David's Dojo Journey - Installment 8

Here are some highlights from this week's journey:

Best Game of the Journey to Date!

Last night I decided to play a game. I was a bit tired and still recovering from some bug, but I know I need to start playing more and so I sent out a challenge for a rated 30+30 game where I was black (I alternate White and Black to keep my training even and set the range at 0-+100. The result was a great surprise to me - my best game of chess to this point in my journey from my perspective. I had 97% accuracy to my opponent's 90% accuracy and just played on general principles. With all of the tough losses that come as part of this journey, I'm taking some time to enjoy and reflect on this game where I had 0 inaccuracies, mistakes or blunders! We have to revel in the good in this journey! Here is the game:

Thoughts About Having a Coach

After reading @NoelStuder's article below and having a conversation with a fellow Dojoer who just engaged a coach, I reflected on my past several months with a coach.

https://lichess.org/@/NoelStuder/blog/a-guide-to-successful-11-chess-training/pUiBG86F

While I think having a coach has been beneficial and would highly recommend my coach if you are looking for one (he is taking students and I've sent several students his way over the past couple of weeks and they have been happy!): https://lichess.org/coach/Mischuk_D - it is important to realize that having a coach is not a quick fix. Having a coach is not chess magic. There is no magic and there are no quick fixes in chess. It is just you and the board and hours of hard work. A coach doesn't change that. They can't do the work for you. But, here are the main plusses of having a coach in my view (especially Dmytro in my case - I can't speak for all the coaches out there as I know from personal experience that they are not all good!):

• Having a strong player as part of your journey who can help identify weaknesses you don't realize exist.
• Having someone you can share the good, bad and ugly as you go throughout the week.
• Having someone to keep you accountable in your journey.
• Having a strong player give you advice on what you need to work on to improve.
• Having a strong player walk through your games and show you the options on the board that you didn't know existed.

For me, those benefits are worth the expense (plus Dmytro is extremely affordable at $30/hour). But, I don't think that a coach is a necessary part of the journey for everyone. I think doing the Dojo without a coach is almost as effective and clearly more cost effective.

Thoughts on Physical Conditioning

After a couple of injuries that made running no longer an option, I put on a good amount of weight and became less active. Until a couple of months ago, this trajectory has continued for the past couple of years. In my mid-40s, weight does not come off easily, so I decided to get some help. I've started taking Semaglutide and have been working out almost every day (except days for sickness). I'm excited to have changed that trajectory and am finally on a path back to balance and health.

Why do I mention this in a chess blog? For a couple of reasons. Over and over again on Perpetual Chess I heard people talk about the importance of physical health and training for one's chess, but I just didn't want to think about that area of my life because it was not where I wanted to be. I gave myself a pass because of my injuries and had resigned to the fact that, because of my injuries and age, I would never get back to where I wanted to be physically. This was a horrible mindset and I'm thankful to have exposed it and pushed through it.

My guess is there are others who are in similar positions and the main reason I share this is to be vulnerable in the hope that it encourages you to take another shot at health and balance for general life reasons and to improve your chess!

Looking for a Sports Psychologist

After appearing on Chess Journeys, I had a sports psychologist reach out to me about how they could help my chess. The price and commitment were a bit more than I was willing to bite off at one time, but the idea does really interest me. When I was playing competitive golf we worked with sport's psychologist and it really helped. I'm going to start looking for cost effective solutions and partners in this space, but would be interested if anyone has some good leads!

Stumped by Polgar!

After finishing Tactics time, it was back to the Polgar Mate in 2 series. Many of the puzzles are relatively easy, but I do get stuck on some of the puzzles. For example, I got stuck with this puzzle for 20 minutes and finally had the engine tell me how to move forward. See if you can do better than me (shouldn't be too hard):

Dojo Booklist

Given the number of books that I am going through in the Dojo, I thought it would be helpful to create a list, so I can quickly recall that part of the journey!

• Completed
  • Giannatos, Everyone's First Chess Workbook (completed)
  • Polgar S., Learning Chess the Right Way (Vol. 3) (completed)
  • Brennan and Carson, Tactics Time (completed)
• In Progress
  • Polgar; Chess:5334 Problems (in process)
  • del Rosario, First Book of Morphy (in process)
  • Chernev, Logical Chess Move by Move (in process)
  • Chernev, Most Instructive Games (in process)
  • Silman, Complete Endgame Course (in process)

Until the next installment!