Preparing for Battle

After having my head examined (see this post) I have began to revamp my opening and tactical studies. I decided to hone in on the 4 Knights Scotch Game for the double e-pawn games ( if allowed) and actually had a chance to play it at the club with a stronger player. ( I was lucky to draw the game after I made a positional err giving up a q-side pawn in the middle game).

I have been ramping up on the Smith Morra gambit in place of my silly ...never seen before... what the hell is it called 2.c4 anti-sicilian after having a luke warm result with a much weaker opponent. Moving to the SM Gambit seemed logical since I really want to better understand the Scotch gambit in the Openings for White Explained Book. I figure if I can baseline with the 4Knights plus the SM Gambit, it will go a long ways in understand and eventually transitioning to this system.

So this weekend I will go to the Henry Nelson Pillsbury Memorial in Marlboro and play in the under 1850 section. This will be a lot more reasonable than my last rant when I went nuts in the U2100 section.

So for now, I've been spending 60% of my time on opening preparation ( because of the course corrections) and 40% on tactics. I am back to doing the circles of hell but this time, I ma slowing down a bit on each puzzle and trying to evaluate the position first rather than jump in and guess and realy on memory. I seem to get more mileage this way becuase in a real game, I need to evaluate the position anyway. Learning to recognize when there is a tactic under these conditions is much better practice rather than blitzing and Berserking like a wild man ( my old way of doing things).

Well, my battle scars have healed since the last melee. I've sharpened my lance and my steed is watered and rested. My quiver is full and of course the sword is right by side.

Huzzah!