Coincidence? YES!

Well, I jinxed myself with my previous posting. I continue to plow away through various tactical exercises, but I keep losing key games and my ratings continue to dive. It is very discouraging.

I am trying to put it all in perspective: (a) I am only into week 2 of my tactical training. Could I really expect to become a GM in just 14 days? Rome wasn't built in a day.... either was Kasparov. Still... I was hoping and expecting a visible improvement; (b) For whatever reason I have been playing higher ranked opponents lately -- it's no wonder why I am losing more. I am not sure about this one. Yes, higher ranked players should beat me more often, but I should gain more points from beating them than I would from beating lesser ranked players, right?; (c) There have been some solid, albeit losing efforts, on my part. Most notably was a draw against my old nemesis -- the King's Gambit -- where I was outranked by a good two hundred points.