Temposchlucker

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 situatio...

We talked a lot about the PoPLoAFun system. I can imagine that people use those texts if they have trouble to fall asleep. The actual training method that is derived from it, is very simple though. Diagram 1. Black to move r4r1k/1b3ppB/p3pb2/1pRqN3/3n2Q1/4B3/PP3PPP/3R2K1 b - - 1 1 [ solution ] I use a macro written in autohotkey to copy the board and to open it in a paint-like program. There I add colored squares to it by hand. Green = target squares ( points of pressure ) Red = piece on duty ( function ) Diagram 2. Black to move The idea is simple: to develop a sense for target squares (PoP) to develop a sense for pieces on duty (Fun) I work with a limited set of problems. The same set of problems can be used to draw the lines of attack . That is a different exercise, which I do during a different training session. The idea is simple: to develop a sense for the lines of attack (LoA) Diagram 3. Black to move. As you see, the training is...

I have been able to flick in some serious PoPLoAFun training, lately. 18 days in a row now. I become more and more convinced that I'm on the right track. At the same time, I must admit that progress is way slower than I expected and hoped for. PoPLoAFun breaks down the common tactical themes into their tactical atoms. It is like learning a new way of looking. It is about discovering new patterns and internalize them. And about unlearning a lifetime of bad habits. What can I predict? I'm learning the PoPLoAFun ins and outs of 960 chess positions. That will take me about 150 hours of training. Say 150 days with one hour per day. That is about the end of the year. After that, the progress should be measurable. If not, then the method doesn't work.

Robert said: I have seen numerous assertions (such as from Garry Kasparov) that planning involves (at its best) considering what will happen within (approximately) the next 5 moves, sometimes (often?) fewer than that. Isn't planning essentially looking at the general situation and determining (through the process of elimination via calculation) which sequence of moves provides the best probable outcome? If that is so, then  PopLoaFun  seems to provide an excellent basis for determining a (shorter term) plan. A plan for the entire game seems to be too general and abstract for practical use move-by-move. Planning starts with WHAT should I try to accomplish. Followed by HOW can I do that. It is too early to say how big the role of PoPLoAFun is going to be in the endgame. About the middle game, I am inclined to say that 25% of the moves are tactical by nature, meaning that all three parts of PoPLoAFun are directly concrete involved. The remaining  75% focusses o...

Now matters are normalized a bit, I resumed my training. I intend to attend the chess club in the adjacent city, which is much bigger. The one in our village is probably not going to survive the Corona crisis. Other plans: picking up endgame study, especially the making of plans have a look at the Jobava London system see whether the Caro Kan can be replaced by the Scandinavian of GingerGM

I have a database with 931 tactical problems in the following categories: Discovered attack Double attack Skewer Pin Overloading Mate in 3 I learned the geometrical patterns by heart of 252 positions (27%) already. It took me 50 days. I focused on PoPs ( points of pressure ) and Funs ( functions ) solely. So far the method seems to work excellent.  Now I have drawn a definite conclusion about the middlegame, I thought that it would be nice to extend my method to middlegame positions too. Hence I began a search for a database with positional problems. I couldn't find an acceptable one. But then I realised the following: I now have a definite method of judgment for every middlegame move. Which is the following: how does this move alter the balance of piece activity? In the previous post, I called it the battle of the LoA's ( lines of attack ). Do I really need a problem set with positional problems? The answer is: probably not. I just have to draw the li...

I have dived deeper in the position of februari 16th. The rationale behind the move 11. e4 seems to be piece activity. Compare the two diagrams before and after the skirmishes. White to move Diagram 1:  rn3rk1/pp2qpp1/2p2n2/3p1b1p/1b1P4/2N1PPP1/PP2N1BP/R1BQ1RK1 w - - 2 11 Moves: 11. e4 dxe4 12. fxe4 Bxe4 13. Nxe4 Nxe4 14. Nf4 Nf6 15. Nxh5 Nxh5 16. Qxh5 Nd7 Diagram 2:  r4rk1/pp1nqpp1/2p5/7Q/1b1P4/6P1/PP4BP/R1B2RK1 w - - 1 17 Look how the activity of the white pieces has improved in comparison to the black pieces. Especially the absence of the black light squared bishop is of importance. White has three (semi) open files for his rooks while black has only two. The position of the pawns determines the lines of attack . Which side can make use of the newly formed lines of attack ?