Introduction

Hello.

My name is Kyle, I'm a 27-year-old newspaper reporter from Illinois and currently living in North Dakota. This blog is more like a diary for me, but we'll see how things go.  I'm using it to document my own progress trying to become a much better chess player. This post outlines where I am right now as I start this blog.

I have played chess on and off since I was about 9 years old. I checked some books out in the library and convinced my family to buy me a small chess computer.  Since then, I've picked up the game on and off, usually logging into an online chess server. I'd play for a few weeks at a time, but inevitably I'd get frustrated by the constant losses.

Last month, I got the itch to play again and decided to do it right. I picked up some books, watched some videos, read some web sites, and even got some training software. I've been trying to study as much as I actually play.

The results have been encouraging. I've had the same account with the Free Internet Chess Server since Oct. 3, 1998, and I was surprised to find it still around last month. I've played 829 standard (long time limit) games in that period, with a record of 165 wins, 646 losses and 18 draws.

In the past, my FICS rating has hovered between 1000 and 1100, the true dregs of the chess world. It was embarrassing to look for a game and see how far down my dot was on the "seek" table, where most players wouldn't deign to play me.

The tactics training has helped a ton.  My rating has shot up past 1400, which is now getting into the realm of non-embarrassing chess, although certainly still not good.  In search of more regular competition and enticed by some of their training videos and perks, I joined the Internet Chess Club and began playing there.  The competition is a little stiffer, and with the same quality of play I'm hovering around 1200 rating. I've been known to shoot as past 1300 or below 1100, but 1200 seems to be my mean.  I've been able to give some good players problems, including one night where I took 4 out of 7 from a 1700 player (two lucky wins, one blunder by him and one brilliant combination exchange that won his queen with a discovered check several moves into the exchange when it was too late for him to back out). I've also had some awful blunders where the game was over before it started.

That's where I am. Now let's see where I go.