Posts
Tonight while doing some mixed exercises ones on 2/3 of Step 1 in TCT I noticed that I was slowing down, for one particular exercise I even took nearly a minute.
I went on with my 25 exercises on CTS ranging in a difficulty between 904 and 1465. Here I took my time as well. Funny thing, I ended with the exact same rating as I started with. Great thing, I had a 100% success rating! (I of little faith, only now I believe it's even possible.)
I am slowing down, and it feels just great!
What has changed, am I just taking more time? No, I'm just trying to look at positions differently. Call it real chess, call it frustration on not "instantly" seeing the tactic in the second diagram and realising that I can and should, call it anew found instruction, especially the a-e and a-d lists and reading some older blogs that discussed looking at the squares that are "covered" when looking for a mate. Probably it's they sum of all of the above and a few things I don't even know.
But no matter what you call it, I think that once I get used to this I will be able to do it faster.
Besides continuation there is only one thing left to do: play games and see if I can apply this.
Guess what, I have a FICS account ready and waiting.
Update:
To give credit where it should be given
It was Bleu Devil Knight who showed me the way to what was lost, he provided the very link to the article in this post on his excellent blog that seems to be a bit active once again. But there is also much te be learned from his old posts for beginners, improving players and other chess minded people.
13 hours ago
4 comments:
It takes time to implement what you have learned in your thinkingproces. Some players even drop in rating while doing so. But eventually their rating will follow their new found chess strenght.
So dont worry about slowing down. At some moment all will fall in place and it becomes second nature to you.
Personally I've always felt that speed is over rated in terms of tactics training. I think this especially true in the beginning. I think accuracy in finding the right moves is more important. Speed comes later as you become more familiar with the patterns of the different tactics.
Just found your blog ... look forward to reading more of it.
I find taking the time to solve a problem very satisfying. I love the 'standard' option at chesstempo.com ... in fact just yesterday, I took my time and solved a mate in 8 move ... granted it took me about 20 minutes to solve, but when I did it, it felt great! The problem was probably the toughest problem (highest rated) I've solved on chesstempo.
polly, that's an interesting comment about slowing down.
i'd notice that as i get to recognise more and more tactical patterns, the speed at which the patterns pop up in my mind is so quick and so strong that sometimes, it is very difficult to see other good/better moves.
for some reason, i developed chess 'blindness' and no matter how long i stare at a given position, it just would not register in my brain, much to my frustration.
cheers
Post a Comment