Been another long stretch since I've updated... Took another long break from chess, and went on many adventures. I'm getting back into it, and so I'm going to start using this again to track my progress. I've started moving towards my highest rating in correspondence chess on chess.com.

I've got a tournament coming up in a little over a week. I'm going to be playing as a Class E (u1200) player. That's my best guess for where I belong. Online ratings usually have me in the 1100-1300 range, and I know those are somewhat inflated.

I've also got some advice from a few coaches, which is hopefully going to get me to start thinking in new ways. And I've been learning more about chess programs. Between Scid vs. PC, polyglot, Icofy, and the various super-strong free engines, there are more than enough tools and information out there to keep any student busy.

I'll probably write up a post in the next week or so, talking about using Scid vs. PC, Icofy, and polyglot to create opening book files. I think this is especially useful for practicing your own openings or preparing against a specific opponent.

Until then, I'll be losing 5+2 games on time or playing some turn-based chess like it was bullet.