For the other reports, book reviews, and articles, please refer to flements.wordpress.com
*Discipline*
My words from the previous report are full of stupid air (let me be a little polite at the beginning). Not only I don’t try to implement my ideas after planning, but I also seem to deliberately go against my routine and discipline. I can easily blame the virus and quarantine regime: passivity breeds mediocrity. And here I am, locked in my room, practicing chess, writing blog posts, blitzing on lichess dot org, studying university courses, having online lectures. Productive, yet passive.
I prefer swimming, boxing, or any cardio to lifting weights. For me, exercising to become aesthetically appealing is wrong in the core. You must do sports to be healthy and strong, and getting into good shape will be the byproduct of it. Maintaining supermodel muscles means that you will always be concerned about your appearance, but too much muscle is overrated anyways. It doesn’t make you any hotter to the opposite sex, and being smart is even sexier unless you are a show-off and try to prove everyone how you are superior to many because of your intelligence.
Anyway, my favorite swimming pool and boxing gym are closed and I am not as physically active as I’d like to be. I don’t walk much, which is very depressing. The virus is the problem. I like long evening walks. Daily push-ups and crunches don’t do much to satisfy me.
I deleted my Instagram account (permanently) to not get distracted by social media (I don’t use any other social media platform). It was a wise and mature decision – it helped with my concentration, as my brain is no more concerned about junk.
I do meditate. Though not as consistently as I’d like to. And when it comes to my routine, I have nothing to add. I know only one thing: there will be no sentence anymore regarding my routine until I actually improve something. As when I write about routines and schedule, I create for myself an illusion of improvement. I assume that I am progressing toward my goals when I am not, and I feel positive emotions. But these are false emotions and are very useless in the long run.
Social media – deleted. Meditation – started. I think I gave up the idea of quick change after failing for the past three weeks, so I will have to make very tiny changes and be satisfied with that. Unfortunately.
*Progress*
I had already planned that each third week of my chess training I will be playing three practice games (90 minutes + 30 seconds). I had difficulties with meeting with my usual sparring partner (IM ~2470 ELO) due to the virus (again), and despite posting a thread on the lichess forum and even asking some players directly, I couldn’t find any suitable sparring opponent.
Instead, I spent most of my time on lichess.org playing blitz games, and only yesterday I noticed some improvement in my blitzing abilities. I was even very close to winning Elite SuperBlitz Arena which I messed up in the final rounds. Though I got sad for not being able to participate in Blitz Titled Arena where Carlsen and Firouzja were playing (in addition to some players I know personally), as I doubt if I can participate in Titled Arena in the near future. The date of FIDE’s next congress seems to be under question, and even it is not, I am not sure if my chess federation will act in a responsible manner by sending my documents on time.
According to my daily logs, the following chart describes my performance during the week (orange color being planned hours (goals), the blue color being hours of actual practice during the week).
//chart1
Openings: 100 mins. Calculation: 230 mins. Analysis: 120 mins. Other: 330 mins. Overall: 780 mins.
//chart 2
I came short of my goals almost in every possible way, though I didn’t include blitzing time (which was more than 5 hours) and a quick tactics session on lichess. I should admit that I could have been much more productive.
I broke my two-weeks’ chain of chess practice on Tuesday because of my disgust at chess, which arose suddenly, when I least expected it. Though I blitzed that day and realized that a rest day was essential if I wanted to enjoy my practice. The next day I had a deadline for a course assignment, so I decided to have this reason to keep myself away from chess for one more day. It was the right decision, as the next day I fell in love with chess again.
One thing I am currently careful of is my slight addiction to blitzing online. I don’t want to get into a really bad habit of playing lots of quick games and not prioritizing my daily chess practice. But I guess, it will pass with time. I am having fun at lichess right now, as I was longing for playing lots of games.
*Openings*
I didn’t spend much time on my openings. I don’t know why, maybe simply I got bored of it. Though I constantly practiced my Sicilian with Black pieces on lichess tournaments (now it is not a secret which variation I prepare against 1.e4). And it seems to me, I am very comfortable with moving the pieces over the board, and the opening line I chose accords with my taste and style.
*Calculation*
This was my head-ache for the past two weeks, which I managed to slowly fix. I solved calculation problems almost for four hours during the week, and that doesn’t include the lichess session and calculating variations in Looking Over the Shoulder (LOTS) exercises. I don’t even feel a need to warm-up before the exercises, as calculation comes natural and easier to me now. And maybe therefore, my blitzing got better (although it still sucks for my level).
*Analysis*
At the beginning of the week, I analyzed the Kasparov – Kramnik match with LOTS (not all the games), but it drained too much energy from me. I made one post on the lichess forum with five not so easy exercises extracted from the game, and created a study.
*Other*
I decided to study Robert James Fischer. Because 1) I lack the aggressiveness in my games and I wanted to see how Fischer manages to play with such power and energy, and 2) I have always wished to study all the world champions and great chess players in detail. For reference, I mainly use two books: the fourth volume of Kasparov’s amazing work – My Great Predecessors, and Elie Agur’s book, which Jacob Aagaard called the best book written about Bobby Fischer.
