Get Yr Chess On

[tiohn]

Since I started seriously playing chess a few months ago, it has held my attention like pretty much no other game ever has. I've been obsessively reading and playing as much as possible, both online and OTB.

I know I am not the only person here that plays, so I was wondering if anyone else would be interested in playing a few games and perhaps getting a friendly online tournament going. I mainly use chess.com for slow games and ICC for quick games, but if anyone is interested and has another site they prefer, I'd be happy to register anywhere.

[Tim James]

Chess is one of those activities like practical shooting where you discover how serious you can get with it, even outside of the "game" itself, and a lot of people go from disinterest to obsession in no time flat! Don't get burned out. :)

[rei]

Shogi > Chess.

[countzero]

I played in a club when I was 15. 20 years later I started playing again. Most of the time I'm playing correspondence chess (like 20 days for 10 moves as a time limit) at www.kingchess.de. But I'm also wiliing to register at chess.com.
Chess is really special. The deeper you get into it, the more you are amazed by its possibilities.
BTW: An alternative for online chess: Free Internet Chess Server (http://www.freechess.org/). I registered there, because I've got a client for it on my smartphone. Pretty easy to find an opponent there.
Just tried chess.com in Opera. Suddenly some of my pieces became invisible. Very annoying.

[Tim James]

Shogi > Chess.Nice, two replies until the Go nerds come out of the woodwork. :)

Close enough.

[moss_icon]

Nice, two replies until the Go nerds come out of the woodwork. :)

Close enough.

or some euro gaming mouthbreather posts:

"well, agricola is better than all these stupid old fashioned games!"

[Tim James]

or some euro gaming mouthbreather posts:

"well, agricola is better than all these stupid old fashioned games!"That must be a QT3 thing. I just laugh about this because every post on Slashdot or the like would have an inevitable reply about Go. Hell, they even shit up the RPS magnetic games story with it. It's hilarious.

But it's also kind of insightful because everyone can get obsessed with chess at one time and then feel like moving on when it doesn't keep them.

[Cubit]

agricola

anyone else look at this name and picture some odd farm grown vegetable beverage? agri-cola!

[Tim James]

anyone else look at this name and picture some odd farm grown vegetable beverage? agri-cola!Yup, every time it gets bumped back up in the Games forum.

What are you about to unleash on us, Cubit?

[tiohn]

Don't get burned out. :)

I've been making myself take one week off every month, wherein I try not to even think about chess. I find my game is better when I start again.

I enjoy Go, but a general lack of local players and the sheer length of even 'fast' games has kept me away. I like that I can play a game of chess in anywhere from two minutes to two or more hours, whereas a quick game of Go is at least 45 minutes.

And isn't Backgammon what you move on to when you want a real challenge?

I played in a club when I was 15. 20 years later I started playing again. Most of the time I'm playing correspondence chess (like 20 days for 10 moves as a time limit) at www.kingchess.de (http://www.kingchess.de/). But I'm also wiliing to register at chess.com.
Chess is really special. The deeper you get into it, the more you are amazed by its possibilities.
BTW: An alternative for online chess: Free Internet Chess Server (http://www.freechess.org/). I registered there, because I've got a client for it on my smartphone. Pretty easy to find an opponent there.
Just tried chess.com in Opera. Suddenly some of my pieces became invisible. Very annoying.

Since chess.com isn't working for you, I just signed up at Kingchess.de with this username. I've also got accounts on Scheming Mind, Queen Alice, and GameKnot. I've played at FICS, but since I took advantage of the student rate combined with a sale at ICC, that's where I've played most of my blitz since. I really enjoy being able to take a break and watch a game at the IM level or above at pretty much any time. But I really hate their ancient, dated client and general interface.

[Tim James]

During my semi-serious time years ago, I got started at Playchess mostly because I had a free year through Fritz and had been introduced to it by Mig and the gang at ChessBase. The interface is clean and brisk but unfortunately it costs money each year.

To annoyingly steal your thread to post my own story that no one cares about: I actually attended my first and only over-the-board tournament in 2004 (had never played a serious game OTB until then) and had a lot of fun getting beat down by 12 year olds, despite having a decent understanding of tactics at the time. Sadly I was single at the time and had just moved back home so I told myself to quit being a geek and go socialize instead! Now that I'm married, I should probably get back into it. My PC games backlog still weeps at the idea, however.

