End of Drawing streak

Thanks to my readers for their comments about how to do tactics. As mentioned I have started to work on pins, forks and double attacks and solved 68 of them in the range of 1400-1600 on ChessTempo. The 1400er puzzles are pretty simple but the 1500+ gave me some headaches. This was exactly what I was worrying about. You start solving higher rated puzzles that rely more on calculation but fail much easier ones. Or maybe it’s just a lack of focus because I know that the puzzles are not so hard but I really try to solve them to the end. Sometimes it’s possible, sometimes not. It seems to be a good training and I will stick to it for some more time. Here is an example:

My last Team4545League game can be replayed here. After a pretty lucky win in round 3 where my opponent run into a mate-in-1, we fought a more tactical battle. I actually didn’t expect to be able to try out my beloved Benko and I was right. We ended in a sideline and the position was complicated:

What to do here? I couldn’t calculate the 20…Nxc4 line to the end so I played the safe 20…Kg8 instead. After 21…Bf5 I already had the next chance to win material and this time it worked out. The endgame wasn’t too difficult after exchanging more pieces and restricting White’s knight. A satisfying win.

More thoughts about ELO 1800

In my blog I have posted my goal to reach ELO 1800 by summer 2013. I can already say that I won’t be able to reach this goal but I am not worried. I will do a review at the beginning of next year and set a new goal. A big drawback is that I am not able to play many rated OTB games. There are league games from time to time and one or two tournaments but this is not enough. On the other hand I really like the Team4545League and I think I will use my rating there as measurement for future goals. Not that rating is that much important. I found the following words of ZEN wisdom and couldn’t agree more.

“My mother drew a distinction between achievement and success.

She said that achievement is the knowledge that you have studied and worked hard and done the best that is in you.
Success is being praised by others. That is nice but not as important or satisfying.

Always aim for achievement and forget about success.” –Helen Hayes

With this attitude nothing can stop you. Nobody will care about the rating or if you have lost against weak players. What counts is that you have worked hard and that you know what to do in the future.

With these words I want to say good by for 2012 and wish you all a merry christmas!

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