Russell Sherwood Monday, August 30, 2021
Sharpening the Saw
Correspondence Chess players spend an awful lot of time analysing positions but in many cases, very little time analysing their analysis methods.
Consider these questions:
Do you have a standard method you follow every time you make a move/prepare for a game/do a post-mortem of a game?
Are these methods documented?
How often do you review these methods and make improvements?
When was the last time you sought to improve your methods, either through critical review or seeking new information?
That’s enough question for now!
Unless you are answering positively to most of the questions above, you are missing one of the main “secrets” of CC. How often should these methods be reviewed? I can give two answers to that – firstly every time you use them! Lose a game – why did it happen – was it related to your method – what improvement can I make to prevent this in future? And secondly occasionally by sitting down and looking at every single step in the process.
It is worth noting that, in my opinion, one reason for climbing draw rates is that many players do not seek to improve their methods……
We will talk more about standard methods next time….
CorredpondenceChessTipoftheWeek
