Thursday, May 17, 2007

Circle 4.1 Finally Done!

I finally finished the probloems in level 4 of CTB (this included going over the ones I got wrong until I got them right). There were about 20 king and pawn endgames, and if I was unsure at all of the answer given by the program, I fired it up in Fritz. So far, the program has only one error in these endgames that I've found, where there is a long move sequence in which two (!) times it marked my moves wrong that were actually wins for white.

Hopefully Circle 4.2 won't take two months. I really want to be done with these bloody circles. I've been considering quitting the circles the past couple of days, but I think I'd regret it so I won't quit....just yet....as they say in AA, I'll quit tomorrow.

# CirclesPercent Correct
Problem Set 11498-99-100-100-100-100-100
100-100-100-99-100-99-98
Problem Set 21590-93-96-99-99-99-99-99
99-99-99-99-99-99-100
Problem Set 3885-93-97-99-99-99-99-100
Problem Set 4173
Problem Set 50
NOTE: Circles undertaken with CTB.

10 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

congratulations, that is an accomplishment, another milestone. how about you compromise with yourself, and quit when you are done?

on another unrelated note, and take this for face value, there is no hidden meaning or sarcasm or anything....you are a cool guy. plain and simple. i'd buy you a beer or a coffee or whatever if i had the chance....

5/17/2007 10:01:00 PM  
Blogger Loomis said...

Stick with it! If it all came easy, you probably wouldn't be learning as much. Surely it will go quicker the 2nd and 3rd time through.

Getting to the next level of chess is always an uphill struggle. You can always find difficult things to learn in the game. On the other hand, if the game is fun, you can always enjoy playing at whatever level you've achieved. I think this is a choice that faces all chess players at some point. Eventually the limit of our abilities or desire is reached and we just enjoy playing at the level we've achieved. Something tells me you're not there yet :-).

By the way, I played some Hex the other day at Kurnik. I found two kinds of opponents there. Players who didn't seem to know what they were doing and players who absolutely smoked me. I realize that I probably looked like I didn't know what I was doing to them :-).

5/18/2007 10:24:00 AM  
Blogger Blue Devil Knight said...

Thanks for the kind words both chessloser and loomis. It would be fun to have a chess blogosphere tournament.

Loomis: I think you are right. I am almost where I want to be though (I want to be where only 10% or less of my games are decided by my short-term tactical oversight (where short-term means one move ahead, e.g., I missed that he could fork me)). Phase 4 of CTB is actually very good for this kind of vision.

Hex is sweet. There are a few little tricks that will bring you to the next level, and a key principle that guides most expert play (I used to be a solid hex player, but am probably now just intermediate after the years of rust). We should definitely play sometime. What is your name at kurnik? Mine is 'neuronet.'

5/18/2007 12:30:00 PM  
Blogger likesforests said...

I found Euwe's "Master vs Amateur" in the bookstore for $10 and decided to pick it up since you recommended it. I'm liking it, so far anyway.

5/20/2007 01:49:00 AM  
Blogger Blue Devil Knight said...

likeforests: glad you like it. It has helped me become a more agressive player. It not only makes me want to punish awful openings, but gives advice on how to do it :)

Somehow you have escaped my sidebar list! I'm fixin' that now.

5/20/2007 09:12:00 AM  
Blogger Loomis said...

My name at Kurnik is, ... drumroll please... Loomis. What can I say, I stick with what works. I looked at some simple strategy before playing games. This is what made it clear that the people I could beat were really out of their element, but also made it obvious to me when I was beaten... I got really good at resigning. :-).

5/21/2007 10:16:00 AM  
Blogger takchess said...

Nice to see your progress on the path to tactical enlightenment. I think the later part of ctb are at the same level of L10-20 in ct-art.

5/22/2007 06:47:00 AM  
Blogger Blue Devil Knight said...

Tak: CTB level 4: just over 70% correct first time through.
CT-Art Level 10: 80% first time.

A motivated Knight might do CT-Art level 10 after CTB level 3 to get a smoother flow.

5/22/2007 10:24:00 AM  
Blogger takchess said...

BDK,
L10 is significantly easier than L20. I am currently slogging through L30 with a 50% success rate......

5/22/2007 05:14:00 PM  
Blogger Cratercat said...

Hey, congrats BDK. Looks like I'm following your tactical trail as I just bought and installed CTB for myself. Even though I can crank through level one without batting much of an eye, I'd like to be that way with the other 3 levels which still require a little hesitation.

5/22/2007 06:32:00 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home