Confessions of a Serial Chess Problem Solver

Excerpts from the minutes of the 2005-04-29 Meeting of Chess Problem Solvers Anonymous (CPSA):

fussylizard
Hello everyone. My name is fussylizard and ...

Group Moderator
Excuse me, Mr., uh, "fussylizard" was it? Here we all use our real names, not our internet chess handles. Can you please start again but use your real name?

fussylizard
Uh, sure. Hello everyone. My name is fuss-, er, I mean, Chris, and I am, well, supposedly addicted to solving chess problems. I'm really not sure why-

Group Moderator
OK. That's enough for now. Recognizing you have a problem is the first step to recovery.

fussylizard
Yeah, that's what I've heard...

Group Moderator
Why don't you tell us why you are here.

fussylizard
Why I'm here? Well to be honest, I'm not really sure. This woman that claims to be my wife made me. I mean I've seen her around the house and all, but I didn't realize we were married, you know? I've been a bit busy lately. She said something about being a "chess widow" and was quite insistent that I attend. She seemed nice enough, so here I am.

Group Moderator
OK. Why don't you tell us about your "chess improvement plan".

fussylizard
Oh, the MDLM plan? Yeah, sure. In December 2004 I started this chess improvement program recommended by this guy named Michael de la Maza. For four months I spent nearly every spare moment outside of work solving chess problems. I did the same set of 1100 or so problems over and over and over. At first it was difficult, ignoring my friends and family while bathed in the cold glow of my laptop's LCD. Hundreds upon hundreds of problems…so many. At first I was overwhelmed, but ever so slowly I grew to enjoy it. Each pass through the problems got faster and faster, more and more. Slowly, enjoyment changed to need: the need to spend every spare moment in front of CT-Art, solving, solving, solving.

Group Moderator
And then what happened?

fussylizard
Things were going really well until, well, I finished the study program. The final day I took the whole day off from work to spend in front of the computer, solving from morning until night. And then suddenly…it was over. The joy was indescribable, suddenly being freed from the invisible shackles of the study program. The next day I didn’t even load up CT-Art on my computer at all. Nor the next day. But then...

Group Moderator
Yes?

fussylizard
Well, I began to ask myself: was I really free? Hour after hour I spent listlessly reviewing chess games played by the masters of yore, but somehow it just wasn’t enough. Sure, there was the occasional combination or kingside attack I could play through at lightening speed thanks to the plan, but outside of this, I felt…empty. Something was missing. My life was meaningless. I felt the atrophy slowly eating away my hard-earned tactical skills. There must be more. I have to have more. I must have more, More, MORE!

At this point the minutes say something about a scuffle and Chris being dragged out by a bunch of guys in white coats while he screamed, "I am the king! I am the king!!" More on this on the 11 o'clock news tonight.

Stagnation
Having finished the MDLM plan, I feel really lazy. I’ve spent pretty much every night for the last four months doing tactics problems. Now that I’m not doing that, I feel very lazy, like I’m throwing it away since I’m not keeping it up. I’ve actually been going through Chernev’s Logical Chess book, but it’s just not the same. Life has also sort of caught up again as well, so between working late at the office lately and going to see the midnight movie of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Thursday night I’ve not been able to dedicate as much time to chess as I would like.

It’s funny what having a schedule does. With a schedule, you make time for things. Without it, the things you want to do get eaten up by the zillion other little things that just come up. I need to come up with a new study schedule so I will have something to stick to.

One thing I will mention about going through Chernev’s book: I had gone through about half of it before years ago, trying to guess each move of the winning side before I read the move and notes in the book. I did rather poorly overall in my guessing percentage. Now I am doing a little better on the “regular” moves, but whenever there is a tactical sequence, it’s like my brain goes into turbo mode and I can calculate out things with lightening speed. It’s a bizarre feeling to be going along and then suddenly have my brain shift into tactics mode and zip through the upcoming combination. I hope this bodes well for my OTB play.

Another thing to mention is that I find it interesting to go through other tactics material now. I have the book Chess Tactics for Juniors which relative to CT-Art is basically 534 level 10-50 type problems. When going through it (usually for 15 minutes or so before bed) I notice that some problems I solve almost instantly, whereas others I agonize over for minutes. This tells me that many tactical patterns, even some relatively simple ones, are still not “instant”, so I think I need to continue studying a lot more tactics, even after the MDLM plan with CT-Art.

A Confession
I have to admit it but Thursday I ordered Convekta’s Total Chess Training II set which includes, essentially, a boatload of tactics and endgame problems. I’m not sure if I will take an MDLM approach to it or not (or when I will start on it), but somehow it is comforting knowing there is more material to go over.

