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Discussion thread for the chess book: Chess Imbalances - A Grandmaster Guide by Mauricio Flores Rios

Hi richard, thank you for your continious work !
I noticed two missing features :
- the rating graph of a player is gone ? I used it to check rating of players before 2003 since you had data on it, and fide doesn't.
- we can't see problems related to a game anymore.

Maybe i didn't look deeply enough. Anyway, thanks again for making chesstempo great

The rating graph was an oversight, we had rating graphs for online player profile pages, but had forgotten to add them for FIDE players from the main database. I've added the graph back in now. Adding the graph was a fairly quick turnaround, so it had limited testing, please let me know if you notice in bugs. One thing I noticed is that the default height for the rating graph area was perhaps not quite tall enough to show decent details on the graph (it is hard to see ups and downs when it is not very tall, as the data is squeezed into a small area). There is a resize handle on the bottom of the graph you can drag down to make it taller, and the ups and downs then become much easier to see, we may change the default height to make this a bit nicer by default.

The problem links can be seen by hovering over the game header where the player names of the games are shown. We were struggling to fit everything in on the top level, so had to hide some details on the top level view under the hover.

After I finished the Woodpecker method, I decided that I would continue to train tactics many hours every day. Currently, I'm using a hybrid mode of Chess Tempo blitz problems I've failed once (total problems: 2293) for spaced repetition and pattern recognition. Every morning I begin by solving 200 problems as fast as I can. Just like with Woodpecker, some are becoming familiar or memorized. This really shows the power of Chess Tempo's advanced problem set functionalities.

I'm combining this with the hard problems from John Shaw's Quality Chess Puzzle Book. I've had the book since 2010 and always gave up after 100 or so problems. They are *not* easy. I pull out a chess board, set up the position, and take as long as I want on these, to practice calculation and finding the solutions by myself (as opposed to the blitz problems where I'm relying more on instincts/parallel processing). This can take 10, 15 or even 30 minutes per problem, so I solve 6 per day (one page in the book). It's also a nice break from my computer screen as I just sit there in silence staring at my chess board!

After that, I try to play 1 or 2 games of rapid chess here on Chess Tempo, which I analyze on my chess board (without an engine at first, which is very important, otherwise I would just let the computer do the thinking for me!). This process can take 30 to 60 minutes, and it is very instructive. Every single chess coach since the beginning of time has always recommended to analyze one's games, right? Afterwards, I'll proof my ideas with Stockfish, since I don't have a human master on hand to tell me if I'm wrong. Already, I've managed to play some pretty spectacular attacks - a very different style from my solid, positional approach since I began studying chess. I don't want to celebrate too quickly, but I think the current training method is paying off. It's alot of hard work - like anything you want to get good at, right? Basically, I'm trying to reach active positions where I can build pressure on the opponent's position, and actively looking for sacrifices to open lines of attack.

Also I am looking up a little bit the Scandinavian Defense (1. e4 d5) and its White relative, the Center Game (1. e4 e5 2. d4). One of the main ideas from the Scandinavian seems to be that you get structures similar to the Caro-Kann, but without the annoying Advance Variation. So I would probably be somewhat familiar with the pawn structures that will arise, but yet we'll have a nice open game right from the start, with active piece play from both sides, so I'm going to try and play a few training games with this opening before my tournament this weekend and possibly use this new opening in my games.

Basically I'm looking for active, open, and tactical openings, to keep sharpening my skills - and to put all this training into practice. What's the point of a tactical boot camp if I play solid positional openings?! This probably means 1. e4 as White should be the preferred option (countering 1... e5 with 2.d4, the Center Game, and blow up the center immediately), the Scandinavian against 1. e4 with Black as I just mentionned above, and I'm not sure yet what I'd like to play against 1. d4, but probably not the Slav! Maybe I'll get back into 1...b6 to counter 1. d4, as it tends to get pretty wild (whereas 1...b6 against 1. e4 often leads to somewhat boring French structures).

I will post an update once I am back in town after the tournament.

Hi Kharv,

I wish you a lot of chess playing fun and succes with your upcoming chess tournament near-by Ottawa, the capital of Canada!  

I cross my fingers for your succes! (In German: Ich drücke meine Daumen für deinen Erfolg!)

Thank you!

Hi richard, thank you for your continious work !
I noticed two missing features :
- the rating graph of a player is gone ? I used it to check rating of players before 2003 since you had data on it, and fide doesn't.
- we can't see problems related to a game anymore.

Maybe i didn't look deeply enough. Anyway, thanks again for making chesstempo great

thought so, since there are already replay elements present, thanks !

Hi Kharv,

I wish you a lot of chess playing fun and succes with your upcoming chess tournament near-by Ottawa, the capital of Canada!  

I cross my fingers for your succes! (In German: Ich drücke meine Daumen für deinen Erfolg!)

Kind regards,

Jolien

Thank you!
While it’s not immediately obvious, at least there is a way to obtain the FEN.

While that move looks to be eventually winning, it seems to miss the tactical point, opting instead for an extended endgame , missing the short term win.