As I have been talking about for a while now, I am working through the Yusupov series of books by Quality Chess. Recently I have experienced my first failure.
For those who may not be familiar with the series, each chapter works as follows: first, there are various positions with analysis designed to convey the subject matter. Then 12 test positions are given, each with a point value. Once the reader has taken the test and scored their results a mark is given of either Excellent, Good, or Passing depending on the number of points scored. If the reader scores below the minimum threshold then they are encouraged to go back and redo the chapter.
After passing all previous chapters with varying degrees of success I finally ran into a snag in the chapter on converting material advantages.
Interestingly it wasn’t that I didn’t correctly pass the test, it’s that I was having a hard time even finding ANY answers to the majority of the positions.
After trying to come up with solutions over three different sessions and only finding any possible ideas for around half of the positions I gave up and decided to simply read through the entire chapter again and then re-approach it with fresh eyes.
What makes this such an interesting subject to ponder is that unlike so many of the other chapters this one is far more esoteric in nature. After all, if you fail the chapter on the opposition you can just study the opposition and work through the problem. But this is so much more ethereal of a subject.
After all, I don’t have a problem in my own praxis with converting a material advantage. So this comes down to more of an issue with planning and efficiency.
So that’s something else I should be working on when analyzing my own games. Food for thought anyways.
Til Next Time,
Chris Wainscott