A quick note about CT-Art- I had no idea you can have it randomly reverse the piece color or “mirror” the board left to right so as to diminish the role memorization plays in solving the problems. I did 20-30 level 10-50 problems last night just for fun and found that swapping colors made essentially zero difference in my solving times, but the mirroring required me to think for a couple extra seconds in general to recognize the pattern. I think all the review work I will do in CT-Art going forward will use this random mode, at least for levels 10-60.

The Narrative of My Experience
I’m still working on my summary about my experience with the MDLM plan. I hope to finish it this weekend. When I’m done, I’ll be sure to post a link here.

Thanks
Thanks all for the congratulations on finishing. I hope I can inspire others to do the same.

Victorious on the Field of Battle

Well, everyone, I defended Caissa's honor and did the Knights proud today by finishing circle 7 and the MDLM program. The seventh circle actually wasn't all that bad. I started at 9:20 a.m. and finished at 9:04 p.m. I even had time to go out to a celebratory dinner with my wife after I finished. I thought about trying to do levels 80+, but I was feeling great about finishing level 70 and lower per the last few circles and didn't want to spoil my celebratory mood. Let's look at the final stats:

Level  1 %  2 %  3 %   4 %   5 %   6 %   7 %
-----  ---  ---  ----  ----  ----  ----  ----
10     96%  99%  100%  100%  100%  100%  100%
20     91%  93%   95%   97%   98%   99%   99%
30     74%  80%   87%   93%   96%   99%   99%
40     69%  74%   82%   88%   95%   98%   99%
50     67%  72%   81%   89%   90%   97%   99%
60     55%  64%   75%   83%   93%   96%  100%
70     60%  58%   68%   --    79%   90%   99%
80     57%  --    64%   --    --    --    --
90+    55%  --    58%   --    --    --    --

I missed a total of 11 out of 1100 problems, primarily due to careless mistakes from going on autopilot most of the time (yep, autopilot even on level 70). Here's the Average Time Per Problem (ATPP):

Level  Circle 5 ATPP  Circle 6 ATPP  Circle 7 ATPP
-----  -------------  -------------  -------------
10       17.5 sec       14.2 sec       13.1 sec
20       30.2 sec       22.2 sec       18.5 sec
30       53.8 sec       31.8 sec       24.7 sec
40       58.2 sec       45.3 sec       29.1 sec
50        1.5 min        1.1 min       35.8 sec
60        1.4 min        1.5 min       40.7 sec
70        3.4 min        2.3 min       50.8 sec
80          --             --            --
90+         --             --            --
-----  -------------  -------------  -------------
Total    17.4 hours     13.5 hours      8.2 hours

"ATPP" I need to trademark that or something. Anyway, I was surprised to see my times improve so much, but doing circle 6 over the weekend sure helped. The difference between the 8.2 total hours you see above and the ~12 total time was due to lunch and breaks. I never believed it when I was starting out, but now I think it would have been possible to do all 1209 problems in a single day had I kept up with level 80+ the whole time.

Thoughts and Reflections
The only thing that comes to mind now is "wow". I did it. Time will tell if it was worth it, but anecdotal evidence thus far is encouraging. Last night, for example, I was reviewing PMD's first game from this weekend's tournament. I wasn't really thinking about it much as I went through it, but lots of things just jumped out at me. When he dropped a pawn on move 15, as soon as I played the move 15.c5 on my board I thought "oops". I wasn't consciously looking for stuff, but it just popped into my head. When I noticed his opponent played 50...d2 at the end, I immediately realized he could have done better and retained the rook, and the mating pattern that resulted from that analysis was a pattern all too familiar from CT-Art. Little flashes like this just give me the slightest hint of what it must be like to be a GM where so much of this stuff is just automatic. Speaking of GMs, here's my final Elo graph:



My final Elo was 2710, which puts me at #15 in the last FIDE ratings list, right after Boris Gelfand! Boy, I can't wait to start crushing those puny sub-2700 GMs! Just to be safe, though, I think I'll play a bit on InstantChess.com before I quit my day job and become a professional super-GM. :-)

Here's the final stats from CT-Art:



CT-Art actually shorted me 20 points on problem 954 (and I have a screenshot to prove it!), which is why the screenshot only shows 98% on level 50 instead of the 99% I quoted above.

Looking Ahead
Over the next few days I plan to collect my thoughts and sift through my 600+ line spreadsheet of data I kept throughout the program and put a page on my website describing my experience and give recommendations for future Knights. I'm also going to determine a study plan going forward. First thing is I will probably read all of Dan Heisman's Novice Nook articles at ChessCafe and get some ideas. And I will definitely get back to playing. I will also probably review the problems in CT-Art maybe twice a month to keep all the patterns fresh. I also need to figure out what to do with my blog: bring it to a close, start a new one, or just keep it going. Whatever I do, I will probably limit studying to 2-3 hours a day max. I just have too many other things going on to devote five+ hours a night to chess.

