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Showing posts from July, 2019

More KISSing

An overloaded system II is the main reason for system I to hold back itself from learning anything. So the first thing to do is to calm down the hysterical system II a bit. Since system II isn't able to cope with complexity, we must simplify matters into absurdity. Only when system II has no longer the urge to sabotage the learning process, we can hope that system I kicks in to show off its magic. So let's simplify matters to the bone and beyond. There are only three tactical principles that can win anything. Lack of space Lack of time Immobility due to function There can't be no other ways, logically. In fact all three principles boil down to the same: lack of time. Lack of space means you don't have the time to make an escape square AND to skedaddle at the same time. Immobility means you don't have the time to relieve your piece from its defensive function(s) and to bring itself and or the piece(s) it is defending into safety in one go. Lack of space ...

I met a man who wasn't there

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One major way to spill your time during solving a problem is by chasing ghosts. White to move 3qr2k/1p2r1b1/p3B1p1/7p/1P1p4/P1n3BP/3Q1PP1/2R1R1K1 w - - 1 1 [ solution ] Only after chasing phantoms for six (!) minutes, the ghosts stopped haunting me. What remained was a simple win. Yesterday, upon the stair, I met a man who wasn't there! He wasn't there again today, Oh how I wish he'd go away!

The ABC of tactics

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Black to move In order to solve a tactic puzzle, you need to know your basics well. What are the duplo attacks in this position? There seems to be a discovered attack to the king. But wat is the target for the bishop? There is a double attack of the knight. There is a discovered attack against knight d3. And there is a discovered attack against rook e4 Do you see how the PLF (PoPLoAFun) system is closely related to the duplo attack?

Spinach

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The PoPeye system we are developing for the education of system I has already a fundament of two firm pillars. Themed problem sets Highlighting the PLF (PoPLoAFun) Themed problem sets I use Chess Tempo to make themed problem sets like all double attacks with a rating between 1600 and 1650, all discovered attacks with a rating of 1700 to 1780 et cetera. The problems are only two moves deep. That diminishes the complexity of the problems. Albeit solving a 2200 rated problem can still take you quite some time. The diminished complexity usually reveals itself especially in the stage of the post mortem analysis. By reducing the complexity during analysis afterwards, system II is no longer confused or overwhelmed by occupying all Short Term Memory slots. When system II is confused, system I will not store information to the long term memory. For safety reasons, possibly. Or economic reasons. Highlighting Robert introduced the highlighting of the points of pressure and the lines ...

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