The struggle against overload

The way I think is rather brain resource intensive. I'm not inclined to believe something because everybody says so. I am quite opinionated about almost everything. My opinions are the only ones that are true. That makes life easy, in a way. On the other hand, I feel myself totally not bound to any of my opinions. If another opinion comes along and proves to be true, I immediately reject my own and adopt it. That is why my opinions are always true. In my opinion.
At the same time, when other opinions cross my way, I don't just reject them. I feel always obliged to have a look at if they are true. I'm always open to doubt anything. Enfin, that is how this blog came about.

Usually, a lot is going on in my head. Always being busy to prove if my opinions still can stand the test. Such a busy head, is of course not an advantage in chess. In life, this is usually not a problem. After 61 years of weeding out the false opinions, my reaction time to new events in complex situations has become pretty fast. I always wondered why in chess, which is probably less complex than life, my habitual logical reasoning has always been totally absent. Why do I play like a moron with no clues whatsoever?

The reason is, that my mind is easily overwhelmed. I'm always ready to see an infinite amount of possibilities. So far, the weeding out of nonsensical possibilities has not gone far enough to simplify my thoughts to a degree that my brains are no longer overwhelmed.

But that might well be about to change in the not too distant future. After 22 years of weeding out all nonsensical methods how to improve in tactics, I finally have come to a point that I have found a method that is in accordance with all facts. I no longer see other possibilities.

Whether it works and how fast, is now put to the test. The method is like learning the vocabulary of a new language. It takes some time. I'm on day 31 of the 150 days I expect to need to ingrain enough words of the vocabulary to become measurable. We'll see.

Since I see no other possibilities how to improve in tactics, my mind is freed of the overload that accompanies the search for said possibilities. And it feels that way.

Meaning, that there is now room for other things. I expect my method to work. After all, I started with it in januari 1st of 2019, and usually the euphoric feeling dissipates after three months, and that is not the case this time. Problems with the health of Margriet and the Corona crisis lately have only delayed my test.

Other things, that means to find out how my to be expected prowess in tactics can be incorporated in actual OTB play. To that end I have been busy to gather about 100 rules of middlegame strategy, and about 70 rules for the endgame. I put them in ANKI and am busy to learn them by heart.

If my mind will be no longer overwhelmed by the infinite possibilities of tactics, then it would be a pity to fill it with a search for the infinite possibilities of middlegame and endgame strategy. After all, it is not rocket science, and what can be weeded out in the study room, must be wrested beforehand.

Weeding out the nonsense