It’s time to look back at the chess year 2011.
I have played my first 2 tournaments and greatly enjoyed them! Including league games I played 16 games over the board (OTB):
- 8 games with White, 4 won, 2 drawn, 2 lost
- 8 games with Black, 1 won, 2 drawn, 5 lost
I have analyzed the games deeply and it became clear that I didn’t lose any of the games in the opening. Most of my opponents were not booked up anyway and we ended in unknown variations very early. Getting familiar with the resulting positions will have the top priority.
Online I played more games:
- 24 games with White, 12 won, 8 drawn, 4 lost
- 25 games with Black, 13 won, 2 drawn, 10 lost
This is quite interesting. As Black I lost 2 Benko Gambit games but won 4 games where the move order resulted in English games or in the Reti. With the Sicilian I won 6 games in my favourite Kan/Paulsen system and lost 4 so this is clearly something that can be used to win games. In addition I lost 2 closed Sicilians.
With White the top openings were 5 Caro-Kanns (1 win, 3 draws, 1 loss), 5 Ruy Lopez (3 wins, 1 draw, 1 loss), 4 Sicilians (1 win, 2 draws, 1 loss) and 3 French (1 win, 1 draw, 1 loss).
At the moment I need to play more games to see more middlegame positions and to learn the attacking plans. OTB games are especially useful because something is on stake and the mix of focus and high tension results in creative play from both players. I will get my chance this weekend when the first round of the city championship starts (7 rounds, 2h for 40 moves + 1h to finish the game). Considering my current rating of 1650 national ELO I will have to face a strong opponent in this round, probably someone around 1900-2000.
Wish me luck!
Some might remember that I have set myself goals for 2011. I have achieved the number of long games (65 instead of 50 planned) but failed to analyze 30 games (28 only). Regarding chess material I radically changed my plan in the middle of the year and I noticed that if you play a lot of games, you don’t have much time to study new topics. At my level it doesn’t matter that much. Being tactically alert and following the right thought process is more important than acquiring specific knowledge. The motivation is much higher if I go wrong in a game and look up the correct way post mortem. The knowledge will be connected to a particular experience and can be easier retrieved.
Goals for 2012
My goals for this year are:
- Playing 50 long games. The more the better and I particularly have to look for strong opponents.
- Focus on the implementation of the right thought process. No additional knowledge is required at the moment, it’s enough to deepen what I already know but forget to use in a game.
- Annotate 30 games.
- min. 10 puzzles on Chesstempo per week
- Play 1 long game per week + post mortem analysis or alternatively analyze 2 games. This will result in two long chess related sessions covering all aspects (opening, middlegame, endgame).
- Review the status in Summer 2012 and identify the main weaknesses. Create a trainings program for Sept-Dec to address these weaknesses.
That’s it, nothing sophisticated. It’s my 3rd year of serious chess study and there is no pressure yet. The goal is to collect enough material to make progress towards ELO 1800.