Blindfold Endgame Visualisation 15/50

#15, Cmilyte - Harika, 2012

Here’s why chess improvement as an adult is difficult.

It’s not the formula. The formula is simple. Surprisingly so, given the large proportion of our community that spends its time asking itself how.

The template for adult improvement at chess is simply this:-

consistent effort over time

The effort bit is the easiest part. That’s pretty much just a decision: 'I will work on something that I love doing.' Doesn’t sound so hard does it? That’s because it isn’t.

Consistent is trickier but still not that difficult. It takes some thought and perhaps some trial and error but after only a little application you’ll have worked out how to get the job done each day. Be it an hour before work, 30 minutes at lunch time, or while the kettle boils.

Before very long you’ll have a plan that fits in with your life.

The hard bit is over time. And that’s hard because, unless you’re a Time Lord, it’s something that's going to be beyond your control.

Time changes things. Time changes our lives. It brings children, illness, bereavements, promotions at work, loss of jobs, house moves, relationships starting and ending. Not to mention global pandemics.

Some of these things will be to our advantage. Some less not. Some could go either way depending on circumstances. What they have in common is that they (nearly all) will happen sooner or later. It’s just a question of when.

And all of them impact our lives which could mean that our carefully constructed plan of chess improvement just doesn’t fit any more.

Which is where I’m at now. Work changes leaves me not so much without time but lacking energy to focus on chess when I do have the time.

So my chess plans will have to change, whether I want them to or not.

But then there’s upside of consistent effort over time. Whilst today might be problematic, there’s always going to be an opportunity to get back on track - a track not necessarily the track - tomorrow.

And as for this week’s Blindfold problem - this is the first one I outright failed to solve. It didn’t take long to see the first move had to be a king move, but after that I was all at sea.

This week was the polar opposite of BEV 9/50. The key idea that unlocks the position just never occurred to me.

https://theabysmaldepthsofchess.blogspot.com/2021/03/blindfold-endgame-visualisation-950.html

OUTCOME: Unsolved

RUNNING TOTAL: 13/15