Road to 1900 #3 - Tournament Prep

How Do I Do My Prep?

Well, this is a good question, and a difficult one to answer. So far, I have competed in one tournament, in my prep for that, I basically tried to cram as much theory into about four days as possible. That is no good. But at the time I thought it was the best I could do. For my quad coming up, I wouldn't even call this proper prep either. Mostly, it revolves around some mainline theory, exchange Grunfeld, the English and Opocensky in the Najdorf (I will have a small note on these later). And some mainline Ruy, with the Marshall and Anti-Marshall. I also play some practice classical games here, just to get some practical experience in.

Is It Good Prep?

No, I would optimise my prep had I the time, but at the moment I don't, so I'm approaching this quite differently to usual prep.

How Am I Approaching It?

Well, mostly, I am approaching it as a chance to get some games against similarly rated opponents, and to get some instructional games from it to analyse. So I am currently trying to implement a new system of thinking in my play, which I have discovered through my own personal analysis, and from reading books such as Excelling at Positional Chess. This is why I am not doing the usual prep, because I will rate the success of this mostly on how well I implemented my new approach to chess (and, of course, how many points I score).

What Is My New Way of Thinking, And How Did I Uncover My Issues?

My new way of thinking revolves around slowing down the pace my brain thinks at OTB. This sounds counter-intuitive, but let me explain.
In many of my games, while doing my analysis, I found that I could calculate quite accurately, and that many of my lines (however long or short they were) held up under engine scrutiny. The problem was that my opponents regularly made sub-optimal moves. This led me to play quickly, either grabbing pawns, or making 'active' moves with my pieces which gave my opponents opportunities to equalise or worse. My problem was that I did not slow down, and see how my opponent's moves changed the picture on the board. This was a major discovery, and one of the reasons why I place analysis so highly in my training. It is almost worthy of its own post.
So, my new way of thinking is as follows: Evaluate, Plan, Candidates, Calculate, Filter, Repeat. EPCCFR. Evaluate - take some time (10-30 seconds) to see how the board has changed after the last move. Plan - Based on your evaluation, formulate a plan of some kind (say, a Queenside minority attack in a Najdorf). Candidates - Pick some candidate moves, two or three, which serve your plan. Calculate - Calculate some lines, not hundreds, just until you feel you have the resulting position in your head. Two per candidate, lets say. After each line you calculated, ask yourself 'has my position improved, or gotten worse?'. Filter - get rid of the poor candidate moves and focus more on your main moves. Repeat - Go back to step one and start again.
This might seem long, but it was devised for classical chess, where you should have plenty of time to delve deep into the position.

Final Note:

Sorry again for the long post, but this is a topic I am particularly interested in and thought was worth a deep-dive. I won't post again until after my quad, when I should have some good analysis and hopefully some more rating points to talk about.