Review – 2016

If I had to sum up the calendar year 2016, I would say it was a year of distilling my study plan and approach, and remembering there is more to life than chess.

Here is a quick run-through of where I ended up.

• I played 54 rated OTB games (all at standard, long time controls; can’t see myself ever playing quicker controls). My ECF rating was 103 on the January 2016 list (1473 Elo); I expect it to be around 116 (1570) on the January 2017 list (update: it was in fact 121 or 1608  :-)).
• finally recorded / codified my opening repertoire (Tiger Chess Building an Opening Repertoire course),
• did more tactics than ever,
• fixed on the Yusupov Course as my source of general chess improvement, supplemented by Tiger Chess videos.

For 2017 my focus will be on:

• Openings: learn lines, build “Pattern-Groups” to study more deeply the plans, themes and patterns across different lines.
• Tactics: continue the high-volume low-rating spaced repetition tactics sets, with some higher-rating low-volume tactics to build calculation and visualisation skills.
• Endgames: continue to build on knowledge by working through books (Pandolfini’s Endgame Course; Understanding Chess Endgames); build fluency of concepts through practice on ChessTempo.
• General: Work through Yusupov’s course and Tiger Chess videos, continue to build and review pattern bank.