No way. And yet, a new record for me!

Sorry to keep posting wins, but I just beat a 1732 player in blitz. I'm rated about 1500. I think I finally might be breaking out of my plateau of not getting any better, but it's happening extremely slowly. I haven't been doing the right thing and studying tactics.

If I set a reasonable limit to account for my laziness, say, only 10 puzzles per day will that speed up my progress?

Here's the game. IMO he had an off game and was playing well under his rating.

[Event "RHP Blitz rated"]
[Site "www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2010.6.16"]
[Round "?"]
[White "USArmyParatrooper"]
[Black "pofish"]
[Result "1-0"]

Right off the bat I missed 11. Qxe5

🙁

Ten puzzles a day?! No way. Too much. I do one puzzle EVERY day. I have been doing it for a long long time now. About 760 puzzles from my book of puzzles. I know them all intimately, and can normally recognize them immediately in a game. Stick with one or two, but do it every day. First thing I bring on vacations is a chess board 😉.

It doesn't really matter how many problems you solve, just make sure that if you see the same kind of problem again you know the answer.

Originally posted by orion25
It doesn't really matter how many problems you solve, just make sure that if you see the same kind of problem again you know the answer.

yup this is good, try to recognise the theme, discovered attack, mating attack, exploitation of a pin, double attack, removal of defender etc etc etc

Originally posted by USArmyParatrooper
Right off the bat I missed 11. Qxe5

🙁

Woulda been nice to find it, but hey, it's blitz.

11.Qxe5 Bxb5 12.Nc7+! (recouping the bishop) Kf8 13.Nxb5

Hi Paraguy.

Don't appologise for posting anything. It's what the forum is for.

First a wee mumble.

One should never really delve or read to much into blitz play.

It's fun and should be treated as such. If I'm totally lost over the board
but my opponent is so short of time he will not mate me I often as not
resign. (cept on my rare dabbles with bullet chess when you just do not
have any time to consider anything).

Here Black was strolling along with a piece up won game,
then got all confused with White's active play, dropped piece and lost.

Such a common occurance in blitz it's often best to sac a piece for activity
because active threats plus the short time control always favour the attacker.

"Right off the bat I missed 11. Qxe5."

Don't kick yourself for that.

But be alert to the move you actually played which lost you the piece.

You missed the backward Knight move. 11....Ne5xd7.

It's a pity in a way you won this because you did not feel the burn.

Books, DVD's and other players can tell all the time to look out for these things.
But it does not sink in until it actually happens to you.

Remember Your Russian proverbs:

"There are two types of chess player in this world:

Those that have been back rank mated and those that are going
to be back rank mated."

Not much else to say about the posted game.

I would have castled as White much earlier, intead of Qd3 which is OK i guess.

But the open e-file I would have found more tempting and it
always a good ploy to get his Nibs tucked up and out of the way in Blitz.

White cruised though the Rook ending under time pressure which is a
good sign. I've seen them botched in TT (guilty). That was good.

The progress may appear to be happening slowly but it's not.
You are an adult who has other things to do beside play chess.
(this is the main reason why kids improve so quickly).

You just have to allow it all to fall into place and that comes with playing,
playing and then playing some more.

I've watched (and coached) 100's of students who went onto to become
good players (FM Ruxton included). Some leap right up there, other do it
more slowly.

As long as you are aware that your age and time allowed is against you
for a rapid leap into the stars so do not get frustrated - it will happen.

10 puzzles a day.
If that is the target you have set yourself then do it.

All depends what standard they are. If you do some of these ball breakers
they can knack you out. (and in some cases undermine your confidence).

Finally, if you feel a wee bit worried about posting only wins do this.

go to:

http://www.timeforchess.com/gamesexplorer/

Stay in the 1400 section and pick games at random and play them through,
very soon you will see a missed solid tactcal shot.
(not a trap but a 100% kapow! that was missed).

Spot it and post it. Much more beneficial in my opinion than solving
'tap on the shoulder' positions when YOU KNOW there is something on.

Here you have to smell there is something on, spot it and solve it.

It's also good fun. If you find a hilarious blunder post that too. 😉

I did 200-400 eazy problems a day for the first two years. got me past 1800.

Originally posted by wormwood
I did 200-400 eazy problems a day for the first two years. got me past 1800.

200-400 problems a day!?!

Originally posted by ParShooter
200-400 problems a day!?!

top day was 1100 problems, but 200-400 on normal days.

http://chess.emrald.net/tProfile.php?TacID=516

Originally posted by wormwood
top day was 1100 problems, but 200-400 on normal days.

http://chess.emrald.net/tProfile.php?TacID=516

I wish I had the discipline to do that.




My excuse is I don't have enough time...

It seems I'm much stronger playing blitz than I am correspondence chess. Some of these aren't really rushed games. This particular one is 10 minutes with 5 seconds credit per move, and he's rated 1601. There's a few other higher rated players I beat that I haven't posted. But If I play 1600+ correspondence chess I tend to get brutally crushed.

Why is this? To be a "good" chess player how much time is actually spent finding the best move? Perhaps what I consider 'plenty of time' to consider a move might actually be considered blitz to better chess players.

I've played a whole crap ton on Yahoo and RHP blitz, with times I consider normal OTB pace. Have I actually been playing "rushed" by chess tourney standards, thus mostly improving my "blitz" game?

I'm definitely much stronger playing Blitz even with 10+ minute games. Perhaps I need to spend a lot more time on each move playing correspondence? Is it that playing blitz makes more anyone's game to win (due to blunders)?

[Event "RHP Blitz rated"]
[Site "www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2010.6.20"]
[Round "?"]
[White "USArmyParatrooper"]
[Black "WeeDSteM"]
[Result "1-0"]

Originally posted by USArmyParatrooper
But If I play 1600+ correspondence chess I tend to get brutally crushed.

Why is this? To be a "good" chess player how much time is actually spent finding the best move? Perhaps what I consider 'plenty of time' to consider a move might actually be considered blitz to better chess players.

Hello again USArmyParatrooper!

Why do you get crushed in Correspondence chess?

For starters, you have to look at what players play blitz. I dont, because I am a terrible chess player, so from that perspective the people who play blitz are:

a) People trying out new tactics/ideas and want to get as much experience to reactions as quickly as possible

b) Players who are new and want to sink their teeth into the game as quickly as possible

c) People who are in group (a), but who are very good at chess.


This means that the people who usually play correspondence chess are trying to get as much out of the game as possible. This either means that they are trying either:

a) Trying to see what you are doing

b) Trying to see what they are doing

c) Trying to hide what they are doing from you

or the ever popular:

d) Pushing pieces around the board


If they are not doing (d), then the game becomes more about projection and deception. Given enough time a good player will see almost all the deceptions, but the not-so-good player will only see the projections

edit🙁sorry about the bullet point lists, I just love a,b,c lists!)