Chess

[Cadsuane]

Does anyone here play chess, or want to talk about it?

Redhotpawn is pretty awesome for correspondence games, if anyone wants to challenge me (Cadsooaine) on it. I think at most I was rated 1300 there.

Speaking of which, what's a good way to get better at chess? I always thought 1300 (or 1100 now, after walking away from several games and ceding them) was a pretty shitty rating for my ability, which is at least tactically above average. This game in particular I thought was pretty spectacular:

http://www.redhotpawn.com/gameanalys...0&cbqsid=19177

[Woozie]

I really suck at chess (really really suck) but I'll play you for fun if you want.

[Cadsuane]

Sure, send me a challenge.

[Blarg]

chess is just too unbelievable of a game. why is the queen so good and the king is just a fatty who can barely move?

[aurik]

Does anyone here play chess, or want to talk about it?

Redhotpawn is pretty awesome for correspondence games, if anyone wants to challenge me (Cadsooaine) on it. I think at most I was rated 1300 there.

Speaking of which, what's a good way to get better at chess? I always thought 1300 (or 1100 now, after walking away from several games and ceding them) was a pretty shitty rating for my ability, which is at least tactically above average. This game in particular I thought was pretty spectacular:

http://www.redhotpawn.com/gameanalys...0&cbqsid=19177

At some point the best thing to do is learn a lot lot lot lot lot about various openings. This is what turned me off of chess back when I actively played it (12 years ago now).

Play go! Very fun game, there's less emphasis on learned sequences because of the huge branching factor of the game.

http://senseis.xmp.net/?WhatIsGo

[Cadsuane]

Yes, it isn't the first time I've been told to play Go as a response to a chess challenge. Alot of my classmates in the math department are frustrated chess players turned Go afficionados.

[Blarg]

What do you think about speed chess? I like the idea that it is more about instinct than remembering moves. Shockingly the problem is that it's often too fast to really see what is going on. (especially for me who doesn't know much about chess)

[aurik]

There's a really nice reason to play Go over Chess if you have a collection of people to play with: the game has a very elegant handicapping system, so that people of different skill levels can still play a game which is challenging for both sides.

Here's a game I played last year against a player much weaker than myself, but because of the handicap, it ends up being a very close game:
http://eidogo.com/#url:http://files....ik-kappa-2.sgf

[Senji]

chess is just too unbelievable of a game. why is the queen so good and the king is just a fatty who can barely move?

Unbelievable? King has money, queen has spent her time in the kitchen and the gym like she was supposed to.

[Cadsuane]

What do you think about speed chess? I like the idea that it is more about instinct than remembering moves. Shockingly the problem is that it's often too fast to really see what is going on. (especially for me who doesn't know much about chess)

Not very into it. Mostly because I'm not very good at it, but also because you don't get any time to make or appreciate very elegant play and as such it's more about consistent competence instead of sporadic inspiration, unless you're an ultra genius.

There's a really nice reason to play Go over Chess if you have a collection of people to play with: the game has a very elegant handicapping system, so that people of different skill levels can still play a game which is challenging for both sides.

Here's a game I played last year against a player much weaker than myself, but because of the handicap, it ends up being a very close game:
http://eidogo.com/#url:http://files....ik-kappa-2.sgf

You lost! I actually understood some of the tactics going around the mid game. Seems pretty cool.

edit: or did you? Go isn't won by just capturing is it?

[Jefe]

Nah, speed chess is all about having memorized the openings/formations. Once you have your sicillian defense what will you do next, the dragon formation? You do learn a ton from playing others. There's this area in LA where a bunch of old coots congregate and play this all fucking day. Needless to say, I got my ass handed to me but made a big improvement. Then I stopped caring.

[Cadsuane]

Nah, speed chess is all about having memorized the openings/formations. Once you have your sicillian defense what will you do next, the dragon formation? You do learn a ton from playing others. There's this area in LA where a bunch of old coots congregate and play this all fucking day. Needless to say, I got my ass handed to me but made a big improvement. Then I stopped caring.

There are also people (as in, grandmasters) who play shit like the damiano defense just because it's so weak that nobody bothers to study it, and win based on that.

[aurik]

You lost! I actually understood some of the tactics going around the mid game. Seems pretty cool.

edit: or did you? Go isn't won by just capturing is it?

Go is won by controlling territory. That game, I won by 3.5. The previous game I played against him immediately prior, I lost by 7.5. This is despite a significant difference in skill: if we played without handicap I would probably win 90% of the time (or more).

Previous game:
http://eidogo.com/#url:http://files....urik-kappa.sgf

[ZarakiKujata]

A) FU Aurik, I was coming into this thread to post to play Go b/c its a manlier game than Chess.
B) You are the first person I've seen on here who plays despite bringing it up in 2-3 other threads
C) WHY ARENT WE PLAYING ON KGS RIGHT NOW?!