As a reward for finishing such a grueling program, I've been thinking about getting myself a nice set of chess pieces from House of Staunton, or maybe one of those sensory chess boards I've been wanting forever. However, money is a bit tight these days so I may have to hold off for now.

Anyway, thanks again to everyone for their words of encouragement and for all the hilarious posts. I hope to make all the knights proud in my future OTB play. I'll keep you posted!

Now it is time to go relax and do something other than chess problems for once.

The Final Assault

Circle 6 Complete, on to Circle 7!
Circle 6 is now complete. Here's the stats:

Level  1 %  2 %  3 %   4 %   5 %   6 %
-----  ---  ---  ----  ----  ----  ----
10     96%  99%  100%  100%  100%  100%
20     91%  93%   95%   97%   98%   99%
30     74%  80%   87%   93%   96%   99%
40     69%  74%   82%   88%   95%   98%
50     67%  72%   81%   89%   90%   97%
60     55%  64%   75%   83%   93%   96%
70     60%  58%   68%   --    79%   90%
80     57%  --    64%   --    --    --
90+    55%  --    58%   --    --    --

And the Average Time Per Problem (ATPP):

Level  Circle 5 ATPP  Circle 6 ATPP
-----  -------------  -------------
10       17.5 sec       14.2 sec
20       30.2 sec       22.2 sec
30       53.8 sec       31.8 sec
40       58.2 sec       45.3 sec
50        1.5 min        1.1 min
60        1.4 min        1.5 min
70        3.4 min        2.3 min
80          --             --
90+         --             --
-----  -------------  -------------
Total    17.4 hours     13.5 hours

Since the above times are strictly solving times and don't count breaks, food, etc., Circle 7 tomorrow will be a bit of a challenge, but maybe doable if I don't take many breaks. Normally I can only do problems for a little over an hour before I need to get up and move around, get a light snack, etc. I sort of wish I'd stuck with levels 70+ throughout, but given the demands of life it just wasn't possible. I'm curious to see what my ATPP will look like for level 70 tomorrow...just how fast can one do level 70 problems?

The Com-fy Chair
In case you wonder what it's like spending all your free time solving problems, I thought I'd post a picture of me hard at work:

In order to help the newer and future followers of the Knights Errant de la Maza, I would like to point out a few key things in this picture:

• It's important to have a comfortable setup. When you are doing problems for hours and hours at a time, ergonomics is a must. Personally, I have found I am pretty comfortable using a laptop computer while leaning back in one chair and propping my feet up on another.
  
• At lower left I have a plastic cup full of water. It's important to stay well hydrated. This forces you to have to go to the bathroom every 30 minutes or so, minimizing muscle atrophy as you waste your life away with CT-Art.
  
• Notice the pillow on my lap. This is to keep the laptop from burning my legs. Laptops run ridiculously hot these days. The MDLM plan is hard enough as it is- I can't imagine having to do it with second-degree burns. But then again, if I were confined to a hospital bed then maybe I wouldn't have all those distractions like work, etc. and could focus on problems even more. Hmmmm, I will have to research my health insurance on this point.
• In case you were wondering, the aquarium to my left houses Basil, our ball python (or royal python for non-U.S. readers). He doesn't do much except sit under his rock all day, but occasionally he sticks his head out to see what's going on.
  

The Final Assault
Tomorrow I will sally forth on the final adventure, Circle 7! I will leave out milk and cookies or something for Caissa tonight in the hopes that she will bless my endeavor tomorrow. Heck, I even took a precious day of my two-weeks-a-year of vacation from work to do chess problems (in addition to the one I already took a few weeks ago). Surely that will merit a favorable glance from our patron goddess..!?

Wish me luck, fellow knights!

Use the Force, Luke

I "finished" Circle 5 last night. It became apparent very quickly that there was no way I would be able to do all 147 level 70+ problems after work, so I decided to call it quits in level 80 and review the problems I missed in prior circles in preparation for Circle 6.

Here's the schedule for two-day Circle 6, which I started today:

Circle 6 Schedule

Day  # Problems  Total
---  ----------  -----
1        828       828
2        381      1209

Of course given my performance on prior circles I don't expect to complete all 381 problems on day two, but I will get as far as I can and then move on to the final circle.

