This weekend I took my own advise from “Put yourself in their shoes” — since my wife and kids were out of town, I decided to participate in theĀ Central California Open. This was the first time I played chess without my boys — not as a chess dad, but as a chess player.
I was very fortunate to meet Dejan Bojkov, who is a GM from Bulgaria, and share the weekend experience with him. Not only did I get to watch his behind-the-scenes work to compete in the tournament (he won 1st place), but he also helped me with analysis of my games.
I told Daniel many times how useful post-game analysis is for improvement, but I never actually did this for myself and my own games. Dejan gave me the opportunity to really experience for myself how powerful this can be.