At work recently I was reintroduced to an interesting quote: Growth and comfort can’t coexist It kinda puts a name to something I’ve been feeling about myself lately. In a lot of ways, life is pretty comfortable. And in some areas I’ve been finding myself prioritizing comfort over the discomfort of growth. This concept is […]
Read More Growth vs ComfortIt’s round 3! I won my first game on Friday night, and I lost my second game on Saturday morning. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect next. This game was the second game on Saturday, and although I had just lost one, I went into this one with a positive attitude. Anything can happen! […]
Read More Chess Game Analysis – Nova Scotia Open Round 3Sarah and I got out biking tonight, and we decided to ride Cape Split. It’s a beautiful hiking trail which takes about 2 hours to walk and ends up at the top of an impressive point which sticks out into the Bay of Fundy. Although it’s much more common to hike it, we really enjoy […]
Read More Biking Cape SplitRound two of the Nova Scotia Open was on Saturday morning, the first of two games for that day. I was happy with my win from yesterday, and my opponent in round two was rated 1431, about 100 points higher than my round 1 opponent, and less than 100 points lower than me. It could […]
Read More Chess Game Analysis – Nova Scotia Open Round 2The Nova Scotia Open was the first classical tournament I had played for a while, and I was very happy with the result! In this 5-part series, I’ll walk through each of my games, the lessons learned, and at the end, the tournament results! (spoiler) Kudos to my coworker Michael who helped me to analyze […]
Read More Chess Game Analysis – Nova Scotia Open Round 1It’s the second mistake that gets you. This is a game that I played at my local club against a strong opponent. He and I have had some good games in the past, and most of the time I lose. On this night, we had just played a very complicated game which ended in a […]
Read More Chess Game Analysis – A Queen and Pawn Endgame, and The “Second Mistake”The activity today was a full-day guided safari which was included in our stay at Chrislin. It was done by their sister company, Criss Cross Adventures. It’s a family business: the woman who owns Chrislin, her son owns Criss Cross Adventures. We had breakfast at Chrislin and then met our driver/tour guide at 08:30. His […]
Read More South Africa Part 6 – Addo and SchotiaThis is a club game that I played against a very strong player. I didn’t expect to win, but I was happy to have a reasonable position for much of the game. I’ve been learning about pawn breaks, and there are some lessons here about how to use them well, which I did not do! […]
Read More Chess Game Analysis – some lessons about pawn breaksThe started at 3:15am when my alarm went off. We had a quick bite of food and some tea, and jumped in our Uber at 4am. Got to the airport before 4:30, checked into our flights, went through security, found our gate, and had some breakfast. Other than setting off the metal detector and getting […]
Read More South Africa Part 5 – Addo Elephant ParkWhat a day this was. We started by taking an Uber out to a place called Simon’s Town. We visited an amazing beach there called Boulders Beach with a breeding colony of African Penguins. It was an unforgettable experience! We had done our homework, and got there shortly after opening at 8am. It was an […]
Read More South Africa Part 4 – Penguins!