What went well?

  • Played some online games using a real board and I really like it. Make the move on the board, make the move on the screen. I feel like it made me slow down and think much more. At one point I thought this method was totally working and I could calculate this amazing tactical line… until I blundered my queen at the end of the line.
  • Started playing through the games of Petrosian in the Python Strategy book. Hopefully being exposed to some master-level games will sink into my brain somewhere
  • I limited the number of study activities I did, to try to focus on a few things and see how they work. I am going to try this approach for a couple of weeks and then adjust.

What could have gone better?

  • In one day played 6 30-minute games. It was too much. The last couple of games were pretty much junk and I was totally mentally fatigued after that. Even the next day it was hard to think about chess. But 2 days after that I played a pretty good game.
  • More generally, I think I am playing too many games. I played 15 rapid games this week. I need to show some restraint and balance study and playing.

What will I try next?

  • Another chess lesson!
  • I did analyze all my games this week, trying an approach where I generally only look for 1-2 key moments and try to learn from those. I am using Lichess studies, which actually work better than ChessBase for what I need right now. ChessBase still is my long-term storage solution. Now I want to try to analyze my games before I start another one. One night I played games and made the same mistake in 3 games, which I may have noticed if I analyzed them before starting a new game: