First Blog

I have decided to start a blog with a focus, hopefully, on my chess playing and other random musing in my life. I plan on keeping it positive, but since I tend to be a negative person I'm quite sure some negativity will slip in there from time to time.

I have been working fairly hard on my chess game the last couple of weeks. I've been doing the usual, working some tactic problems, playing some games, and attempting to understand the principles and the endgame. I have been taking a mental stock during and after the game and have come to realize a few things. First is that while I know the general principles of positional play I tend not to think about them and make them useful during a game. Secondly when I do attempt to use these principles I'm not sure how to judge which advantages or disadvantages I should nurture and attempt to fix. The endgame is another matter entirely. I understand the basic concepts of the endgame, but when it comes down to even slightly more complex endings I am at a loss. I've read and studied some endgame manuals, but none of them seem to explain it in a way that sinks into the sealed pressure lock vault that is my mind. I am sure some of my problem is lazy thinking when I'm at the board and the lack of visualization or perhaps even more accurate would be incorrect visualization. It is something I need to correct. The strange thing is I feel my actual play has gotten worse overall, but I could be wrong.