Circle 6 has started off well. Here's the latest statistics:

Level  1 %  2 %  3 %   4 %   5 %   6 %
-----  ---  ---  ----  ----  ----  ----
10     96%  99%  100%  100%  100%  100%
20     91%  93%   95%   97%   98%   99%
30     74%  80%   87%   93%   96%   99%
40     69%  74%   82%   88%   95%   98%
50     67%  72%   81%   89%   90%  (in progress)
60     55%  64%   75%   83%   93%
70     60%  58%   68%   --    79%
80     57%  --    64%   --    --
90+    55%  --    58%   --    --

I think it is safe to say I either understand or have memorized most of the problems in levels 10 - 40. Of the 828 problems I did today, I missed a total of 16 (2 in level 20, 4 in level 30, and 10 in level 40). Most of these mistakes were either due to carelessness or forgetting a problem that I don't understand and have had to just memorize (yes, there are still a few I have no clue on, even after doing them at least six times). After I'm done I may go back and try to understand these troublesome problems, but for now I just don't have that kind of time to spend.

Interestingly I saw a huge jump on level 70 for Circle 5, so I suppose I'm improving there though it sure felt like I was tanking when I was going through it.

Here's my average time per problem (ATPP) so far that I have recorded:

Level  Circle 5 ATPP  Circle 6 ATPP
-----  -------------  -------------
10       17.5 sec       14.2 sec
20       30.2 sec       22.2 sec
30       53.8 sec       31.8 sec
40       58.2 sec       45.3 sec
50        1.5 min     (in progress)
60        1.4 min
70        3.4 min
80         --
90+        --

Doing problems this quickly makes me feel like Luke Skywalker in Star Wars practicing with his light saber with his helmet blast shield down so he can't see and has to go "by feel" using the Force. It's a bit weird going through the problems so fast, but I have to go pretty quickly to have any chance of finishing.

Anyway, it's after midnight so I'd better run. I still need to review the problems I missed on the last circle for tomorrow.

Goodbye Don, Man de la Maza
Before I sign off I wanted to say thanks to Don for getting me involved in the MDLM blogosphere. The Knights have been a lot of fun so far, and having the peer pressure not to let everyone down has also helped keep me on the straight and narrow. I'll certainly miss his hilarious posts, but I wish him well in his future endeavors, chess related or otherwise.

Once I finish the program I don't know what I'll do with my blog. Maybe I'll "finish" it like Don so it will be a record of my MDLM adventures (and maybe start a new one for my post-MDLM chess training) or perhaps I'll just keep it going. Hmmm, something to think about...

For now, however, fare thee well, Sir Don, Knight Errant de la Maza. Bon chance!

P.S.
I haven't see Mikhail Tal again.

Caissa Smiles

A quick update: Caissa smiled upon me last night and her blessing- along with staying up until 1:30 a.m.- allowed me to complete day three of four in Circle Five on schedule. The stats:

Level  1 %  2 %  3 %   4 %   5 %
-----  ---  ---  ----  ----  ----
10     96%  99%  100%  100%  100%
20     91%  93%   95%   97%   98%
30     74%  80%   87%   93%   96%
40     69%  74%   82%   88%   95%
50     67%  72%   81%   89%   90%
60     55%  64%   75%   83%   93%
70     60%  58%   68%   --   (in progress)
80     57%  --    64%   --
90+    55%  --    58%   --

I barely squeaked by an improvement in level 50, but I saw a nice +10% jump in level 60- woohoo! I guess I have gotten over my mental block on level 60. The times:

Circle 5 Time

Level Avg. Time per Problem
----- ---------------------
10         17.5 seconds
20         30.2 seconds
30         53.8 seconds
40         58.2 seconds
50         89.1 seconds
60         86.4 seconds
70         (in progress)
80
90+

I'm still a little slower than I'd like to be, but since sleep is optional I am squeaking by. Making that 9 a.m. meeting this morning was a bit rough. :-)

Wish me luck as I attempt to complete Circle 5 tonight. Since I've only gone through all the level 70+ problems 3 times (since I didn't finish them on circles two and four) I think I will stop around midnight regardless of how many I have left. Unless of course I'm close... :-)

The final assault on circles six and seven starts tomorrow. Onward fellow knights! For Caissa!

Whoosh

Whoosh. That's the sound problems make as they whiz by at lightening speed in Circle 5. Through the miracles of lack of sleep, I am still on-track after day two of four. (I finished problems at 1:45 this morning and still made it into work today...)

