Monday, July 07, 2014

i'm now on lichess

i decided to check lichess out last week.  i like it.  it's simple, clean and there's no fuss - just good chess.

feel free to meet and play me on lichess.

Tuesday, July 01, 2014

ChessTempo June 2014

rockyrook blitz problem rating 5.31.14 to 7.1.14
I've been keeping a pretty good eye on my chesstempo performance since January 2012.  I track several aspects including my monthly minimum rating, maximum rating and median rating per every 20 blitz problems.  So after I completed my 620 blitz problems for the month of June, I realized a few things special about this month.

Since January 2012, I've only ever been above a 1750 rating once (1752.6 in July 2012).  In June 2014, I hit 1759.6.

Since January 2012, I've never stayed the entire 620 problems above the 1700 mark.  In June 2014, I managed to stay above 1700 from start to finish.  My minimum rating per 20 problems was 1706.8 with the median rating coming in at 1740; which by the way, my median rating was the first time above 1730.  The previous best was 1721.9 in May 2012.

Another insight into the data shows that I took longer to solve the problems.  But I seem to be finding the right amount of time for any given problem, else if I were taking longer on every problem, then my rating would have gone down.  The average of my average recent time per problem has gone from 47 seconds in February 2014 to 62 in June.

My percentage correct wasn't special.  I came in at 81.29%.  That is slightly below the 2014 average for me.

Of course, June could be one big anomaly and July will see a return to "normal" - which is entirely possible, especially given the fact that I'll be on vacation for 3 weeks - which disrupts my daily routine.  But, if I'm able to keep the rating and percentage correct relatively high and the trend continues, I might be looking at something significant in my chess improvement with regards to chesstempo.