[Cadsuane]

Alright, I'll cave and learn the game then.

[ZarakiKujata]

Just saw the KGS files, if they haven't changed the ranking algorithms in the ~1 year since I've played on KGS I should be around Aurik's rank.

Each handicap is supposed to represent ~10 points of territory, so take that for what you will, you'd probably win by at least that much each time.

Also, there are certain opening sequences in Go, they are just less strict and deviating from them is less detrimental (if at all) from deviating from a chess opening.

[aurik]

They haven't touched the ranking anchors in years (or not noticeably) as far as I know. I periodically play for a few months and then go into hibernation, so I'm probably a mid-4k, I was playing at about a 3k level last summer. Should make for a good game as long as you're between 1k and 7k.

We should totally play a game Zaraki, but probably not tonight, raid night. What's your KGS id?

Also I've seen reasonably decent players that obviously know nothing about "opening sequences", as long as you're strong at reading at have a knack for fighting you can get away with totally winging it, at least until 1d.

[Thoronas]

Also, there are certain opening sequences in Go, they are just less strict and deviating from them is less detrimental (if at all) from deviating from a chess opening.

Is there a good online resources for learning more about sequences in Chess? I use to play as a kid but never learned the "proper" way to play. Enjoyed the game though even if I did always lose.

[Plow]

Does anyone here play chess, or want to talk about it?

Redhotpawn is pretty awesome for correspondence games, if anyone wants to challenge me (Cadsooaine) on it. I think at most I was rated 1300 there.

Speaking of which, what's a good way to get better at chess? I always thought 1300 (or 1100 now, after walking away from several games and ceding them) was a pretty shitty rating for my ability, which is at least tactically above average. This game in particular I thought was pretty spectacular:

http://www.redhotpawn.com/gameanalys...0&cbqsid=19177

I used to play online a LOT, I was always 1400-1600's. The vast majority of the online places are primarily 5 min games, which isn't exactly speed chess but it's not "real" chess, either.

I'll 2nd aurik on the comment about memorizing openings (as well as other things). So much of the game is so well understood at this point, that there's very little dynamic thought in the opening, as pretty much everyone that's played a lot has seen nearly everything, and there flat out are things that work and things that don't. That's what really turned me off as well... I really like playing chess, I don't like sitting around with books memorizing shit.

But, yeah, that's what you need to do. Get books about openings, books about great games that go in depth as to why blah blah, all that kind of stuff. I didn't get as much out of the generalized books with basic tactics and strategy as that stuff, but different people learn differently, so that might work better for you.

What do you think about speed chess? I like the idea that it is more about instinct than remembering moves. Shockingly the problem is that it's often too fast to really see what is going on. (especially for me who doesn't know much about chess)

It's fun. I actually beat an IM in a 1 minute game once. It was cheesy as fuck, I basically got my castle protected with a few pawns I could safely move on the other side to prevent a repetition draw, and sat there moving my rook 1 space back and forth while he freaked out and lost on time.

It's barely chess though, and even in a 3 or 5 minute game I'd have had absolutely no hope in the world against that guy, at all.


Since we're mentioning other games... personally, I prefer bridge. It's hard for me because I've smoked a lot of pot for a long time, but I definitely prefer the active memorization that goes on during games in bridge to the "study" memorization required for chess.

[ZarakiKujata]

Is there a good online resources for learning more about sequences in Chess? I use to play as a kid but never learned the "proper" way to play. Enjoyed the game though even if I did always lose.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=chess+openings

They haven't touched the ranking anchors in years (or not noticeably) as far as I know. I periodically play for a few months and then go into hibernation, so I'm probably a mid-4k, I was playing at about a 3k level last summer. Should make for a good game as long as you're between 1k and 7k.

We should totally play a game Zaraki, but probably not tonight, raid night. What's your KGS id?

Also I've seen reasonably decent players that obviously know nothing about "opening sequences", as long as you're strong at reading at have a knack for fighting you can get away with totally winging it, at least until 1d.

They've made minor adjustments here and there after the huge readjustment ~2-3 years ago so was just wondering, and yeah I've been like that for going on 9 years now. Got ~8k on KGS back in the day and will periodically go on a Go binge and rise a few kyu and go dormant again.

And yeah I was semi-joking about the immediacy, I have a midterm to study for tonight. My old KGS id was Dexster, not sure if its still active, but if not I'll post in this thread w/ the new one I guess once I get the chance to get ranked. I was 5k last time I played on KGS so should be fun.

I would agree with the reading/fighting spirit being the most important, at times the opening sequences are not applicable, but knowing them to know when to deviate to your opponents detriment is beneficial, but that kind of play doesn't matter much till 1d+