Monday, June 19, 2006

Gap closed, let the progress commence!

My OTB-vision has always been better by a 70-100 ratingpoints in comparison to my screen-vision. Which means that when I'm in difficulty with a problem at my screen, I often see the solution immediately when I set it up on the board.
Since I have always trained on a computer, except for papa Polgars brick, I always exercised at too low a level.
So my training with the computer couldn't have much effect on my OTB play.
Which it didn't indeed.

Last year I have done 47,000 problems at CTS and improved there with about 70 points, thus closing the gap between my screen-vision and my OTB-vision.
When the gap is closed, traning with the computer will effect immediately my OTB play.

I'm inclined to belief that my previous post on saturday shows that. That was about a combination last friday during an OTB game at my club.

In an earlier post a few months ago I formulated the hypothesis that complex combinations consist of easier parts (that's why it is called a "combination" in the first place, isn't it?) and that when you learn to solve those easy parts a tempo, the solution of the whole problem would be faster and easier.

That was the main reason I started with CTS, which is all about learning to solve simple problems a tempo.
The diagram in my last post on saturday seems to prove that hypothesis.
There are at least 10 parts of the combination in that diagram.
  • Removal of the defender of Be2 by Rxc3
  • The pin of e3 along the e-file
  • The lack of space of the white queen
  • The knightfork on e2
  • The attack of Nf6 by Qh4 and Bc3
  • The mate threat at g7 by Q and B
  • The mate threat at f7 by Q and N (via Bxf6, Ng5 and Qxh7)
  • The underprotection of d5
  • The unprotected Bishop at d6
  • The mate threat with Nxf2#
9 parts of the combination were spotted immediately.
The calculation was about how the parts influence each other.
I only didn't see the the mate threat with Nxf2#, which I saw only after he moved his King to h1.

5 comments:

  1. Space, yes I did all 5334 problems.
    With last year I mean the past 365 days. But maybe I misunderstand the English language?

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  2. Space,
    I don't have the feeling there are problems missing. But I didn't check it either. Were that guys who started in the early days of CTS?

    Indeed, the receipe to close the gap is impressive.
    The price for improvement with ca. 570 problems per CTS-ratingpoint is high.
    On the other hand, if it works, there is an easy way for steady improvement.
    Just work hard and daily

    ReplyDelete
  3. do you think that following your progress "rating wise" is so important?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yasser,
    yes, the rating is important. It is an objective method to measure the effects of what I'm doing. So it gives feedback for the direction to head for. What's behind your question?

    ReplyDelete