Thursday, May 03, 2007

Progress Not Perfection

I completed my level 30 problems for the 10th circle of hell on CT-ART .



I have a less than stellar results as I only scored a meager 68% as compared to the 76% when I completed the 7 circles rush last summer. I am doing it differently this time. I am not doing the concentric maze like before instead I am doing a more “traditional” sequential approach. Rather than relying purely on memorization I am focusing on approaching these with a consistent thought process as if I were in a game. I recognize some but I try to look at the “tactical seeds” before I start the calculation.

What’s frustrating is that my thought process is not as consistent as I’d like. (could be the fundamental problem of all human players) But this is reality. Some weekend events I can come in and have my “game” on. Other times, I’ll have external influences clouding my performance. So likewise, being able to train under varying circumstances is what I strive for because it best represents the dilemma that a weekend warrior like myself will encounter.

What I am finding though, is my thought process HAS improved. I am being more cautious, playing less erratic and the last couple of games I lost were purely due to calculation errors. I am better able to analyze a position with more accuracy and form the right plan ( at my level at least).

I know I can’t strive for perfection when it comes to the inner noise. Practice and progress is my mantra.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have trouble quieting the voices in my head too during a game. Usually though, they're not talking about real life; it's the Uberpatzerschachspieler in me crying to come out:

"I know that pawn move blocks in your bishop, making it unusable for the rest of the game, but it attacks his queen for one whole move! Go for it!"

-Matt

Anonymous said...

i often train under the influence...oh, wait, that might not be what you meant...still, i can't believe that you could put all that concious effort into something and not help but improve whether you wanted to or not...contrats on finishing, even if you didn't finish as well as you would have liked...

Unknown said...

reading globular's comment, it struck me... i too have the voices in my head as a distraction, but...um..., maybe it's just me, but they are always in spanish or with a british accent...and i really don't know why...

BlunderProne said...

CL: LOL

Well, back in a day, I actually went to a couple torunaments "enhanced" by marjuanna. Talk about inner noise... man! I had an entire band playing complete with light shows.... then there was the magic mushroom game I played while listening too Grace Slick belt out the anthem White Rabbit....

Let's just say the experiment didn't work and I am "much" better now.

The voices in my head today want me to rush and move a piece because that move looks SO cool ( like Globular... for that one move checkign the queen with the pawn is hard to overcome at times). So instead I have the little guy in white on one side saying things like " thou shalt play real chess." or " Thou shalt look for an even more righteous move".

Then there's the bear f*cker on my left who goes " Woos! Why don't you sac that Queen on h7.... Come on! you've done it lots of times on CT-ART... don't calcualte it ...just do it like Nike!"

transformation said...

hello, blunderprone, as always, very nice post. himmmmm?

ok, here goes. i couldnt agree more that it is much better to sit at CT-Art as thought it were "real chess" or as though we were "playing real chess". Rapid Chess Improvement did a lot to enhance the weekend warriors prospect of improving his or her tactics with diligent application of effort upon tactics. of course, that is much more like accelerated application using memory.

in some ways it is damaging, and the idea that somehow we memorize all these patterns does work, but does have chinks in its armour. i am on my second circle (not quite that simple, as i have done 35,000 CTS since march of 06; and reviewed 941 GM games in pgn WITHOUT annotations in the three years before that, carefully looking at each game, move by move), and much prefer to go more slowly.

there is a faster way, but i am not sure how good it is.

all roads lead to rome', as they say--but not as solidly.
-----------

i intend to write a new post before i go east thursday for twelve days to see my now very aged mother for mothers day, but it might have to wait till i get there, but it will be a good one, "Part iii: game analysis in the many versus the few", and subtitled "or chess foxes verus chess hedgehogs after Tolstoy" or such. :) aught to be the juices flowing.

yes, 24 years ago, i sat for my first architects exam with beer at the--at the time--very modern and spanking new Javits convention center near penn station in new york. it was long term (over 12 hours) counterproductive!

latter on, i used prayer and meditation and nutrition instead.

/David

transformation said...

if i may pls humbly suggest, if you are not getting 80% at level one and two, then perhaps think more and click less. one circle like this is worth double or tripple other faster circles.

75% at level three, and 70% at level four is ok--you can do it, given your intelect and chess knowledge, but maybe slower and more care.

respetfully, dk
p im here to cc last nights comments, as i aggregate them to my own blog weekly, and am saving it remotely. :)