OT: Chess

[AngryScientist]

Good grief.

I've been playing a bit of chess these days online. What a freaking humbling exercise. In many cases I know I'm being senselessly aggressive or not thinking through the moves and the strategy thoroughly, but...

I'm definitely getting better as I play more, but santa mozzarella I still suck!

Anyway, just venting Getting on a plane tomorrow so will have a few hours to continue to get schooled.

Any other regular chess players here?

[Veloo]

Not a regular but I'll hop on the chess.com website or use my app to exercise the brain a bit.

Sounds like we have similar play styles.

[unterhausen]

I never picked up chess. I have wasted much of my life playing go. But somehow I saw that there is now a version of online chess where you lose if you play the AI preferred next move. I thought that was hilarious. As an example, if you play checkmate, you lose.

[robin3mj]

My wife taught me when we were dating and we haven’t played in years. Now my 7 year old son can school me. Pretty humbling but impressive on his part.

[noonan1970]

I recently flew a few times and played the flight chess they had on Delta. I lost every time and I played a few dozen times. It was kind of frustrating!

[BryanE]

Joined chess.com during the peak of the pandemic.
I suck but it's fun. Best 29.95 per year I've spent.

[donevwil]

Enjoyed chess for a many years and was pretty good at it until I challenged my nephew. He was 100% into it and more committed (smarter?) than me. It's all about the competition.

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[tbike4]

Yep if I am not on PL I am usually on chess.com playing the 5 minute game. My rating goes up and down. Some co-workers play as well so we play each other at lunch sometimes. One guy is very good. My rating at the moment is 445, he is in the 700s. I enjoy it. Not as much as riding my Hampsten mind you

[shinomaster]

I've been playing chess since I was a kid. My late brother was an amazing player and we played countless games over the years. I play on my telephone chess.com it's a blast to play speed chess. I am shinomaster t.here too lol

[Turkle]

I was at one time rated over 2000 USCF, although I haven't played a rated game in about 15 years now!

The single best thing you can do to make immediate improvements is understand tactics. Here is an excellent site that will teach you everything you need to know: https://www.chesstactics.org/

I still do daily puzzle and study practice for fun. A chess puzzle app is a great way to stay sharp. Lichess has a great puzzle function that you can use for free. Solve 10-15 of these a day and enjoy rapid improvement.

If you really get into it, you'll want to start buying books. Here are a few that made the biggest difference for me as a beginner:

- Art of Attack in Chess - Vukovich
- My 60 Memorable Games - Bobby Fischer
- The Ideas Behind the Chess Openings - Reuben Fine
- Basic Chess Endings - Reuben Fine
- Pawn Structure Chess - Andrew Stoltis

Good luck! Let me know if you have any questions!

[XXtwindad]

Apropos of the subject: the chess hierarchy is embroiled in a cheating scandal: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/04/b...s-niemann.html
Totally riveting read.

[redir]

I've not played in years. I had a Latvian roommate who's father was an accomplished player who taught me some tricks of the trade enough to beat common players easily. Controlling the center was part of the tutelage.

[Veloo]

If you haven't already, you should watch The Queen's Gambit on Netflix.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by Turkle

I was at one time rated over 2000 USCF, although I haven't played a rated game in about 15 years now!

The single best thing you can do to make immediate improvements is understand tactics. Here is an excellent site that will teach you everything you need to know: https://www.chesstactics.org/

I still do daily puzzle and study practice for fun. A chess puzzle app is a great way to stay sharp. Lichess has a great puzzle function that you can use for free. Solve 10-15 of these a day and enjoy rapid improvement.

If you really get into it, you'll want to start buying books. Here are a few that made the biggest difference for me as a beginner:

- Art of Attack in Chess - Vukovich
- My 60 Memorable Games - Bobby Fischer
- The Ideas Behind the Chess Openings - Reuben Fine
- Basic Chess Endings - Reuben Fine
- Pawn Structure Chess - Andrew Stoltis

Good luck! Let me know if you have any questions!

I used to play tournaments and taught at schools for a couple years.

BCE by Fine for a beginner? Oooof. That's a tough book for anyone. I threw that one away and got Glenn Flear's as a starter then Karsten Mueller's later on.

For beginners on endgames, really anything by Bruce Pandofini. I'd opt for his "Endgame Course" vice Fine's. Much easier to digest.
I'd also recommend Jeremy Silman's "Reassess your Chess" (any version). Again very easy to digest. Silman lays out a very simple & logical way to analyze.
Finally Irving Chernev's "Combinations: the Heart of Chess" for tactics. That's a classic starter.

Personally my favorite book is "Garry Kasparov on Modern Chess, Part 2: Kasparov Vs Karpov 1975-1985." Gazza makes even the short draws in the book interesting.

Chess is one of the most enjoyable but most completely frustrating hobbies you can have.

[veloduffer]

Originally Posted by Veloo

If you haven't already, you should watch The Queen's Gambit on Netflix.

+1 Another chess movie is “Searching for Bobby Fisher” based on a true story.


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