[countzero]

You've got an invitation at kingchess. I realized how bad the FICS interface is, when I tried to play a game in my browser. I tried now one of the customizable GUIs and it works fine for me.
If you want some easy accessible training: The FritzTrainer DVDs from chessbase.com are quite good.
And a nice RPS article on chess: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/06/04/7-in-1-magnetic-family-game-chess/

[tylertoo]

To annoyingly steal your thread to post my own story that no one cares about:

About ten years ago I played chess once a week against a guy I'd met perusing chess books at a store. We played regularly for a couple of years, were about the same level, and we both improved considerably over that time just by having regular competition. Prior to that I'd stopped into the local chess club but found the scene too intimidating, so this showed me how even without coaching or formal instruction, you can elevate your game with regular play.

I got obsessed with it; I remember my then-girlfriend dragging me to the ballet and, bored, I would sit there replaying chess games in my head the whole time. I got to the point where I could visualize the whole board and recreate specific positions in my mind.

Eventually we went our separate ways (the chess partner, not the girlfriend, she's now the wife). And eventually I stopped playing and my skills, I'm sure, just as quickly eroded.

[krayzkrok]

I regularly play Chess Titans (the game that comes with Vista) and to give you some idea of how "good" I am at it, I struggle to beat level 5. My dad was a regional champion and regularly kicks my ass, but I managed to beat him once. I'd love to spend more time playing it casually, but then I'm the master of "d'oh!" when it comes to missing setups being established against me. I'm also terrible at memorizing openings - not essential I know, but it helps get a decent early setup.

However, I'm up for a game!

[tiohn]

If chess.com works for you, krayzkrok, I'd be glad to play. I'm very far from having an opening repertoire.

[Miramon]

Chess on 8x8 is infinitely more appealing than go on 9x9, but chess is basically one involved tactical situation with a slow evolution once you choose an opening, whereas go (on 19x19) is N evolving tactical positions with some amount of large-scale tactics associated with their interactions, and so it's somewhat more interesting to me.

But contrary to most claims, neither game has any strategic elements to speak of; for strategy you have to play bughouse, which is kind of like 4-player team speed shogi using 2 chess sets and clocks.

But anyhow I like playing both chess and go, but I got to the limit of my aspirations at chess at age 16 (got to close to 1700 USCF but didn't want to study enough to improve past that), whereas I think I could still get better at go without too much investment (personal best from some years ago at club play is say American 2-kyu).

I don't much like playing online, though, the services are too brisk and anonymous, and I like the esthetics of the board and pieces for both games.

[Veefy]

I remember turning on the tv in a Japanese hotel and trying to make sense of a tv program which was a broadcast of a Go tournament while drunk.

[Lloyd Heilbrunn]

I might be interested since I suspect playing guys here will be better than my last online chess experience, where people just abandoned games every time you were doing well without even the courtesy of resigning.

[Tim James]

Chess on 8x8 is infinitely more appealing than go on 9x9, but chess is basically one involved tactical situation with a slow evolution once you choose an opening, whereas go (on 19x19) is N evolving tactical positions with some amount of large-scale tactics associated with their interactions, and so it's somewhat more interesting to me.No, no, tell us more. I haven't heard this perspective before.

(Just teasing.)

[krayzkrok]

If chess.com works for you, krayzkrok, I'd be glad to play. I'm very far from having an opening repertoire.

Seems to work fine. I sent tiohn an invite, let's hope it's the same tiohn!

[ElGuapo]

Chess is a great game to learn. I play chess every week with a buddy at lunch.

[tiohn]

Seems to work fine. I sent tiohn an invite, let's hope it's the same tiohn!

g3, bitch!

[krayzkrok]

It's on!

[tiohn]

Chess is a great game to learn. I play chess every week with a buddy at lunch.

Next time I'm up that way, I look forward to getting truly slaughtered in Dupont Circle.

[bandidoquest]

I would be totally interested in playing a tournament with you guys. I've been playing chess for some years now but never became very good at it. In the internet I think I only played on FICS some time ago, but I wouldn't mind registering in any site that you choose.

