Plans for 24-25

For me, a consequence of getting older is the feeling of a need to make a plan or set goals, must be a realisation that time is passing!

Last season was pretty good for me (the Scottish chess season ends with the championships in July), despite the fact I only played half a season, explanation later. I got my first FIDE grade and improved my national grade by 60 points, even with a couple of bad rating point losses. The passion for the game returned and I discovered a decent training program (ChessMood, expensive but very good. I have no commercial relationship with this company) to hopefully keep improving my play.

The new season kicks off this weekend, the Edinburgh Standard Congress, so I'll continue to amaze you with my ineptitude when I start to post the games next week. What joy awaits you all! Typically there is about 1 weekend tournament a month here but the locations can be pretty far from me so maybe another 4-5 of these (I've already signed up for the Dundee one in October, must remember to tell the wife!!).

I would also like to continue to play with Dundee City B in the Scottish Chess National League (SNCL) as we managed to gain promotion to Division 1. Honestly, I will struggle to hold a regular spot in this team as there are younger and more talented players than me there and it wouldn't sit well with me to deny them their shot on the basis of 'everyone deserves some game time'. Availability versus talent / development isn't really much of an argument. This means I could be dropping down a team to Div. 3, not ideal but may be required, or I look for another team that is short handed in Div. 2 for the season as I try and improve my rating. I'll explore both options but there are some conversations to be had clearly. Along with Club Championships and Tayside League matches I could be looking at 40-45 games this season, not a bad tally.

So what is the target for these games? Ideally to match the CS and FIDE ratings (currently a gap of 125 points) and keep adding to them both. Ultimately I'd like to hit the 2000 rating, so 100 points a year would be a good marker of improvement, but quite a daunting one, as this will get harder to achieve the closer I get to it. Also I don't think I was that close to it when I was younger, but I didn't have access to the training material or time that I have now, so that might help offset the increasing decrepitude (damn you IPA and malt whisky, leave my brain cells alone). Why 2000? Well it's a nice round number, ;), and you're in a fairly small subset at that level, quite an ego boost. Also, and here's the big one, I would LOVE to play chess for Scotland in my age band at some point and this would put me in the running.

The previous paragraph is both scary and either stupid (or brave?) to put out there. The consequences of failure are exposed for all (well those unfortunate enough to still be reading) to see. Does it add pressure? Of course, but it also gives purpose and it's not like it's an ignoble aim, is it? If you don't aim high what is the point? I have some empathy with IM Levy Rozman (GothamChess) and his publicly stated aim of becoming a GM, that's even more to live up to, especially given his audience. My attitude to the game with also have to change, a will to win will be absolutely paramount - it's not enough to just not lose / blunder or only to play good chess anymore (though these are prerequisites). This is the major change from the 23-24 season where I was playing to not lose and not training properly. There were no exercises in between games, no analysis and annotation of the games played to learn from the many mistakes made. Not playing so much Blitz chess has definitely helped my approach to the game. It puts me in a pretty dark place if I get on a losing streak (especially losses on time in won positions) so longer time formats only. This definitely affected my feelings about chess at the start of last season, I just needed a break from those negative feelings, leading me to realise that OTB chess is very much my preferred format. Finding chess heroes has helped too, there are some great games to play over and stories that they tell.

So there it is, my aim for the next 2-3 years (minimum!). Any comments on what has been written above or how you have chosen to approach your aims related to your chess are welcome.