tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-751249474949594012009-11-10T05:22:34.573+01:00Just another chess blog about a pawn, wandering to the other side of the boardHiddenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05814760984415766955noreply@blogger.comBlogger29125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75124947494959401.post-52523229238939766682009-10-21T21:31:00.004+02:002009-10-21T22:23:24.525+02:00

I'm going to use this post to keep my score while I make my laps trough the Steps Method using Tasc Chess Tutor (TCT).There will be a link to this post at the sidebar.Last update: Wednesday, 21 October 2009.The Steps Method, TCT PlanRound 01: Step 1 & 2Round 02: Step 1, 2 & 3Round 03: Step 1, 2, 3 & 4Round 04: Step 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5Round 05: Step 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5Round 06: Step 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5Round 07:

Hiddenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05814760984415766955noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75124947494959401.post-21023038443539356602009-10-12T18:10:00.003+02:002009-10-12T18:32:49.413+02:00

Hi everyone,I've been taking a break from chess for a couple of months due to other priorities, but I'm slowly becoming active again and I've started reading blogs as well, soon I'll drop you guys a line at your blogs.At the moment I'm working on TCT and CTS. The plans are unchanged, I'm still working in Step 2 and after I finished Step 2 I will work my way from Step 1 up to Step 3 in TCT. As for

Hiddenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05814760984415766955noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75124947494959401.post-79111311786069155322009-05-25T19:47:00.011+02:002009-05-25T23:43:48.609+02:00

The storyA few days ago after a lousy session on CTS and after some fine training in Tasc Chess Tutor, I decided to give the easy mode of online shredder a go.The first game I not just lost, but I was really shot to pieces, but to my astonishment I won the second game. This is the first game I ever won a game against this engine!Quite unfortunately the web page doesn't save your moves and I

Hiddenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05814760984415766955noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75124947494959401.post-19934231071147712022009-04-28T16:36:00.010+02:002009-04-28T17:33:08.079+02:00

Before I took some time off from blogging (and chess) I played some games on FICS. Today I started with an attempt to annotate them.Here's the first of four games I played. .boardhidden {display:none}; .boardshown {display:inline}(show chess board)(hide chess board)Suggestions on this game, it's annotation or annotating your own games in general are more than welcome.

Hiddenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05814760984415766955noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75124947494959401.post-56313046944760210392009-04-21T18:53:00.001+02:002009-04-28T12:03:30.368+02:00

Sunday January 18th, 2009, 19/25 correct = 76%Tuesday, April 21st, 2009, 22/25 correct = 88%

Hiddenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05814760984415766955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75124947494959401.post-1973610398932904682008-11-21T12:47:00.004+01:002008-11-21T13:43:38.995+01:00

I didn't mean to bore all y'all again with CTS this fast after my latest post. I intended to write a posts on my progress with the Steps Method or TCT. But I had no choice, today, with a session's splendid result of 100%, I crossed the 75% success rate barrier! Here I come 80%! let's see if I can do that within 55 sessions (11 weeks) from November 13th?My 100% score now in the afternoon may

Hiddenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05814760984415766955noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75124947494959401.post-6491865882253316982008-11-17T22:57:00.004+01:002008-11-17T23:29:49.557+01:00

As some of you might know, I try to do 25 exercises on the Chess Tactic Server on a daily basis, at least 5 times a week. This is half of my chess training, the other half consists of working in my Steps Method books or in TCT.The other day (November 13, 2008) I reached my 2500th problem on CTS. At that time I had a success rating of 74,4%. Now I'm not getting anywhere near my peak rating of 1247

Hiddenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05814760984415766955noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75124947494959401.post-32776314490693007022008-10-28T16:33:00.004+01:002008-10-30T14:52:09.803+01:00

Not unlike Liquid Egg Product I actually want to present a game that may not be as addictive as DTD or Gemcraft, but at least has anything to do with chess. A bit more like Temposchlucker who, trough his blog, introduced me to Troyis.Black Knight is a game that, you guessed it takes it name from the black knight in chess. The object of this game is to move a knight on a chess board like field in

Hiddenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05814760984415766955noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75124947494959401.post-47649196751371883462008-10-16T13:56:00.003+02:002008-10-16T14:51:41.329+02:00

Everything that has an end, has a beginning. For every first place there is a last. Every Tour de France has a Red LanternYours truly signed up for the L.E.P. III tournament, more info here: http://www.liquideggproduct.com/i-was-expecting-a-more-sophisticated-poster/I have no real news, I have been training a bit irregular, but signing up for the tournament probably will get me back on a schedule.

Hiddenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05814760984415766955noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75124947494959401.post-91393452549221310262008-09-25T15:00:00.002+02:002008-09-25T15:11:32.750+02:00

A new season in the chess blogosphere, now that the Summer is over various bloggers have returned to an active status. Full of energy and ideas they start with new series of posts. A few of special interest to me.Likeforests: The Strategy of My System (in the sidebar of his blog) and now tactics, or was this just this one?Blue Devil Knight: Chess for Zebras. He's reading the book so at least

Hiddenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05814760984415766955noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75124947494959401.post-72476864897916218262008-09-24T22:06:00.006+02:002008-09-24T23:39:50.798+02:00

Walking trough a bookstore I noticed a special discount on Plaskett's Could You Be A Tactical Genius? I flipped trough the book a bit but put it back. I don't really need other chess books at this moment [1] and I sure don't need chess books that I might not be able to use in the next six months.As I found out with Nunn's Learn Chess Tactics, titles of chess books can be most deceiving. Dan

Hiddenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05814760984415766955noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75124947494959401.post-45715713170147987972008-09-17T22:44:00.008+02:002008-09-18T23:32:10.755+02:00

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

Hiddenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05814760984415766955noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75124947494959401.post-91408505798219609822008-09-09T23:27:00.007+02:002008-09-09T23:57:39.996+02:00

This week the TASC cd 2 arrived containing TASC Chess Tutor (Henceforth known as TCT) and Chessica (a chess playing program). Chesstiger is currently using the very same program.TCT is based on the Steps Method and as some of you might know, I got stuck in Step 3 of the Step Method working from books. I did start all over again earlier this summer, but this now got easier using the TCT on the

Hiddenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05814760984415766955noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75124947494959401.post-51856022898771786242008-09-04T15:41:00.006+02:002008-09-18T08:15:31.237+02:00

A lot of you have been giving me advice over the last posts and elsewhere. I have been wondering lately, have I done something with all these good intentions? Have I thought about them, acted accordingly?Let's find out!Chess Tactics ServerChessloser, Chesstiger (aka Logis) and Polly keep hammering not to worry about rating, but about strength. My interpretation of Chess Strength at Chess Tactics

Hiddenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05814760984415766955noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75124947494959401.post-24048654232661203572008-08-29T00:18:00.000+02:002008-08-29T00:18:43.175+02:00

A few of you may have noted that I was active in the chess blogosphere again , today I resume posting here. Since my last post on the Chess Tactics Server I have been making some progression there in terms of success percentage. I haven't been able to train regularly, but I have the feeling I'm getting ever more relaxed under the time pressure.Handle mentatMy rating dropped slightly to 1162 (1186

Hiddenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05814760984415766955noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75124947494959401.post-11260761712487112212008-08-02T01:47:00.000+02:002008-08-02T01:48:23.143+02:00

After the crushing defeat in round 02 I offered Jabba that we would play again, me once more with the Black pieces. It was getting late and we were both getting tired, we had been playing chess for a couple of hours already.In this game I tried my hand at providing some annotations myself, I hope they are correct and add something to the game.080723_03ann.pgn embedCfBasic("1197855047", "100%", "

Hiddenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05814760984415766955noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75124947494959401.post-9658226976266067282008-07-30T22:49:00.003+02:002008-07-31T00:07:37.651+02:00

Round 02 was a very short one. I opened again with my Bishop before my Knight. I wouldn't do that if I were to play again, one of the lessons I should learn from Likesforests aka The Endgame Tactician. He was kind enough to take the time and annotate the game from round 01. I really appreciate the effort and I will learn from these lessons.Putting the Bishop at d6 is also wrong because it blocks

Hiddenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05814760984415766955noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75124947494959401.post-20468202508338552012008-07-28T10:49:00.011+02:002008-07-31T23:05:25.723+02:00

Last week Jabba and I played a few games. In this first one I made a big blunder, I was quite fortunate he did the same. We both did see it, but we both went looking for alternatives and forgot about it (move 20). In the end he thought he could give me a back rank made and he missed the mate in one, I think he was still somewhat dazed and confused after missing the grand opportunity.080723_01.pgn

Hiddenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05814760984415766955noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75124947494959401.post-25504972561906454942008-07-27T20:26:00.003+02:002008-07-28T11:24:23.422+02:00

Today the last stage in Le Tour de France was ridden. An opportune moment to pick up an idea proposed by chessloser inspired by this post of mine: Jerseys, or something of the like for chess tournaments. It should be an event of multiple days or a league with different time controls.Yellow - overall leaderBlack on yellow numbers - best teamRed on white numbers - most attacking playerWhite - best

Hiddenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05814760984415766955noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75124947494959401.post-91664602064684111172008-07-22T15:13:00.010+02:002008-12-12T07:42:28.232+01:00

In the games I play with my friend Jabba we almost never reach an endgame. Usually we both make a blunder and the one who makes the biggest blunder loses while the board is still full with all kinds of pieces, mostly of the winning side, and pawns. My endgame training hasn't reached further than "mate in 2", so when I suddenly found myself in an endgame, I just didn't really know what to do.

Hiddenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05814760984415766955noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75124947494959401.post-25981886552469673422008-07-20T23:17:00.005+02:002008-07-21T10:27:52.138+02:00

I've had two orders with chess books coming in, adding the following titles to my small, but expanding chess library. In some posts I've mentioned some of the books, but not always stating that I had them already.I think the books I have now should be able to take me a long way. I don't have a specific endgame book yet, but in the Steps Method there is some attention to basic endgames. Now I just

Hiddenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05814760984415766955noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75124947494959401.post-69338430056444678832008-07-14T12:25:00.002+02:002008-07-14T19:34:48.903+02:00

Things I learned in this first week:- Nunn's Learn Chess Tactics is nothing like CTS, at all!So I'll have to approach both in a different way.- Don't judge a book by its first chapter's exercises, those in the second chapter can appear much easier.In Nunn's Learn Chess Tactics the second chapter is on the discovered attack, somehow the exercises appear less hard than those in the first chapter on

Hiddenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05814760984415766955noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75124947494959401.post-29636325367372371432008-07-11T23:42:00.001+02:002008-07-11T23:43:03.868+02:00

Tonight I just present you the data, no stories or conclusions from my side, yet.Between brackets is the value from the first time I posted on Chess Tactics Server.Handle mentatCountry Netherlands Rating 1186 (1204) Current RD 28.3 (48.8)Highest Rating 1247Date of HR 2008 Jul, 03 - 10:38Tries 1000 (705) Success 65.3 % (65.5 %) Thursday 03 July 2008 - 35/49 correct = 71,4% Saturday 05 July 2008 -

Hiddenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05814760984415766955noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75124947494959401.post-46419005745428738432008-07-10T14:55:00.003+02:002008-09-09T23:54:52.994+02:00

"To proceed with the third step the knowledge from step two is indispensable, but apart from that step three is not really difficult."The above quote, straight from the Steps Method site made my decision on how to proceed with the Steps Method an easy one. If I have so much trouble with Step 3, than I must have missed something from Step 2, or it slipped away in a few months. I have restarted

Hiddenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05814760984415766955noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75124947494959401.post-71688968124066854342008-07-08T14:33:00.003+02:002008-07-08T20:08:24.982+02:00

Chess blogs of (re)starting and improving players usually have (lack of) progress posts along a scale from "let's hear how much I rule..." to "... and now back to how much I suck". My last post may have been one of careful optimism, this one falls generously in the latter category, giving at least my chess blogging a balanced approach.Besides CTS I did some exercises everyday, one day from

Hiddenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05814760984415766955noreply@blogger.com2