocating. Once you’ve
finished the entire collection, you’ll be ready for the advanced plan.

That's it. But I'm going to try to be a little more hasty about it ... I don't want to just meander through these 1000 problems and finish a in few years. The one thing I hope to avoid is being caught up on the same problem over and over again. I plan on identifying the problems that give me grief and memorize them. Then as I go back through the level, I won't be stumped. My "practice" will be going back to the "problem-child" problems. My "test" will be to go through the whole set without re-do's.

I passed the 700th problem last night. About 300 to go.

Revision in Plan

2006-09-20T09:15:00.000-05:00

I've been doing a lot of reading of the other Knights Errant blogs ... especially Tempo's, Blue Devil Knight's and Takchess' blogs. I've been trying to pin down exactly how to accomplish mini-circles of Death. As I've been trudging through CT-ART 3.0, I just don't see how I'm going to memorize all 1039 problems (levels 10-60) to the point that I can solve them in less than 15 seconds. There are so many of them and I've been having to calculate a lot.

One night, I decided to see how long it would take me to memorize the chunk I needed to do that night (17 problems). It took me a half hour to go through them once and then another half hour of going back and getting them down pat.

So after a lot of thinking and reading and deciding, I've come up with my own plan.

First, I'll complete the first circle as I have been doing. I'm on problem 664 of 1039. I'll finish in a few weeks. This will have given me a chance to at least see all the problems once and give me an idea as to what I'm up against.

Second, I'll go back and work each level until I am satisfied that I can solve the problems quickly enough (generally between 5 and 15 seconds). Once I can solve all of Level 10 problems under 15 seconds, I'll move on to Level 20 problems.

As I go through each level, I'll continue to note how long each problem takes to solve. I'll then go back and specifically work on memorizing those problems that give me trouble. This is how I study for exams ... if I know a concept, no sense in wasting time studying it ... just a quick review will do. But if something is giving me fits, I'll focus on it until I have it solidly planted in my mind.

Basically, I'll pound the patterns in my head by brute force ... there's no avoiding the work ... gotta do it.

With all that said, I seriously doubt I will be able to complete this quest by December of this year. Who knows, maybe as I pick up steam I might finish by Christmas. But realistically speaking, I think it will take me into early 2007.

ADVICE FROM DAN HEISMAN

Now, according to Dan Heisman, in his Novice Nook "A Different Approach to Studying Tactics," he said,

"The most important goal of studying tactics is to be able to spot the
elementary motifs VERY quickly, so studying the most basic tactics over and over
until you can recognize them almost instantly is likely the single best thing
you can do when you begin studying chess."

He explains in the same article that one of his students was working on tactical motifs and "got" the problems every time, but in real games, the student would consistently miss tactics. The reason being is because when you're doing tactical problems, you know there is a tactic there. But in a game, there may or may not be a tactic and so you're not actively looking for one. To solve this problem, Dan states that

"it is not just the ability to find the tactic that is important, it is also
important to be able to do it quickly and efficiently, or else quickly conclude
'there is no tactic.'"

Therefore I reason that if I can master Level 10, which are all basic tactical motifs, then I should have an easier time with Level 20 and so on. If I solidly build the infrastructure, then the rest of my chess studies will be on solid footings.

Error in CT-ART 3.0

2006-08-29T18:19:00.000-05:00

I know that there are some mistakes in the CT-ART 3.0 software. I just happened to come accross one today.

I arrived at this position and instinctively chose Re4#. I got it wrong! I thought to myself, "I must've had a slip of the mouse." So I moved Re4 again ... WRONG! Now I was mad. The "correct" response is g5#. So I played the current position and sure enough, Re4 is checkmate.

Just an FYI.

Seven Castles, Seven Enchantresses ... and Seven Circles

2006-08-23T20:32:00.000-05:00

I've begun my descent through the Seven Circles of Tactics.

In the words of Don Quixote,

... is there any greater joy than seeing, before our very eyes, you might say, a great lake of boiling pitch, and in it, swimming and writhing about, there are many snakes, serpents, lizards, and many other kids of fierce and fearsome creatures, and from the middle of the lake there comes an extremely sad voice, saying, 'Thou, O knight, whosoever thou mayest be, who looketh upon this fearful lake if thou wishest to grasp the treasure hidden beneath these ebon waters, display the valor of thy mighty heart and throw thyself into the midst of its black and burning liquid, for if thou wilt not, thou canst not be worthy of gazing upon the wondrous marvels contained and enclosed within the seven castles of the seven enchantresses which lieth beneath this blackness.' And no sooner has the knight heard the fearsome voice than without hesitating or stopping to consider the danger he faces, and without even stripping off the weight of his heavey armor, he commends himself to God and his lady and throws himself into the middle of the boiling lake, and when he cannot see or imagine where he will land, he finds himself among flowering meadows even more beautiful than the Elysian Fields ...

