All right, let's see what you guys have planned for the year.

I didn't do much in 2015 regarding what I wanted to accomplish (probably because I played a ton of bullet), other than perhaps finishing Palliser's Workout book.


2016 goals:

- no more correspondence (other than a tournament I'm already in), since I haven't been enjoying it much;
- learn a bit about 1...e5, since I've been playing pretty much only Caro-Kanns;
- either go through Palliser's second book or do a load of ChessTempo tactics.


I think that's pretty much it, I don't see myself having much time to dedicate to chess, at least in the first half of the year.

Im looking at playing 60 turn based games on chess.com at a 2000 level without moving pieces but with pen and paper. I probably wont make it but there is no harm in trying.

I don't really think it's likely to happen, because the big tournaments are too much time for me to realistically be able to take off of work, but something I would really love to do in 2016 is attend a "major" tournament with press credentials. That's more of a pipe dream than a resolution though, I think.

As for goals more likely to be achieved: just making sure I keep my blog accurate and updated, always have the Prodigy Watch pages reflect the most recent ratings list, and making sure I manage to post some relatively detailed analysis of at the very least the Candidates Tournament and the World Championship is a big deal to me. As a bonus, maybe actually put in the time to do the detailed study of ratings inflation I've been contemplating for years, and publish a few thousand words on the topic. We'll see about that though...

I started a new job a few months ago, it's the first 9-5 job I've had since I started the blog, and I found my blogging time massively depleted as a result. Mainly I just don't want that trend to continue through 2016.

As for actually playing chess? Meh, no goals there. I might play a few games now and then for fun, because chess is fun, but I have no intention of trying to improve my play as doing so would require "work", and any hours of work I devote to chess at this point will be analytic in nature.

chess:

- gain 20 rating points
- qualify for the world championship

personal:

-- boop 15 big, passive dogs on the nose

I want to qualify for the main draw of the British Chess Championships and it's going to be pretty tough, the only realistic way for me to do so is to snag one of the entries that is given to the highest finishing non-qualified player in the open section of a weekend congress.

I'm planning to wait until March/April onwards as presumably this will mean there's a higher chance that those that finish above me in said open sections will have already qualified for the BCC.

My goal this year is the same as last year: make it to 1900 blitz on either chess.com or ICC. Probably won't happen though.

Make it to 2300 on chess.com (bullet). All time high is 2212. Need to study opening theory, as it's currently non existent.

Hmm, I should have some. Maybe YTF can tell me what they should be .

To not embarrass myself in my appearances in the 4NCL.

I'm getting really curious as to what "TF" stand for.

Play less 3m chess.
Come to think of it, play less chess period!

Hmm, I swear I responded to this already. "YTF" is "YouTalkFunny" a poster in OOT who started a log in the health and fitness forum. I have probably typed YTF 234234324 times.

I meant YKW of course! If YTF gave me yearly goal advice for chess (or probably anything) I'd be properly f*cked.

So, yeah, hopefully YKW can give some solid advice for my chess goals for this year. It is tricky b/c I am about to become a parent....and...well I have no idea what should be a reasonable but motivating goal. I'd still love to get my rating to 2000 longish term but, I mean, I have to play rated games for that, lol.

Do you need opening theory for bullet? Or do you mean opening theory specifically designed for bullet? Nakamura usually plays weird stuff in bullet, like 1. b3 and then g3 and fianchettoes both bishops

While opening theory probably isn't as important for bullet compared to blitz or longer timed games, I still think it's important enough to warrant studying. I've never studied openings so my knowledge is very limited.

Anyways, I got too 2300 faster than expected! Next up is 2400!

I finally achieved my multi-year goal of a chess.com blitz rating of over 1900, I also beat a 2050 rated blitz player on chess.com. I guess my new goal is 2000 blitz!

Woooo!

Go back to playing Go instead?

Boom

Nice work!
My chess.com bullet went from ~1600 to ~1900.
I probably should play less bullet though.

nailed it!

Pretty sweet goal acquisition!

2017 goal, get my ChessTempo rating up 100 points. No time for tourneys right now.