TPS Report #11

Following my 2,834th problem on Chess Tempo, raised my Standard rating up to 2166 (83.54% correct, #8 on the rankings), including the last 45 in a row correct. Blitz remains at 2500 (67.25%).

Did a few more problems on GM-RAM and learned a lot about #50, a RP v. R ending that doesn’t fall into the mold of Philidor or Lucena. Annotated my two losses from the December swiss.

Played some 5’5” blitz on Playchess.com, winning 10 and losing 1 against 1639 average opposition, propelling my rating from 1691 to 1795.

Didn’t crack Nunn’s Understanding Chess Move By Move. If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, I may have a one-lane highway already.

I’ve been neglecting openings preparation. It’s hard to look at the same positions over and over and maintain my memorization of them, knowing that there’s only a small percentage chance that the opening will present itself. However, the neglect leads to a confidence hit at the start of the game that sometimes is difficult to recover from.