My brain is hurting

I wasn't so sharp today. I spent a lot of extra time on the sight drills and they seem to have taken up a lot of my energy for the day. It probably didn't help that I only had 4 hours of sleep either :/

But when things got tough, I could hear the soothing sounds of Survivor in my head and I kept going ;)

DAY THREE
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Concentric Squares
a. rook -> 6:12
b. bishop -> 10:14
c. knight -> 27:58
d. queen -> 2:59

Sight Drills
a. knight -> 7:59
b. bishop -> 12:06
c. rook -> 15:06
d. queen -> 13:36

IQ Test -> 6:13

Seven Circles
a. 1st Circle -> 467/1312

Yahoo Chess Game (without analysis) -> I defeated a 1312 player pretty easily although I let him linger in the game longer than I should have when my attack lost steam. I feel very improved already, not once did I stare at the board without plan. That has always been my problem. Now I have a few plans and I try to find the best one. Without a doubt this was the most enjoyable chess game I've ever played! :D


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Quick question for the community: what music do you listen to while playing chess/doing drills? I find that the violent symphonies of Beethoven set the mood for me. What are your thoughts?

Day Two

I kicked it into high gear on day two and I'm feeling good :) I'm going to need this level of intensity every day in order to achieve rapid chess improvement.

I had time to update the concentric square solutions and I added the queen so you can look through the whole drill without a board. Big thanks to Blue Devil Knight for the suggestion :)

Here's the link:

http://rapidshare.com/files/23645464/concentricsquaresolutions.zip.html


DAY TWO
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Concentric Squares
a. Rook -> 6:16
b. Bishop -> 11:31
c. Knight -> 24:39
d. Queen -> 2:31

Sight Drills
a. Knight -> 4:01
b. Bishop -> 9:01
c. Rook -> 8:59
d. Queen -> 13:56

IQ Test -> 5:11

Seven Circles
a. 1st circle -> 317/1312

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The drills were much easier this time around. I'm really looking forward to when the forking/skewering squares pop out like they do in the knight sight drill.

I've decided to play one game of yahoo chess at the end of the day, with some brief analysis afterwards. It's important to apply the things you learn each day in a game environment. When a football team practices, they start out with simple drills. But at the end of the day, they bring it all together in a game environment against the scout team. Chess shouldn't be any different. Big thanks to Pale Morning Dun for the suggestion :D

Wow

The first day of the regimen was intense. Unfortunately I was only able to do 30 min of tactical problems, so much for the scheduled 2 hour 40 min :(

I'll chalk that up to waking up at 4 am for the bus ride back to Boston, or at least that's my rationalization :/

Today will be different though, I'm going to start at 11 AM rather than 7 PM and hopefully complete a full day :D


DAY 1
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Concentric Squares
a. rook -> 8:30
b. bishop -> 14:26
c. knight -> 30:07
d. queen -> 2:18

Sight Drill
a. knight -> 4:35
b. bishop -> 5:44
c. rook -> 7:19
d. queen -> 9:24

IQ Test -> 10:38

Seven Circles
a. 1st circle -> 72/1312

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The rook concentric square drills were pretty straightforward, although I did miss one at the beginning. I found a few errors in the bishop solutions on diagrams 25 and 62, so I should have those errors fixed and a new solutions manual up for download on the next post. If anyone discovers additional errors, please let me know and I'll update :) The knight drills were a little bit trickier, but mostly just time consuming in checking the answer.

Doing the sight drills made me feel like I was looking into one of those magic eye paintings, a couple of times I had to get up for water because I felt a little dizzy :P

The knight sight drills went well once I realized that the squares the knight attacked would be opposite the color square the knight occupied. Once I realized that, the squares popped out much easier. I also noticed I have some difficulty visualizing the queen's squares. I'll need to put in a lot more work before those squares pop out without calculation.

The IQ test was very relaxing and the most fun out of all the drills, I really recommend everyone to use it in their programs, it really breaks up the monotony.

I only did 30 min of tactical problems in CTB (sniffle) but I'm going to come a lot harder on day two >:D.

Pre-Hell

I have a few more days to relax and spend some time with my wife before I start my affair with the lovely Chessica ;) We're going up to Maine to celebrate my birthday and have all kinds of crazy fun playing in the mud (it's muddy season) :D

Before we get there though, we'll jump on a bus for a few hours. That being said, let me just say that Yahoo Chess on your cell phone is the greatest invention ever made.

At the Gate

Welcome to the very first post from your favorite chess player's favorite chess player: The Rise and Shine Good Knight. In the weeks and months that follow, I will share the pain and glory of true chess dedication (eye of the tiger plays in the background)

And no, I won't be happy until blood actually pours from my forehead.

I'll be using the Chess Tactics for Beginners program for my circles and doing drills simultaneous with the circles every day. I'm hoping to complete my seven CTB circles in far fewer than 127 days but we'll see what happens. In any case, I won't be doing more than 2 hours 40 min of tactical problems each day. Here's the game plan:

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1. Concentric Squares Drill
a. Rook
b. Bishop
c. Knight
d. Queen

2. Sight Drill
a. Knight
b. Bishop
c. Rook
d. Queen

3. Knight IQ Drill

(see http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman32.pdf )


4. The Seven Circles
a. Chess Tactics for Beginners
b. Chess Tactics for Intermediate Players
c. CT-ART 3.0
d. Sharpen your Tactics (book)
e. 1001 Winning Sacrifices and Combinations (book)

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The game plan is to work through the Concentric Square Drills as fast as I can, checking my answers with the solutions guide as I go.

Then I'll slow down and really take my time to visualize during the Sight Drills. Finally, I'll speed up again and go through the IQ test as fast as I can. After the exercises I'll get up and walk around for a little while.

Once I've got the blood flowing, I'll jump right into the circles.

That's a 4 hour 40 min commitment each day (gulp)

Wish me Luck! :D

The pain starts March 29.

May God have mercy on my soul.