Independent Component 2

Literal: 

a. I, Diego Cortez, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.

b. For my independent component 2, I have logged in a total of 38 hours on Chess.com after playing an overall number of 152 games against ranked opponents.( Average of 15 mins/per game) I have also completed a small-scale experiment to try to prove whether solving chess puzzles will increase overall online rank. I also completed a lab write-up for said experiment. 

Interpretive

Defend your work and explain how the significant parts of your component and how it demonstrates 30 hours of work.

The reason I did so many hours of independent games was because I wanted to build up a lot of personal experience to be able to test out my different potential answers. I believe this already is proficient work because I have more than 38 amount of hours playing games and developing skill, which is clearly evident in the 13 % increase in my overall online rank since the beginning of the year. However, I took it a step farther, and preformed and wrote a report on a "mini- experiment" to try to prove a potential answer, "Solving chess puzzles will increase skill." Despite the fact that this is probably no longer one of my top 3 answers, I still feel I learned a lot about how different forms of practice can help a player improve. 

Applied

How did it help you answer your EQ?  Be specific and use examples.

My EQ is "What is the best way to win a game of chess?" It would be impossible to answer this question with relevant  answers if I had no experience with the game. Again, I want personal experience with the content that I want to teach during my 2 hour presentation. If I am asked about how I am an "expert" in my topic, I wanted to be able to show them the work that I have done with independent studies. Playing over a total of 326 online ranked games throughout my senior year is something that I am proud of and I believe is evidence of a lot of personal experience and commitment to the topic.  

Chess Puzzle Experiment lab report (Google Doc):

Lab Report

Hours Log Calendar (google calendar):

Log Calendar( View in month-mode)

Evidence of 30 hours of work: 

For the evidence, I will simply provide my account's(diegocortez28) public game archive on chess.com. It keeps track of every single game I have played on the site.

My chess.com game archive

Independent Component 2 Plan Approval

 1.) For my independent component 2, I plan on solving a large amount of chess puzzles over 30 hours of time from the book, “CHESS, 5334 Problems, Combinations, and Games” by Laszlo Polgar.            

2.) I will solve puzzles in intervals of at least 30 minutes, and will record every single one I solve in a journal, which will include my personal solution and the actual solution. I will try to solve as many as possible in the time intervals I have.

3.) This will be extremely useful for solving my EQ because one of my answers is to solve as many puzzles as possible. I need experience doing this to be able to instruct others on how to do it. Also, my activity will include solving a puzzle with the class, so I think it will help me with the presentation. 

Independent Component 1

Literal: 

a. I, Diego Cortez, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.

b. For my independent component,  from the 20^th of October 2011, I have logged in a total of 48 hours on Chess.com after playing an overall number of 181 games against ranked opponents. (The average time for a game was 15 minutes. )

Interpretive

Defend your work and explain how the significant parts of your component and how it demonstrates 30 hours of work.

With my topic being on chess, I can't start teaching what I don't know about. I needed a lot of experience with the game to be able to develop a different perspective on the subject. With so much experience in the past months, I have definitely improved my skill and have a better understanding of the game. 

I thought it demonstrated hard work because most of the games are only a few minutes long, so I had to play more to get the hours I needed. I could have just played turn-based games( day-long games) and gotten easy hours like that, but instead I thought more games would increase my skill and help me out more than just a couple of really long games. 

Applied

How did it help you answer your EQ?  Be specific and use examples.

My EQ is "What is the best way to win a game of chess?" It would be impossible to answer this question with relevant  answers if I had no experience with the game. My third interview( Nguyen, Thongminh "Interview 3." Personal interview. 25 Jan. 2012) told me the best way to improve was to just keep playing games, and that is essentially what I have done with my independent task. A potential answer I currently have is to learn from more experienced players when you play against them. In a game played this past week, I had a superior position the entire game but still lost from a checkmate that I had never experienced. So after the game was finished I messaged the player and I was able to learn the technique he used to pull that surprising win. Overall, these hours of independent task have provided a level of experience and understanding of the game that I previously did not have. 

Hours Log Calendar (google doc):

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AtOdVDzQH5hJdDFSbXgtd01BdVdWVWRoN042eC03a3c#gid=0

Evidence of 30 hours of work: 

For the evidence, I will simply provide my account's(diegocortez28) public game archive on chess.com. It keeps track of every single game I have played on the site. I used games from October 20, 2011. 

http://www.chess.com/home/game_archive.html?member=diegocortez28&show=live

Independent Component 1 Plan Approval

1.)  For my independent study component, I plan on playing numerous online games against ranked opponents on the website, Chess.com. I hope to gain experience from these games to ultimately learn more openings and to improve my overall skill.

2.)  I am quite confident I can reach the goal of 30 hours of work because most of these games take quite a lot of time and effort. Some can last hours so I think the 30 hours will be reached. I can log in once I start a game and log out when I finish playing so that I can take an online screenshot of the process. I can also have an adult present as I play to be completely sure that I am working on the appropriate task.

3.)  My EQ demands knowledge in how to win a chess match and also a lot of experience doing so.  Playing countless games online against increasingly difficult players will in fact give me that experience I need in order to teach others how to win.