While doing ICS, how much will you play?

I plan to play two slow games a week (slow means 30/30 or longer) at ICC, and once a month in a tourmament with five 60/0 games.

Just studying improvement material is not sufficient to improve, unfortunately.

I will also have a coach that I talk to every two weeks.

First question? Did you start this forum? I have been doing the course for over a month and I have not know that this exsists? If you did? Great work! Even if you didn't thanks for leting me know there is one.

To answer your question. I have been playing about 10 to 12 games per week. Each game is 15 or less and the long games are 20+ mins. I have not really see any improvement in my rating. But I am enjoying the game more, with my new found knowledge. Like I mentioned in my blog, I know see the board in a different way. It's vary nice and I am lookng forward to continuing.

Hello Chess. I started the forum two days ago. My hope is it will grow in members as the months go on! I'm glad you mentioned this school it is fun.

Is there anyplace in the course where they offer recommendations on how to balance time spent on the course with time playing? It seems one of the keys to improvement is playing slow games and annotating them (without a computer). Do they have anything to say about the benefits/costs of blitz?

The course is pretty time-consuming so far, but I think the most important aspect of improvement is actual play. With this course, to apply their thinking methods, it seems impossible to apply them well in blitz. So that suggests to really integrate the course into your bones, you need to play slow games. I feel rushed in pretty much anything less than 30/30.

One downside of doing a chess course is I get all worried about my rating. If it goes down I feel like it isn't working. The thing is, when learning new material, I often do a little bit worse before I get better, as my conceptual understanding shifts and I reequilibrate with the new material.

I play turn based/correspondence games on chess.com. These type of games work better for me and I feel I can learn more this way for now. I can't really play real 10-15 or longer games at work or home uninterrupted and when I get a chance I just can't concentrate or manage time well. I'm sure I will improve with time but for now it's correspondence games for me!

I try not to have lots of games going at the same time but sometimes it's unavoidable. They also have thematic (specific opening) tournaments which I think are very helpful in applying what we learn about openings in ICS.

The main reason to play is to practice and keep track of overall improvement ... hopefully!

fanat wrote:I play turn based/correspondence games on chess.com. These type of games work better for me and I feel I can learn more this way for now. I can't really play real 10-15 or longer games at work or home uninterrupted and when I get a chance I just can't concentrate or manage time well. I'm sure I will improve with time but for now it's correspondence games for me!

Correspondence is a wonderful way to work on a thought process. Unfortunately I have trouble getting motivated to play correspondence games. I get really impatient and move too fast. I admire those with the patience to do it!

Blue Devil Knight wrote:

fanat wrote:I play turn based/correspondence games on chess.com. These type of games work better for me and I feel I can learn more this way for now. I can't really play real 10-15 or longer games at work or home uninterrupted and when I get a chance I just can't concentrate or manage time well. I'm sure I will improve with time but for now it's correspondence games for me!

Correspondence is a wonderful way to work on a thought process. Unfortunately I have trouble getting motivated to play correspondence games. I get really impatient and move too fast. I admire those with the patience to do it!

Well, chess is a game of patience!
Give it a try, at least couple of games

I play mainly 15-0 games for serious.
Less time and it is blunderland, more time i get bored easily.

I play 2 or 3 games on the evening, and sometimes when it rains outside, i can play many hours, so 10 or 20 games in a row, it depends.

Concentration is the more difficult think to get, i regularly want to destroy everything around me, when i make some efforts on a particular game, do all the work to get a good position, manage finally to convert to a favorable endgame, and make eventually a stupid mistake that ruins everything in 1 and only 1 move !
And most of the time, this blunder, i played it quickly with assurance, while the rest of the game was quiet and logical.

HangingKing wrote:i regularly want to destroy everything around me, when i make some efforts on a particular game, do all the work to get a good position, manage finally to convert to a favorable endgame, and make eventually a stupid mistake that ruins everything in 1 and only 1 move ! And most of the time, this blunder, i played it quickly with assurance, while the rest of the game was quiet and logical.

Oh man I know that feeling.

As I get more into the program, I am getting more patient with slow games. I am enjoying taking the time to think, to try to figure out if things I'm learning in the School apply in my particular game. For instance, is it time to lock up the center and begin a Queenside assault, or should I finish developing my pieces? After I make the TO DO list, it takes time to prioritize those tasks, and finally actually coming up with candidate moves to implement the TO DO list takes time sometimes. Finally, the analysis of those candidate moves to see if they are tactically justified, is where I am really awful.

I am realizing I am just inefficient and slow at calculating variations in my head.

But man I really hate it when I've been kicking ass all game, and suddenly make an idiot move that drops a rook. I want to scream when that happens.

I will play as much as i am doing now, meaning each friday night at my chess club and a tournament so now and then.

I found it important that you keep playing on a regular basis otherwise you cannot bring into practise what you have learned and see if you need some more study / practise to get it right or fluently in your manor (thoughtproces for example) of playing chess.

So yes, in this i am with Dan Heisman, 50% theory and 50% practise.

I have played today trying to apply what i learned.
It was a catastroph !

I lost many games in a row, i guess it was because i played positions i was not used to. Till now my games are certainly not very good, but i know what to do in this context. When i tried to apply the theory, i put my pieces where i was not used to, and get them captured, lol.

Ok, i guess i have to "unlearn" first all those bad habits i have...

I also have had the experience of playing worse. I sure hope I get better

It's normal that the results at first will be bad since you are adding something new to your chess and as usual the click isn't there from the beginning. So give it time, to fall all in to place. Be patient, work hard, and results will follow.

I try to play one game 30/30 or 45/45 a day in the net ( turns out to be about every other day ). I am still far from correctly implementing the thinking process. Last game was almoust plain tactics and opening theorie anyway :-(