1700 blitz on lichess

i'm on some kind of a streak now.

on november 12, i was 1546 blitz and since then, i've been mostly winning.  after my last win just a few minutes ago, i'm at 1704.

i largely suspect this is artificial improvement - i've not been doing any tactics or studying.  i've just been playing lots of blitz (casual and rated), with a smattering of classical games here and there.

it's so much fun to simply play.

/r/chessmatchups

i started a sub reddit: /r/chessmatchups

feel free to use and advertise!

state of my chess

since about 2011, i've been trying to establish a goal of playing about 50 real games a year.  in 2012, i got to 41 games, in 2013 i played 52 games, in 2014, i only play 24 games.

in 2015 so far, i've played about 22 games.  i need to reach my goal of 52 games by the end of august.  this means i'm about 10 games behind.  but i think i'll be able to reach my goal.  most of my games are turn-based.  in fact, i've got an active game with robert pearson going right not - it's early into the match.  you can follow that game here.

unfortunately, this is about all the chess i can get in right now.  i started a new assignment at work and it does not leave much time for anything else.  every once in a while, i'm able to sneak away during lunch and solve some problems at chesstempo.  and once a in blue moon, i pull out chess book and read.

if anyone wants to play a 30 0 game or longer, leave a comment.  i play on chess.com or lichess.com.

and lastly, i'm sure everyone has already seen this, but in my effort to document chess violence, i needed to add this to the list: a 10 year old boy jumps to his death after being check-mated

double my egg nog to start in january

it looks like we have 4 to play now; but we won't start until after the new year

RockyRook
ChessAdmin
Timmmmm
RobertPearson

here's the schedule ... let me know if you see any errors (white v. black)

round 1
rockyrook v rlp
chessadmin v timmmmm

round 2
rlp v chessadmin (1-0)
timmmmm v rockyrook

round 3
rockyrook v chessadmin (1-0)
timmmmm v rlp

round 4
rlp v rockyrook
timmmmm v chessadmin

round 5
chessadmin v rlp
rockyrook v timmmmm

round 6
chessadmin v rockyrook (tentative jan 26)
rlp v timmmmm

go ahead and begin scheduling your games.

Still Need One More ...

We're still looking for one more for the double-my-egg-nog tourney.

Let me know (by December 20) if you want to play.

ChessAdmin and Timmmmm have both signed up.

2012 Double My Egg Nog FICS Tourney

We still need one more for the "Double My Egg Nog" tourney: a double round robin chess tourney on FICS.

Dates
December 16 - January 1

Format
60 5 on FICS

Qualification
FICS standard rating between 1500-1700 or around Class C/B USCF rating

Prize
$10 amazon gift card

Post a comment and then email me if you want to play (rockyrook at hotmail).  First three are in; but we may need an extra in case, so let me know if you want to be on stand-by too.

2012 Round Turkey Pairings & Results

Congratulations to ChessAdmin for winning the 2012 Round Turkey!

Round 1 - should be finished by Nov 21

Rocky v Timmmmm (1-0) link to game here.

tomgtro v ChessAdmin (1-0) link to game here.

Round 2- should be finished by Nov 23

ChessAdmin v Rocky (1-0) link to game here.

Timmmmm v tomgtro (1-0) link to game here.

Round 3 - should be finished by Nov 25

tomgtro v Rocky (0-1) link to game here

Timmmmm v ChessAdmin (0-1) link to game here.

Standings
ChessAdmin 2.0
RockyRook 2.0
Timmmmm 1.0
tomgtro 1.0

* format: white v black

Other Logistics

If you would send me your email address at rockyrook at hotmail, I will pass along to everyone else, so you can schedule your games via email.  Also, let me know your FICS handle when you send me your address.

Always offer times in FICS time zone - this makes negotiations easier.  Feel free to schedule your games immediately.

I'll provide updates and links to this post.

Feel free to post questions or suggestions in the comments.

Have fun!

Need One More for Round Turkey Chess Quad

We had four, but one dropped out at the last minute to close the deal on his new home.

So, we're back to three.

Anyone else out there who wants to play?

