Climb To 2000

Day 43

Rating 1804

Puzzle Rush Score 28

Daily Study

I have been working my way through the book How To Reassess Your Chess by Jeremy Silman and I have been learning all about knights and bishops.

  • What makes them strong or weak?
  • How do you improve and strengthen your minor pieces?
  • When should you trade them?

The following game is an excellent example of trading a the weaker piece for a much stronger one.

Black looks to have an amazing position with the two bishops aimed at the white king. If white does not address the problem things could get bad. The game concludes in a draw as white insists on the exchange of bishops. Black could have possibly traded on b5 and played on a bit, but the position is equal.

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Study Plan – October 2021

The way in which I study chess has been evolving over the last month as I continue to improve my chess and strive towards my goal of a 2000+ chess.com rating.

Simplifying my plan has helped me to focus my attention on what I would like to accomplish each day. I think this is important as I can be happy with my daily progress if I have placed effort into the things below.

I am happy to spend more time on certain elements of my study depending on outside factors. For example the U.S Chess Championships is currently being played and I have loved watching the games and listening to commentary, so I have spent more time on this.

My current daily study plan is as follows.

  • Complete one Survival Puzzle Rush.
  • Play up to five blitz games and annotate at least one game.
  • Be working through one chess book on strategy / tactics / endgame etc.
  • Be working through one games collection book.
  • Be actively learning about one opening (currently the Caro-Kann).
  • Play the opening exclusively to help learn the ideas and have a good understanding of the key ideas and the main variations before moving on to something new.
  • Keep up to date with high profile tournaments and games. Learn from the best in the world.

 

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Day 41

Rating 1818

Puzzle Rush Score 36

Daily Study Today I played a nice Caro-Kann in the Advance variation. I was particularly happy about this game as I followed the “plan” of the opening and made many solid moves. My opponent played really well also and it made for a fun back and forth positional battle. I found a nice tactic (although 1 move late) at the end of the game to gain a winning advantage. After the move was played my opponent resigned.

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Day 40

Rating 1812

Puzzle Rush Score 31

Learning Here is a blitz game I annotated where I play 3.Nc3 and attempt to gain the advantage when my opponent plays the inaccurate 3… Bc5.

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