ChessTempo July 2014

Just a follow-up from my June post about my ChessTempo performance.

The three-week vacation made it a bit difficult to consistently keep up with my goal of 20 problems per day.  As such, I found myself doing 60-100 problems per day the last week of July in order to "catch up".  But despite that, I still managed to stay above 1700 per 20 problems.  There were a handful of times when I dipped below 1700, but I bounced right back above 1700.  Also, I hit a new all-time high in July at 1764.3.

I'm still not entirely convinced this improvement in performance is entirely due to the duplicate reduction issue (which was implemented in April 2014).  The fact is I am seeing more 1700+ problems in June and July than I have from January to May this year.

In October 2012, I started tracking how many problems I had that were below 1599, between 1600 and 1699 and above 1700.

For example, in October 2012, CT gave me 456 problems that were rated 1599 and lower; 190 problems that were rated 1600-1699; and 54 problems that were rated 1700 and above.  My respective correct percent for each of those was 85%, 74% and 56%.

2014 January to May monthly averages stats for each of these categories is:
below 1599: avg total probs 324; 89.68% correct
below 1699: avg total probs 205; 78.60% correct
above 1700: avg total probs 92; 62.12% correct

Those same states for June and July 2014 are:
below 1599: avg total probs 216; 90.31% correct
below 1699: avg total probs 231; 82.69% correct
above 1700: avg total probs 175; 64.20% correct

So, CT is serving me fewer lower rated problems (those rated 1599 and lower) and more 1600 problems along with more 1700 and above problems.  The >1700 stat is actually pretty amazing.  I was getting about 90 per month the first 5 months of the year, and then in June and July CT served me an extra 85 higher rated problems and my percent correct when up by over 2%.

Other stats I find interesting is my monthly average of "average recent per problem time spent" continues to increase.  I started tracking this in February this year.  It was 47 seconds in Feb, 50 in Mar, 52 in Apr, 54 in May, 62 in June and 65 for July.

Again, it all may come crashing back down, but this is now two months in a row of "good indications."

rating chart july 2014

blitz non dup rolling avg of gain/loss

fide est rating based on per 20 blitz problems

ChessTempo June 2014

rockyrook blitz problem rating 5.31.14 to 7.1.14

I've been keeping a pretty good eye on my chesstempo performance since January 2012.  I track several aspects including my monthly minimum rating, maximum rating and median rating per every 20 blitz problems.  So after I completed my 620 blitz problems for the month of June, I realized a few things special about this month.

Since January 2012, I've only ever been above a 1750 rating once (1752.6 in July 2012).  In June 2014, I hit 1759.6.

Since January 2012, I've never stayed the entire 620 problems above the 1700 mark.  In June 2014, I managed to stay above 1700 from start to finish.  My minimum rating per 20 problems was 1706.8 with the median rating coming in at 1740; which by the way, my median rating was the first time above 1730.  The previous best was 1721.9 in May 2012.

Another insight into the data shows that I took longer to solve the problems.  But I seem to be finding the right amount of time for any given problem, else if I were taking longer on every problem, then my rating would have gone down.  The average of my average recent time per problem has gone from 47 seconds in February 2014 to 62 in June.

My percentage correct wasn't special.  I came in at 81.29%.  That is slightly below the 2014 average for me.

Of course, June could be one big anomaly and July will see a return to "normal" - which is entirely possible, especially given the fact that I'll be on vacation for 3 weeks - which disrupts my daily routine.  But, if I'm able to keep the rating and percentage correct relatively high and the trend continues, I might be looking at something significant in my chess improvement with regards to chesstempo.

It felt good to be in the zone on chesstempo

The last time I got 20 in a row correct was November 11, 2013.  I finally did it again on January 31 - in that streak I had jumped 10 points over problems (2 1800 problems and 1 1700 problem) - that's a very rare event for me.

2013 ChessTempo Stats

With regards to tactics and ChessTempo, my 2013 goal was to do 20 problems (blitz mode) per day.  At 365 days in a year, that works out to 7300 problems.  I did 7560 problems.  Granted I was scrambling to get a few more in on January 1st and 2nd, but it wasn't a marathon session.

