Thoughts

A few months back I got serious and hired a coach, IM Luis Coelho. He and I are working on endgame technique, opening repertoire for white and black, and studying games together. My goal remains to achieve at least a FIDE Master rating.

I have not been following a particular study schedule as I want to “feel” what I am studying that day, but despite what coach says, I feel super disorganized this way, so I am likely going to plan on some basic tactics study daily along with a review of openings 2 times a week. The rest will be as it feels right. This means that if there is nothing specific scheduled ona day, I will study what feels right to me that day. It could be endgames, master games, etc.

I also plan to publish more of my games here on the site. I will probably annotate a fair amount and have just game scores on a fair amount. I hope you enjoy following my progress.

I have been playing chess since I was 8 years old. It started out as just a fun game to play, but as is usual with me, it quickly became an obsession of mine. I have the type of personality where I need to know every little detail about anything I involve myself in. Chess was no different.

I began to visit used book stores where I would pick up chess books by the dozens. I amassed quite a library of chess literature. I would pour over games and lesson material on a regular basis. I soon began competing in tournaments. I did quite well right from the start. I would play a weekly tournament at the local chess club and then the random weekend tournament around Southern California.

I spent time studying all three parts of the game: the opening, middlegame and endgame. I began studying tactical puzzles and that brought my chess skill level to a much higher place. The book that took me to a very high level was The Art of Sacrifice in Chess by Rudolf Spielmann. For some reason this book did more for my chess playing than any other that I had read to that point. There was just something about the patterns I saw in all of the games that took me to new heights.

Chess has become therapeutic for me at this point. I enjoy getting inside of the game and figuring things out. Learning why something was played a certain way is huge to me. It relaxes me and makes me feel at peace. My new chess studies are taking me to a new place in life.

The Quest Gets Serious

What Chess Means to Me