Here's the stats:

Level  1 %  2 %  3 %   4 %   5 %
-----  ---  ---  ----  ----  ----
10     96%  99%  100%  100%  100%
20     91%  93%   95%   97%   98%
30     74%  80%   87%   93%   96%
40     69%  74%   82%   88%   95%
50     67%  72%   81%   89%  (in progress)
60     55%  64%   75%   83%
70     60%  58%   68%   --
80     57%  --    64%   --
90+    55%  --    58%   --

Still seeing improvements. After four circles I finally figured out a spreadsheet format that I can use to easily track my progress and keep track of average time per problem in each level. I plan to post a spreadsheet template on my web site when I summarize my experience. Here's the times for this pass:

Circle 5 Time

Level Avg. Time per Problem
----- ---------------------
10         17.5 seconds
20         30.2 seconds
30         53.8 seconds
40         58.2 seconds
50         (in progress)
60
70
80
90+

Boy this is going fast. Since at this point I've memorized most of the problems it is not very mentally taxing except to sit and work at it for so long (day 2 took 5.6 total hours).

Unfortunately I think my numbers will tank pretty quickly. I doubt I'll be able to finish all the problems tonight or tomorrow. I plan to get as far as possible, and then start Circle 6 on Saturday. Who knows? Tonight is levels 50 and 60 (both of which I've completed on all prior circles), so perhaps Caissa will smile upon me, her humble Knight Errant de la Maza...

Five days to go including today...

Mikail Tal, Pizza, and Circle Five

I had the weirdest dream Sunday night. I was staying at a hotel and I went out by the pool and guess who was there? None other than the great Mikhail Tal. "What luck!" I thought. A chance to sit down with the master of tactics himself and ask him about all those next-to-impossible combinations he found over the board that I've suffered through repeatedly in CT-Art. I wanted to go over and talk to him, but before I could I had to go order a couple of pizzas. I have no idea why, but I had to (it was one of those weird dream things). So I found the phone number of a pizza place, agonized over what to put on each of the two pizzas, and finally placed my order. I then started walking back to the pool area and saw the maestro was still there. I'm walking over, thinking maybe he might like some pizza, getting closer, thiking I hope I don't act like a moron in front of him, getting closer, getting closer, getting closer, and then...I woke up. Can you believe that? Five feet from Mikhail Tal and I woke up. What are the odds? I was hoping I would have the same dream last night (in which case I would skip the pizza), but alas there was no hotel, no pizza, and no Mikhail Tal. Rats.

Circle Four Report
Last week and this weekend were a blur. With two weddings to go to (one out of town), it was rough. My wife and I flew out Friday morning early (after four hours sleep) and it was non-stop wedding stuff until we left Sunday morning. Then we had a few hours of rest (which I used to do problems) before we had to go to a wedding reception in Austin. But with taxes, packing, etc. last week, I fell behind and couldn't make it up this weekend. The net of it is that I didn't get all the way through Circle 4. I was hoping to at least finish level 70, but I only made it through problem 1069. I will stick to my plan outlined in prior posts for just starting the next circle so as to avoid slipping the schedule. I really need to finish up so I can have a life again.

Anyway, here's the "final" stats for Circle 4:

Level  Circle 1 %  Circle 2 %  Circle 3%  Circle 4%
-----  ----------  ----------  ---------  ---------
10         96%         99%        100%       100%
20         91%         93%         95%        97%
30         74%         80%         87%        93%
40         69%         74%         82%        88%
50         67%         72%         81%        89%
60         55%         64%         75%        83%
70         60%         58%         68%        --
80         57%         --          64%        --
90+        55%         --          58%        --

Still seeing improvement. I hope to find time to go back and finish level 70 before I get to it in Circle 5, but that's probably just not going to happen given the schedule.

Speaking of Circle 5...

Circle Five Has Begun
Last night I started Circle 5. Here's the schedule:

Day  # Problems  Total
---  ----------  -----
1        488       488
2        340       828
3        234      1062
4        147      1209

"Yeah, right, this is going to happen" was my first thought. However, yesterday was day one and I actually finished all 488 problems in 3.6 hours after work. That's an average time of 24 seconds per problem. I had no idea I could do the problems that fast. It is sort of scary, moving pretty much without thinking or checking variations, but that's what it took. I even did several level 20s in 3 seconds. Miraculously, I only missed 15 problems out of the 488.

Here's the stats so far:

Level  1 %  2 %  3 %   4 %   5 %
-----  ---  ---  ----  ----  ----
10     96%  99%  100%  100%  100%
20     91%  93%   95%   97%   98%
30     74%  80%   87%   93%  (in progress)
40     69%  74%   82%   88%
50     67%  72%   81%   89%
60     55%  64%   75%   83%
70     60%  58%   68%   --
80     57%  --    64%   --
90+    55%  --    58%   --

The numbers are still looking good. To get over 98% on level 20 will be tough without missing any, but we'll see how things go on circles 6 and 7.

Tonight is my wife's birthday, so I'm taking the night off from problems (woohoo!). I will finish (or get as far as possible) on Circle 5 on Friday. I'll spend Saturday and Sunday doing Circle 6, and I'm taking Monday off work for Circle 7.

I guess I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Let's just hope the light isn't an oncoming train...

