Sunday, April 18, 2010

Lone Pine 1975: Closing the book indefinitely

(Back cover)





To all my devoted followers, I wish to extend my apologies. I was hoping to get some support form the Grandmasters still alive but after several fruitless attempts that idea has left the station. I was told by Larry Evans, through a third party, to buy the book and that he was in no way interested in an interview. The past couple of months have also been a really busy period taking me away from the chess board. Without any better way of putting it, I’ve lost steam on Lone Pine 1975 and have reached an impasse.

My plate will start to clear in May, but in that time frame, I wish to focus my study efforts on preparations for the World Open. I need to scrape the rust off and get back in fighting form.

I plan on chronicling my training which will mainly include daily tactical studies. But what I really want to focus on is improving the consistency of my thought process in every aspect of the game. At my level, consistency is the key to improving my strength and that has to begin with the thought process. I find that its also a dynamic element depending on what phase of the game I am in.

I have not completely defined how I am going to go about this so stay tuned. Be sure that I will include some of the following concepts in the coming weeks:

- Evaluating thought processes in my own games
- Thinking out loud while solving puzzles
- I can’t escape history: A look at some of my openings through the eyes of history and significant games that changed the particular variation.
- Thinking about Endgames
- Mindfulness in general … techniques I wish to emplore to focus on the tournament despite life’s challenges in the background.


I hope you all understand. Perhaps After the WO, I will present closure on the Lone Pine 1975 event and finish this series.

6 comments:

Polly said...

Nothing wrong with switching gears. I'm sure your study posts will be just as enlightening. Maybe they'll inspire mt to do more then bang my head on the table and ask myself."Why do keep making the same mistake against the same player."

Liquid Egg Product said...

Unfortunate, but at least you made the effort. Especially in radio, where money isn't overflowing, it seems they often manage to get interviews by allowing the interviewee to plug product X. Maybe this could have worked for getting Evans? Who knows...

X said...

I'm really surprised to hear that you have not found anyone more willing to be interviewed.

Have you tried Silman?

As a last resort, you could interview me. Me and my dad used to stop in Lone Pine to use the restroom on our way to go fishing when I was a kid. ;-)

From the patzer said...

What ever you write i will read it with intrest.

I understand the lack of time, am in the same boat, hence my lack of new posts.

LinuxGuy said...

At some point, ya just gotta say "scr*w 'em".

Today, I think it's the class players that keep chess alive in "middletown/smallville" USA, not playing for money but for the love of the game.

It would be a nice tournament book to have as I didn't realize they were still attainable and spanned x years of tournaments.

The important thing I've come to lately is that chess is a game of individual moves. The human brain wants it all to flow together, but it's how much you put into each move seems to make the difference.

Even that 'Chess Master at Any Age' book by Rolf Wetzell. I recall now that he stressed putting the same amount of thought into each move or such. He stressed it more as time spent on the clock, but I don't think that is totally it. I think the important thing is to save ENERGY (time is relative to energy) so that you don't end up brain-dead in a won position.

You've done a great job on these series, Blunderprone. May it finally pay off OTB.

Sometimes the best preparation (occasionally others pop into blogs and note this) is to not play or study much at all going into a tournament. Preparation may help, but not if a person gets the right position, but is too worn out (or over-excited) to close the door or stay afloat. Rating is heavily dependent on performance, I feel.

Howard Goldowsky said...

Hey, BP. Good to see you this weekend. It's too bad that Evans, and whomever else you asked, has such an attitude. Without the tiny subculture of chess fans, GMs would be even worse off than they are now. One would think that any master would be happy to do an interview. -Howard