Tempo and Mousetrapper have been working on a piece scan system. I have been following this with great interest, and have noticed several other Knights are asking questions about it. I am thinking that the key differences between their scanning system and the general advice to "examine every move" is twofold:

1. Extending the scan to go through all pieces in line with each Queen, Rook, and Bishop, and
2. See the pattern of a "*", "+", or "X", all at once for those pieces.

Tempo has added some pertinent details, and this system looks like a winner.

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I have reviewed most of the book problems from prior circles, and it showed that I was a little rusty. I must say that Polgar 4881 (of 5334) is a major piece of work to refute all over again. Then I finished Step 1 of TCT in two days :-). I got 99% on step 1, which seems good, but these are easy, and I am wanting get 100%. Memorizing them isn't actually going to remedy this problem, only obscure how sloppy I occasionally am. I suppose that everybody makes mistakes, even grandmasters. *sigh*

I am beginning to see how Michael de la Maza got to the place of creating his highly disciplined 5 minute move system. It's so easy to miss one obvious threat or tactic that I am considering adopting a similar approach. Back to the problems for now...

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TCT Results	Circle 1	Circle 2
Step 1	97%	99%
Step 2	93%	??%
Step 3	93%	??%
Step 4	80%	??%
Step 5	74%	??%

That was alot of problems! My average score was 74% for Step 5, but that is probably inflated a percent or two because of TCT's requirement of finishing 10 problems per group before it saves your results. I just couldn't get through some of these later groups in a 30-40 min. session, so I ended up doing a "redux" on some them the following day to keep getting a total score.

I long for the mini-circles :-). I hope by doing TCT the long way I will be building a better variation calculation muscle. If all you want is pure memorization, I definitely think mini-circles are the way to go.

I got an ICC account and am playing when I can. I seem to be playing a little worse than before I began this intensive tactical study, and although it was fairly easy for me to get to 1535, it honestly seems inflated due to horrible blunders by a few of my opponents. I have gotten into some blitz there, so I will need to keep that in check (ha ha).

White to move.

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Finished TCT Circle 1
Result step 1: Average score 97 %
Result step 2: Average score 93 %
Result step 3: Average score 93 %
Result step 4: Average score 80 %
Result step 5: Average score 74 %

Finished circle 2 of book problems 204-218

I have some extra time now and am beginning to see the end of circle 1 this weekend. WOOT!

Alert! Opinionated Fritz review coming up...

I just got Fritz and I and not impressed with the overall user-friendlyness. Out of curiosity I opened the beginner tutorials and the 1st page wouldn't show properly. I went into the middle of it where there was some simple mate problems which showed up fine but gave all the moves ( i.e. answers). Duh. And when I went to the next game which had several moves in it, it didn't automatically start at the beginning.

There are other things that just aren't intuitive about Fritz, like needing to right-click to modify a game, or that single-clicking on an opening variation pretty much does what double-clicking should do. I find it weird that what would normally exit you from a program is the standard way to go from a game to a game list. Odd.

I really wanted Fritz so I could make better annotated game printouts. I spent some time comparing it with Chessmaster, and I would say that Fritz certainly does have more going for it in the annotation apartment. On the plus side, Fritz is has configurable blunder reporting threshold, and it has plenty to say about several sharper continuations that Chessmaster just didn't go into. On the minus side, Fritz had nothing to say at all about a large variety of positional changes, as well as a few moves that Chessmaster thinks were better. One move was to threaten the center with a sharp pawn push, and another was to avoid losing 2 tempi. Those moves did not cross Fritz's threshold of .33 pawns worth of error that I had it set to, so it didn't get a '?'. I found that a couple of other chess engines sided with Chessmaster on those moves, and the pawn push move wasn't even in Fritz's top 3 list:

r4rk1/pp1n1pp1/2ppbn1p/q3p3/3PP2B/P1PQ1N1P/2P1BPP1/R4RK1 b - - 0 1

Analysis by Fritz 8:
1. = (-0.07): 13...Rfe8 14.Rfb1 b5 15.Nd2 Rab8 16.a4 bxa4
2. = (-0.04): 13...Rae8 14.Rfb1 Nh5 15.Qe3 g5 16.dxe5 dxe5 17.Rxb7
3. = (0.02): 13...Nh5 14.Be7 Nf4 15.Qe3 Nxe2+ 16.Qxe2 Qxc3 17.Bxf8 Rxf8 18.dxe5
4. = (0.08): 13...d5 14.Nxe5 Nxe4 15.c4 Rfe8 16.Rfe1 Nxe5 17.dxe5 Qc7
5. = (0.12): 13...Rac8 14.Rfb1 Qc7 15.Qe3 d5 16.Nd2 dxe4
6. = (0.15): 13...Rab8 14.Bg3 Rfe8 15.Nd2 b5 16.f4 exd4
7. = (0.18): 13...Rad8 14.Nd2 Rfe8 15.Rfb1 Rb8 16.Bg3 b5 17.f4

Chessmaster didn't like (the text move) Nh5 because after appropriate defense by White, Black's Knight is on the edge. Chessmaster liked d5 more, .95 pawns more (depth 10). It's a matter of opinion I suppose.

