My (Slighty Tattered) Chess Career

So going on seven weeks ago I was happy to report that Derek Slater was back "And (Perhaps) Me Too" but there's been no follow-through, as such. A few times I logged in here thinking about what to write and nothing came, because looking back the events that really inspired my postings in the past, like glorious USCF-rated tournament victories and soul-crushing defeats, are currently on hold.

I haven't played any "real" chess, rated tournament chess, in almost five years. In the meantime I've had some decent success at "correspondence" on chess.com (where I'm RobertPearson, and if you want to challenge me I'll play anybody [with a pulse]), and played a few thousand online blitz games and gotten slightly better at that. But none of these things interests me as much as rated games with real humans sitting across the board.

Looking back, there were some fun times going on with the chess improvement movement and especially the "Knights de la Maza" in those good old days from about 2008-10. I've been reviewing my archive today and found a few problems with looking at it--all of the game replayers I used then don't work now, and one of them causes the page to crash! So it's going to take some effort to be able to see those posts. Links are temporarily on hold, until further notice...

Most of the bloggers in the sidebar are inactive/deleted/404'd now, but there are a few interesting points. Path to Chess Mastery is still going strong, probably because "admin" is quite together and sane, which helps.  Ivan didn't quite Get to 2000.

Temposchlucker, who was "The Hardest Working Man in Chess Improvement" at one time, fired off one last post about a year ago...Final Conclusion:

What this blog lacks is a final conclusion. I will provide one now.

There are things in life that one can call "unfinished business". In my life I had two which stood out: fishing and playing chess.

I hardly caught any fish when I started to experiment with fishing.
It took me 25 years to get the hang of it. At the moment I understood how to do it and started to catch lots and lots of fish, I abandoned fishing. Since I don't like fishing. Experimenting and finding out  how it works was a definite challenge, but when the challenge was over, it was finished. I never touched an angling rod again.

I made a genuine effort to get substantially better at chess. I failed. The final conclusion is that the common belief that you can become good at anything just by willing it and working hard is not true. No matter how intelligent you are.

I learned lots and lots of things about the workings of my own mind, so I don't consider it a waste of time. The lessons reach way beyond chess.

What is left is a monument of which others can take advantage. You can save yourself an awful lot of time by reading this blog well.

Good luck to all of you.

Now that's useful, frank and honest. Thank you, sir.

Here's something I wrote six years ago in a burst of clear thinking:

Most of my improvement came from playing good players from 1982-90, and that's it!

Play. The. Game.

I believe I'll never completely abandon the idea of improvement, and the quest, but at this stage what I'm looking for is more the joy of chess. That's still lurking, quite strong and sound, blood pumping softly through its veins...

Reassembler is doing something good and interesting in looking at his chess in coordination with Stockfish. Going forward here I'm going to do some of that too, looking at the old, my games and ancient Grandmaster clashes that have rarely seen the light since they were played, and have probably never been computer-analyzed. I haven't followed GM chess much for the last five years, but I'm aware that Magnus! has done some great things. However, there's a lifetime's worth of interesting chess to enjoy, that's older than I. Some of it is coming here, soon.

Also, Liquid Egg Product is still extant--even looks like its design out of the "oughts" and belongs in the second decade of the 21st century! Now LEP was never a chess blog, as such, but it was always something better--an island of sanity.

I'd like to make a comeback here and be that.

(ADDED: Anyone have a suggestion for the best game replayer on Blogger, these days?)

Derek Slater is BACK! And (Perhaps) Me Too...

At Reassembler:

I think I will blog again here, and see what happens. Many an excellent conversation in the comments in years (strangely) gone by.
 
Almost exactly two years since i last posted.
 
It took us a long time to buy a house in California, and I changed not only jobs but professions—sort of. I’m sure I’ll belabor that point later.

Most of this applies to me, too, almost exactly. Amazing, perhaps we were separated at birth? Except his peak rating was 2150 and mine was 1825. If chess ability is around 50 percent genetic, as with so many other qualities and abilities, I guess that's within a reasonable range.

This almost has the feel of "Let's get the band back together!"

More to come...

Recent Chess Improver Posts

Just for now. I am working on some projects in a different field these days and may or may not continue regular articles at Grandmaster Davies Chess Improver.

