Temposchlucker

Blue Devil Knight addresses a very interesting question in his post . How do you correctly quantify piece mobility? Usually the value of a piece is expressed in units of 1 pawn. Q = 9 R = 5 B = 3 N = 3 p = 1 These are STATIC values. It can happen during a whole game that your rook stands on a1 without moving. Sometimes it even doesn't make a difference if your rook was placed next to the board in stead of on the board. In such cases the DYNAMIC value of the rook is 0 (zero). In other situations the rook can be so active that it is worth a queen. So the static value of a rook is representing the AVERAGE dynamic value of the rook. Because we have no good algorithm to express the dynamic value of a rook, the use of the static value has become very popular. Have a look at the diagram below. White to move. The space of the black bishop is severely limited by its own pawn. The space of the black king is limited by the rim of the board. White can make use of this by playing Rc1, threa...

I don't expect to see convincing and measurable results before I have done 100,000 at CTS (see an old post ) It is not done to have a big mouth before I have measurable and convincing results. It's remarkable how little I have to say now I'm not allowed to have a big mouth. I'll bide my time. . . CTS circle 0: 1470 circle 1: 1500 circle 2: 1520 circle 3: 28,000 /70,000 Highest rating 1567

CTS invites me to play a tempo. But I noticed that even "a tempo" can be interpreted in different ways. I found the following 3 speeds. "Immediate" The main tactic is recognized in under 1 second. The position is so familiar you are sure this has to be the move. The validation of the move is allready in the pattern so to say. This happens in "Scanning" I scan the board and my eye falls on the main tactic. This happens within 3 seconds. "Validation" allthough I recognize the tactic fast, I feel the urge to validate the move. Before you know it 10-20 seconds are gone. For example a simple recapture of a piece falls in this category. I always feel the urge to have a look if there is nothing more to it. The majority of the problems fall in this category. I'm happy to report that exercises at CTS don't lead to bad habits in slow games. The main result OTB so far is that I play quicker and hence I'm less vulnerable for my old enemy, time tr...

Will training at CTS have a positive influence on my rating? Officially that can only be proven with the dutch ratinglist in hand. The next rated games lie ahead. Within a few weeks the regional competition starts (7 rated games). And a regional championship (9 games). Both happenings last until april/may. The rating will be available only per august 1, 2006. In january I plan to go to the Corus tournament. Ratingprogress from that will be available per may 1, 2006. So that is some time to go. Maybe I go to an unrated rapidtournament in November (5 games G25). This should give an indication of progress. So since we have to wait for an official prove, what do I expect? I will try to estimate. Be prepared for my infamous algebra. I expect my rating at CTS to increase every month with 20 points. Right now I have gained 60 points. If I can maintain the pace it will be 100 points within two months. What is a rating gain of 100 points worth in the real world? The points at CTS are somewhat c...

Things start to become more easy now. Probably because I have seen most problems two times at average. The solving of problems costs less energy and becomes faster. I had to learn to like it, but it is very enjoyable now. Sometimes I even see the solution at a glance. You see the pieces in the edge of your eyes without seeing them. And still you know immediately what they are doing. The way you are aware of the ball with baseball without seeing it because it is to fast. (As if I have ever played baseball. BTW I saw Margriet today in a T-shirt with "Red Wings" on it. I believe it is famous in the USA. But what is it?) Since august 31 my rating hasn't been below 1500, even in my worst moments. It is still creeping upwards. Update: I have played two games at the club. 1 draw after a terrible played opening. 1 win right from the opening. The tactical exercises make me play more confident and faster. Normally I would have drawed the second game in stead of won due to time trou...

In a previous post I declared that no presents are given in this work. You have to learn every single pattern and if you forget it, you are not able to use it in the future. No bonus due to accumulated efforts whatsoever. I'm pretty sure this is the main reason why most people plateau on a certain moment. The day you stop with the intake of new patterns is the day you stop developing. That's why you all of a sudden hear nothing more of a once so talented player. Did you ever notice how often that happens? But in a capricious fashion you are given a kind of present in this work. When you have learned a pattern but you forget that you learned it, it is as if you get it out of the blue. Gee, am I brilliant or what, I think from time to time when solving a problem a tempo. If I look at the history of the problem, I see that I allready 7 times failed to solve it. But I can't remember that. So for now my conclusion about the antithesis of memorization versus pattern recognition ...

Working with CTS has given a whole new meaning to the expression "a tempo". CTS shows that the slightest hesitation costs you already a few seconds. To get the full reward at CTS you have to give the total solution within 3 seconds. That is really short. Below you see a typical situation. Black to move. The last move of white was Ne5, attacking the black queen. The first thing that came to mind was 1. ... Nxe5 but that loses the queen. Then I saw 1. ... axb5, winning a piece. I did the move, then came a shock: 2. Qa8+ I hadn't seen this check. But with 2. ... Kc7 blacks problems are solved. Total time used: 6.2 seconds. About 3 seconds per move. That I could solve the check was pure luck, I hadn't seen it coming. That is an extra on CTS what you don't have OTB, there is always a good solution somewhere. The question arises if it is actually possible to see the whole line within 3 seconds. The details of the problem revealed that there were only 6 persons out of 60...