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Chess Thread

Any chess players around here?

I discovered the game about a year and a half ago and got to a rating of 1800+. Hoping to get to expert level in less than 3 years...

Shoot!
 
I absolutely love playing chess, although i am not as good as i wish i was. I always try to play against people who are way better than me, so i can get better.
 
I do. If you really want to step up your game, I have found reading strategy books is key. Have not played in quite awhile. Thanks for reminding me of another obsession B&B!
 

Mike H

Instagram Famous
I play a little on my phone, use an app called "Chess Free" by Optime. It is pretty good, and by that, I mean I can slide the skill level down low enough that I can beat it. There are several members who are passionate Chess players.
 
I've played a little. Definitely a beginner/novice. I just ordered a 12" travel chess set from Chess House, and will probably order the Grandmaster set from House of Staunton. Planning on playing more often in the near future.
 
Loved it since I was a kid, though my periods of actual play come and go.
I tried to get good and read a lot of books but still my ceiling was not that high.

My young son was interested for a while but got discouraged by many losses.
I hope his interest reawakens.
 

ajkel64

Check Out Chick
Staff member
It is an interesting game. I played it at school many years ago and I have hardly played it since. Was not very good at it but I did enjoy trying to work out moves in advance. Would be good to keep the brain working.
 

rockviper

I got moves like Jagger
I was almost 2200 not that long ago, then went through a spell of brain farts and dropped back into the 19's. Just started back at a club two weeks ago and am slogging back to 2000. One step at a time.

I also play correspondence chess via the ICCF and working my way up the ladder there.
 

The Count of Merkur Cristo

B&B's Emperor of Emojis
Ben:
Sorry...I really never got into chess...backgammon is more my game. :thumbsup:

"For me...[shaving] and chess are closely related. Both are forms in which the self finds beauty and expression". Vladimir Kramnik, Chess Grandmaster
 
I played a little in the 1960s & 70s, but couldn't find others to play. I beat a guy in college in the 60s who thought I'd be an easy mark because I was drunk. He lost. I had an electronic chess game in the 80s to play by myself, but I haven't played a game since. I still have 6-7 beginner-to-average chess books on my bookshelf and a nice magnetic travel chess board I picked up at a chess shop in Greenwich Village in the early 80's, but haven't played a real game in 40+ years.

In the mid 1970's I used to play chess with a fellow pothead in Louisville, KY. Our wives used to watch us and laugh because we could never remember whose turn it was.
 
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Played competitively from grade school until halfway through college. Think my rating got into the high 1900s. Haven’t played a tourney since the mid-1980s. But, I still like to play on apps on my phone when bored. I’ve always thought I would get back into tourneys when I retire. I do love and miss the game.
 
Trying to improve my chess game with a few books.

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rockviper

I got moves like Jagger
Silman's book is fantastic. Have not read Pandolfini's. "Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess" is rightly considered a very poor piece of work.
 
Played some when I was growing up, less so these days. I've never been especially good, but I still enjoy the game. Perhaps another thing

I have a stone carved set (I think it's marble perhaps) I'm quite fond of I was given a number of years ago.

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Played some when I was growing up, less so these days. I've never been especially good, but I still enjoy the game. Perhaps another thing

I have a stone carved set (I think it's marble perhaps) I'm quite fond of I was given a number of years ago.

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Beautiful set! And it’s not just another Staunton design.

I get a significant part of my enjoyment of playing from the look and feel of the chess set. A good game of chess for me is social (friendly), intellectual (plans and tactics), and aesthetic.

Of course, if I want to improve I had best stop looking at mate/win in two puzzles and start on learning an opening repertoire. If I just want some crazy fun, there is always bughouse. The most difficult part is finding well matched, companionable opponents who have time to play over the board.
 
I had played during the 60's and 70's with school chums but left it behind for music and other teen interests as well as moving on to adult life with family, work, bills etc. I had never belonged to a chess club before but I joined a local one in our town when I retired. I thought it would be like the images we see in movies where the players gather in a room and play quietly, concentrate on the game and remain respectful of each other and the other players in the room. It's nothing like that at all. Lot's of cross-talk. Lots of self appointed aficionados who rarely if ever play a game but wander around from table to table and "coach" other players' moves as they're about to make them. Granted, it's a club for enthusiasts to improve their play, but I find it rude when no one has asked for their comments, and it spoils the game for the two players at the board. As I reach for a bishop and the guy standing over us utters (with a wince) "Are ya sure ya wanna do that?" Well great..... now if I do or don't execute the move, and do or don't win the game, neither I nor my opponent will ever know who truly won or lost because we've been "coached" by a third party. It's a two player game, not a team sport. This has happened repeatedly. We're there to play chess, not have a chess lesson. The moves are recorded during play and variations could be discussed later with said gurus. But I found it unacceptable during the actual play and it seemed to be an ongoing problem depsite objections from myself and a number of others.

Another issue is the fact that most people seem unable to remain attentive to anything for longer than 20-30 seconds without having to look at their phone (or having them go off ringing). One guy I played against got all p****d off because I wouldn't tell him where I had just moved during my turn. He didn't record the game moves on paper and when he finished each of his moves he would scroll through crap on his phone while waiting for me, and then look back at the board and ask where I had moved. When I refused to tell him he got choked.

I stuck around for about a year during which time I noticed most people were not showing up very often. I found out a few of them were meeting elsewhere at various coffee shops and park benches and I've had a couple of these guys over to the house for informal games on the back patio. More enjoyable by far. The chess "club" scene was not what I had expected at all. It's their club and I don't think it should change or be run the way I like it, but it's not for me thanks.

So many things (and people's behaviours) are not the way they used to be, that it's starting to feel a little weird now. Ya know?
 
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