[Jasper]

Shogi > Chess.
Nice job sticking your foot in your mouth there. ;-)

It really is true though! I once enjoyed chess enough to play competitively (well, in high school anyway), but I can no longer go back. The best part of chess is the middle game, and in Shogi pretty much the entire game is the middle game.

[copet]

Sort of related: Did anyone ever play that Kung Fu Chess game online? It was real time and you could move as many pieces as you want, and then they would have a timer before you could move them again. It was addicting and fun as hell! You could even do 4 player! Sadly, Shizmoo games died or something, and it seems as though it can't be played anywhere... :(

[krayzkrok]

Well I have an account on chess.com and my username on there is krayzkrok and I'll play anyone who sends me an invite (online correspondence game, which seems the most flexible way of playing).

[tiohn]

And I'm tiohn on chess.com and pretty much everywhere else.

[Miramon]

No, no, tell us more. I haven't heard this perspective before.

(Just teasing.)

Just because everyone says it doesn't mean it's not true :)

If only it wasn't for the damn ko and the damn mirror game marring the beauty, go would be perfect. But chess has stalemates, so it has problems too.

My problem with shogi is the pieces are almost always cheap-looking, plus they look too similar to one another. I suppose reading the characters instead of just memorizing the shapes of the strokes would make it easier, though.

[Jasper]

Yeah, that's a common complaint for Shogi. I learned to play Chinese Chess as a kid, and perhaps as a result never had that problem; it's all just symbols to me, whether it's piece shape or printed character, but most people I've played with are thrown by it. Shogi is worse in this regard than Chinese Chess too, what with all the promoted pieces. And lets not even get into the crazy but mesmerizing Shogi variants (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-05fF2Qlhw)...

It does help if you can recognize a couple of the basic glyphs, especially Horse, Wagon (Chariot?), and General.

[Abilio Carvalho]

I'm on the Go camp as well, but not because of some inherent superiority of one game over the other, I just somehow never could get into Chess. I've tried by myself, but something in my wiring just makes me be a lot more interested by Go for some reason.

[KieronGillen]

Hell, they even shit up the RPS magnetic games story with it. It's hilarious.

I admit, I found that very funny.

KG

[Murph]

Registered as Murph531 ("Murph" was taken! Bastards!) on chess.com. Happy to play a few games.

EDIT: I consider myself to be an "adequate" player.

[salwon]

Don't worry about having an "opening repertoire" - just play to the center and develop. Focus on the endgame first and foremost - it's waaaay more important to know how to win a game than how to open one.

Also, NEVER resign. Winning a won game is surprisingly difficult, so always make sure your opponent has to do it.

I'm salwon on chess.com, always willing to get a few turns in during work.

[Miramon]

Don't worry about having an "opening repertoire" - just play to the center and develop. Focus on the endgame first and foremost - it's waaaay more important to know how to win a game than how to open one.

Also, NEVER resign. Winning a won game is surprisingly difficult, so always make sure your opponent has to do it.

I'm salwon on chess.com, always willing to get a few turns in during work.

1. Well it's true a beginner doesn't need to do a lot of studying, but I think you should quickly at least try to recognize the first couple of moves of common openings like Ruy Lopez, Queen's Gambit, and some kind of Indian, as it can get a little depressing to feel like you have screwed up on turn 5 and there is nothing you can do to develop. This is not a lot of work, just looking at the first 3-4 standard moves of 3-4 openings.

2. IMO, not resigning is a bad idea. I don't think winning a won game is very hard at all, but that's almost beside the point. If you are both materially and positionally behind, resign, so you can play another game where you don't screw up early instead of just dragging out a broken game. So maybe if you don't resign, the opponent will blunder and you can win anyway, is this really fun?

[Aesculapius]

Anyone have a good suggestion for a site that discusses those common openings and beginning strategies?
I learned the mechanics of the game when I was a kid, but I have little grasp on the overall strategy.

[tiohn]

I very rarely resign online games, unless I'm down something like an entire queen. I still have plenty to learn, even from "lost" games. There also appears to be a very large number of players that can't win a won game if they have to play it out. I have won a pretty significant number of games this way, and it helps me work on my endgame.

