Update from the zoo...

Things have been pretty busy lately. I am still looking for a new job and things have been very busy at work requiring me to work extra hours. I also wrecked my car and got a new one. My girlfriend also got 2 sulcata ("African Spurred") tortoises and a puppy. So altogether we have 3 cats a dog, 2 tortoises, and a dwarf hamster plus kids. So between job interviews and testing, looking for a new car and taking care of the animals I have been really busy and have not had as much time to spend on chess as I would like.

I finished the level 20 problems a second time and have started on a second round of level 30 problems.

My 45 45 games went OK this tourney with one win, 3 draws and 2 losses during the regular play and I lost my playoff game. The only game I was disappointed in was my playoff game where I had played into a significant advantage but did not analyse the position correctly. More tactical training and time on my clock would have helped. After I missed my initial advantage Crafty still had the game about even but through additional poor play (and missing an enprise bishop under sever time pressure) I lost the game.

In my correspondence play I am 8-0 so far with 4 wins vs Matthew, 2 vs Josh and 1 vs ChessSmith, who is one of Josh's buddies on ChessWorld. I in the middle of 4 other games vs Josh, Matthew, DutchDefense and ChessSmith. I am trying out some new openings in some of these games. These games also cut into my tactical training time but still have value.

I am hoping things will settle down soon so I can make a commitment to start the circles for real.