I was following the FIDE Candidates as well, which I find quite boring, to be honest. Maybe the games are boring, but probably it is players that make me sad (except for Grischuk). For me, all the interesting chess players are (almost) retired: Kramnik, Ivanchuk, Gelfand. Only one player remains – Carlsen – he is young and guess what, he is the World Champion. And he can’t participate in the Candidates.
I have just remembered Candidates 2013. I was 14. What a tournament that was! Legendary (though not for Radjabov). My heart beats faster when I remember those times. That was a real tournament, a perfect tournament, with perfect drama in the last round.
*Blogging*
I completed my review of Jacob Aagaard’s Excelling at Chess during the week, and drafted some other articles. But still, it takes too much time to write and edit. But I enjoy writing, and I don’t blog as if it was my job. I guess, I have a very short temper when it comes to doing things that don’t interest me.
*Streaming*
At one point, I even considered the possibility of streaming on lichess. But then, I have too many deadlines and exams during the next few weeks, so I decided to postpone streaming for some time. I am also not very confident in my commenting on the run abilities.
*What Next?*
As usual, this part is the most essential one.
*Schedule*
Let this be my final note about routines. In my previous report, I decided to come up with a more detailed weekly schedule as soon as possible. It wasn’t as soon, unfortunately, but still, I was capable of drafting some schedule with the minimal amount of tasks to accomplish. As I have mentioned, I am no more a proponent of full-throttle approach (or whatever). It’s better to be slow but steady.
//schedule
The days start from 8 AM, after the nine hours’ sleep – a nice jump, I’d say. The next week I have holidays, so the schedule will work after that. I chose Wednesday as my rest day, as I have the maximum amount of courses on that day. I didn’t explicitly write eating/rest time, but I have left enough gaps for that. The numbers immediately after days show the number of hours allocated for chess, which makes up to 31 hours in total without taking into consideration the rest time. And finally, morning routine includes meditation and sometimes running, too. No electronic devices before sleep, preferably journaling or reading instead. I am also putting the excel file for that below. Just in case.
*Checklist*
Below is the checklist with some deadlines for the next weeks (all related to my university studies). It seems to me, I will slowly lose all my privacy regarding what I am doing, but let it be this way if it helps me to get things done.
//checklist
Hopefully, based on the “outline” above (both schedule and checklist), I will clearly understand the effectiveness of my week while writing the weekly report number four (I am not saying that all the other reports were ineffective, an exclamation mark). And I will wrap everything up here.
*Discipline*
My words from the previous report are full of stupid air (let me be a little polite at the beginning). Not only I don’t try to implement my ideas after planning, but I also seem to deliberately go against my routine and discipline. I can easily blame the virus and quarantine regime: passivity breeds mediocrity. And here I am, locked in my room, practicing chess, writing blog posts, blitzing on lichess dot org, studying university courses, having online lectures. Productive, yet passive.
I prefer swimming, boxing, or any cardio to lifting weights. For me, exercising to become aesthetically appealing is wrong in the core. You must do sports to be healthy and strong, and getting into good shape will be the byproduct of it. Maintaining supermodel muscles means that you will always be concerned about your appearance, but too much muscle is overrated anyways. It doesn’t make you any hotter to the opposite sex, and being smart is even sexier unless you are a show-off and try to prove everyone how you are superior to many because of your intelligence.
Anyway, my favorite swimming pool and boxing gym are closed and I am not as physically active as I’d like to be. I don’t walk much, which is very depressing. The virus is the problem. I like long evening walks. Daily push-ups and crunches don’t do much to satisfy me.
I deleted my Instagram account (permanently) to not get distracted by social media (I don’t use any other social media platform). It was a wise and mature decision – it helped with my concentration, as my brain is no more concerned about junk.
I do meditate. Though not as consistently as I’d like to. And when it comes to my routine, I have nothing to add. I know only one thing: there will be no sentence anymore regarding my routine until I actually improve something. As when I write about routines and schedule, I create for myself an illusion of improvement. I assume that I am progressing toward my goals when I am not, and I feel positive emotions. But these are false emotions and are very useless in the long run.
Social media – deleted. Meditation – started. I think I gave up the idea of quick change after failing for the past three weeks, so I will have to make very tiny changes and be satisfied with that. Unfortunately.
*Progress*
I had already planned that each third week of my chess training I will be playing three practice games (90 minutes + 30 seconds). I had difficulties with meeting with my usual sparring partner (IM ~2470 ELO) due to the virus (again), and despite posting a thread on the lichess forum and even asking some players directly, I couldn’t find any suitable sparring opponent.
Instead, I spent most of my time on lichess.org playing blitz games, and only yesterday I noticed some improvement in my blitzing abilities. I was even very close to winning Elite SuperBlitz Arena which I messed up in the final rounds. Though I got sad for not being able to participate in Blitz Titled Arena where Carlsen and Firouzja were playing (in addition to some players I know personally), as I doubt if I can participate in Titled Arena in the near future. The date of FIDE’s next congress seems to be under question, and even it is not, I am not sure if my chess federation will act in a responsible manner by sending my documents on time.
