[August](http://www.campfirechess.com/2015/august-a-rollercoaster-month/) was one of the worst months I have had since I began tracking my online chess results. I lost almost every game and considered taking a sabbatical from the game to *regroup*. September was [much better](http://www.campfirechess.com/2015/better-than-august/) but it was nothing compared to my breakout results in October! Going 7.0/12 for the month might not seem like much on a cross table, but the content of the games was far beyond my previous performance.
[pgn]
[Event “Live Chess”]
[Site “Chess.com”]
[Date “2015.10.29”]
[Round “?”]
[White “AmishHacker”]
[Black “aikidodan”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “B00”]
[WhiteElo “1060”]
[BlackElo “1009”]
[PlyCount “61”]
[EventDate “2015.??.??”]
[Source “Campfire Chess”]
[SourceDate “2014.10.11”]
[TimeControl “15”]
1. e4 Nc6 2. Nf3 f5 3. exf5 d5 4. Bd3 Nf6 5. O-O e6 6. fxe6 Bxe6 7. Qe2 Qd6 8.
Nc3 O-O-O 9. Nb5 Qd7 10. Ne5 Nxe5 11. Qxe5 Kb8 12. b3 a6 13. Nd4 Re8 14. Nxe6
Rxe6 15. Qc3 d4 16. Qc4 Rc6 17. Qa4 b5 18. Bxb5 axb5 19. Qxb5+ Kc8 20. d3 Bd6
21. g3 Re8 22. Bg5 Rb6 23. Qa5 Re2 24. Bxf6 gxf6 25. Qa8+ Rb8 26. Qf3 Rxc2 27.
Qxf6 Rd2 28. Qxd4 Bxg3 29. Qxd7+ Kxd7 30. fxg3 Rxd3 31. Rf7+ {AmishHacker won
by resignation} 1-0
[/pgn]
A key to improvement in these last few months has been [Peshk@](http://www.chessok.com) tactics training courses including the latest edition of CT-ART. I started playing chess seriously in 2006 with *Rybka Aquarium* before adopting *Chessbase*. The quality of the user interfaces in Peshk@ and Aquarium are not up to modern standards but the chess content is exceptional for the price. In the next game my opponent’s devastating 11…Qxb2?? was a resignation in disguise.
[pgn]
[Event “Live Chess”]
[Site “Chess.com”]
[Date “2015.10.18”]
[Round “?”]
[White “AmishHacker”]
[Black “Gazana”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “B00”]
[WhiteElo “1058”]
[BlackElo “1000”]
[PlyCount “45”]
[EventDate “2015.??.??”]
[Source “Campfire Chess”]
[SourceDate “2014.10.11”]
[TimeControl “15”]
1. e4 a6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Nc3 c6 4. d4 e6 5. Bc4 d5 6. exd5 cxd5 7. Bd3 Bg7 8. O-O
Qb6 9. Be3 h6 10. a3 g5 11. Ne5 Qxb2 12. Na4 Qxa1 13. Qxa1 Bxe5 14. dxe5 Nd7
15. Qc3 b5 16. Nc5 Nxc5 17. Qxc5 Ne7 18. Qc7 Bd7 19. Bc5 Rc8 20. Qd6 Rxc5 21.
Qxc5 f5 22. Qa7 Bc6 23. Qb8+ {AmishHacker won by resignation} 1-0
[/pgn]
I finished October with a 1065 rating on [Chess.com](http://www.chess.com) which is the highest sustained rating I have had to date.