And so I throw myself into the boiling lake in hopes that I will find at the end of the ordeal, not misery, but flowers (or a better tactical prowess).

I finished the first set of exercises. I blew threw them. But then I went back and read some of what de la Maza and Heisman said about tactics. I need to drill the tactic in my head ... know it like the multiplication table. So now I'm slowing down a bit and taking my time to make sure I understand each exercise. If I incorrectly solve it, then I'll go back over it again a few times before moving to the next one.

And the descent continues ...

Gearing Up

2006-08-09T12:44:00.000-05:00

School studies will calm down dramatically after August. Finals are the middle week of the month. So I'm gearing up to engage the Circles. I'll be starting them on Friday.

I didn't do too well keeping up with the optional chess vision drills. But I did complete the "required" vision drills.

The time is now to take up arms to fight the enchanters and gain a noble governorship of an insula (aka finish the Circles and become a true Knight Errant).

Knight Sight: Completed

2006-07-06T12:47:00.000-05:00

I drove Rocinante all over the chess board. I did my best to find the shortest route for him to take. After those two weeks, Rocinante and I had the board mapped out pretty well. I plan on putting these vision drills into practice by always noting (during games) where my knights can go and where my enemy's knights can leap to. This will be one of those things to check off on my thinking list.

From now until the Circles begin, I'll be going over the other chess vision drills outlined by de la Maza.

This next week, I'll keep up with the knight vision drills and then I'll be on to bigger adventures. The Knight Flight drill will takes lots of time. I plan on doing one row a day. It takes about 40 or so minutes a row. One day I'll have to do two rows. I'll save that one for this weekend.

Click on "My Schedule" to see progress and plans.

Concentric Square: Completed

2006-06-21T09:55:00.000-05:00

I've completed the Concentric Square exercises. I found a rhythm as I worked my way through each piece. The first day or two, I had to calculate and really make sure I found all the squares. But after that, it was rather easy.

I generally looked at the diagonals the rook was on to find most of the squares. For the bishop, I looked at the horizontals and verticals the bishop was on. For the knight, I would look at all three. I began to see the patterns and easily recognize the squares to place the queen on for the fork or skewer. The queen was easy ... just had to look for skewers.

Now on to Knight Sight. I'll do the vision drills for a week and then I'll do the concentric square portion of it.

Chess Vision Drills

2006-06-09T11:08:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure how many Knights Errant went through the chess vision drills outlined by the program. Did anyone do them?

To remain true to MDLM's program, I am going to go through the drills between now and when I start the circles. Since I'll be playing almost all my games on a computer, I'm using the computer to go through these drills.

I'll go through the concentric square, knight sight and then the other drills he recommends in his book. I've posted the schedule I'll follow. It is pretty rigorous. But I figure I can put an hour in at lunch for the vision drills. Then by the time I'm ready to start the circles, I'll have much less homework and can afford to put in an hour or so at night along with the hour at lunch. By the time I graduate, I'll be on the 4th circle and then I'll have a lot more time to dedicate to the quest.

I'll post a link to my planned schedule. I'll use that schedule to track my progress too (cells in orange).

The Stars Must be Aligned

2006-06-06T12:50:00.000-05:00

I've been itching to get this blog up. Ever since I read Don de la Maza's blog and his extraordinary quest, I've been wanting to do the same. Back in 2004, when I started my first blog, I intended to start a chess blog. But school got in the way. You can read all about that here.

This blog will have a beginning, a middle with many posts and an end. One day, this blog will end. It will stand as a solitary quest.

Today, on the sixth day of the sixth month in the sixth year of two-thousand, I introduce my quest. In sixty-six days, the quest will begin.

Thirty-three days from now, on July 9, 2006 I'll post my plan to complete the Circles.

Then on August 11, 2006 I'll begin the Circles.

May God have mercy on my soul.

2006-06-06T12:17:00.001-05:00