Compared to 2012, my overall accuracy improved.  My average monthly accuracy average in 2012 was 77.55%; while my 2013 average monthly accuracy was 81.89%.  The highlight of the year in the accuracy category was hitting 85.00% correct in October (578 correct out of  680 attempted).  My overall accuracy percentage began 2013 at 72.15% and I finished the year with 74.43%

As far as ratings go - it's always up and down.  I try to look at the trends; and the trends say my rating is steadily declining.  For example, in 2012, I hit a max rating of 1752.6 and my highest monthly median rating was 1721.9.  In 2013, the highest I could hit was around 1748, while the best monthly median was only 1710.  2013 also saw me hitting a new low in blitz rating at 1633 (1637 was the lowest I hit in 2012).  In December, my max was only 1699 with the median at 1679.

So, in summary, it looks like I'm taking a bit more time (improvement in accuracy), at the expense of my rating.

For 2014 - my goal is to attempt 7600 problems; keep improving my accuracy, but also see if I can stem the decline in ratings.

30,000 Blitz Tactics on ChessTempo

• 30,001 attempts
• 22,100 correct
• 7,901 failed
• 73.66% correct
• 1678.1 RD 34.48
• 721/1948 active rank (better than 63.02% of the active population)

next update at 35,000

2012-13 Season Done, Chess.com, 30/30 Again

I'm starting to play chess more than ever; at least more than I have been playing in the last 10 years ... and I'm enjoying it for now.

The goal of my 52-games per year quest over the last two years was intended to just get myself to play more often.  At first I tried to play 75 5 games, 120 5 games and even 60 5 games; but I have since landed upon the realization that shorter, more frequent games was more enjoyable.  So, these days I'm playing more 30 5 games.

With that said, I was behind in my effort to play 52 games between September 2012 and August 2013.  Over the last few weeks, I really focused on trying to fish for a 30 5 game on FICS.  As was usually the case, it was hit and miss ... sometimes I could find a game, but most times I tried, no one was willing to play.  Also there have been multiple hackings going on over there the last few weeks.  So with that in mind, I decided to give chess.com a whirl.

I downloaded the Android app on my S4 as well as my tablet.  And then, on most evenings, after I fire up the app, I'm able to find a 30 5 game relatively quickly.  The chess.com app and web interface are just fine and quite reliable.  I'm also enjoying the extensive educational content they have on their site.  They have live games as well as correspondence games.  I just started my first CC game over there today.  If ever you want to play me (live or CC), look for me on chess.com.  In summary, my days at FICS may be over as I'm contemplating upgrading from a free account on chess.com to one of the paid accounts.

Anyway - back to the 2012-13 season - I was able to complete playing 52 games.  I have already kicked off my 2013-14 season, again with the goal of playing a minimum of 52 games.  Although, I think I'll end up playing much more than 52 with my preferred 30 5 time control.  I'm keeping tabs on my seasonal progress in the link to the right in the section GAME PLAY STATS.

Lastly, I had another great day at ChessTempo ... going 10/10 in my warm-up problems and then 20/20 in my blitz attempts.  My performance always seems to by cyclical ... I perform great for a while and then out of no where, I come crashing down.  I'm just trying to focus on consistent, good performance.

30 for 30; and an update on practicing 10,000 hours

not sure if i've mentioned this before, but i do chunks of 20 chess problems at a time on chesstempo.  i usually start off by doing 10 practice problems (sometimes more) from a personal set.  then i will start my rated session.

i've managed to get 20 rated blitz problems correct in a row several times.  however, i've never been able to go 10/10 on my practice problems AND then go for 20/20 on my rated blitz problems ... until today.  it was a good feeling.

and on a related topic ... scott adams had an interesting take on the 10,000 practice hours stat (link to his post):
Most of you probably heard of a study that, according to author Malcolm Gladwell, indicates you need 10,000 hours of practice to become an "expert" at anything.

More recently, someone looked at the study and pointed out that 10,000 was an average. If you have the right genes, you might need far less practice, while other people might need far more. So the average of 10,000 hours is a fairly useless number. All we know for sure is that practice is a good thing.

Other writers have been pointing out that it also matters what you practice. If you practice the wrong stuff, it doesn't matter how much effort you put into it.

What you have read so far in this post is seen as ground-breaking thinking in the field of success. Allow me to list these shocking results:

1. Practicing the right things is important!
2. It helps to have the right genes!

Summary: duh

I'll add one more, um, insight? It goes like this: The only people who can put in long hours of the right type of practice are . . . drum roll please . . . PEOPLE WITH THE RIGHT GENES.

