Vegas Training Vlog #1
New Training Regiment
This post will be part training blog and part review of the Chess Dojo Club tactics trainer. See the video below to skip right to the action.
I am going to the Las Vegas International Chess Festival next month to play the National Open. I have been attending this tournament for over 10 years and have performed quite well over the years. I will be playing in the U2300 section which will be challenging but not as tough as the Open section. I usually play open sections but I would have to pay extra due to my bad FIDE rating.
I’m not allowed to play any of the other under sections because I won the U2100 section in 2015 (I’ll tell the story sometime!) which is why I have a 2100 floor. It’s funny because I would likely be lower rated but I am forever 2100 or higher in US Chess.
I have about a month before the event to train and get myself in shape so I told my friend Kostya, one of the three founders of the Chess Dojo, that I needed a regiment. The first thing he told me was to annotate games. I didn’t do that yesterday because finding the score sheets for said games has been challenging… but I will today!
He also recommend checking out the new tactics section of the Chess Dojo Scoreboard. My initial impression is that it will be a very useful tool for players of all levels. You are tasked with 10 tactics problems with a 60 minute timer but unlike normal online puzzles, you have to play the moves for both sides. You have to indicate the key variations as well.
My overall impression is five stars! It is a way to make tactics training online a lot more like real game analysis. In the Dojo tactics trainer, there is more uncertainty in knowing what your opponent will do just like in a real game. Check out the video review I made:
Later that night, I did a full 60 minute session and only scored 18/52 which was below the Chess Dojo average. I took the full hour and definitely saw the main idea for all of the puzzles except one. While it is disappointing, I have a lot of tactical work to do to get in shape for Vegas. It also makes me think that maybe a lot of my bad results from last year, came from tactical problems so I hope I can get to a place of tactical clarity before Vegas!
Time to run as I am working on a second chess documentary, the United States of Chess!