Finally the endgame!

 When I adjusted my openings due to my tournament in December, little did I expect that that would result in more endgames. I made two adjustments. With black I adopted the simple opening system for beginners by GM Ludvig Hammer, and with white I added the "cheesecake" to my repertoire while dropping the London and the Barry attack. Both new openings are quite solid, with enough bite to walk over a higher rated player every now and then. What is more, both openings with black and white lead to similar positions. And the endgames they lead to are equal or better.

I haven't decided what kind of player I am. Or want to be. In life I'm avoiding risks at all costs. But my chess history is a bit different. I played solely gambits for 7 years, just to get the hang of it. And I used to train 6 queen sacrifices before breakfast each day for years. So when I see something that should be done on the chessboard, I do it without hesitation or fear.

My mentality is more easy going and laid back, followed by a sudden explosive strike. So far I haven't bothered about that, but now my play is so changing, I can't help to think about it.

I now have the openings that my opponents feel comfortable with. Where they previously postponed to castle, they now do so early on because they are unaware of the danger.

My task the coming half year is cut out for me: do chapter 1 through 6 of Silman. The method: fiddle with the tablebase until it is absorbed. Currently I'm working my way through chapter 3.

That is only meant to fix the blundering of half points I used to spill every endgame. But I noticed a few things about the endgame. People lack context for the endgame (I guess that I'm not the only one). Especially attacking players. You must be able to see the patterns on an empty board. That takes a special kind of exercise. The kind of exercise that is not so attractive as other exercises for most players. Like opening study and tactics. I guess my study method can make the difference here.

I expect to plug the holes in my endgame bucket within a half year. But I can clearly see now how endgames can be a weapon. So I guess that over half a year I'm again in dubio: hone my preparation of the invasion or make the endgame into a real weapon. It is too early to worry about that now.