Oh, and also victims. If your parents made you practice the flute for 10,000 hours, and it wasn't your thing, you aren't an expert. You're a victim.

Do you know why I don't put in long hours training for a marathon? Is it a lack of focus and dedication?

No, although I don't have any of that stuff either, at least for running.

The reason I'm not training for a marathon is that my body isn't built for it. I'm a lifelong exerciser with 16% body fat. I try to work out seven days a week. But my genes just aren't right for distance running. I'm built for sprinting. So for me, tennis makes more sense. I've played about 8,000 hours of tennis, according to my thumbnail calculation. I should crack the 10,000 hour mark by the time I'm seventy, at which point I expect to win Wimbledon. I hope to God I haven't been practicing the wrong strokes this whole time.

Anyway, here's my formula for becoming an expert:

1. Be born with the right genes. (luck)
2. Have opportunities that work well with your genes. (luck)

At best, becoming an expert is a process of moving from a game that's wrong for you to one that fits your genes. That's the part you can control, at least according to the common view of free will.

The diabolical element of the "expert" conversation is that it relies on an illusion. That illusion is generally referred to as willpower. The idea is that one can hunker down and do unpleasant things that need to be done if one has enough of this thing called willpower.

But willpower is like the horizon. You can see the horizon, define it, and even walk toward it. And yet a horizon exists as nothing but a concept. You can't scoop up some horizon and put it on a basket.

Willpower is like that. We know what we mean when we speak of it, but it doesn't exist. It is an illusion.

Let's say you and I are sitting in a room with donuts in front of us. We both know donuts are bad for our health. Which one of us breaks down and eats a donut first?

Is it the one of us with the least willpower?

No.

It's the hungriest one.

Willpower is an illusion.

People become experts for the same reason most things happen: luck. You need the right genes and you need to be born into the right environment. The most important skill involved in success is knowing how and when to switch to a game with better odds for you.

Bloody Wednesday and '12-13 Game 25

So I've been humming along at ChessTempo ... doing about 20 blitz tactics a day.  But something changed this last Tuesday and Wednesday.  It may have been that I tried doing my tactics on my Galaxy Tab (smaller screen) while sitting on my comfortable couch ... as opposed doing them at my desk on my computer.

I switched back to the computer on Wednesday and it was horrific.  I dropped 70 rating points in one day.  It was crazy.  The next couple of days were gains, but I was still missing problem I should normally get.

Anyway, it might be awhile before I get back to what I think I should be at.

21. Rxf3?? Bg5

ChessAdmin and I have a good match-up going.  After our game today, we agreed about two games a month would be nice.

I think today was the 4th time we've played and he beat me again.  He's won 3 of the 4.

Today I shot myself in the foot ... didn't have my 'safety first' thinking cap on today.

But it was enjoyable and got me thinking a bit.

25,000 Blitz Tactics on ChessTempo

• 25,000 attempts
• 18,059 correct
• 6941 failed
• 72.24% correct
• 1710.9 (with an RD of 34.39)
• 483/1210 is my active rank ... better than 60.13% of the active population

next update at 30,000

'12-13 Game 10 and MAJOR slump

Well, with less distractions, I still managed to go down a rook in my 2nd game with "Eric."  With my losing streak at two (along with a few other losses (rated blitz) games in Chessmaster) my rating has dropped  ... so much so that the top of the allowable personalities for me to play is "Lacey" who is 1309.

I've been in a major slump on ChessTempo too.  For the first time this year and for the first time in a long, long time, I've been struggling to get out of the 1630's and 1640s (blitz level tactics).  Usually I will drop down to the 1640's and 50's but then I'll pop right back up to the 1660's and higher.  But this week has been an absolute struggle.  I'm missing 1400, 1500 rated problems and even the occasional 1300 problem!

I don't know what's going on, but this is brutal.

20,000 Blitz Tactics on ChessTempo

Today I hit the 20,000 blitz attempts mark on ChessTempo.

• 20,000 attempts
• 14,114 correct
• 5,886 failed
• 70.57% correct
• 1678.3 rating (with an RD of 34.48)
• 500/1095 is my active rank ... better than 54.39% of the active population

Here's to the next 20,000.

Minimizing Misses on 1600+ Rated Tactics

Over the last 3 months or so, my blitz rating on ChessTempo has varied from 1660 on up to 1700.  Over the last couple of weeks, it's been hovering steadily in the 1680s and 1690s, with brief excursions into the 1700s.