From the Depths of...Houston

A quick post since it is 12:15 a.m. and I'm in Houston on a business trip and I have to leave the hotel for a meeting at 7:30 a.m. tomorrow (er, today). Ouch. Like I said, sleep is for the weak...

Just finished level 50 tonight and was feeling pretty good. The stats:

Level  Circle 1 %  Circle 2 %  Circle 3%  Circle 4%
-----  ----------  ----------  ---------  ---------
10         96%         99%        100%       100%
20         91%         93%         95%        97%
30         74%         80%         87%        93%
40         69%         74%         82%        88%
50         67%         72%         81%        89%
60         55%         64%         75%   (in progress)
70         60%         58%         68%
80         57%         --          64%
90+        55%         --          58%

I was pretty psyched about my level 50 performance. It still took nearly 6 hours total time, but I'll worry about that the next time through. :-)

Thanks again to all the words of encouragement. Knowing you all are rooting for me helps a lot.

Off to bed...

From the Depths of Hell

I'm well into Circle four now. Here's the numbers:

Level  Circle 1 %  Circle 2 %  Circle 3%  Circle 4%
-----  ----------  ----------  ---------  ---------
10         96%         99%        100%       100%
20         91%         93%         95%        97%
30         74%         80%         87%        93%
40         69%         74%         82%  (in progress)
50         67%         72%         81%
60         55%         64%         75%
70         60%         58%         68%
80         57%         --          64%
90+        55%         --          58%

As you can see, I'm still seeing steady improvement in the numbers. By the end of tonight I'll have level 40 finished. Boy it goes by quickly when you are doing an insane # of problems per day. A problem I'm running into is that I'm just not fast enough. The first day took 3.1 hours (not bad), but days 2 and 3 took 5.3 and 6.0 hours respectively. (I actually had to do some of day 2 on day 3). Day four (today) is looking to be between 5 and 6 hours. If I am going to have any hope of finishing on schedule, I am going to have to speed up since I just don't have 6 hours after work to do problems. (How convenient that MDLM didn't have a job while he did the plan...)

Therein lies the problem. To go as fast enough to finish in a reasonable amount of time I have to pretty much have the problems memorized, or just guess and get a pathetic score on the ones I don't remember. Of course guessing like that really doesn't help me improve much, so one has to question the benefit of this practice. Since I'm so close to being finished, I think I will continue to go forward per the plan. However, I will have to give some thought to what changes I will recommend for others who choose to undertake the plan.

I think the yardstick for measuring the plan is not "Does it work?" If you're spending 5 hours a day practicing something, you will likely improve with even the poorest of plans. The real question is, "How does MDLM plan compare to alternate plans?" Is there some better way I could be spending my 5 hours a day? (Boy I hope not...) Of course it is difficult to make such an assessment, so I'll have to settle for something like "What kind of improvement do you get from the MDLM plan?" Oh, wait, I have no rating so I have no way to measure this. Oh, well, at least my OTB play against OJ has improved. Luckily that's good enough for me.

In Other News
I got an email the other day from someone here in Austin who had read my blog and was interested in getting together and playing (Hi Chuck!). We had lunch the other day and we're planning to starting playing after I finish the MDLM plan. He's rated about 1500 OTB so we should be a good match. I'm psyched because he's also serious about improving his chess so I think we can really push each other, analyze together, etc. Even better he plays the white side of the King's Gambit, just like my sparring partner OJ...

Turns out Chuck has been taking internet lessons from Dan Heisman, so I'm curious to hear more about his experience. Right now he is doing some tactics (though not as intensely as the MDLM plan) and going over master games, and a few other things Dan has also recommended on his Novice Nook column on ChessCafe. I have been thinking about doing lessons with Dan myself (I've liked his books and columns) so I will have to learn more about this. I think the main benefit would be getting solid commentary on my games and identifying problems in my play. The other stuff- practice tactics, go over master games, fix my thinking process, and play more slow games I can do without help. I'll probably read all of Dan's Novice Nook entries and then decide what to do next. After the MDLM plan, of course...

Coming Up
Tuesday night I'm in Houston on business and since we're having dinner with a business associate, I probably won't get anything done Tuesday night. I have a wedding to go to Friday - Sunday, so I probably won't get much done then, either. The following Tuesday is my wife's birthday, so I will definitely take that night off (she's very understanding and supportive, and I want to keep it that way). I'm trying to schedule circles six and seven for a three-day weekend. The net of it is that I'll probably have to take the next two Tuesdays off, and I will try to get one day's worth of problems done over the wedding weekend. That will allow me to do circle 6 two weekends from now, and I can take the following Monday off work for the final assault in circle 7. I still don't know how on earth I will do circle 5 while still going to work every day, but I'll worry about that later. :-)

Wish me luck..!

