Tonight I finished the first chapter of Silman's The Amateur's Mind titled The Battle Between Bishops and Knights. I knew most of the principles behind this minor piece imbalance already, but it was instructional to go through the chapter and see how to take advantage of this often overlooked and misunderstood imbalance. Now that I've been made aware, I'll be more alert in my own games when minor piece trades are possible. In particular, I'll be looking for possible knight outposts and the ability to open up lines for bishops, for both me and my opponent.
I'm about 1/4 the way through The Chess Tactics Workbook. The problems are slightly harder than Bain's Chess Tactics for Students, but not by much.
My chess studies have been slowed down lately, because my harddisk crashed. Luckily, it was still under warrantly, so I got a replacement one from Maxtor and have been spending time restoring everything. However, I lost a lot too. Oh well, sh*t happens.
