I think f4 and f5 were really where you went downhill..you effectively turned what could've been an advantage (a bishop in a semi-open position) into a complete disadvantage (a bishop that resembled a backward pawn). I think you probably should've just doubled rooks on the e file and try to put real pressure on his backwards d pawn instead of f5. The problem you would run into is that black has great outposts for both of his knights on b4, d4, and e5..and your best square (e6), is hard to get to..

The reason I played f4 was to prevent the knight from jumping into e5. But when i played f5, i created a weak pawn and a nice square for the knight. Was f4 still a pretty bad move?

Here another 15 min game I played on ICC. My opponent has a standard rating of 2240

Ok so the "how to reassess your chess" i ordered didnt go through so i was refunded. So i guess ill buy amateur's mind instead. i just found out that my friend has HTRYC so i can just borrow it from him.

Just got back from the American Open. New USCF rating is 1361 Expected a bigger jump at the beginning of the tourney but o well

Im improving bit by bit on CTS. Im now 1560 on CTS. Is this really high for a 1300 USCF? Cause biikes has something like this and hes around 1800 right? Weird..

got to 1570 today on CTS and i broke 1700 on ICC 15 min rating Im still waiting for the Amateur's Mind to arrive

the amateur's mind just arrived! I read the first (short) chapter and it seems good so far

Oh boy! Excellent book. I think you'll really like it. Also congrats on your new rating, and I think your CTS rating is very high for your USCF rating. That's good news, as it means your USCF should probably be higher. Woohoo!

i dropped a bit on CTS about 20 points over these last couple of days. Lost my last two 15 min games on ICC. O well... a little cold streak but ill get over it

argh!! CTS keeps freezing on me whenver i complete or fail a problem.. makes me mad. Then when I log back in, it says I miss a problem, so I probably lost about 20 points today because of that ! :@

just broke the 1580 point on CTS today! Im off my cold streak and i can finally do tactics again! I should start posting more games

broke 1590 on CTS

my CTS rating has dropped a bit back to 1550. I ordered chessmaster for xbox yesterday so i hope that'll come soon

got my CTS back up to 1570. About half way through "Amateur's Mind"

CTS is now 1580 so im climbing back up. Ive decided to try and play the grunfeld now against d4. Ive tried playing the nimzo indian / queen's indian but theyr'e very difficult and didnt quite suit me.