Update at 12:19 a.m.
Just finished the day's problems. I really sped up for the last group of 59 or so (mostly level 40 and a few level 50), but I still managed to finish level 40 with 88%, a pretty decent improvement over before.

One thing that is heartening is on one of the early level 50 problems that I have had trouble with before, the move that was impossible for me to find before just jumped right out at me- not because I memorized it (I forgot that particular move), but because it was a knight fork that I hadn't noticed before. Of course the square was defended so the knight was taken, but that allowed the finishing moves. I can't believe it took this long to finally realize the forcing nature of that move. Ah, well, at least I'm starting to see a little more, even as I speed up.

One thing I forgot to mention earlier. I am really growing to hate the plan at this point. Circles 1 and 2 were fun since I had time to work through things, but now that I'm just going along at breakneck speed I am not enjoying it as much. Circle 3 was okay, but circle 4 is getting miserable.

Okay, time now to do our yearly income taxes, and then get up a little early tomorrow so I can do problems before work. Like I said before, sleep is for the weak...

Sleep is for the Weak

To quote one of our illustrious co-founders, "Stick a fork in it- circle three is done." I may have stayed up past 1 a.m. most nights the last few weeks, but I made it through circle three. Let's look at the numbers:

Level  Circle 1 %  Circle 2 %  Circle 3%  Circle 4%
-----  ----------  ----------  ---------  ---------
10       96%         99%        100%   (in progress)
20       91%         93%         95%
30       74%         80%         87%
40       69%         74%         82%
50       67%         72%         81%
60       55%         64%         75%
70       60%         58%         68%
80       57%         --          64%
90+      55%         --          58%

Overall a reasonable improvement. Levels 80+ were a bit rough, but since that was only the second time I'd seen most of those problems, I'm hoping the next circle will be better. I forgot how brutally hard the level 90+ problems can be. I was pretty much going through the motions on most of them since there just isn't enough time to think about them. I probably averaged 5-8 minutes per problem, versus 12 minutes or so on the first pass. Again, I am shocked to say that it appears I'm improving (though only a meager +3%). It really is frustrating to not have any clue about what the next move might be move after move. You know it is bad when the 5x5 "help" comes up and you can't even solve that (though by that time I was probably too dejected to really think about much).

Here's a great example of the "help" you get:

Whew! Glad to know I don't need to worry about those two bishops and a few of the pawns. (For those of you dying to know, this is problem 1136, level 80.) Hmm, looking at this now doesn't ring any bells for me, so the next time I see it I'll use the tried-and-true "modified random selection method": randomly pick a move, preferably one that sacrifices something for no remotely obvious purpose. Seriously, though, despite the hellish nature of the problems, I still think it has been beneficial. I will attempt to complete all 1209 problem in the remaining circles.

Anyway, enough whining. I think this pass was more difficult than it needed to be since I switched schedules in the middle of it and I had only seen many of the level 70+ problems once before due to my scheduling fiasco on cirle two I've discussed earlier. Going forward, here's my schedule for the next 8 days:

Circle 4 Schedule

Day  # per day  Total
---  ---------  -----
1      264      264
2      224      488
3      188      676
4      152      828
5      126      954
6      108     1062
7       83     1145
8       64     1209

I have no idea how I will do 64 level 70+ in one day, but I'll worry about that when I get there. :-) For now it will be nice to get back to problems that are solveable for mere mortals like myself.

BTW Thanks for all the words of encouragement! I hope my effort will inspire others to take up the cause.

For now, continue to sally forth fellow knights and defend Caissa's honor!

I Am a Chess Machine

Anyone care to guess how I spent this weekend? The weather was perfect- sunny and 75 degrees. My mother-in-law was in town. The yard was in desperate need of mowing. The pool was crystal clear. Oops, wait, we don't have a pool. Anyway, no I didn't spend the time convincing my mother-in-law to mow the lawn while I kicked back on the porch with a nice pina colada. Yep, you guessed it- I spent the entire weekend doing chess problems, basking in the sunny glow of my laptop's LCD. As of Saturday morning I was nearly two days behind schedule, partially because I was just too tired to get all of Friday's problems done Friday night after dinner. However, I worked like a dweeb with no life and am now, finally, all caught up! Woohoo!

A look at the numbers so far for Circle 3:

        Circle 1 %  Circle 2 %  Circle 3%
        ----------  ----------  ---------
Level 10     96%         99%       100%
Level 20     91%         93%        95%
Level 30     74%         80%        87%
Level 40     69%         74%        82%
Level 50     67%         72%        81%
Level 60     55%         64%        75%
Level 70     60%         58%        68%
Level 80     57%         --         -- (in progress)
Level 90     55%         --

Finished 1105 of 1209 in Circle 3.
Three more days to go in Circle 3.

