So I’ve been on a bit of a chess binge this past week. The problem is that I’ve had this horrendously difficult take-home exam to work on, so I’ve been staying inside most weeknights and taking my breaks by playing on the Internet Chess Club.

Unsurprisingly, my rating has plummeted.

I was hanging tough in the 1400’s for awhile (even teasing 1500 from time to time), but now I’m down in the 1200’s. I can bounce back…when I play someone who is <1500 and I absolutely positively focus 100%, I quite often win. But when I play half-heartedly and am distracted, I lose. (Duh).

Another big problem is that I’ve been playing too many low ranked players. You should try to avoid playing people who are more than 100pts lower than you. I do my best when I consistently play people who are at my level or better. But sometimes, no players in this range answer my game requests, so I loosen up the requirements and end up playing an 1100.

I can’t wait until I pass this exam in tommorow. Then, the work on reparing my ICC rating will begin…

My on-again off-again affair with the Internet Chess Club is now on again.  I signed up for a year long membership (at the student rate).

I did the math, and it was about 10 years ago that I first started playing on the ICC.  I remember all-nighters on the ICC during high school Christmas vacation.  My family had a little room in the attic for our computer, and I’d endure the freezing New England winter to play (Yes, we had a space heater, which was really good at warming half of your body).  Ahh, the memories.

And the LAG.  My God, it was unbearable some nights.  We had a dial-up connection at the time, probably a 14k modem.  It could be painful at times.

My handle is SpaceRook, so if you see me online, let’s play!  I like 2/12 and 5/12 times.  My rating hovers around 1400, but my goal is to stabalize in the 1600’s.