One of the ways in which competitive chess is good for you is that it can cause you to strive to be a better version of yourself. Since I've gained a renewed enthusiasm for touraments, I've found myself doing regular aerobic exercise. Our brains need a free flowing blood supply, so any improvement in its circulation can only be a good thing.
Shouldn't someone do this anyway, to stave off things like death? Well yes, but when goals are framed so negatively they become less appealing. A major key to motivation is to frame goals that are attractive, and what could be more appealing to chess enthusiasts than winning tournaments and improving their rating?
The allure of success in tournaments has also caused me to do other stuff. I previously reported doing regular tactics and endgame practice, and I have a couple of apps that make this convenient. Meanwhile I've started the process of refurbishing my opening repertoire, mainly with lines I've played before but got scared to play them because I hadn't kept up-to-date with theory.
Training Tournaments
This week's training tournaments are in the Colle vs the King's Indian and Gruenfeld, as presented in my flagship Building an Opening Repertoire course.
Sunday June 15th at 5pm UK Time: Colle vs KID
Sunday June 15th at 6.15pm UK Time: Colle vs Gruenfeld
My Upcoming Events
There's still nothing new from last week.I'm still thinking about playing in the World Senior Championships in Gallipoli in October, if I win enough money to fund it.
Here is how things look now:
June 13-15 2025: South Lakes Congress
I've added this one to my schedule, mainly as a warm-up for Cesme. You can find details here.
June 23-29 2025: 11th Cesme International Open
This strong open event, in Izmir in Turkey, promises to be a real challenge. I'll be going a couple of days early because I can get a cheap flight, but the city looks very interesting and well worth a visit.
July 31 - August 10 2025: British Championships
As mentioned I've gone for the Championship itself rather than one of the old folks sections. Obviously this will be full of underrated juniors, I'll just have to play better against them this time! You can find details here.
August 23 - 30 2025: San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Tenerife
This looks like a great event and I'm really looking forward to it. Travelling back is a bit tricky because the direct flights were very expensive, finally I found a flight back to Glasgow from where I can take a train!
September 5-7: Hull 4NCL Congress
I'm a big fan of 4NCL Congresses because they are played in nice venues, they're invariably well organized and they offer free entry and accommodation to GMs. You can find details here:
I'll be looking for things after September, not sure when or where!
Twitch Channel
My new Twitch channel will have new shows every Monday ('Chess Questions Answered), the Webinar on training tournaments and games is up on Fridays. Please follow it if you'd like to get updates etc, all the shows will be available to Premium members in the Tiger Chess members area, even when they are no longer available on Twitch.
Have a good weekend.
Nigel
