Journey into the forest!

The idea

I managed to find some time to make a short entry into my practice journal so here I am again. Reason is I wanted to write about one of my bad habits. I had the chance to review this game of mine with a much stronger player and the general remark was clear!

Your reading is ok, but it can be improved.

This game involves my favorite opening as white (giving it all away here) but I realized that I missed key aspects of the opening:

1. Not understanding the opening thoroughly enough.
2. By not paying attention to what my opponent is doing. I tend to play my opening moves up until a certain order and unless I see a clear threat from my opponent, I seem to ignore his moves and just setup my position up until I run out of 'prep' (bad prep that is ...). So I seem to apply aspects of a system-based opening to a tactical opening. This is a very bad habit that needs to looked at too.
3. General remark : My time control skills are still bad but I am working on it.

But most importantly : I don't calculate!!!!

So I was recommended to start working through the Woodpecker method. I have a physical copy here at home so no more excuses for not picking it up! I must say I really feel motivated to work at my reading and I also think that working through a physical study source is beneficial for me. I tend to become lazy when solving puzzles online i.e. let's click and see what happens. So working with a book circumvents this and I know it works for me as I applied this during my time as a go player.

The plan

I talk the talk, but I need to start walking too. The authors of the book state that the 1st step of the Woodpecker Method (WM) constitutes starting the 1st cycle of 4 weeks. In those 4 weeks I need to try and solve as many problems as I can (and feel comfortable with). So my plan is to solve the first 222 easy puzzles during those 4 weeks! Should it be that I can speed through a lot of earlier ones I might adjust this goal but I don't want to set the bar too high to begin with and risk failing my goal entirely Leeroy Jenkins style!
On March 1st I will then start the 2 week repetition cycle of the problems, and so on.

The outcome

I hope to be able to achieve the following goals:

1. Improve my reading depth and accuracy. Being able to more confidently play out a complex sequence in my head with less of a risk that it doesn't work in the end would tremendously help my game.
2. To learn how to keep reading! There are so many games were I find a sequence (winning a pawn for example) but fail to notice I have a forced checkmate. The game featured in this post is a good example as there were many moments were I should have been able to convert my advantage into a win.
3. In the end, I also need to face the music and realize that I can do all the puzzles I want, I need to stop being lazy and also start and use more time (as I discussed in my previous post).