Saturday, July 09, 2005

The proof of the pudding.

The last 4 days I have worked on my Chess Vision.
Today I wanted to start with the target scanning.
Since I saw that Moustrapper is wrestling with the ideal form of such scan, I decided to test first where I stand now.

I played a few blitz games on FICS. I was hacked from the board a few times by players with less rating. For example Dread Pirate Josh pounded me with a few nice tricks.
I found only once per game the time to do a full scan, so the extended microdrills aren't suited for playing blitz.

I played a game against the computer at 6 ply thinking level.
These two situations occurred to me during that game:




















I have white and have to move, the computer has just played Ba3.
I have totally missed this move.
Ok, it can easely be parried, but that is not the point.
My scan of the black bishop included Ba3 and Bxb2.
But it didn't occur to me that my knight was in danger.

Another point in the same game:



















My last move was Na4, followed by blacks Nc6xd4 (winning a pawn).
Another move I totally overlooked.

If I look at those diagrams I find it hard to believe that I have a rating of 1751.
This sort of oversight happens all the time.
1 - 3 times per game.
In all the 11 OTB-games I played recently and that I have analized.
In 42 of the 51 games I played against the computer lately (6 ply).
The only explanation can be that my opponents suffer from the same ailment.

What is even more astonishing, is that I never noticed it before.
When I have an oversight as in the first diagram, I tend to ignore it because it doesn't cause damage.
In the second diagram I loose only a pawn. Since I am a gambitplayer, I tend to ignore that.
But how on earth could I move my knight into a discovered attack?

It is clear that my Chess Vision is improved due to my training. I notice that while playing.
But it is clear too that this new acquired Chess Vision doesn't protect me against these oversights.

This means that the new to invent target scan has to do the job.
It is easy enough to know when I have reached my goal.
If the target scan protects me against these oversights, it is good. Otherwise it is useless.
So I have some work to do this weekend. . .

7 comments:

  1. Apart from your scanning, maybe you should analyse all captures and threats.

    I'm also trying to develop board vision (what you can see on the board in your first 10 second glance) and i'm not sure what i must do to improve this rapidly - apart from playing a lot.

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  2. If you fail in blitz this is no proof against your method. It just tells you that you are not yet fast enough. Also blitzing is of no use to improve your play. I believe that strong blitzers gained their strength mainly in slow games.

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  3. no point in darts if you don't have a target:)

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