My 2009 Goals - Page 2 - Chess Forums

Abba · 01-12-2009, 06:33 PM

The material is tough, but it's presented in a logical manner with much more structure than Silman's book had. Silman gives you a superficial feel for the ending. You learn the moves to make, but may not really understand why. Dvoretsky gives strong reasoning and helpful ways to quickly and accurately evaluate a position. I'd equate it to the difference between memorizing an opening and understanding an opening.

I think the most important thing is to be able to look at a 5+ move variation that leads to an endgame and being able to correctly evaluate that endgame. Even at top play, players will somtimes misjudge that endgame and throw away a 1/2 point.

Abba · 01-20-2009, 05:50 PM

So starting Friday (23-25) is the first tournament I've played in since November. It was probably my worst tournament of 2008. Last time around I won the first round against a 1900, but played the opening inaccurately and should've lost a clear pawn. Then I missed a win against an 1800 in round 2 and had to settle for a draw. Then I screwed up a drawn position in time trouble in round 3 against a 2200. Round 4 I lost to a 2000 in a pretty one-sided affair. Then I drew a 1900 in the final round. I lost 19 rating points, but it was a great motivator for further improvement, and I gained 15 of them back the next tournament. Hopefully I'll have better results this year.

ketchuplover · 01-21-2009, 12:31 PM

Good luck!

Abba · 01-21-2009, 05:24 PM

Originally Posted by ketchuplover

Good luck!

Thanks! It looks like this one will kick off a string of tournaments I'll be playing in over the next 6 months or so.

Abba · 01-26-2009, 12:37 AM

Originally Posted by Abba

Ok, not quite an improvement thread, but here are a list of personal goals for 2009.

1) Reach 2200 (USCF). I'm 2158 now, so only 42 points to go here...should be attainable.

2) Beat a Fide Master. I've drawn FMs 3 times (twice last year, once in 2007). It's time to finally get a victory.

3) Reach the top 10 list for Ohio players. Right now, I'm #30, while the #10 player is 2230. There are a few other up and comers who I expect to be up around that rating by the end of the year so I may have to aim for 2250 here. Goal #1 will certainly be reached if I achieve this.

4) Become a better technical player. This is more of a qualitative goal, but I think my endgame technique could use a little work still. Watching Kramnik's ability to handle endgames makes me want to improve this aspect of my play.

5) Get my FIDE loss percentage with black down below 50%. Right now, my FIDE rating only reflects 21 games: 12 black, 9 white. I have a very good percentage with white, that surely won't stand and is purely an advantage of pairings and number of games. Black is a different story though, and I think is a reasonable indicator of a weakness in my game. I've had to work on my play on the white side in the past and have seen improvements in my winning percentage and rating, so now I need to focus on the black side in the same way. Right now with black I have 17% win, 25% draw, 58% loss. Although this may be more of a qualitative measure as well (improve my play with black), this is a way to measure it, though it may not be precise.

There are other general things I need to work on, but these seem to be the most measurable. I'll check these off as I achieve them, and am optimistic that I should hit all 5.

Ok, so I've quoted my original post to review how I've advanced with the tournament I just finished. My results were:

White vs. 2000: Draw
Black vs. 2050: Win
White vs. 2200: Draw
Black vs. 2300: Win
White vs. 2100: Draw

Goal (1)...I'm not to 2200 yet, but I've moved a bit closer. I'll see how much closer this week.

Goal (2)...Another draw vs. an FM. I did beat a 2300, who "should" be an FM (his Fide is also 2300), but I think he just doesn't want to pay the dues. I'm gonna have to say no, haven't achieved this yet. I'll get another shot at the 2200 FM next month.

Goal (3)...Closer, although some of these kids are moving up too. This won't be easy to achieve.

Goal (4)...Not best. I mishandled my first game, and probably could've won. I still need work here.

Goal (5)...2-0 with black, both FIDE rated. Flying colors here.

ketchuplover · 01-26-2009, 10:26 AM

way to go

Fromper · 01-26-2009, 01:35 PM

Very nice. Congrats on the good tourney! Just one comment: What's with the winning as black and drawing as white? I thought it was supposed to be the other way around?

--Fromper

Abba · 01-26-2009, 01:37 PM

I gained 13 points. 29 points to go until 2200. Next up is a 10 player RR...5 games in mid-February, 4 games the first weekend of March. I finished w/ 4.5/9 in that tournament last year, and hoping to do a little better this year. I should be about middle of the pack in rating, so I have a good shot to win (6/9 is usually enough to win this thing).

Abba · 02-05-2009, 02:41 PM

Originally Posted by Fromper

Very nice. Congrats on the good tourney! Just one comment: What's with the winning as black and drawing as white? I thought it was supposed to be the other way around?

--Fromper

Haha, it is, but just the way it worked out this time. I had advantages in rounds 1 and 5, but made some inaccuracies and wasn't able to convert them. I was lucky in round 3 to escape with a draw due to my opponent's time trouble.

So the FIDE site has been updated and my loss percentage with black dropped from 58% to 50% (29% win, 21% draw). A few more positive results and I'll have achieved that goal. I'm also looking at a 24 point jump in my FIDE rating.

chessmemory · 02-05-2009, 04:25 PM

Hi Abba,

I saw that you were really high rated and I thought you might like to participate in my chess memory project. Please see my post.

Thanks and good luck on your goals,
chessmemoryguy