Details:
- Round Turkey (i.e Robin) style (4 players)
- Starts November 18/19; ends November 24/25
- About 1 game every two days
- 60 5 format
- All games on FICS
- Looking for someone 1500-1700 (standard) rating
- Winner to receive at least $10 Amazon gift card (possibly $20)

Let me know in the comments section if you want to join.

Round Turkey Chess Tournament? (on FICS)

Out of curiosity - how many of you, dear readers, would be interested in a either:

1. a 4-week (one game a week) chess tournament; every week of November, starting the week of November 4 and have all 4 games completed by November 30.

2. or perhaps a week-long tournament during the Thanksgiving holiday - November 20-23

It would have to be 4 players to accommodate either 4 weeks or 4 days.  Everyone plays everyone else (round robin style, although I'm calling it round turkey :-))  I'd propose a G 60 format ... or maybe a 60 5 format.

Participants would have to play all the other players in the given period of time.

Any takers?  I'd only need 3.

And to give some extra incentive, I'll offer a $10 gift card (to Starbucks or to Amazon or something like that) for the winner.

I'd want the tournament to be somewhat competitive - don't want any grandmasters or beginners playing, so the bottom cut-off rating would be 1500 and the top cut-off rating ... let's say 1700 (using FICS standard rating).

If I get a lot of responses, I'll take the first 3 who meet the criteria.

image source: NBC:SNL

savaskulah: email me

Savaş Külah: I don't know how to contact you directly to schedule some games; so please email me.

rockyrook at hotmail dot com

thanks,

Let's Play

To all bloggers and readers ...

From March 11 to March 14, my evenings are wide open.  I'd love to have some long games scheduled each night.

Let me know if you want to play a G/60, G/75, G/90 or longer on any of those days.

I will be available to play from 16:00 to 20:00 FICS time.

Games 14 & 15

Games 2 and 3 to stevelco were defeats.  Honestly, I should have lost the first game too.  Steve is a really good player.  I was proud of myself for hanging with him the first two games, but game three was different.

I stunk; big time.  I hate making excuses, but I do feel I need to document.

There are days when I really feel like playing and I have lots of energy.  Then there are days where there is nothing there ... it's just "blah".  Other days, I can at least manage to muster up some desire.  Last night ... and pretty much the whole week for that matter was a blend of mustering and just plain "blah".  You can't deny the fact that other life events affect your chess play.

Also - there are losses where I feel good about ... I know I did my best; I fought hard and thought deep and well.  Then there are losses like last night where there was no heart; I was a complete woodpusher.

So, as opposed to trying to think about how I can minimize my failures in thinking or calculating, I need to think of a way to rouse up the fight in me when there is no fight.  How can I, on a snap of the fingers, turn into a calculating, killer-move-seeking monster?  Days like yesterday; weeks like this past week ... they will come again.  What can I do to prepare for them?  How can I overcome them?  That's what's on my mind.

Here are the games as captured from surveybot.

Game 2
Game 3

Game 13 of 52

About a week and a half ago, I played a former 45/45 Team League team mate.  We've scheduled a 4 game series of 75/15 games over the next two months.

It was a pretty even game until the end.  He had the advantage and was going to win, but made a bad move and subsequently resigned.

I've spent the last week or so reviewing the game.  I gave a few positions to Fritz and those are annotated below as well.

Game 2 is coming up.

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.

New Link Added

I think I ran accross this link before, but I found it again via the FICS Facebook page (yes, that's right, FICS is on Facebook now). Anyway, this link takes you to a site where you can post a long standing seek for longer games. I've added it to my Chess Links section.

I saw that Farbror is on the list ... if you see this Farbror, maybe you and I can play a few games sometime. I can usually play any day between 18:30 and 22:30 FICS (Pacific Time). On the weekends, my time can be a little more flexible.

Match Request: March 6-8 @ 18:00 FICS

As usual, I'm looking to play a 60 5 game on FICS.

I'll be available March 6th, 7th and 8th at around 18:00 FICS (Pacific) time.

I'd prefer to play someone in the 1700-1800 range, but will play anyone over 1600.

I NEED the practice! :-)

If you're interested, leave a comment.

Match Request: February 22 @ 18:00 FICS

Anyone up for a 60 5 game tonight on FICS at around 18:00 FICS (Pacific) time?

Leave a comment or just log on to FICS tonight and look for my seek.