Tuesday, January 25, 2005

Quick Post

Yes I am still going, just in the middle of another crazy week.
Started last Thursday when my internet went out, but that's another story.
Fortunately I was able to reroute my line in time to make the first meeting of the Knights errant.
That was a lot of fun; we need to do that on a regular basis.

Knocked out the first 200 problems, these are getting so easy that it is becoming a reflex.
I have to attribute the ease of the exercises mostly to memorizing the patterns and not so much the actual answers. Reminds me of the way a new player struggles with how the knight moves, but over a period of time they begin to become comfortable with the L-shape and start to relax. So I guess the mini combos are an extension of that feeling. Which is good! That means it is something one can train with relatively simple exercises. But it is also something that can accumulate rust. No magnets this time, not even a ripple. :(

The few goofy problems that snagged me in the past do seem to stick out more, like pot holes on a familiar road so to speak. The drop off point is rapidly approaching. I seriously doubt that I can maintain my success once I hit the higher levels, certainly not with the time limit. It will be interesting to graph the impending drop. I'm finishing the Level 20 exercises in about 20 seconds on average.

ELO 1550 (Start) -> 2022 Current
Scoring Percentage
Level 10 - 100% (Completed)
Level 20 - 99% (So far)
200 exercises completed 755 remaining in circle 4.
87 days down 15 to go.

2 comments:

Don Q. said...

Yes, I've noticed the same thing. It's particularly cool when you see a level 10 pattern in a piece of a higher level problem.

In particular I've noticed that I have learned many mating patterns with knights and kings in the corner. I could recognize a smothered mate before, but now I feel like there are 20 or so floating around in there.

Calvin said...

Hey Sancho

I was just wondering if we are planning on meeting again. If so, i think that this sunday would probably be best for me. I would say late in the day at Greenspan would work for me, just like last time. Just let me know how you feel about this.

thanks,
generalkaia