For OTB, I will generally resign sooner than online since I can't play 15 games at once and would prefer to just get a fresh start on a new game.

[tiohn]

Anyone have a good suggestion for a site that discusses those common openings and beginning strategies?
I learned the mechanics of the game when I was a kid, but I have little grasp on the overall strategy.

I haven't found a site I like very much for openings or strategy. Chess.com has some premium content that's worthwhile, but if you're going to spend money, I would just buy a book or two. The absolute first place I would start is with GM Wolff's The Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess. It has a lot material to carry you a very long way. I would also check out the latest Chessmaster on Steam. Josh Waitzkin's extensive tutorials on there are also very good, and Chessmaster has a fairly extensive opening library to explore, although few of the openings are commented. As for specific information on various openings, I typically google individual names and have found information in myriad sources. I hope to be able to afford this series very soon: http://www.amazon.com/Chess-Opening-Essentials-Openings-Complete/dp/9056912038/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I2IFVPDKTURSSB&colid=1NQ53UFH2WKF5

For practicing tactics online, I haven't found anything else nearly as good as chesstempo.com.

[Tim James]

Anyone have a good suggestion for a site that discusses those common openings and beginning strategies?1. e4, bring knights and bishops out, castle, then just look at the board for midgame tactical issues. If an opponent at your level tries something complicated they are probably screwing themselves. If they try a gambit then fantastic, you'll both learn something. Not something to really worry about, and getting burned once in a blue moon is better than actually spending time on it at first.

[tiohn]

Along with what Tim James said, I forgot to mention that until you start to approach master level, having a good grasp of opening principles is much better than memorizing specific opening lines.

[salwon]

Remember knights before bishops - bring out your King's knight before the king's bishop, and same with the queen. The knights have fewer options, so developing in that order is a good basic principle.

And the whole not resigning thing is exactly as tiohn said - force your opponent to play out the endgame, to give yourself practice and see if they know how to play it. If you're clearly outmatched go ahead and resign, but when I ran a chess club where I taught it would kill me to see students resign after they lost a bishop or something.

[Miramon]

Along with what Tim James said, I forgot to mention that until you start to approach master level, having a good grasp of opening principles is much better than memorizing specific opening lines.

I'd say that's a bit of an exaggeration. I think that you can't get much beyond a low USCF 1200 rating or so without knowing at least a few openings, but yeah, you can get a fair ways without much studying anyhow, just understanding what the point of an opening is.

[salwon]

A few more basics while I'm procrastinating:

Pay attention to what squares your center pawns occupy (you DO have pawns in the center, right?). If your pawns are on the white squares, then your white bishop is effectively trapped and becomes the "bad bishop." The black bishop in this case is, surprise surprise, the Good Bishop. Keep the good bishop, trade the bad.

If the center is open (no pawns), bishops are more important than knights since they can jump across the board in one shot. If the center is closed the bishops have a harder time getting around, so the knights become more important.

A good book for general strategies is this one (http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Book-Chess-Strategy-Grandmaster/dp/1890085014/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1246463096&sr=8-1): very readable, and the kind of thing where you can open to any random page and learn something important.

[Miramon]

While I'm waiting for someone to show up for lunch, here's another suggestion.

Don't push pawns for the hell of it. The more pawn movement you do, the weaker your pawn structure becomes, unless you really know what you're doing. You want your pawns always to be connected, or to at least be possible to connect, and when you exchange pawns, you want to keep them connected, and ideally double or isolate your opponents' pawns.

In fact, a fun black defense for a beginner is the Modern (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Defense) or the Pirc (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirc_Defence), because you move a minimum of pawns, and a naive white player tends to overextend and becomes weak.

[Gorath]

Anyone have a good suggestion for a site that discusses those common openings and beginning strategies?
I learned the mechanics of the game when I was a kid, but I have little grasp on the overall strategy.

Try ChessLecture (http://www.chesslecture.com/). I haven't been there for a long time, but I think they also have a lot of beginner and intermediate material. Two free videos are available on their site. The whole catalog has hundreds of entries.

ICC / Chess.FM has great weekly videos, although they're pretty advanced. Joel Benjamin's GOTW is always interesting, and Larry Christiansen's show on attacking chess is always spectacular.

I also like the stuff on ChessVideos.tv (http://www.chessvideos.tv/). Unfortunately it's no longer free.

Generally speaking all mentioned sources provide quality material.

ChessTempo has already been mentioned. Great training tool to quickly shoot through a dozen combies without wasting time with an analog board.
I don't think this is enough to understand the mechanics behind standard combinations though. You should buy at least one book about this topic. Learning mating and other combi patterns is worth its weight in gold. There are at least two dozen decent books on combis. A rather new one with detailed verbal explanations is Understanding Chess Tactics (http://www.qualitychess.co.uk/products/2/31/understanding_chess_tactics_by_martin_weteschnik/).

The same can be said about chess strategy. If you want to advance you need at least one good book, or maybe the ChessBase DVD on the strategy 101.

Openings are almost unimportant for newbies. Don't waste your time. Games between non-masters are usually decided by big mistakes. Find a general overview, try two dozen openings, and when you know which one you like buy a Starting Out ... book on it.

The market for endgame books is currently oversaturated with high quality publications. Nevertheless the recommendation is easy. The only book you need is Silman's Complete Endgame Course. Silman sorts the material by difficulty, not by the pieces involved, and he has always been good at explaining complex problems in simple language.

ChessCafe.com is a must read for every enthusiast. The monthly columns cover the whole spectrum. 2 or 3 of them are suitable for beginners. And others are definitely not. ;)

I tried Chessimo (http://www.chessimo.com/trainer/index.php?lang=en&val=en) (formerly Personal Chess Trainer) when a friend showed it to me. My impression was very positive. The program is a steal for the amount and quality of the material. Unfortunately I don't remember how low the required minimum strength is. Just try the demo.

A newbie friendly games collection is Winning Chess Brilliancies by Yasser Seirawan. The former world class player Seirawan explains every (!) move in 12 selected games, with lots of prose and just a few select variations. On average 20 pages per game!
When you think you've understood most of it, move on to Understanding Chess Move by Move by John Nunn. Superb book full of high quality chess, but it requires a lot of effort because the games are more complex and Nunn not only explains what's going on but also proves it with variations.


edit:
It's possible ChessVideos.tv is still free. If it only requires free registration move it to the top of the list. ;)

[Tim James]

In fact, a fun black defense for a beginner is the Modern (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Defense) or the Pirc (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirc_Defence), because you move a minimum of pawns, and a naive white player tends to overextend and becomes weak.Not really. Like I alluded to, you're probably shooting yourself in the foot as a beginner with stuff like this. Just throw some shit out there using the basic opening principles and try to open things up to make the pieces active, then concentrate on the midgame, which is most important at low levels.

I was with you when you tried to qualify with "understanding a few opening concepts" but then you bust out with some opening name dropping! :)

Poor chess newbies, this is probably why they get burned out.

[Miramon]

Not really. Like I alluded to, you're probably shooting yourself in the foot as a beginner with stuff like this. Just throw some shit out there using the basic opening principles and try to open things up to make the pieces active, then concentrate on the midgame, which is most important at low levels.

I was with you when you tried to qualify with "understanding a few opening concepts" but then you bust out with some opening name dropping! :)

Poor chess newbies, this is probably why they get burned out.

But you just need to look at a position of the Pirc or Modern to see what you need to do, there's no need to memorize lines. The point is you don't even contact the white pieces to begin with, so white has to do all the work of figuring out how to attack, and odds are they'll screw it up.

But if this notion is too advanced, then really most of this other advice is too advanced too, and you should just play for a while, and not even look at a book.

[checker]

Sorry if this is crossing the streams, but ChessRogue (http://chessrogue.sourceforge.net/) is actually a really good game if you like chess. Play with classic chess rules first, there are some other wacky variants I haven't tried.

Chris

[Aesculapius]

Awesome. Looks like I have some reading to do. :)

[Murph]

tiohn is showing me that describing myself as "adequate" is maybe a bit generous. :-)

[tiohn]

You're getting the hippo this time!

