Dan Heisman wrote in a Novice Nook column that a “minimum of 8 OTB tournaments and about 100 slow games a year is a reasonable foundation for ongoing improvement.” In 2005 I only managed to play about 35 slow games: 32 USCF rated games, and 3 ICC games in a slow (60 5) tournament.
This is actually down somewhat from 2004, which is sad, because I had hoped to increase the number this year. The low number probably contributed to my flat rating during the year: it started and ended at around 1400.
My 2006 slow-game goal is 60 games. I’ll do this by:
- Averaging 3 club nights per month (36 games)
- Playing 10-15 games in weekend USCF tournaments
- Making up the difference in online play. This year I’m going to try some online correspondence play.
One Comment
Yes, as Steve points out, it is important to balance theory and practice. Lots of aspiring players study chess like crazy but don’t play enough serious games. In fact, it is humorous how many players want to be experts and masters yet don’t play OTB chess, when only USCF can grant those titles via your OTB play! The only experts and masters I know have played hundreds, if not thousands, of OTB games.