It's been two years. Where am I now?

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I am a little behind schedule in writing this post. 2022 was not the best of years for me, for many reasons that are beyond the scope of this blog. Still, there was something that was consistent throughout the year, and that was my continued passion to learn this fabulous game. So how did I do? 

 Firstly, I have definitely improved. My game is on a much better footing than before, and I have had moments where I have beaten some of the best players that I currently play against. I am also getting many more draws against the top players, and losing is less frequent. On the down side, I am still playing mostly slow games on turn based sites. 

I have spent more time playing 5 and 10 minute matches in real time but not enough to really make a difference in that area. My thought processes are slow at best. I also did not spend huge amounts of time studying the game this year, (mostly for reasons stated above) and I learned mostly by simply playing a great deal, and analysing my games. Particularly the latter is a very important part of any players armoury if they want to get better. 

Learning from mistakes is critical or they tend to be made over and over. In terms of game-play, probably the area that I improved most was the endgame. It is such a difficult part of the game and I really didn't know anything about it. If it came down to a position with very few stones, I would be just hoping for the best. 

I do feel I have at least a basic understanding now of what positions win and which ones draw or lose. There is a long was to go, but it has improved. The other area I feel I made positive steps is against weaker opponents. In the past I found players that didn't follow the conventions that I was used to very hard to play against and I'd make mistakes that I wouldn't normally make because I was unused to very unorthodox positions. 

I am much more aware now of how to beat weak players that don't strategically play well. On the whole it was a good year. In future I still want to play more shorter games and I'd like to spend more time learning some theory. I have so many wonderful videos and explanations from GM Markus Schaub that I could revise. It would be a great shame if I didn't make the best use of that material.

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