PWC: Progress Report 2

My DMP PR is 5.15 after 700 1-point matches.

This is down from 5.19 in my last report. I'm not sure how meaningful an improvement this is, however. Over my last 100 matches I've seen my PR swing pretty wildly, from 5.03 on the low end to 5.28 on the high. Though my sense is that I'm making progress, with that much variance, it's hard to know what to make of it. I'm cautiously optimistic that this is the beginning of a long term trend.

I've come to group my errors into four rough categories: 1) small conceptual errors; 2) large conceptual errors; 3) technical errors; and 3) mental errors.

I've been spending extra time on the early game when reviewing my matches, and that's where I'm trying to clean up some of my small conceptual errors -- knowing when to favor splitting over building over running, for example. These are smallish errors (~0.020), but they add up since we face them at the beginning of every game. I'm also in the camp that believes a thorough understanding of the first several moves of the game provides the conceptual basis for much of what goes on in the middle game. I think I'm making some progress here.

Large conceptual errors are cases where I lack a basic understanding of what's going on in a position. Errors here can be quite large (0.80 or more) and they can add up quickly if the position is complex and doesn't resolve itself quickly. Emerging backgames come to mind. I'm not yet studying these in any systematic way and I'll  have to figure out an approach to doing so.

I'm not too worried about technical errors at the moment. They tend to be small and less frequent -- subtleties in the bear-off, for example -- and I feel I can make greater progress by cleaning up my larger, more frequent errors.

Mental errors are the most frustrating. A missed hit, failure to make a key point when you roll the perfecta -- these are just problems of awareness and focus, but they are typically quite costly. This is a particular weakness of mine due to health related issues, and it's an area I must clean up if I'm to make any real progress. To a large extent, it's about creating good habits: slowing down, looking for alternatives, noting good numbers before rolling, etc. It takes vigilance and discipline, and this is an area I feel is ripe for progress, since it doesn't require any backgammon knowledge I don't already have. I think most of my progress has been in this area.