where’s my head at?
it’s monday, the ye olde pueblo chess tournament is in two weeks, and what am i doing?
my internet is fixed and up. am i playing internet chess? a little, but not as much as i should. the losing makes it difficult to want to play another game.
i have books upon books to go through, openings to study, master games to learn from. there is the chess tactics server to train on.
yet…i look at the master games and i just seem to be moving pieces. i try to focus and study the positions and moves, but when i am done, i have no reccollection of the game. i look at the position and i see pieces, i don’t see weaknesses and strenghts and combination potential or plans. i get on the chess tactics server and i am now down about 100 points and even though i take it slow and try for “correct” rather than “quick” i still only have a 69%. openings i go over and over, yet when i try them online, i end up all fuckered up and in a crappy losing position.
normally i could blame it on various distractions, but today i have the house to myself, but i can’t seem to focus and study. so i am watching the tour de france.
i can’t help it, i love le tour. it’s an extreme sport. it’s graceful. it’s amazing. i feel like such a tard, sitting on my couch, getting all teary eyed and excited and emotional watching a bunch of skinny guys in tights riding bicycles up a hill. but yesterday, when robbie mcewen was behind the peleton, had to catch up with less than 2 miles to go. he wasnt’ even in the tv picture on the last 500 meters, and suddenly there he was and he won, decicively…..that was amazing. that guy is fucking magic. i was ecstatic.
it’s not like those guys who played football in college and are reliving thier days vicariously every sunday. i was never on a cycling team. i’ve raced, or rather, i’ve ridden in races, breifly, for fun. i was pack fodder, i never claimed to be a racer and i never will. i’m not living vicariously through the racers, i just watch and admire and get all excited.
so for the next three weeks, in addition to my chess exploits and unending chess failures, you will have to deal with me talking about le tour.
as for chess….playing through the games from the new york 1924 tournament, i can see how chess has changed. the games were a lot tamer then….lots of moving around, very positional, very little tactics. maybe because it was a high level of play, but…it just seems today’s chess is more dynamic, more exciting….maybe it’s just me and i am not seeing it correctly. i’m also a bit taken aback at all the draws. even in the zurich 1953 tournament, lots and lots of draws. i guess everyone was so damn good, or at least equal, they couldn’t clearly dominate?
ok, time to attempt raising my percentage at the cts. then i will sit down and force myself to memorize a position from a game or something….
Wahrheit said,
July 9, 2007 at 4:36 pm
I think you would really dig this:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116915058061980596.html
Key quote:
Through attention, UCSF’s Michael Merzenich and a colleague wrote, “We choose and sculpt how our ever-changing minds will work, we choose who we will be the next moment in a very real sense, and these choices are left embossed in physical form on our material selves.”
The discovery that neuroplasticity cannot occur without attention has important implications. If a skill becomes so routine you can do it on autopilot, practicing it will no longer change the brain. And if you take up mental exercises to keep your brain young, they will not be as effective if you become able to do them without paying much attention.
I have experienced the same thing in studying sometimes, a plateau is no problem but you’ve got to look at a game you’re playing over like it’s your own ass on the line. My suggestion is take the 1953 Candidates book, play over only games with openings for Black and White that you want use yourself and get an index card to cover up the next move–take an hour per game if nec. Skip short draws…now, you become Smyslov, Reshevsky, Bronstein, etc. (must see I think Geller-Euwe, one of the great combinations) playing the other guy’s move and then take a few minutes like you’re in a game (put on a ticking chess clock for best effect) and bear down like you’re in Zurich!
The attention factor will grow the brain much better than just playing over the moves and trying to absorb–I’ve done that most of my career and my experience is like yours.
After you’re done winning the game pretend like you’re a Soviet Grandmaster–you’ve got to lose your KGB escort and find an illegal underground Zurich pub with strippers and beer and vodka and bored, hot Zurich hausfraus living a secret life…remember, you’ve got to win the tournament, though ,so they can’t touch you when you go back home and they find illicit Western literature in your luggage…
Blue Devil Knight said,
July 9, 2007 at 5:50 pm
Great quote from Merzenich (he is a top-notch researcher), and a great trick to get yourself into the self-study.
Blunderprone said,
July 9, 2007 at 7:13 pm
Wow! I wanna play too!
I have Zurich 1953. I see the smoke filled rooms now…
Pawn Shaman said,
July 9, 2007 at 8:15 pm
Make laws for the peoples actions not to restrain them. Let the data guide the perameters. Let your mind study what it desires. It takes a little time to get to know your own mind, but cramming information and not retaining it is neither fun nor productive. Choose an aspect of the game that suits the adjustments in your head. Unless, of course, your a zombie.
chessloser said,
July 10, 2007 at 4:50 pm
wahrheit - i do indeed dig it, thanks. and i kind of do what you suggest, but sometimes, it seems my brain is more rubber than glue….as for the monks and the meditation, i’ve read that meditation helps your brain to absorb stuff…perhaps i need to meditate more…
pawn shaman - sometimes, i am a zombie….
frogiam's dad said,
July 18, 2007 at 11:28 am
If you have a chance, take a look at Steve Gidden’s 50 Essential Chess Lessons — a great book to help you gain insight into what’s going on in a game.
Really enjoy your blog & frequently laugh my ass off when I read it — it’s now on my must-check list.
chessloser said,
July 19, 2007 at 11:51 am
frogiam’s dad - thanks for the tip. glad you like the blog, and welcome aboard…feel free to comment your ass off as well…