Any chess players?

[Egg Shen]

I wish I had someone to play with I do enjoy it. I play against my uncle when I visit my fam a few x/yr. I need a local person though, online doesn’t appeal to me. Does anyone here have any cool/unique chess sets they’d be willing to post a picture of? Mine is pretty common but if I played often I’d spring for one with exotic materials.

 

[mikethompson]

I got my son into chess when he was 5 and was playing games with him. Very rewarding when he told his kindergarten class he played chess

 

[LeafErikson]

Oh for sure, I had 2 prior tournaments before working up to the 1700. And in one I finished 3rd place (in my division) and even got a very small trophy, lol. But the rating was still "provisional" as I did not yet have enough experience/games to earn an official rating.
And this was a while ago (early 90s). I'm not sure how things are done now, or if FIDE tournaments/ratings are similar to USCF.

One thing I remember is how the kids I played against seemingly memorized opening sequences flawlessly. In between matches the participants were all set up with roll-up vinyl boards on picnic tables just drilling each other on openings from the MCO book. I didn't realize how important rote memorization was at the tournament level. It was like actual strategy didn't start until move 10 or so for some of these players.

Yeah the opening theory stuff has gotten ridiculous in the past couple of decades. Many high level players purposely play a weird move in the opening just to get their opponent out of preparation. If you play into a players preparation you're essentially playing against a computer. Weird stuff for sure haha. I really like that chess 960 or fischer chess as it's sometimes called. All of the pieces are randomized on the back rank so there's no opening theory.

 

[LeafErikson]

Chess.com has puzzles.

This is all you need up to a certain point.

 

[Servant King]

Just don't play against this robot...or if you do, don't rush him.

The incident happened after the boy hurried the artificial intelligence-powered robot, the president of the Moscow Chess Federation told the Russian state news agency Tass. “The robot broke the child’s finger — this, of course, is bad,” Sergey Lazarev said.

Chess-playing robot breaks young boy's finger during match in Moscow

The incident happened after the 7-year-old hurried the AI-powered robot, the president of the Moscow Chess Federation told the Russian state news agency Tass.

www.cnbc.com

Jeez...even robots have trouble against the Sicilian Defense!

 

[Winnipeger]

I love chess. Don't play much anymore. No time for online games unfortunately. I did sit down with my five year old daughter recently and teach her how the pieces move and we played something of a game. I think she got annoyed when it came to castling. She'd heard enough explanations for one day. I was impressed that she got several moves into an opening, but I felt bad when it became clear I was going to mop the floor with her. She hates losing. We're working on that.

 

[Zero]

I love chess. Don't play much anymore. No time for online games unfortunately. I did sit down with my five year old daughter recently and teach her how the pieces move and we played something of a game. I think she got annoyed when it came to castling. She'd heard enough explanations for one day. I was impressed that she got several moves into an opening, but I felt bad when it became clear I was going to mop the floor with her. She hates losing. We're working on that.

I had the same experience with my daughter when she was 5

 

[bullet08]

Play it occasionally. Just casual level, nothing serious.

 

[Worknman]

I love chess, I started playing in 2015 although I played a bit when I was a kid. I watch all the major tournaments and alot of youtube videos. Actually Im watching the US Chess Championships as Im writing. I mainly play daily (correspondence) chess on chess.com and am rated about 2000.

For some reason I play like a total patzer when theres a clock ticking so I dont play much blitz chess, although my tactics rating on that site is 2500. I like to be able to analyze the position at my own leisure during a game tho and mostly play the 3 day games.

 

[cshubhra]

I know the moves. I would play a game occasionally but it has really been occasional last few years.

I lived in the dorms of an engineering college for four years with 200 other budding engineers many very serious about the game. That was both humiliating and humbling.

Since I never learned any theory I found it difficult to survive the openings, but if I made to mid game I played much better and was at my best at the end games.

 

[username]

I suck at it but i know how to play. played alot of battle chess as a kid on ye old dos.

 

[Worknman]

Since I never learned any theory I found it difficult to survive the openings, but if I made to mid game I played much better and was at my best at the end games.

You dont really need to know opening theory until you're higher rated. You just need to know opening principles.

 

[LeafErikson]

You dont really need to know opening theory until you're higher rated. You just need to know opening principles.

Yeah for some reason many beginners seem to think you need to know opening theory to be good at chess. Almost all that matters until maybe 2200ish is tactics, endgames, pawn structures, opening principles, and positional understanding.

Also wow 2000 is a great rating! I would be surprised if there weren’t a few other 2000+ rated players on this forum.

 

[Worknman]

Yeah for some reason many beginners seem to think you need to know opening theory to be good at chess. Almost all that matters until maybe 2200ish is tactics, endgames, pawn structures, opening principles, and positional understanding.

Very true. I can see why beginners and just players in general love to learn openings. It gives them something to grasp, something with a name that they can understand and memorize to a certain point. But its usually the middle game or endgame where the game is decided, either a winning tactic is discovered or a superior strategic position overwhelms the opponent.

Of course, opening traps come in handy sometimes and you can gain alot of rating points by knowing them. Eventually tho you'll hit a wall if all you know is opening tricks and not the aforementioned stuff.

 

[kg.legat0]

I almost started a thread a while back asking the same thing. I am pretty bad, but I have been playing daily and doing tons of puzzles for about a month and have been getting better. I play a lot on lichess and chess.com - if anyone ever wants an easy win, get in touch... lol

 

[LeafErikson]

Very true. I can see why beginners and just players in general love to learn openings. It gives them something to grasp, something with a name that they can understand and memorize to a certain point. But its usually the middle game or endgame where the game is decided, either a winning tactic is discovered or a superior strategic position overwhelms the opponent.

Of course, opening traps come in handy sometimes and you can gain alot of rating points by knowing them. Eventually tho you'll hit a wall if all you know is opening tricks and not the aforementioned stuff.

Absolutely. It’s useful to know the first 4-5 moves of an opening line but anything much further than that isn’t necessary for the most part up to a certain point.

 

[J.Henry845]

Aged Balkan Sasieni in a Stanwell deLuxe 191 coffee on the side.

 

[Zero]

Aged Balkan Sasieni in a Stanwell deLuxe 191 coffee on the side.
View attachment 268471

Checkmate!!!