.
.
A 1998 - 2000
2 years plateauing no matter what I tried.
And I tried alot. And I mean ALOT.
B 2000 - 2002
I gave up all flawed methods and I started with tactical training.
WITHOUT repetition.
I gained 170 points in 3 years. I did:
- Tasc Chess Tutor step 3-5
- Papa Polgars Brick
- Intensive course tactics I from Renko
Plateauing again.
I kept doing the CD's from George Renko:
- Killer Moves
- Deadly Threats
- Intensive course tactics II
- plus 1001 x checkmate (not from Renko)
I discovered MDLM and started with REPETITION of problems.
I repeated 7 times:
- Intensive course tactics I
- Tasc Chess Tutor step 3-5
E 2005 Whitsuntide
my rating nosedived with 80 points (in only 6 games!) to 1670
Analysis of my play revealed that it were the simple things that went wrong and not the complex ones. I deciced that Renko's CD's were way too complex to learn. Maybe in a later phase.
F 2005 summer
And so I started with CTS. Since then I regained most of my ratingpoints. I'm 1743 now.
Not longer plateauing and on the move again.
in a system of improvment, it isn't always the things that are added, but simply removing the things that do not function well that the most stable and last improvment is effected.
ReplyDeletein business this is called "continuous business improvement" or "Kaizen".
or in radio astronomy, is it not so that they do not so much see distant objects as infer them by negative inference? we find what is there by noticing what is not there.
and i am not talking chess only--but in life, or in investing as Warren Buffet says that "it is in the mistakes that we avoid that we make the greatest strides" (loose paraphrase). almost anybody can hit a home run in professional baseball, and some in the tour de france can sprint a stage to win the stage, but the consistent performer gets to wear the yellow jersey.
i respect your effort so much and get inspiration by your example. thank you dirk.
david
how are your CTS experiments going? i think we are both on right now.
ReplyDeleteVery instructive. I see two things here. First, tactics training works. Second, there are always drawbacks. How come? I had them, too. In my opinion improvement is based upon two elements: finding strong moves and avoiding weak moves. Most tactic training is a drill for strong moves in a won position. CTS, fortunately, does better here. It often presents simple recaptures and defense moves. I love it for that.
ReplyDelete