Time Pressure

This post is probably not what you're thinking this is going to be. Most people stumbling into this backwater of the web (if indeed there are any) might suspect this will be about that particularly uncomfortable experience of having a clearly won position on the board with a precarious position on the clock. Most times it turns into a blunder and a lost game.

But that's not what I'm going to talk about.

One post in the last year, boasting about how the quest was going on. "Never fear, I'll be back" I said. Nope. Never happened. I don't think I've picked up a chess piece except to dust it in many of those months.

It's a different kind of time pressure, I suppose. Both chess and writing take time and discipline in order to hone the skill to do them reasonably well. Interestingly enough, the time invested is mostly enjoyable in both cases even if the skills developed are not world-class. In some ways I envy the giants among the Knights Errant. I spend hours just reading your musings. I can't imagine what it takes to put them together.

But there are so many fascinating things to fill the hours! Children, grandchildren, books, TV (the evil monster), work (the other monster)... you get the picture.

I'm resolved to avoid the game-losing blunder. It's OK to have a life away from the computer. I believe I'll come back to this work-in-progress some day. I'm going to stop worrying about when that will be.

Later!

Rumors of the end of The Quest

I'm not sure why, but there has been some rumor that I've abandoned "The Quest" completely. Nothing could be further from the truth (actually, many things could be much further from the truth, but the phrase has such a nice ring to it!).

I have significantly reduced my chess playing of late, but real soon now I'm going to update my sidebar with all the new Knights and petition BDK for official reinstatement.

Stay tuned (yeah, right!).

Maybe this is too much of the "less aggressive" part?

A month between posts is certainly not a program of study that is at risk of being too intense! I have been playing a bit and solving a few problems here and there on CTS, but nothing too structured. I really must get back on track.

I have not quit yet, believe it or not. I should look back through the records of the Knights Errant to see if anyone has ever staged a comeback from a stall like this one.

New year... new plan... old story!

The year has ended, and I've not make the planned amount of progress on the Circles. Oh well, many other good things happened so perhaps it's not a bad thing after all.

I have spent a fair amount of time following the blogs of the rest of the Knights. A dedicated bunch by any standard and full of keen insights. I wonder how you all manage to find the time and energy to make so much progress.

I think I will need to develop a somewhat less aggressive plan if I'm to have any chance of success. Maybe I shouldn't make it quite so structured. This time of the year is notorious for the development of plans that die in mid-February so I will resist.

I'd like to spend a couple of hours a week practicing/studying and an hour or so playing OTB or on FICS. After all, it's a game not a life. I may get kicked out of the Knights with such a slack attitude!

CT-Art muddles the careful plan

It seems I don't understand how CT-Art works! As I was working through the testing last night, I somehow got the thing out of my normal testing regimen. I was intending to do a fixed number of problems from Level 20, where I’m currently focused. As the program doesn’t give you much indication how far along you are, I just keep banging away at problems until it finally says I’m done. These problems seemed a lot harder than what I had been used to, but I put it down to being tired and soldiered on. After what seemed like forever, I finally got suspicious and ended the test. Much to my amazement, I found I had done nearly double the number of problems I was planning on, with many of them from higher levels. No wonder they seemed harder!

Anyway, I’ve decided to simply get back on track in Level 20 and ignore the whole thing for now. I don’t know how to reset CT-Art to show me the higher level problems again, and I guess I don’t care at this point.

Problems Solved	Circle 1	Circle 2	Circle 3	Circle 4	Circle 5	Circle 6	Circle 7
Start	22-Nov	-	-	-	-	-	-
Level 10	82%	-	-	-	-	-	-
Level 20	72%	-	-	-	-	-	-
Level 30	83%	-	-	-	-	-	-
Level 40	61%	-	-	-	-	-	-
Level 50	41%	-	-	-	-	-	-
Level 60	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Level 70	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Level 80	38%	-	-	-	-	-	-
Level 90	51%	-	-	-	-	-	-