David's Chess Journey - Installment 26

Dojo Progress

Here is a snap shot of my progress this week:

Given the significant allocation to Non-Dojo time, I thought it might be interesting to show that breakdown, as well. The opening time is spent on ChessBook. As I mentioned last week, I built out an entire repertoire in a short amount of time. That was likely not the best idea as it makes keeping up with the review impossible and understanding all of the moves a much longer process. But, I'm keeping on for now!

Return to OTB

This week saw my first USCF-rated OTB match in about over a year! After losing my first 10 of 11 USCF-rated OTB games, a win at the board felt good. I thought I had two blunders, but when analyzing with @noseknowsall, he helped me understand that they were not blunders from a human perspective (so that was nice!)

Insights from My Last Lesson

In last week's update I mentioned that I started putting all of my blunders into an Anki card deck. I sent the draft deck to @noseknowsall and he helped me see why I was not building out the deck correctly. He pointed out the following (my paraphrase, so anything that doesn't make sense is my flaws in internalization):

• Use the computer proactively, not reactively. Meaning, just because the computer says it is a blunder, don't automatically accept that classification. The reality is that the computer doesn't classify a blunder based upon my rating level. The reality is that I don't play the same game as a titled player, or even a 1500 player. This made me think of when I went to the IMG Academy in Bradenton, FL my senior year in High School because I thought I was going to be a professional golfer. I was one of the best players from where I was living at the time and thought my inevitable vocational path was being a professional golfer. Then I roomed with David Gossett. David won the US Amateur and at least once on the PGA tour. Over the months that we lived together, I noticed that he was playing a much different game than I was playing. I was trying to hit the fairway off the tee. He was trying to hit a 5-yard circle in the fairway off the tee. I was trying to hit the green from the fairway. He was trying to hit a 5-foot circle on the green. I was trying to get a 20 foot put close. He was trying to make it. A big mistake for David could be a pretty good shot for me at my level. And the same concept is transferable to chess. A computer designated blunder could be a completely reasonable move for someone at my level.
• I don't speak computer. Meaning, if I don't understand why a move is designated as a blunder by the computer, I don't need to worry about it yet because it is beyond my level (e.g., some complicated computer line that no one at my level would see). In other words, only put blunders on a card if it teaches a concept that I can understand.

Lichess 4545 Season 40

I have heard the Lichess 4545 league mentioned several times on Perpetual Chess but have never looked into it. There was a random link on my Lichess homepage that led me to the league and I applied and was assigned to a team! I've already started a conversation with my teammates and am really looking forward to the season starting on June 10. I'll keep everyone updated!

Until the next update!