time to catch up

I've been involved in many different non-chess-related activities so far this summer. As a result, I've not taken the opportunity to mention here some of what's going on in my chess studies. My delusion each summer is that I will have all kinds of time to produce a really good weblog and to work diligently on chess. The reality is that life expects more of me than just that.

Thinker's Press, Inc. has just released the follow-up to David Rudel's first book on the Colle System. The new book is entitled "The Moment of Zuke" and focuses on a number of middle game positional factors in both the Colle-Zukertort (C-Z) and the Colle-Koltanowski (C-K). This book is the end result of the manuscript I examined for David in April and May. It seems to have turned out very well, with David's usual attention to the minute but significant details of a position and explanations of why certain ideas (the "Greek Gift" sacrifice, a g2-g4 advance for White, the "kite formation," and many others) will or won't work. He has added numerous practice positions to help along the learning process. The book is 253 pages long and lists for $18.75 - we all know how difficult it is to find a new chess book for under $20 these days! I think "The Moment of Zuke" is a fine follow-up to David's first book.

I've continued to be impressed by Waldemar Moes' "Better Your Chess" website, and consider this membership to be a very good purchase. The site says that there are currently 30 registered members; I know that Waldemar was planning to limit the first membership to 100 players, so there's still plenty of room for new members. To date, I've completed all of the lessons and material about psychology ("Master the Mindset"), with some excellent learning and self-insight gained thereby. I've identified a weakness in my play that I hadn't before seen: when calculating a tactical sequence, I get "locked" into one idea, normally the initial plan and its execution, and fail to consider other ideas tohat could be productively added to the variation. One of the exercises was to analyze a specific position for tactical possibilities and I did very well up to a point. At that junture, the success of the venture is realized by the addition of an initially unrelated move. I never thought to look for such possibilities and need to keep this concept in mind during games.

My chess mentor Yelena just completed play for a team from Istanbul in the Turkish Chess League. She scored +5=3 and won a medal for best score in the event. Yelena was kind enough to send me all 8 of the games she played so I can use them for study. I am quite appreciative of this gesture - most of them have annotations of other possible variations. I continue to laud the generosity and graciousness of Yelena and other titled players I contact. I am a "nobody" in the world of competitive chess and yet people like IM Martin, IM Dembo, GM King, and GM Aagaard have replied to my e-mails and have gone literally out of their way to provide me with feedback and encouragement.

I have decided upon Glenn Flear's "Improve Your Endgame Play" as the resource I will use to look more closely at endgames. I know that I am weak in this area and that sound understanding of endgame ideas will be rewarded by more wins. What I like about this book is the explanations of how one side uses existing pieces and pawns to win/draw. I don't memorize well, so concepts matter more to me that move-by-move positional continuations. I know there are many things one simply needs to know, but repetition is my friend these days.

There are just about three weeks until the Green Bay Open and I am still looking forward to it. No doubt there will be nervousness, but I'm hoping some confidence will be mixed in with it.