Did anyone read the TOS carefully?

What and Why
My chess study plan is based on suggestions by Michael de la Maza's book "Rapid Chess Improvement". Since his plan has been well documented elsewhere, I will assume if you are here you know what this entails. If not, read his "400 Points in 400 Days" articles on ChessCafe.com or get his book from your favorite bookseller.

Today at work I read all of Don's chess improvement blog (don't tell my boss). Informative and entertaining. (I thought the "letters to Santa" piece was inspired.) While my time is quite limited (who has time to spend 2+ hours doing chess problems AND maintain a blog?), Don noted it was helpful to track his thoughts as he goes through each of the "Seven Circles" in MDLM's plan. Sounds like a good idea to me, so if I'm going to do it I may as well share with others who are also on the MDLM plan.

I think the Knights Errant de la Maza group is great. It's nice to have a "support group" when subjecting oneself to such bizarre forms of self-abuse, er, I mean self-improvement...

The Terms of Service
I pretty much always read all the mind-bending legalese in software licenses just to make sure I know what I'm getting into. If you read the entire TOS you will find the following amusing section:

Now, this next part seems really damn obvious, but everyone else has it in their TOS's so someone's probably gotten sued for not having it. So: In order to use the Service, you must obtain access to the World Wide Web, either directly or through devices that access web-based content, and pay any service fees associated with such access. In addition, you must provide all equipment necessary to make such connection to the World Wide Web, including a computer and modem or other access device.

I also thought the following LOL (limitation of liability) was amusing as well:

(e) IF YOU HAVE READ THIS FAR THEN YOUR EYES PROBABLY HURT. ALL CAPS, WHAT WERE WE THINKING? HOWEVER, WE ARE NOT LIABLE FOR THIS OR ANY OTHER OCULAR MALADY.

Hey, at least someone has a sense of humor...

Now for the Chess-Related Content...
I am currently in the first pass of the 1209 problems in CT-Art 3.0. Tonight I finished through problem 1115. I'm currently doing 12 a day. Tonight it took me about 2 hours, 15 minutes and I got 61%. Not bad for level 80 I suppose. According to my schedule, I will complete the first circle a week from tonight. I am a couple of days behind but I plan to make those up this weekend.

Levels 70 and 80 have been pretty difficult. I often have to guess the first move based on the tactical elements in a position and often have no idea of the followup. Some problems, however, are long forced sequences and I tend to do better on those. But even in the most difficult positions (which are clearly way over my head), I still think it is useful to go through them. At some point in most (but not all) problems you get to something you know such as a forced sequence, a mate in two or three, a double attack that wins massive material, etc. So I try to keep alert for these possibilities.

Happy solving! I look forward to reading how the other Knights are progressing...