| 6 | 588 | 628 | 5-7 | 5-0 |
| 7 | 590 | 728 | 2-2 | 4-4 |
| 8 | 587 | 739 | 5-6-1 | 9-3 |
-| 9 | 579 | 795 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
+| 9 | 579 | 795 | 3-0-1 | 25-6 |
+| 10 | 604 | 935 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
Notes:
e5 just to see a broader variety of positions and build a broader
variety of skills.
-# Week 8
+## Week 8
This was a blitz week for the study plan.
The blitz games did not go super great, although I had my first ever
I really liked the draw puzzles and the mate in 2 problems are also
proving very enjoyable.
+## Week 9
+
+This week went well.
+I played a lot of games and had 28 wins, 6 losses, and 1 draw.
+My rapid rating went up a lotttt, and now I'm higher rated than my
+friend Will. :3
+
+I've reached the third (and final) "stage" of the puzzle book.
+I'm on target to finish the whole thing in the four weeks, though some
+of the remaining days might be a lot of work (I have to do ~28.5
+puzzles each remaining day).
+
+There's a chess.com official tournament for correspondence games for
+people rated under 1000 that started this morning as I write this (the
+morning after Week 9 ended).
+I look forward to seeing how I do in that (it'll take ages, as there's
+4528 players signed up..., 6 person group size, so it'll take 5 rounds,
+at up to 3 days a move).
+But that's more of a next week thing anyway!
+
+I started in on the new endgame book's "basic endings" chapter, which
+has been covering the basics of King + Pawn v. King endings so far.
+It's review for me, although its coverage makes some things clearer or
+more explicit than in my previous studies.
+
+I'm still not through the Sicilian Defense coverage from the openings
+book, which is more remarkable for the fact that it's being very
+summary about some major variations.
+
+As for my own openings, I've continued my experiment with replying
+classically to 1. e4 with e5 as black.
+I've been having difficulty with some of the sharper openings (the
+Vienna Game mostly this week), but it's otherwise been going pretty
+well.
+I might try learning the Nimzo-Indian and Queen's Indian as my
+responses to 1. d4.
+They're a bit more flexible and less focused on specific lines compared
+the Queen's Gambit Declined, which is kinda nice given that I rarely
+actually face 1. d4 openings (and even more rarely the Queen's Gambit).
+
+I've started a spreadsheet (going back to the start of this month,
+November) of my performance in different openings.
+My big weak spot definitely looks to be the sharper king's pawn (1. e4
+e5) openings, so depending on if they improve by the end of the month
+I might switch back to the Sicilian or put in a lot of effort next
+month on studying those.
+
+All in all, a great week for chess for me.
+I'll be writing next week's update from Argentina!
+
[^daily explanation]:
"Daily" is just what chess.com calls games with such a time control.
Chess.com is very popular (and according to the data gathered by that
Lady’s Gitweb / Wiki / blobdiff