I started to notice, even back in December, that as soon as I get into the 1700s, I drop back down to the 1680s and 90s.  So I started tracking how many sub-1600 rated problems the server would dish to me each session.  When I'm in the 1680s and 90's, about 50% of the problems are rated below 1600.  As soon as I get into the upper 1690s and 1700's the number of sub-1600 rated problems goes down to about 25%.

This all makes sense ... as your rating goes up, the server dishes more "tougher problems" and conversely as your rating sinks, the server dishes out more "easier problems"

So my dilemma is focusing on minimizing misses of the 1600+ rated problems.  What's going on is that as the number of sub-1600 rated problems decreases, the vacuum is filled with 1600+ problems.

I've also noticed that on those "additional" 1600+ problems that I end up missing, I miss because I think I see the answer fairly quickly, but I don't, so I end up moving pre-maturely (more quickly) instead of taking extra time for further analysis.

So I downloaded my history and did some cursory analysis.

Looking at problems from this year that I missed and that are rated greater than 1600 (215 total):
106 of them I ended up taking longer than the average solve time (by a whole minute).
109 of them I ended up taking less time than the average solve time.

So half of those misses on the 1600+ rated problems were due to moving too quickly.

Of those 109, the average solved time is about 45 seconds.
Of those 109, on average, I moved 20 seconds "too soon"

My conclusion: as I find my rating hovering in the 1690s, take a minimum of 65 seconds before I move, unless the solution is absolutely clear.

This analysis wasn't too serious, but I need to start playing with the data and thinking about these things now that I can download my entire history! :-)

70% on ChessTempo (Blitz)

Yesterday, I reached the 70% accuracy mark for blitz problems.
That is 18,930 problems with 5679 missed.
Rating at the time I crossed the 70% threshold was 1689.3.
The march to 20,000 problems continues.

Game 12 of 52

Feeling pretty confident off my recent win against Trudy, I quickly moved on to the next opponent "above" Trudy in the ladder - Seb.

The dreaded Seb.  I'm 0-2 against him.  In the last two games, I seemed to start off ok, only to be tripped up and promptly mated.  The third time was no charm; I'm 0-3 now against him.

What surprises me is that Trudy seemed so easy to beat.  But Seb seems to go into high gear when the game gets heated and then he just puts the smack-down on me.  It seems that I wouldn't so easily lose to Seb when I so easily won against Trudy.

After a little analysis, I found there were at least a few moves that I should have considered a bit more.

The first position was this one.  He had just taken my night with 13...cxe5.

I played dxe5 ... opening the diagonal between his queen and my king.  I don't know if 14. Bxe5 is any better.  In fact, I'm not too sure this is even that critical of a position.  But I struggled a bit with this one.

After my actual move dxe5, he played 14...Bh4 and I responded 15. Qe2. Next he attacked my bishop with 15...g5 16. Be3 Qe6 17. Bd4 a6 18. f3.

18. f3 may be another move that I should have considered a bit more.  In stead, perhaps 18. h3 would be a bit better.  He may have played 18...Nh6 and the pressure would have been relieved a bit.  But I played f3 and he ended up taking h2.  I took his knight with my king, he advanced 19...g4 20. fxg4 and then he played Qh6 and that was pretty much it.

I blundered big time at this point, but upon further examination, I really had no choices whatsoever.  I still fail to see anyway to stop his attack.

So I played Be3, he played Bg5+ 22. Kg3 Qh4+ 23. Kf3 Bxg4#.  The game was over.

I don't think I was playing my best chess when I started this game.  The first hour or so, I was pretty focused, but then I had to pause the game several time when the kids came home from school and we had dinner and other family events going on.  I'd like to try Seb again when I have a full 3 uninterrupted hours against him.  I'm not giving excuses ... I think Seb is a difficult player for me and I don't think I'll ever so easily beat him.  But I'd like a crack at him with full concentration.

After the G/90 game, I played him a G/10.  And this is where I had the thought that he goes in to "high gear" when the game is on the line.  I was soundly beating him; and then he had about 2 minutes on his clock and then he started making killer moves.  Anyway - I need to crack this nut.

Finally - just a quick update on Chess Tempo ... I've managed to stay above 1700 for a full week now.  Although, just today, when I did my 20 tactics, I was served several tactics that were well over 1700 and a few over 1800.  I choked on them big time.  I started off the session over 1730 and ended the session at 1704.  Things just weren't clicking today.  So the slide back down has begun.