But here is "What have you done for me lately?":

An All-Round Role Model (Euwe may be a good example to follow)

Loving Chess Reality (Includes a hard-fought, annotated game of mine)

On Embracing the Suck (Buddhist concepts that apply to chess success. Get your Samadhi on, people!)

The Good Old Days!

I'm Back (Yet Again)!

After a professional odyssey more strange than can be described using terms suitable for this (PG-rated) blog, I have begun writing for "pleasure" again. I've posted Fischer and You at GM Nigel Davies' The Chess Improver and will be coming through here at home with some original content in the next few days.

Cheers!

Recent Chess Improver Columns

The Chess Human Condition

Best Games v. Own Games

Simple Meditation That Works

All at GM Nigel Davies' The Chess Improver.

I haven't written anything original here for some time, but that will change shortly when I start to publish my own games that (hopefully) contain some instructive points. Also, amusing ones...

The King of two crowns - lenticular clouds over Mt. Shasta, California.

Testing My Theories on Myself

I think you will find this of interest.

May have gotten a little out of sequence...

The Genius of the Kibitzer, Part II

I think this is one of my better efforts ever. Here it is at The Chess Improver. My efforts to put this into practice, and the results, will be in some future columns. Hope you enjoy, comments here are much appreciated.

The Genius of the Kibitzer

The Genius of the Kibitzer, Part I. Now Playing at GM Nigel Davies' The Chess Improver. You can also comment here, if you are so inclined.

Meetings With Remarkable Chess Masters

Meetings With Remarkable Chess Masters, posted today at Nigel Davies' The Chess Improver.

IM Byron Nickoloff, a Remarkable Man

Chess Master at Any Age?

My latest at The Chess Improver is in part a reply to fellow columnist Tim Hanke's Is Age Relevant to Chess Improvement?. I have previously written about Rolf Wetzell's book Chess Master...at Any Age and I thought Nigel's site could use a little give and take. Maybe next week I'll do my best to really stir up some controversy, like saying that openings are important! That'll bring out the long knives...

Attention!

My latest post is titled Attention! over at GM Nigel Davies' The Chess Improver. Given the lack of reaction to it on Nigel's Facebook page I am unsure if it's just borrring...

or so brilliant, so complete, that no one has anything to add. If you have thoughts on it please share here.

Chess Humour

My latest posting at GM Nigel Davies' The Chess Improver.

My Latest at GM Nigel Davies' The Chess Improver

Cognitive Fluency: Easy Does Not Equal True.

All the great material at the The Chess Improver home page.

Coaching from GM Davies.

(A photo from a few years ago) 

I'm Now at GM Nigel Davies' "The Chess Improver"

I have begun a weekly "column" at GM Nigel Davies site The Chess Improver. That will likely be my main venue for writing about chess in the near future, but there are some pretty good archives here, if you care to browse.

There are a few pretty bad ones, too, but your odds are good, even if the goods are odd.

My first post there is A Broad View of Improvement.

And remember, there are BIG things in our future!

Didn't he get promoted to Admiral?

Not Chess, Truly Brilliant

Original here.

The Hunting of the Snark

ADDED May 18, 2012: Hi Everyone, I'll be on "break" for some time, I am not sure how long...if you'd like to read something about chess you can click on a "label" over on the right (scroll down a bit) for some subjects, or try someone on the blogroll. I'll be at work on some other projects and still playing chess, so I expect that someday I'll have something interesting to post. Meanwhile--

He served out some grog with a liberal hand,

 And bade them sit down on the beach:

And they could not but own that their Captain looked grand,

 As he stood and delivered his speech.

“Friends, Romans, and countrymen, lend me your ears!”

 (They were all of them fond of quotations:

So they drank to his health, and they gave him three cheers,

 While he served out additional rations).

“We have sailed many months, we have sailed many weeks,

 (Four weeks to the month you may mark),

But never as yet (’tis your Captain who speaks)

 Have we caught the least glimpse of a Snark!

“We have sailed many weeks, we have sailed many days,

 (Seven days to the week I allow),

But a Snark, on the which we might lovingly gaze,

 We have never beheld till now!

“Come, listen, my men, while I tell you again

 The five unmistakable marks

By which you may know, wheresoever you go,

 The warranted genuine Snarks.

“Let us take them in order. The first is the taste,

 Which is meagre and hollow, but crisp:

Like a coat that is rather too tight in the waist,

 With a flavour of Will-o’-the-wisp.

