Quite simply my tactics suck. I can see the one or two movers fairly well, but anything more complicated than that leaves me staring into the tactical abyss, groping around in the dark searching for a guiding light. Something has to be done if I’m ever going to move my way up the ladder.

Looking around at how others have gone about studying tactics, I’ve decided to give the ‘Seven Circles‘ method a go. It works on the basis of repetition to repeatedly hammer the concepts into your head and many have had excellent results using this method. There is nothing to say it will work wonders for me, but it looks as good a method as any.

The idea is to work through a set tactical problems slowly, a few each day. Once completed, repeat them, but do twice as many each day in half the time. By the 7th circle they will all be done really quickly in one day.

The first few circles teaches you to understand the tactical concepts in each problem by spending plenty of time working them out. In the last few circles a very short solving time is used and relies largely on your pattern recognition to solve them.

I’ve actually been working on the circles for nearly 4 weeks now but wanted to see if I could stick them before posting about them here. I’m using CT-Art Levels 10 through to 60 to give me a set of 1039 problems with the first circle of 64 days. I’m averaging 18 problems a day, slightly ahead of the required 16/day for the first circle.

The last 2 or 3 circles are certain to be hell, but if I can get through them all I should have completed them just before the new season starts. Whether I can flex my newly toned tactical muscle in OTB play remains to be seen.

Horfield Chess Club took the spoils in both the Bristol League Knockout Cup and the Minor Knockout Cup to round off a very successful season. The committee are busy looking back through the record books to see if two Division titles and two cup victories is the biggest single season haul of trophies in the club’s history.

Something of a Minor KO specialist, the narrow 3.5 - 2.5 win over Clevedon on 29th April gave Horfield their 3rd Minor KO trophy in 4 years!

> View the Minor Knockout Match Report

However, the big game was a week later when Horfield took on Clifton in the Knockout Final. Clifton had dropped only two points in the league all season and looked favourites for the cup, but Horfield held their nerve to win 4.5 - 3.5!

> View the Knockout Match Report
> Download PGN or CBV of the games

The Knockout Trophy has eluded Horfield since 2000 so it was great to get our hands on it again, but the one we really want is the Division 1 championship which we haven’t won since 2001 - maybe next season!

It’s the end of the 2007-08 season for me. There are still a couple of cup finals which Horfield Chess Club is involved in but my services won’t be required - not if we want to win!

It’s been a good season - 13 wins, 3 draws and 2 losses. I played up in Division 2 a few times when the B and C teams were short, but I spent most of my time playing for the D team in Division 5 on top board. Having joined the league as a late entry, I was required to organise all the D team fixtures (which was easier with some clubs than with others), and it was very satisfying to win Division 5 in the first season.

Even though the season is over, I’ve got a summer of study and practice planned - tactics, lots of games, strategy, looking over some master games, etc. It looks like my rating will head up towards mid-90s (ECF) when the new grades come out in August and I’m going to need to put some effort in if I want to hit triple figures next year as I only played a couple of games against players rated in the 100s this season and I lost both of them!

The Novag Citrine is a stylish wooden effect auto sensory chess computer with hand carved wooden pieces, featuring a strong chess engine with a strength of around 2040 Elo. Optional PC connectivity allows for play against UCI engines.

For a dedicated chess computer, it’s beautiful - none of that cheap looking plastic that lets down so many other chess computers. The wooden pieces, although nice enough, are a little small for the board and are nothing special.

The auto sensory board works well and allows fairly natural play through the use of magnetic pieces operating reed switches under each square which removes the need to press down to register your move as is common with other computers. 4 LEDs surrounding each square and a 6 digit detachable LCD screen provide a simple but effective system for feedback and menu operation.

The Citrine engine is strong (Novag claim 2330 USCF, but in reality is closer to 2140 USCF) and will provide a tough challenge for even strong club players. For the few who are stronger than this (roughly the top 2% of chess players), there is the option of connecting to a PC via the serial (RS232) cable and with an interface like Arena you can play against UCI or Winboard Engines.

Detach the LCD screen and power adaptor and you have a very reasonable stand-alone chess set offering an excellent compromise for player vs player if a luxury wooden chess set is beyond your budget or you simply don’t have space.

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“When you see a good move, look for a better one” (Emanuel Lasker)

I failed to listen to this great piece of advice in my match on Tuesday evening. Having seen a line which was favourable (winning the exchange) I played through the line not considering that something much better might be lurking elsewhere on the board.

Had my mind been more open to other possibilites I’d probably have seen the better move. Had the possibility to win the exchange not been there I’d probably have seen the better move.

My previous move had intentionally threatened to win the exchange and when my opponent’s reply didn’t address this threat I seized the material on offer. What I didn’t notice was his move now allowed me to force his King to a square where I could subsequently fork his Queen and King - winning the Q for a piece.

Unless you are under time pressure, after finding a good move it often pays to spend a few extra moments to look for something even better.