Two Out of Four

Tactics

I was able to get in quite a few the last couple of days. I am either really hot or really cold ... there is not much in between on ChessTempo. I can miss several in a row and my rating tanks. But then the next day, I'll storm back. I really think I need adequate sleep for me to be able to function somewhat properly in chess. I simply cannot see stuff when I've had five hours of sleep the previous night. But if I can get a nap in during the afternoon or if I get 7 or 8 in the previous night, I'm shooting par or better. I'm just below 1800 on blitz right now.

Logical Chess

I finally got to the book tonight. I studied game 19. I kind of rushed through the game. The Queen's Gambit is interesting. I need to try it sometime. I usually open with d4, but I don't go to the Queen's Gambit.

Play

I found a 15 30 game tonight against a pretty strong player. He was rated 1688, but his history showed that he's scalped a few higher rated players. I was in blitz mode tonight and could not sit still long enough to think through two moves ahead. He made very strong moves and I just resigned after blundering and not having the fight to go on. Then I played three blitz games ... lost one and won the other two ... 2 out of 4. My FICS blitz rating jumped up to 1295 which is relatively high for me. I usually hover in the low to mid 1200's for blitz.

Reading

I got bored with the book I was reading, so I went to Half-Priced Books and found a couple of chess books ... not instruction books, but leisurely reading books ... Bobby Fischer Goes to War and The Chess Artist. I also bought A War Like No Other by Victor Davis Hanson which is a Greek history book. So right now I'm reading the Bobby Fischer one and I really am enjoying it.