I just stopped going. Like most organized clubs or groups that I've tried, all the aficionados ruin it for the average player who is just seeking an extra activity in their lives. The seem to thrive on making sure everyone knows that they're experts and they'll show ya how to become a real killer, a shark, if you pay close enough attention. Lame. Ya can always tell when people are trying to help others improve vs. when it's really all about them, their ego, and their superman capes.
Chess Thread
- Thread starter Benoni
- Start date
Wait . . . they issue CAPES?!?
Having a realistic attitude about losing is pretty important IMO. In rated play, unless you are continually improving more rapidly than your peers, you will naturally lose many games. If you are averaging better than .5 your rating will be increasing and you will pared with stronger and stronger players until you start losing. So in that sense losing a lot of games is pretty normal.
There is Alice
Nice set!
I particularly like the knights.
I remember that one! A gorgeous brush!
This thread is not complete without a King's Gambit joke
Ha! I always play c5 against e4 and one of the reasons is because I have an irrational fear of the King's Gambit. As white I head towards a Ruy Lopez against e5.
What about if someone whips out the Smith-Morra gambit, @bluesman 7 ? What kind of sicilian do you normally play? Najdorf, dragon, sveshnikov, scheveningen?
He strikes me as an accelerated dragon kind of guy.
Smith Morra, I take of course. Paulsen.
I used to play club chess. Only to about 1700 though, so really about average among a small local club.
The Smith-Morra accepted works brilliantly against an average club Sicilian player. I used to play it all the time.
The good thing about playing the gambit are the open lines & recurring motifs, like the e4-e5 pawn push, the knight sac on b5, attack on f7 etc. Standard Sicilian Defence moves often play right into the SMG player's hands.
If you practice as White against a regular club player who loves their Sicilian Defence, you can get some very quick wins.
I found the King's Gambit more difficult and that could easily go wrong for White, simply because so many players simply decline the pawn offer with the highly annoying 2...d5
Anyone else play the Tarrasch variation against the French. At my level it works pretty well for me because it kind of throws off my opponents. Some of knight moves in some lines are non intuitive IMO.
I am thinking about moving back to e4 and will probably go for the Nc3 lines, although I played both sides of the French Tarrasch over the decades. Tzermiadianos has a good book from the white perspective.
I love playing Chess. I'm not very good though. Usually play around a 1500-1600 player if I'm not playing blitz and actually thinking about my moves. Much worse if playing blitz.
I hadn't played the French for years. One of the disadvantages of me not playing in tournaments for a while and only playing in our small club. A new member has joined us and played the French both times that he has had the black pieces against me. Nice to get some new blood into the club.
I dislike fast chess. The majority of the players normally play G/80 at our club and then play shorter games as time allows. We do have a few members who like G/15 and shorter so I pair them when they come. We are known as a slow club, so the people who really prefer short time controls usually go elsewhere.
