July Update

I have a post I've saved as draft - it's been sitting around for a while now.  I wrote it after my dismal performance in the last team league tournament.  I'm not sure I'm willing to publish it quite yet.  So in the mean time, I'll just post an update of what I've been doing.

Anyway - I've been getting into a good routine lately.  I've been getting up early in the morning and working on chess for an hour before I go to work.  My first goal, with this dedicated chess time, is to finish Logical Chess by Chernev.  I'm reading, transcribing it into a pgn and then trying to absorb the information.  At my current rate, I should be done with it this fall.

As for play - I was about to sign up for the NAS-NAJ tournament at Hilton Hobby in Houston, but some friends of ours changed plans at the last minute and decided to stay with us on the weekend rather than the following Monday and Tuesday.  So I missed out on that opportunity.  Then, I will miss the tournament on August 13 because my sister-in-law is getting married and we'll be driving there on the 13th.  All these wonderful OTB opportunities going by are driving me nuts.  As of today, I am still on playing in the Class Championships 9/30 to 10/2.

I've had a thought stirring in my mind for a while: play 50 G/120 games in one year.  There are a number of reasons for the thought.  1)  I need to play lots more than I am now.  2) I need to play long games ... G/60 and 45/45 seem a bit fast for my slow brain.  3) I need more practice at 'Real Chess'  4) I'd like to have a set time every week that I play the game - something I can depend upon.

So I'm considering setting aside Saturdays at 03:00 FICS time to play.  If I can find someone to play on-line, so be it.  If not, then I'll play the 'personalities' on Chessmaster.  As for finding people to play, I can troll the STD forums as well as the other chess forums.  I've also thought about putting a google spreadsheet out there for people to sign up for a time to play me.

That's the update for now.

I'm still reading lots of blogs out there.  I've enjoyed the carnivals - maybe I'll get creative one day and submit something.