I was floored when I finished level 60 and saw I got 68%. I had to double-check to ensure there wasn't a decimal point between the 6 and the 8. I really picked up the pace on the last 40 problems or so and was really expecting a nose dive. But I suppose Caissa smiles upon the brave Knights Errant de la Maza who spend every moment of their precious free time begging for her favor.

I'm starting to get a little better at finding the "quieter" moves (i.e. not a capture or a check) that are rampant in level 60+. So many problems go along the lines of first using a sacrifice to open a line or drag out the enemy king, followed by moving your queen to threaten an undefended piece only to get her to a slightly better square where she can then make another easily parried threat. 10 more of these moves later, the planets (well, pieces) are in perfect alignment and the crushing blow is dealt to end up with a +/- advantage (not to be confused with the much more obvious +- advantage). I still have no clue why many of the +/- positions are better for the winning side, but at least I seem to be getting better at finding the intermediate moves...

Anyway, it's off to bed so I can get up tomorrow and do- yep, you guessed it- more chess problems. After work of course. I think I'll change my name to "Fritz"...

Grinding Gears

As I noted in my previous installment, the schedule I have been using in circle two (and also for circle 3) was not working for me. Here's a comparison of the two schedules for circle 3:

     MDLM Plan    My Plan
     ---------   ---------
     Per         Per
Day  Day Total   Day Total
---  --- -----   --- -----
1    136  136    200  200
2    128  264    150  350
3    116  380    110  460
4    108  488     80  540
5    100  588     70  610
6     88  676     66  676
7     84  760     65  741
8     68  828     65  806
9     66  894     56  862
10    60  954     56  918
11    56 1010     53  971
12    52 1062     50 1021
13    43 1105     50 1071
14    40 1145     48 1119
15    32 1177     46 1165
16    32 1209     44 1209

Notice that my original schedule started out with me getting ahead of the MDLM schedule, but my # of problems per day decreased too quickly. By day 6 the total # of problems completed on each schedule was equal, but after that I quickly fell behind. At day 13, when the problems are getting really difficult, my schedule doesn't decrease fast enough so I don't have time to do the level 70+ problems.

So in order to have some hope of completing all the problems in circle three, I opted to switch back onto the MDLM recommended schedule on day 6. I was already a day behind and switching put me even further behind. Switching schedules felt like I'd gone from low gear to high gear without pushing in the clutch. Yep, that horrible grinding sound was my brain struggling to adjust to the new rate of problems. To maintain hope of getting back on schedule I took Wednesday off from work and did chess problems all day. Last night I actually did all the problems prescribed in the schedule. Currently I am still one day behind, but I plan to make up this weekend and hopefully be caught up again since day 1.

For you adventurous souls pondering whether or not to do the MDLM plan, here are two key pieces of advice:
- Do as many problems as you can up front when they are easy. If you finish the number prescribed by the schedule and are up to doing a few more, do some more. Then you can lighten up he remaining schedule to have some hope for a life during later days.
- Don't get behind. It is extremely painful to get caught up. I can't wait for a weekend where I can do something other than do chess problems and take brief breaks before doing...you guessed it...more chess problems.

Status Report
Here's my current numbers:

 Circle 1 %  Circle 2 %  Circle 3%
 ----------  ----------  ---------
Level 10     96%         99%       100%
Level 20     91%         93%        95%
Level 30     74%         80%        87%
Level 40     69%         74%        82%
Level 50     67%         72%        --  (in progress)
Level 60     55%         64%
Level 70     60%         58%
Level 80     57%         --
Level 90     55%         --

Finished 894 of 1209 - 60 problems behind schedule

I'm pretty happy about my improvement in level 40. I've deliberately stopped looking at my current percentages as I'm progressing through a level- I get too hung up on watching the score fall as I progress that I get too wound up about it. So from here forward I'm just going to note the percentages at the end of each level. This has already done wonders for my blood pressure as I sit and do problems all evening. I already have a tendency to be a slave to the numbers, so I'm trying to break this bad habit.

I'm still going far too slowly on the problems. Last night my solve time averaged 4 minutes per problem on level 50. Even though that was total clock time, which included a quick dinner and a few short breaks, I still spent almost 4.5 hours doing problems. I'm trying to speed up my solving rate, but I hate to rush through them, especially when I feel like I see enough in the position to figure it out.

One thing to mention: I got 50/50 on #842 which rocked since that is one of those bizarre Tal problems. The scary thing- the whole problem pretty much made sense, whereas before I saw some general ideas in the position, but could never figure out the moves. Funny how little things like that are surprisingly motivating...