I had to bow out of the last round of the Marshall Monday U1800 weekly tournament - due to family obligations.
So, instead of a game recap, here instead are my New Years ResolutionsTM 2024 Edition for Chess
1) At least 2 Lichess classical games per week, with analysis afterwards (i.e. 25+5, 30+10, etc.)
2) Maximum 3 games of 3+2 Blitz per day (across all platforms), and I have to analyze - at least the opening lines - after each game.
3) No more (online) rapid (i.e. 10+0) chess.
It was fun, but it's the least helpful to my chess development. Too often the games are too fast to think deeply (which I need for classical OTB), and very often my opponents play garbage / gimmicky lines. For some reason, blitz 3+2 players are more likely to play standard - even mainline - openings. Not so much in rapid.
I might do some OTB rapid tournaments though.
4) Puzzle Streak to at least 25, at least 4 out of 7 days a week.
In recent games, I've been missing extremely basic "Kindergarten Tactics" that could have won a full piece on the spot. So I need to "overtrain" these so I see them instantly.
I've found the "Openings" puzzles very useful, because they produce middlegame positions that resemble patterns from games I've played recently.
Find *every* check and *every* capture when calculating a critical position.
I am missing tactics and losing games because I am not having the mental discipline of finding *every* check and *every* capture when calculating. I need to apply this when solving puzzles in particular.
Lately, I'm getting too caught up in "plans" and miss a simple tactic. Missing a simple tactic is only from undisciplined thinking.
Of course, while doing the above I'll be working through some opening opening books and master games, but at my level it's clearly simple tactics and orderly thinking that are holding me back. I keep reaching critical positions where a single move wins the game and I don't find it. That's what needs to be solved this year.
