The tournament I have just finished in Bavaria saw me lose 66 Fide elo.
It followed hot on the heels of Mallorca, where I lost 50.8 Fide elo.
True, I gained 14 Fide elo at the world team seniors in North Macedonia in September, and 18 ECF elo earlier that month in Torquay.
But those successes came after losing more than 50 elo - both Fide and ECF - in Northumbria in August.
The one constant that seems to have affected my performances in all those events - the relatively successful as well as the disastrous - is tiredness.
Specifically this has manifested itself most clearly in some almost unbelievable oversights.
But I have also been lazy at the board, finding it difficult to work hard on positions, which has led to me being at times more than an hour ahead on the clock.
One only has to look at how engines' rating performances rise with the more time they are given to know there is a direct correlation between playing quickly and playing inferiorly.
I have decided it is time to take a step back from tournament play, albeit not as drastically as I might.
In future I plan to play only one 'proper' tournament a month, and by 'proper' I mean a tournament of at least seven rounds, preferably nine or more, with most days of the event seeing just one round.
I cannot implement this overnight as I am committed to rather more than one tournament a month into the New Year.
But from February that is my plan.
It does not mean I will only play nine games or so a month, as cutting back on tournaments will make me more available for club and 4NCL chess.
I gues you right to play a bit less
ReplyDeleteMaybe you can also avoid the tournaments with a lot of youngsters in it.they are often low rated and play stronger as their rating.
Find a way with your time issue.I hope you still enjoy the game!
Some of them are also badly behaved at the board, although this was not much of an issue in Tegernsee.
DeleteI feel similar…perhaps simply playing too much Tim !
ReplyDeleteYes, that almost certainly has a lot to do with it. Shame!
DeleteCongrats on the milestone.! with modern time controls we do need to play quite fast but I try to recognize when a crucial decision has to be made and spend time on that.
ReplyDeleteThe strange thing is that, despite playing quickly, I don't like rapids or blitzes.
ReplyDelete