Red-Letter Day

My geometry teacher would often called exceptionally good days "red-letter-days."  Today was a red-letter-day for me.  In fact, it may become the an official RockyRook holiday - to be celebrated from today hence-forth!

After over 17,700 blitz attempts on ChessTempo, for the first time, I crossed the 1700 threshold.  Ok ... I may have crossed it a long, long time ago at some point when my rating deviation was fluctuating like bull-rider, but in recent memory and for as long as I've been consistently solving tactics, I've never crossed this threshold.  I've come oh-so-close before ... flirting with it while getting into the 1690's, but I'd always plummet back down to 1660 or lower.

But today ... I smashed through!  In fact, last week at this time, after I had done my daily 20 problems, I was sitting at 1645.  Then I went on some kind of rampage busting all the way up to 1687 by Sunday.  Monday January 9 was a busy day and I didn't have time at night since we went to a BCS party (way to go Alabama!!) So today, I had to do my 20 for yesterday plus my 20 for today.  I went 36-4 and broke through that glass ceiling and then managed to stay above 1700 for a few problems.  After tonight's session, I'm sitting at 1705.

The lucky problem was number 55162.

*UPDATE*

So I got a little curious ... it just seemed to me that this couldn't have been my first time over 1700 (actively speaking) ... and so I bought a Gold Membership to see the full history (I had bought a membership before, but I had let it expire ... I figured it was time to pay up again anyway ... I really love the site).  Sure enough, I was over 1700 a few times.  In fact, the most recent time was just last year ... around the May/June time period.  That must have been several hundred problems ago.

Oh well ... so I get a little enthusiastic about my rating ...

Let's see if I can maintain it above 1700 a bit longer this time.

Biggest Rating Jump in One Problem

Granted my RD was around 46 at the time of the problem, but even still, when my RD has been this high before, I've never had a big of a jump as this one!

Now if I can just consistent avoid losing to the 1500 and 1600 rated problems!

What's the biggest rating jump you've had at ChessTempo?

By the way, it was problem #78276.

10,000

I've finally done 10,000 blitz problems on chesstempo.

My percentage correct has also been climbing and I'm now over 64%.

LCMBM Game 28 Tactic

This is a neat little tactic from Game 28 in Logical Chess Move by Move.

It reminded me of the last tactic I worked on last night at ChessTempo. I must have spent about 20 minutes trying to figure out how to mate or capture the queen. I kept going over the same three 'trees' over and over again thinking I was overlooking something.

It failed to occur to me to consider the tactic was directed at the rook instead of the queen or king. The lesson learned (or 'learnt' for you Brits) was keep moving down the totem pole of targets (king, queen, rook, etc.) until you find the proper tactic.

In the tactic presented here, it is fairly obvious checkmate isn't on the horizon and the queen is off the board. The one little guy sticking out is that pawn on a7. I would have considered taking the pawn, but probably would have been at a loss as to how to extract my knight after said capture. And therein lies the neatness of this tactic.

Silver

Tactics

I gave in and bought a $20 (silver) subscription to ChessTempo. I really like the site and the extra features seem worth the price.

I continue to work on tactics every day. I was able to get in 60 today. A couple of days ago I was up to 1888 on blitz. But that has gone back down to around 1850. My percentage correct continues to creep up. I've been keeping track of all my chess related stats ... and back on Feb 16 my percentage was 57.33%. Today it is up to 57.63%

Logical Chess

I have about seven games left to read. I'm going over them pretty quickly and picking up stuff here and there.

Play

I didn't get a chance to get any games in tonight or the last few nights. By the time I get some other things done and then after I work on tactics and Logical Chess, my brain isn't so fresh, so I end up not playing. I think tomorrow night I will warm up with a few tactics and then dive right into play. I need to play more longish games and avoid the blitz stuff.

#4000

I just hit 4000 blitz tactics completed on ChessTempo.

Rating: 1850.2 (RD: 34.63)(Best Active Rating: 2098 Worst Active Rating: 1729)
Active Rank: 291/722 ( Better than:59.7% Best Active: 84 Worst Active: 410)
Problems Done: 4000 (Correct: 2293 Failed: 1707)
Percentage correct: 57.33%

Of course that is a mere drop compared to the top blitz guy on the site. He's completed over 54,000 tactics!!