Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Happy New Year!!!!

Hello 2008!

I'm not one for making New Year's resolutions. So I'm not going to say things I like I resolve to do the following:
  1. Not play any time controls under G/60. (I'll break that one this Thursday night.)
  2. Manage my time better.
  3. Learn new openings.
  4. Study tactics.
  5. Study endings.
  6. Get off, and stay off my floor.

These are all worthy goals, and I will endeavor to do these things. I make no promises to anyone, including myself.

2007 was a wild year of chess. It ended with three days of craziness in Saratoga Springs, NY. (Details at 11!)

I played the most number of USCF rated games in a year that I've done. 432 games rated under the regular system. I may have also played some games rated under the quick chess system, but I consider that fluff so I don't keep track of it. The good news is I won over 100 games this year. (First time ever!) The bad news is I lost over 270 games. Ouch! "Stuff" happens.

I started in on the chess blog scene fairly late into 2007 so you didn't get to follow all of 2007. Hopefully the parts you did follow were educational, insightful, amusing, etc. I don't claim to have the wit and wisdom of some of my fellow bloggers, but if nothing else you got a feel for what it's like for a 50 something female to play chess amongst mostly males.

5 comments:

Robert Pearson said...

It was great to discover your blog in 2007, Polly, and I'm really looking forward to a whole year of reading you. You must win the award for most active player/organizer/blogger in the USA. Again, best wishes for 2008, good chess to you and me too!

Ryan said...

I've only recently discovered you blog Polly, but it's quickly become one of my favourites.

I also have decided not to make any 'resolutions' for the new year, but will try to finish the year a better chess player than when I started.

Keep blogging, and have a great 2008!

Unknown said...

i never make resolutions. i'm glad you came into the blogscene, you have the wit and wisdom. that is an impressive number of games, you should win an award just for that!

Anonymous said...

435? Dang! I've averaged 52 a year since 2003.

Polly said...

wahr: LOL Other organizers run more tournaments then me, other players play more, other bloggers blog more, but you're probably right in that I do it all. Jack of all trades master of none!

ryan: Thanks for stopping by.

loser: Thanks! You too have a wonderful sense of humor about sucking at chess. Maybe we should become a comedy team. :-)

Soap: I'm making up for lost time. There were some pretty lean years in the 80s where I played less then 10 games for the entire year. I've averaged 104 games a year over 35 years. It's only these last two years that have bumped my average over 100.