“Its habit of getting up late you’ll agree

 That it carries too far, when I say

That it frequently breakfasts at five-o’clock tea,

 And dines on the following day.

“The third is its slowness in taking a jest.

 Should you happen to venture on one,

It will sigh like a thing that is deeply distressed:

 And it always looks grave at a pun.

“The fourth is its fondness for bathing-machines,

 Which it constantly carries about,

And believes that they add to the beauty of scenes —

 A sentiment open to doubt.

“The fifth is ambition. It next will be right

 To describe each particular batch:

Distinguishing those that have feathers, and bite,

 And those that have whiskers, and scratch.

“For, although common Snarks do no manner of harm,

 Yet, I feel it my duty to say,

Some are Boojums —” The Bellman broke off in alarm,

 For the Baker had fainted away.❦

Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Pawns

Make your own, for free!

Study Hacks, Piano Player Confessions

I ran across a terrific site called Study Hacks. While much of the material may be oriented toward students trying to ace their tests, there is a great deal of valuable and interesting stuff that might be applied to chess improvement. As the author says:

Recently, as I’ve moved beyond my student years, I’ve turned more of my attention toward decoding patterns of success in the working world. I’ve come to believe, for example, that “follow your passion” is bad advice if your goal is to end up loving what you do.

For example, in Flow is the Opiate of the Medicocre: Advice on Getting Better From an Accomplished Piano Player we find this list:

•Strategy #1: Avoid Flow. Do What Does Not Come Easy.


“The mistake most weak pianists make is playing, not practicing. If you walk into a music hall at a local university, you’ll hear people ‘playing’ by running through their pieces. This is a huge mistake. Strong pianists drill the most difficult parts of their music, rarely, if ever playing through their pieces in entirety.”

•Strategy #2: To Master a Skill, Master Something Harder.

“Strong pianists find clever ways to ‘complicate’ the difficult parts of their music. If we have problem playing something with clarity, we complicate by playing the passage with alternating accent patterns. If we have problems with speed, we confound the rhythms.”

•Strategy #3: Systematically Eliminate Weakness.

“Strong pianists know our weaknesses and use them to create strength. I have sharp ears, but I am not as in touch with the physical component of piano playing. So, I practice on a mute keyboard.”

•Strategy #4: Create Beauty, Don’t Avoid Ugliness.

“Weak pianists make music a reactive task, not a creative task. They start, and react to their performance, fixing problems as they go along. Strong pianists, on the other hand, have an image of what a perfect performance should be like that includes all of the relevant senses. Before we sit down, we know what the piece needs to feel, sound, and even look like in excruciating detail. In performance, weak pianists try to reactively move away from mistakes, while strong pianists move towards a perfect mental image.”

I leave it as an exercise for you, Dear Reader, to relate this to chess improvement. I don't want to make it too easy, after all...

Da Da Da

In honor of the 30th anniversary...if you don't remember this, well, here it is:



A translation of the chorus for the less German-proficient reader:

Ich liebe dich nicht, du liebst mich nicht
"I do not love you, you do not love me," or something like that. 

Note the utter simplicity of the arrangement, the clever internal rhyme...there is more here than the surface. Or perhaps less. Life is still a Mystery.

A Mantra for Chess Improvers

I get feeds from a lot of sites, but rarely has something hit the inbox that struck me like this.

From this long and interesting post, a small nugget of pure gold for people striving to improve at chess:

[The girl asked] "How do I let go of this harsh false self, this ego, this part of me that keeps beating myself up and comparing myself to others, yet still keep striving to improve myself? Once I give it up, will all the drive I need to succeed just evaporate too?”

(...)

She simply responded to the girl, “There is one thing you have to keep telling yourself throughout this process, and it’s something I continue to tell myself to this day: ‘You are fine just the way you are…and there’s always room for improvement’.” Those words were like a sledgehammer to my chest that knocked the wind out of me. So direct and so simple. The most important part to me was that she said “and there’s always room for improvement,” rather than “but there’s always room for improvement” which would make the acceptance feel a lot more false and conditional.

From that point on, every piece of personal growth I pursued, everything I read, every piece of advice I got from people, every goal I set, every memory I recollected, every emotion I processed through meditation…I processed all of it through the filter of that mantra: “You are fine just the way you are…and there’s always room for improvement.”

And I asked myself if I've ever thought of my chess life that way.

You can ask yourself, too.