A glimmer of hope
If I would be asked to summarize the results of the Knights Errant, it would go something like this (well, nobody asks, but I tell you anyway):
When you are below 1900 and a virgin to tactical exercise, you will gain about 250 rating points, no matter the method you use.
I reached my peak in about 2007 or so, if I remember well. I continued exercising, and my mind started to feel tactically numb. In 2013 I had lost about 80 points from the originally gained 250. I always had the feeling that the core of my tactical improvement was reached in a short period of time of about six weeks. I have been trying to reconstruct what happened during these six weeks ever since.
Despite continuous intensive tactical training, my tactical brain started to feel more and more numb. That's why I abandoned tournament-, club- and internet chess for five years. It didn't make sense to continue without alleviating that numbness first.
Most training has been in the salt mine department (automatic pilot) or in the highbrowed district (system II). At the moment I try to exercise on the brink between these two extremes.
After four days of training this way, my tactical brain starts to feel sharper. For the first time in years, if I do not deceive myself. Another strange phenomenon happens. I have a different experience of time. Normally I'm slightly p**sed off when I solve a difficult problem in a minute and I lose rating points due the average idiot on Chess Tempo who solves it in 30 seconds.
Now I can do a whole lot of thinking, and when I look at the clock I have only used 12 seconds or so. I can do much more in 30 seconds than I could before. I assume that that is a sign that system I kicks in.
It is too early to tell after only four days, of course. But after feeling to be not the sharpest barb on the wire for eleven years, this new feeling is a welcome change!
When you are below 1900 and a virgin to tactical exercise, you will gain about 250 rating points, no matter the method you use.
I reached my peak in about 2007 or so, if I remember well. I continued exercising, and my mind started to feel tactically numb. In 2013 I had lost about 80 points from the originally gained 250. I always had the feeling that the core of my tactical improvement was reached in a short period of time of about six weeks. I have been trying to reconstruct what happened during these six weeks ever since.
Despite continuous intensive tactical training, my tactical brain started to feel more and more numb. That's why I abandoned tournament-, club- and internet chess for five years. It didn't make sense to continue without alleviating that numbness first.
Most training has been in the salt mine department (automatic pilot) or in the highbrowed district (system II). At the moment I try to exercise on the brink between these two extremes.
After four days of training this way, my tactical brain starts to feel sharper. For the first time in years, if I do not deceive myself. Another strange phenomenon happens. I have a different experience of time. Normally I'm slightly p**sed off when I solve a difficult problem in a minute and I lose rating points due the average idiot on Chess Tempo who solves it in 30 seconds.
Now I can do a whole lot of thinking, and when I look at the clock I have only used 12 seconds or so. I can do much more in 30 seconds than I could before. I assume that that is a sign that system I kicks in.
It is too early to tell after only four days, of course. But after feeling to be not the sharpest barb on the wire for eleven years, this new feeling is a welcome change!
Random thoughts:
ReplyDeleteGeneral learning procedure (previously posted):
3. Learning occurs best by following an “improving spiral,” where the learner comes back to the same position, or material, and adds increasingly more complex new information to its knowledge-base. This process increases the chance of creating cross-referencing links.
Gobet and Jansen, Training in chess - A scientific approach, 2005.
Aox also mentioned 1000-4000 puzzles over the course of a "few weeks" in order to determine what (if any) progress has been made.
I suggest training tactics consistently until the point of diminishing returns becomes obvious. Then switch to some other aspect of chess to train (perhaps specific endgames), but continue "maintenance" of the tactical base by doing a minimal set of puzzles (perhaps using spaced repetition). Switching focus to a different aspect avoids the "numb" feeling that comes from hammering your head against a metaphorical wall (the plateau).
There's also another benefit, referred to in the above quote about following an "improving spiral". There is crossover between the various aspects of chess, i.e., tactics bleed into strategy (at a certain skill level), endgame tactics help middlegame tactics, etc. But more importantly, such improving spirals using different material at a deeper level improves the cross-referencing of neural links, which in turn strengthens the intuition (System 1 pattern recognition).
I'll use my own study as an example. I've gone through Dr. Lasker's Lasker's Manual of Chess multiple times. Every time, I gain a deeper insight into what he is trying to convey, even though I'm certain that there is even more to be gained from it.
Once you reach a certain targeted performance level doing Chess Tempo blitz tactics problems, you WILL reach a plateau. Maybe that's the identifiable point to switch to a different aspect.
As some smart-ass named Einstein supposedly said, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
There's a reason they call me "Crazy" Bob, but that one ain't it.
I was wondering if strategy and endgame...-chunks could help at tacics too. The Russian-School of chess did put much attention to the endgame ( -chunks ) especially the studies
DeleteI realize I expressed myself poorly. I don't ask if I deceive myself concerning being more sharp. Where I might deceive myself, is whether it is the first time in eleven years that I feel sharp. It might be the second or the third time. But I believe it is the first time.
DeleteI claim the right to do insane things as an attempt to prove Einstein being wrong.
Delete(Blunderprone here) Good to see you are still Blogging. I have little time for chess and blogging these days but I still enjoy the game. I find ways to fit it in my busy schedule. I started a chess club at work and corrupting new co-ops and young minds into the abyss. ( queue evil laughter). I will be playing in an OTB tournament this weekend. Wish me luck.
ReplyDelete- BP
Hi George. Do you still play the London? What do you play with black?
DeleteSuccess with the tournament!
Hi Blunderprone, good luck
ReplyDeleteI just had an enjoyable experience: the BADPDO concept just cropped up while I was solving one of GM Andy Soltis' puzzles in the JAN 2019 Chess Life. It made the solution become readily apparent.
ReplyDeleteThe puzzle is from the game:
Fakhrutdinov, Timur (2460) vs Volkov, Sergey (2574)
Date: 2018-07-04
Event: 71st ch-RUS HL 2018, Yaroslavl RUS
Round: 8.19
Result: 1-0
Opening: French Defense, Steinitz Variation, Boleslavsky Variation (C11)
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Be3 Be7 8. Qd2 O-O 9. dxc5 Qa5 10. O-O-O b6 11. Bb5 Nb4 12. a3 bxc5 13. Kb1 Nb6 14. f5 d4 15. axb4 Qxb4 16. f6 gxf6 17. Nxd4 cxd4 18. Bxd4 fxe5 19. Bxe5 f6 20. Rhf1 Bb7 21. Rf4 Qc5 22. Rg4+ Kh8 23. Qg5 Rf7 24. Bxf6+
The "0th move" by Black is 22. ... Kh8. There are 2 B.A.D. squares in that position, but the critical one (for successfully solving the puzzle) is hidden (is not actually B.A.D.) in the initial position. The f6 square is the obvious B.A.D. square. The second is created as a result of the forcing moves played. Removing a defender from a square MAY make it B.A.D., and (in turn) cause the piece sitting on that square to become BADPDO.
I "saw" the initial 2 moves and replies, and then it took a short time to become aware of the 2nd B.A.D. square and the loose piece sitting on it because it occurred in a different area of the board.
BADPDO is an excellent concept to keep in mind!
Targets come in four flavors, I just discovered:
DeleteLPDO
BADpdo
Piece of higher value
B.A.D. squares (usually a PoP)
The latter is often an attacking square for the next duplo attack.
does anybody know what happened to chesshere.com?
ReplyDeleteIt's on air again.
Delete