Temposchlucker

Lately I have experimented a acquisition of a database of 178 high rated tactics. I even added to this: if this doesn't work, I'm prepaired to admit that adult chess improvement is not so easy as I thought. So what is the status? My recall of the database was 100% in <40 br="br" seconds.="seconds."> After two months hiatus I decided to test the recall of the positions. It turned out that my recall was about 72%. With very little repetition I could improve that to 100% again. When I stored the problems the first time in my memory, I focussed on storing the critical elements as diagrams. When recalling the positions now, it turns out that about 60% I remember as move sequences, while 40% are rememberred as geometrical patterns. The patterns in the form of diagrams show transfer to my actual OTB games, while move sequences are downright useless. So tactical sharpness has reentered my OTB games again, but not to the extend that my rating rises to 20

In reference to don't DIY I hired a chess coach to analyse my games and to give advice. While I was analysing my games as preparation  I realized that most of my games spill points due to time trouble. I thought that I had already passed that station. The reason I was wrong about this can only be explained if you know where I come from. When my opening repertoire consisted of gambits solely, my average game length was 21 moves. A game length of  >30 was extremely rare. As gambit player you have to "make" the game and decide the games by tactics, preferably. I was always in extreme++ time trouble. I often had to accept a draw  in better position against lower rated opponents due to time trouble or I simply blundered the game away. When I replaced my gambit repertoire by positional openings, my average game length increased to 30. Since I no longer was forced to make the game, I had much less time trouble and a lot of the spilling of points stopped. My rating increased t