Personal Chess Journal (5 May 2019)

According to chess.com games archive, it's been more than 4 years (!) since I started playing online chess. I will fully attribute this to the greater enjoyment derived from playing chess over the actual board, with a real person sitting right before me. BUT, I have to say, that I find playing a lot of blitz games useful in a couple of things, like tactical sensing, copying with time pressure, and above all, getting more familiar with the type of opening positions I play.

This is how I would divide my chess playing time:

• Play Blitz games online -- it is useful in that all game moves are automatically recorded for review
• Play Rapid games when playing at various chess sites -- I should be able to record most of the game moves (esp. opening/midgame)
• Play Standard games at chess tournaments -- this should be the ultimate test to the application of whatever little chess knowledge I have.

This is my current self-identified weaknesses:

• Over-eagerness to push pawns to engage without adequate preparation (esp. placing the Rooks on the files most likely to open up
• Opening bias -- I should stop playing side-lines for the sake of sidestepping. Instead, acquire the knowledge required to play the position correctly. (Yes, especially when playing against the King's Indian Defence as White.)

Let's see how I would fare in this coming SG City 2019 Open tournament!