According to my daily logs, the following chart describes my performance during the week (orange color being planned hours (goals), the blue color being hours of actual practice during the week).
//chart1
Openings: 100 mins. Calculation: 230 mins. Analysis: 120 mins. Other: 330 mins. Overall: 780 mins.
//chart 2
I came short of my goals almost in every possible way, though I didn’t include blitzing time (which was more than 5 hours) and a quick tactics session on lichess. I should admit that I could have been much more productive.
I broke my two-weeks’ chain of chess practice on Tuesday because of my disgust at chess, which arose suddenly, when I least expected it. Though I blitzed that day and realized that a rest day was essential if I wanted to enjoy my practice. The next day I had a deadline for a course assignment, so I decided to have this reason to keep myself away from chess for one more day. It was the right decision, as the next day I fell in love with chess again.
One thing I am currently careful of is my slight addiction to blitzing online. I don’t want to get into a really bad habit of playing lots of quick games and not prioritizing my daily chess practice. But I guess, it will pass with time. I am having fun at lichess right now, as I was longing for playing lots of games.
*Openings*
I didn’t spend much time on my openings. I don’t know why, maybe simply I got bored of it. Though I constantly practiced my Sicilian with Black pieces on lichess tournaments (now it is not a secret which variation I prepare against 1.e4). And it seems to me, I am very comfortable with moving the pieces over the board, and the opening line I chose accords with my taste and style.
*Calculation*
This was my head-ache for the past two weeks, which I managed to slowly fix. I solved calculation problems almost for four hours during the week, and that doesn’t include the lichess session and calculating variations in Looking Over the Shoulder (LOTS) exercises. I don’t even feel a need to warm-up before the exercises, as calculation comes natural and easier to me now. And maybe therefore, my blitzing got better (although it still sucks for my level).
*Analysis*
At the beginning of the week, I analyzed the Kasparov – Kramnik match with LOTS (not all the games), but it drained too much energy from me. I made one post on the lichess forum with five not so easy exercises extracted from the game, and created a study.
*Other*
I decided to study Robert James Fischer. Because 1) I lack the aggressiveness in my games and I wanted to see how Fischer manages to play with such power and energy, and 2) I have always wished to study all the world champions and great chess players in detail. For reference, I mainly use two books: the fourth volume of Kasparov’s amazing work – My Great Predecessors, and Elie Agur’s book, which Jacob Aagaard called the best book written about Bobby Fischer.
I was following the FIDE Candidates as well, which I find quite boring, to be honest. Maybe the games are boring, but probably it is players that make me sad (except for Grischuk). For me, all the interesting chess players are (almost) retired: Kramnik, Ivanchuk, Gelfand. Only one player remains – Carlsen – he is young and guess what, he is the World Champion. And he can’t participate in the Candidates.
I have just remembered Candidates 2013. I was 14. What a tournament that was! Legendary (though not for Radjabov). My heart beats faster when I remember those times. That was a real tournament, a perfect tournament, with perfect drama in the last round.
*Blogging*
I completed my review of Jacob Aagaard’s Excelling at Chess during the week, and drafted some other articles. But still, it takes too much time to write and edit. But I enjoy writing, and I don’t blog as if it was my job. I guess, I have a very short temper when it comes to doing things that don’t interest me.
*Streaming*
At one point, I even considered the possibility of streaming on lichess. But then, I have too many deadlines and exams during the next few weeks, so I decided to postpone streaming for some time. I am also not very confident in my commenting on the run abilities.
*What Next?*
As usual, this part is the most essential one.
*Schedule*
Let this be my final note about routines. In my previous report, I decided to come up with a more detailed weekly schedule as soon as possible. It wasn’t as soon, unfortunately, but still, I was capable of drafting some schedule with the minimal amount of tasks to accomplish. As I have mentioned, I am no more a proponent of full-throttle approach (or whatever). It’s better to be slow but steady.
//schedule
The days start from 8 AM, after the nine hours’ sleep – a nice jump, I’d say. The next week I have holidays, so the schedule will work after that. I chose Wednesday as my rest day, as I have the maximum amount of courses on that day. I didn’t explicitly write eating/rest time, but I have left enough gaps for that. The numbers immediately after days show the number of hours allocated for chess, which makes up to 31 hours in total without taking into consideration the rest time. And finally, morning routine includes meditation and sometimes running, too. No electronic devices before sleep, preferably journaling or reading instead. I am also putting the excel file for that below. Just in case.
*Checklist*
Below is the checklist with some deadlines for the next weeks (all related to my university studies). It seems to me, I will slowly lose all my privacy regarding what I am doing, but let it be this way if it helps me to get things done.
//checklist
Hopefully, based on the “outline” above (both schedule and checklist), I will clearly understand the effectiveness of my week while writing the weekly report number four (I am not saying that all the other reports were ineffective, an exclamation mark). And I will wrap everything up here.