1552

So now I'm over the big hump on that graph. I suppose the next goal is 1600. No correlation to real ratings! I sort of bounded up on it in one day. The increase corresponds exactly to my receipt in the mail of back issues of Šahovski Informator in the mail (like $3 off of Amazon.com!). Coincidence? I think not.

What else I received in the mail which may have contributed to my virtue: OCTPOB. Apparently the man who plays Father Anatoly is like a rockstar in Russia.

Also: Emir Kusturica's When Father Was Away on Business. Another Kusturica film about betrayal. Interesting note is that the chess set they use did not have a cross on top of the king, a feature noted in at least one other Yugoslavian chess set of the era, I wonder if that's a common feature from that time.

I am ready for Science

Because of some conversations I had about the very subject, I was looking at some things I used to read and write (the above link is something I read and not, alas, something I wrote). I suppose it is a bit narcissistic, but I find myself to be an avid reader of myself. At times (viz: recently) my output has slowed or been incomprehensibly boring, and on this web-log I refrain from most of the interesting types of narrative that make my diaries most worthwhile. I suppose I took inspiration from reading through the edited journals of several great men and realizing what a delight it is to read their thoughts. I thought, surely I could do the same, and started writing my own, to my great delight. I realize that you, Dear Reader, may not enjoy the exercise as much as I do. As long as I don't have any delusions about being the next Montaigne, I think things will be "all right". I don't know, why not have a series of "The Best of GZT: Seasons 1-5"? Why not? I've been promising it since Season Three. Watch this space for further details.

celebrating rebellion against our lawful rulers appointed by Almighty God Himself

I'm celebrating by, in a quick burst, bringing the rating up to 1525 and the ranking up to 667th. Hard work pays off? I suppose we can let bygones be bygones and simply enjoy the day off, no discussing the monarchy today. But I thought you all would, of course, be glad to hear of my continued rise through the ranks of the mediocre.

1500

So I was writing about my goals for chess earlier and I just hit 1500 at CTS after doing all the mates-in-one in the Polgar book in one sitting a couple times. Of course, this just means that my next big goal is 1550 and my next minor goal is 1510. NOTE: no correlation to real ratings. I noticed some web-logging discussion of correlations of CTS ratings to real ratings, such as Mousetrapper's anecdotal data, but I would discourage such speculations. I mean, yes, the people rated over 2000 on CTS are pretty intense, and even people rated 1700 are fairly intense, but I highly doubt that I'd be at even 1500 in real ratings at the moment, much less 1500+200 or 1500+300 as some people's discussion seems to suggest! It's a number to note and not take much stock of. The only real numbers that matter are the ones involved when you crush the ego of your opponent. There is some value to CTS ratings: they measure one narrowly-defined set of skills which might be valuable to have and having a higher score is better than having a lower score.

EDIT: 1530 would put me in the top third of active players, so I'll take a week off and shoot for that.

What I'm up to

Still more chess. I thought some people might be vaguely interested to hear this stuff, the others will be driven off by boredom. There are only 5 readers here, anyway.

Oddly, Iowa seems to have a more accessible chess scene, just by number of tournaments and the existence of regularly-meeting chess clubs I could find, than Chicago, unless somebody would care to enlighten me. Enough so that I may plan trips home around tournaments in Iowa if I do get seriously back into things. I mean, there's North Avenue Beach, I suppose, but I'm looking for something structured where you could get in a G/60 or G/45 at minimum, hopefully downtown. I think the University's chess club may be open to people like me, but it would be on hiatus for the summer right now. I could look into playing with those random guys at that convenience store or McDonald's, but I'd feel awkward approaching them, just like at North Avenue. So for now I'm just dinking around the Chess Tactics Server, playing occasional blitz, and will soon have a nice little pocket chess game that plays at around 1750 for the bus ride, a couple G/15 every day on the bus or something should be helpful, but not ideal. Should I ever get that Windows box working again, I may be able to play some computer chess with reasonable time controls. Also working heavily on visualization exercises and, soon, endgames.

I seem to have hit a wall on CTS (fluttering around 1450, no correlation to real ratings), so I'm backing off for a few days and instead devoting my time to solving hard problems slowly. Then, Vukovic. Then, CTS with gusto. I will break 1500 (no correlation to real ratings)!

So, tactics, endgames, and visualization. There's a lot more to the game, but I figure that, at my current level of strength and rustiness, those will be the most valuable and pay the most dividends. Fortunately, they're also the easiest to make some quick headway into.

two things: chess and wings night.

1. I am addicted to the Chess Tactics Server. Specifically, I'm trying to climb as I prepare to make my glorious comeback in the world of chess. Right now I'm at 1445 and in the top 50% and my end goal is to scrape my way over the big hump at 1500. I started rather low and had to fight my way up 10 points at a time. It's hard to climb over 1300 if you start down there with a low RD because they give you lots of easy problems to solve quickly and very few of a rating level that makes real gains possible, so you have to fight for every .05 points or whatever, solving a dozen easy problems flawlessly in no time and then nailing the one reasonable problem you do get.
   
2. I encourage everybody in the HP area to make it to Wings Night at The Pub tomorrow, even if you are vegetarian or a teetotaler, even temporarily. When else would I see you? ANSWER: never.