This is my third attempt at a chess blog, the other two felt somehow wrong. The content was neither interesting nor a reflection on what I have felt about chess and my efforts to improve.


I started playing chess competitively last September having finished studying and finally getting a real job. Unfortunately the area I moved to in Cambridgeshire is relatively sparsely populated compared to metropolitan areas and the chess scene is less active as a consequence. These impediments have been changed since I took the decision to move to the larger Cambridge chess club where the opportunities to play and interact with more players has been a real revelation.

For the past year I have been working pretty hard snatching time during tea breaks and lunch times to study. Recently I finally managed to get my thesis accepted for my PhD, a real milestone in my life since it has taken nearly 6 years to get to this point for various reasons.

This has led me to look carefully at what I want to achieve in chess; a target rating, a target for the number of game and a realistic target for the time I can spend studying.



After analysing each of these I have reached a set of targets;

1) To increase my grade by 10 points per year and to reach 140 (or 155 after the scheduled grading correction) in six years

2) To play no less that 30 graded OTB long play games a season

3) To study an average of 2 hours per day