Author: Becoming a Chess Master
Chess Sets
Through an online training group I belong to, I discovered that in the USA players have to take their own chess equipment to tournaments. This is different from the UK, where clubs or congress organisers supply equipment.
I don’t like the …
Read moreReview – March 2016
March felt like a slow chess month. I only played two rated OTB games and stagnated a bit on training. However, I feel comfortable with the simplified study plan I introduced last month and just need to tweak around the …
Read moreReview – February 2016
… Read more‘Tis the gift to be simple, ’tis the gift to be free,
‘Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
‘Twill be in the valley of love
Review – January 2016
Following a fairly dismal second half of 2015 (especially the last quarter) I was downgraded on the ECF’s December ratings update to 103 (1473 Elo), a drop of around 37 Elo points. Not a disaster, but a hiccup in my …
Read moreBook review: “The Score Takes Care Of Itself” by Bill Walsh
I subscribe to Ryan Holiday’s reading recommendation email. His focus is on stoicism and American history, but he reads wider than that and I have found some gems through his recommendations.
The latest of these is The Score Takes …
Read moreReview of 2015
Another year has come and gone. Another opportunity to reflect and learn presents itself.
Although I feel I have made progress in 2015, that progress is not fully reflected in my rating yet. I started the year at ECF 97 …
Read moreWhat is your chess personality?
I subscribe to IM John Bartholomew’s excellent Youtube channel. He has a few educational playlists, for example Chess Fundamentals, Climbing the Rating Ladder and Chess Cognition, and regularly posts his blitz and bullet antics. He recently beat world …
Read morePlan for the new season
The new season of regular chess started last night. Despite a severe bout of rustiness (I’m sure I heard my brain squeak at one point last night) after some dormant weeks, I managed a win against a player ranked about …
Read moreHard Work Works – Inspiration from a guitar player
“Guitar Star” is a short television series on Sky Arts. It is a talent contest, aiming to find a star guitar player. I normally avoid talent contests on television like the plague, but since I do like guitar music and Sky …
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