Finally, I've returned to Hawaii. A few lost study days due to travelling and such. I'm now half way through John Bain's Chess Tactics for Students. Overall, my impression of the book is good. I should note that the target audience for this book is the 1000-1400 range. At my current rating of 1669, I've had a pretty easy time with the problems. However, I want to have a solid foundation before I move on to more advanced topics. Starting with a book like this serves to reinforce basic tactical motifs in a structured, organized manner.
I purposely chose a book that would be easy for me to complete. As I mentioned before, I own 300+ chess books, most in mint condition. (It's probably closer to 400 now) Completing Chess Tactics for Students would be a great accomplishment for me, as it would be the first chess book that I start and finish in probably 20 years! I'm alone on the road to Master, with no one to keep my company, so I need milestones like this to keep me motivated.
I've stopped playing bullet and blitz games on the chess servers. These time controls are habit-forming. I'd been fooling myself to believe that I was "training". In reality, I was chasing the ego boost that accompanies one reaching a new "best" rating. Having done this several times, I can attest that the euphoria is often short-lived, as the ill-gotten fortune is lost in a string of sequential losses. However, not all online chess is bad. After I finish the current book, I will limit my online play to very slow time control games, probably 45 45 and 60 15. Blitz chess has gotten me into the habit of shallow thinking. I miss the "long think"s of OTB tournament play and am looking forward to playing slow chess online.
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