Chess in Israel

Yesterday's loss came on a Friday evening. Normally I wouldn't be playing rated chess games on a Friday, except this Friday was a day off. Moreover, I'd called in sick on Thursday owing to pain in my shoulder and neck like I was being stabbed with a fork. Two full days of rest should have meant I was ready to bring my A-game. During those two days at home, I edited " Missed tactics, part 1 ," and the sense of accomplishment in completing it added to my feeling of readiness. After entering Focus Mode, the Chess.com system assigned me the white pieces and paired me with one "ramanac," rated 1457. I opened with 1.d4 and proceeded to get clinically dismantled.

Last month I crossed 2500 for the first time on Lichess Puzzles, and a couple weeks ago I hit 2900 on Chess.com Puzzles. Have the achievements had a meaningful impact on my overall chess performance? It isn't clear. On a general cognitive level, the fact that I'm solving harder puzzles means I can find solutions to tactical situations that in the past would leave me stumped; and on the level of skill, my visualization and calculation habits are improving such that I can and am likelier to construct more intricate move trees in my mind and utilize them to make sounder decisions. However, on a purely practical level, the time it takes me to find puzzle solutions is typically well in excess of the time I would have in an actual game. Then there is the question of memory and association. How much of the puzzle-solving experience am I retaining, and of what is retained how much does my intuition know to access when the situation on the board calls for it? After all, the puzzles t...

This afternoon's loss featured the Benko Gambit, a 1.d4 defense I have fared well against in the past but to the best of my recollection had never faced before in a rated Rapid game. Itsameeagain , rated 1417, surprised on move 3 and based on his speed of play knew what he was doing early on, while I was in unfamiliar territory and felt the game gradually slip out of my control. There were a few moments in the endgame where the game review indicates I could have equalized and even seized an advantage, but I failed to recognize them. No excuses, no suspicions of foul play. Like yesterday, my circumstances going into the game were favorably aligned. I got outplayed by an opponent whose opening theory ran deeper than mine and who successfully used a passed pawn in the endgame to paralyze my pieces.

Were this a normal year, I would not be sitting in my room playing chess online today; I would be exploring a foreign country and perhaps playing chess on my phone or in a club. It's day three of my school's two-week winter break, but it's also month three of the war in Gaza. The only flights in and out of Israel are with ElAl Airlines , and the situation is such that a regional escalation in the conflict could trigger a shutdown of the airport and an immediate cancellation of all flights. I was rested and alert going into this afternoon's game. The dishes were washed, the internet was fast. Chess.com assigned me the Black pieces against one Ituraspe of Serbia, and when he opened with 1.e4 I was feeling confident. As I always do before starting a game, I entered Focus Mode to hide the opponent's rating and other distractions. Later I would learn that Ituraspe's rating was 1418 -- but as of composing this report it has shot up to 1472 on the back of a seven-...

It was 14:14, and I had arranged to meet a friend visiting from the U.S. at 14:30 at a location roughly a ten-minute walk from work. I needed to use the toilet and had the urge to play a game of chess while doing so. Since there wasn't enough time for a Blitz game, I clicked the "2+1 Bullet" button on the Lichess Quick-pairing menu. The last time I had played a game of Bullet was 14 September 2023 . It was a win, and it elevated my rating to an all-time high of 1294. Bullet demands hyperalertness, lightning-fast internet and an environment that is sealed off from distractions. Rare is the occasion when all three conditions are met. Yesterday was one such occasion.