I graphed the number of games I played to my rating last year to see if (unscientifically) I could see any relation. I think the big thing was when I was not playing blitz, and focused on rapid games, then my rapid rating when up. Writing that down makes it seem very obvious. Last week I played a lot of blitz games. This week I paused all blitz games (after I noticed this).
I played 7 rapid games this week, winning 4. I had a streak of 3 wins that all felt pretty good. I was noticing mistakes my opponents played, and was able to easily win. Could it be the start of me seeing the studying starting to pay off?
I spent more time on the Soviet Chess Primer book. I am trying to spend 30 minutes a day 5 days a week reading this, taking notes, and playing through every example.
I’m doing a daily/correspondence tournament and I am not enjoying it. I have 4 games happening now and I feel like I can never get a good sense of what is happening in the games.
I played a rapid game yesterday and before I started I felt like I was not ready to play chess. I just rushed into the game because I had a bit of time to play. It did not go well and I was not very focused.
I am trying to simplify my study plan so I only have a few things to focus on instead of many. I have been trying to do this, but I think I need to go even more extreme and really limit what I am doing.
