Logged-on to FICS yesterday. I tried to get a match by choosing from the player list, but everybody seems to be busy. Fortunately, this 1500++ player accepted my challenge. No problem, he's just 1500, I'll just smack him down some, and then go look for better competition. The first game, I was white and of course we played the kings gambit. Real man plays the kings gambit. Not like those sissies who plays the
ruy. "Ruy" Hah! what kind of a name was that. Sounds like the name of a "girlie"-man to me. Ok, So I played the KG, and... I uh, lost.. Gardarnit. My 1753 went down to 1600++. He's just lucky, I'll ask for a rematch.. and lost again.. and again.. and again.. and again.. (5x lost) Auuugah! rant3x!!! Sheessssshhh... (you can now call me, Mr. 1444)

But, well as mr tartakower would say, the first game, he was just lucky. The second game I was distracted. The third game, The lighting was off. The fourth game, I was hungry. As for the fifth - well, do I have to win everything?

Anyway, All those loses did have a positive effect. I got tons of feedback on how to play the KG correctly. Most of it would take too much words to explain, but if there is one thing very important that I would want to share, it is that in the KG, castling is not a priority. With very high emphasis on the "NOT". I was not yet psychologically prepared to move my king to strange places like f1, d2, e2 and e3. Next time, I would just march my king out there and just attack.

So now after all those loses, I did what any self-respecting chessplayer would. I looked for weaker player to beat. Hehe! the last games went 4-1 in my favor. I know, I know, they're just 1300 players, but my rating went to 1400 from all those loses. So its just fair, right mate!?

KID
Now one of my wins came when I played the KID. Playing the KG as white and the KID as black enables me to see two different playing style. You know, in KG, I feel rush3x! but in KID, it's slow3x. You should not be in a hurry, but rather try to keep the tension. slowly maneuver, and tada! a win. The change of pace is disorienting at first, But I want to be able to learn to play fast and slow, that's why I am using two diametrically opposed openings (not that I know the meaning of the word "diametrically")

Books or CD
Okay, since nobody gave me feedback on the "right decisions" CD, I've changed my mind. I will not buy that CD, but instead, I will buy the book "Excelling at chess Calculation". If I liked the book, then I will buy the CD.

You know, I had have plans on studying the endgames. But reading posts and experiences from other people made me think that maybe I should just study tactics for this year first. I mean, I studied positional concepts for two years. So maybe I have to pay my dues to the tactics school before tackling the endgame.

Now one of the earliest books I bought was "Art of chess combination" By Znosko-Borovsky. The book is divided into two parts. One tactics that can happen anywhere (pins, forks, etc.) And the other, tactics depending on the position. The current 7-cricles is concerned with first kind of tactics. After this, maybe I should study tactics involving specific positions. So I would know if there are "auto-sacks" available in the position. So now, I want to buy a book(what else). Its titled "essential chess sacrifices" by lemoir. Yeah3x, I aint got no money. But real men aint got no use fo money. They just have them chessbooks.

ps.
Welcome to blue-devil knight. I hope we get those reviews too =>