David's Chess Journey - Installment 64

Transitions & Evaluations

For those who have been on this journey with me, you know that I am a corporate & securities in-house attorney. Working in corporate America is always an adventure, to say the least. The company that I was working for, Summit Materials, Inc., was taken private by a private company and senior leaders like myself were invited to go on new adventures (that's my way of saying terminated). It is actually quite a nice thing to have happened to me because I have, for the first time in 16 years, a chance to pause, spend lots of time with family and friends, dream, think deeply and evaluate my life and the things in my life.

Over the past couple of years, chess has played a significant role in my life. I have come to truly love the game and the community that surrounds it. That said, I am going to take a bit of time away from the game (could be a couple days or weeks, no clue at this point) and evaluate what I want my relationship to this beautiful game to be going forward. I look forward to coming back and have some initial thoughts about what the training component will look like when I do.

Upon My Return (Current Thoughts to Be Refined)

My time away from the game will shape what my return will look like, but from a training perspective, here are the courses/areas that I plan on focusing on when I return:

• Tactic Ninja from ChessMood - I am about 1/4 of the way through this course and it is very helpful. It is a large course, so will take a long time to finish.
• Mating Matador from ChessMood - this course outlines 37 mating patterns that I need to learn. I haven't started this course yet, but I'm looking forward to diving in.
• BlunderProof from ChessMood - I am about 1/2 way through this course and it is what encouraged me to go back and complete the Tactic Ninja and Mating Matador courses because several of my blunders come from having undeveloped skills in those areas.
• 7Q Method from ChessMood - I am about 1/2 way through this course and just have a shallow understanding of the questions, even though they have made their way into my Chess Operating System. The questions assume a good amount of understanding that I am still developing, so finishing the course and working through all of the examples will be very important for me to be able to execute the questions in a more productive manner.
• Opening Principles from ChessMood - I am about 10% done with this course and it has been very helpful. I currently play the English with White and the Caro with Black, which are both openings that lead to more closed positions where it is often difficult for me to develop my pieces. When I come back, I plan on revamping my opening repertoire and this course will be a good starting point.

For those who have been wanting to check out ChessMood, they are offering access to all their courses for free until February 22, 2025. It is definitely worth checking out. I am not getting paid for that plug:)

I'm not exactly sure when the next installment is going to come out, but I wish all of you the very best until then, both in life and in chess.

I'm thankful for each of you who are on this great journey with me!