What Chessmaster's auto-annotation has going for it over Fritz's is the details it shares. It reports play by play positional factors, like blocking a pawn, pinning a piece, and putting your Knight to the edge of the board. I recognize basic positional features pretty well at this point, but every now and then Chessmaster's annotation alerts to something that I didn't fully appreciate about a move. Because of this, I would say Chessmaster is better suited to help out a beginner or intermediate player. I think that Fritz's looks more like a master level human annotation, whose audience is expert and up.

Another thing I might add: Chessmaster's printout looks nicer to me, although it certainly takes up much more paper.

In conclusion, Even though it's strong, relying on Fritz alone for annotation leaves some gaps. As an overall package, Chessmaster seems friendlier.

TCT Circle 1
Result step 1: Average score 97 %
Result step 2: Average score 93 %
Result step 3: Average score 93 %
Result step 4: Average score 80 %
Result step 5: Average score 74 % [17 left]
Finished circle 2 of book problems 204-218

Anyone ever hear that weird Leo Kottke poem set to music? It's called "Jack Gets Up" and it seems like it was written I have done too many tactics problems today state of mind. Actually, I bet he doesn't play much chess, otherwise it might have been


I think is was Sancho Pawnza who likened regular tactics training to the Olympic runner who found the workouts easy enough to do, but discovered that doing the same workout every day was enough to drive him batty. The daily practice of doing these is harder than the problems at this point. I hope with later circles it smooths out. Eyes on on the prize...


TCT Circle 1
Result step 1: Average score 97 %
Result step 2: Average score 93 %
Result step 3: Average score 93 %
Result step 4: Average score 80 %
Result step 5: Average score 73 % [16-17 left] (up 1%!)
Finished circle 2 of book problems 204-218

And I don't mean hanging pieces! By slowing down my percentage is getting a little better, and adding in some easy warm-ups is helping keep the frustration down. I got in some time to play some short games. I did ok, but it's obvious that completing the circles is the most important thing I can do do to play better.

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TCT Circle 1
Result step 1: Average score 97 %
Result step 2: Average score 93 %
Result step 3: Average score 93 %
Result step 4: Average score 80 %
Result step 5: Average score 72 % [15-17 left]
Finished circle 2 of book problems 204-218

Posted at 12:32 AM. Click to see this post's 0 comment(s). -=-=-=-=- Click to leave a comment

Looking at the different Knights' blogs I am encouraged. People are getting better and better, and patience with the seven circles appears to be paying off.

On the other hand, I am hitting below 80% now feeling like this is a drag. Based on the experiences of other Knights and graduates, I believe that I have just hit the psychological tipping point. I have one month left in this TCT circle which I am not looking forward to, and that's going on 10 problems in 30-40 minutes per day.

Who am I kidding - I need to spend more time on each problem. It's easy to use TCT for doing 10 per day, yet 10 is just an arbitrary number. From here to the end of this TCT circle I am going to take more time per problem. I am going to stretch MDLM's 10 minute limitation to 12 and focus, Focus, FOCUS.
As well, I will regularly toss in a few minutes of some easy book problems. There are many I need to review, and why not use them to avert the perils of under 80% frustration?

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TCT Circle 1
Result step 1: Average score 97 %
Result step 2: Average score 93 %
Result step 3: Average score 93 %
Result step 4: Average score 80 %
Result step 5: Average score 79 % [10-17 left]
Finished circle 2 of book problems 204-218

I got to play a standard game last night. Horray! I lost due to tactics, but I had a good opening.

My opponent was a student, and he said that he reviews 600 easy tactics problems a day. Is this circles without end? It obviously worked against me!

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TCT Circle 1
Result step 1: Average score 97 %
Result step 2: Average score 93 %
Result step 3: Average score 93 %
Result step 4: Average score 80 %
Result step 5: Average score 82 % [10-17 left]
Finished circle 2 of book problems 204-218

I was thinking about the common opinion that people have that traditional IQ should correspond to chess ability. I think someone with a normal IQ but who could do all of the following would have an edge:

• Whip up a gourmet meal for 4 on short notice
• Speak fluently in a second language
• Juggle 5 objects
• Fly and land a glider
• Improvise jazz classics on the piccolo
• Profit trading stocks in a down market
• Discipline severely misbehaving children without resorting to violence.

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TCT Circle 1

Result step 1: Average score 97 %

Result step 2: Average score 93 %

Result step 3: Average score 93 %

Result step 4: Average score 80 %

Result step 5: Average score 83 % [8-17 left]

Finished circle 2 of book problems 204-218

Posted at 12:53 AM. Click to see this post's 3 comment(s). -=-=-=-=- Click to leave a comment