Monday 17 March 2008

Alternative Training Strategies

I've been thinking about alternative ways to prepare for chess tournaments. Instead of working on my openings, playing through games, or testing my endgame skill against the computer I'm trying a different approach.
In the area of tactics I'm playing "Dance Factory" on the PS2. I'm attempting to make it all the way through the soundtrack to "Stop Making Sense" by Talking Heads in "Endurance Mode". So far I get up to "Life During Wartime" before I collapse.
For strategy I'm using "Desktop Tower Defense" as my training tool. By building optimal mazes with the correct placement of my "Squirt Towers", I hopefully can find the right squares for my pieces the next time I sit down to play.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just stare directly at the sun for preparatory retinal therapy. I know that I'm ready to stumble inside when a chequered pattern appears.

DeNovoMeme said...

I pray to almighty God. I know he is listening because when he says "yes" win and when he says "no" I lose. However, I also know that God helps those who help themselves. So, I help myself to a piece here and a pawn there, and if I take enough of their material, God says "yes."

(But seriously, the best thing to do is get a good nights sleep! Training is only for those who have a REAL chance WORTH maximising. Otherwise, just play the game and enjoy it.)

TrueFiendish said...

About a quart of strong coffee is good, along with a drawing of blood by scraping one's knuckles across a brick wall, a la Laurie Lawrence. "You wanna know pain, son. That's pain!!"