[Jag]

I suck, but i'll give it a go since I need to improve. Our CFO put a chess board in his office and is kicking all our asses. I'm determined to beat the smug bastard.

Name is: Jagg

[countzero]

I admit, I found that very funny.

KG

Well, I just liked your article. It was amusing and just a good read. I always forget, that you all post here and know each other's articles.

[krayzkrok]

I'm getting a few games going on chess.com now. If I seem to be playing in realtime but then disappear for a while, I have work to do!

I have an ancient book on openings that my dad bought me years ago, so I generally know the basic ones but I don't go into the hundreds of variations. Openings are something you tend to want to learn more about after you've picked up the basics.

[tiohn]

I played my first tournament game tonight, against a guy rated just shy of 1800 USCF. Needless to say, I got hosed.

[KieronGillen]

Well, I just liked your article. It was amusing and just a good read. I always forget, that you all post here and know each other's articles.

Thank you! Re-reading my last post, I want to add some more, as I suspect it could come across as too hard. It was kind of a "Aw! Sweet!" response, as a lot of the Go players weren't aware of the Go Players Will Appear When Chess Is Mentioned internet theme. It seemed like My First Chess/Go Thread for many.

Er... I mean that in a paternal way rather than an openly patronising way. Though it does overlap.

KG

[Miramon]

Bored today, created account Miramon at chess.com....

[Murph]

I'm coming to the realization that...I'm just not very good at chess anymore.

Used to play often with a guy who was a USCF member ranked somewhere around 1500, I think it was...I could kinda hold my own, occasionally even winning a game.

I suck these days. Need to get back in practice.

[Chris Nahr]

They had a nice little chess problem on the front page of chess.com which I could solve. I'm a bit scared to play actual games there, though...

[Jag]

Our CFO put a chess board in his office and is kicking all our asses. I'm determined to beat the smug bastard.


...and I just beat him. THANKS Chess.com!

[scotthal]

Do any of you chess players have a strong opinion on Chessmaster Grandmaster edition? Is it a good learning aid? Is it a worthy (at $20 on Steam) upgrade over Chesmaster 9000? Does it run any better on 64 bit operating systems (not that I've tried 9000 on a 64 bit OS)? Are there better chess programs out there for learning that I should be looking at?

[mkozlows]

Do any of you chess players have a strong opinion on Chessmaster Grandmaster edition? Is it a good learning aid? Is it a worthy (at $20 on Steam) upgrade over Chesmaster 9000? Does it run any better on 64 bit operating systems (not that I've tried 9000 on a 64 bit OS)? Are there better chess programs out there for learning that I should be looking at?

Chessmaster seems increasingly to be in a vanished niche. It's expensive and cumbersome enough that it can't compete with the light, free Chess Titans for casual chess; but it's not a "serious" program like Fritz, so the hardcore chess analysis people have no use for it either. So its market is...?

[tiohn]

The value of the last Chessmaster lies in its lessons, especially Waitzkin's. I think it's easily worth the $20 for these lessons if you're rated anywhere below 1600 or so. There's also a nice library of annotated games, but it's not worth it just for those. If you're interested in playing it, the engine has different personalities to play against, but I think you may as well just play other people online.

I had it running on 64-bit Windows 7 and it ran just fine once I turned off the 3D graphics in an .ini file.

[distauma]

Grandmaster Edition is great. Waitzkin's lessons are very in depth and serve to really boost your understanding of the game. The AI personalities and the blunder system are really good for beginners such as myself as well.

I was not really in to chess until a couple months ago and after going through his lessons and building a foundation for my game I have become obsessed as many of the people in this thread seem to be as well.

[Jag]

Seriously tjohn? What's with the full frontal pawn attack? My knight is getting tired...

[Miramon]

Seriously tjohn? What's with the full frontal pawn attack? My knight is getting tired...

He seems to like that. It's a lot of fun, but the problem is you can never move them back again....

[krayzkrok]

He seems to like that. It's a lot of fun, but the problem is you can never move them back again....

Jag had the alekhine going there for a while but it seems to have deviated somewhat now! I had to get my ancient little chess openings book out to remember the name of that one, but it's one of the few openings I used to like because it led to a fairly fast-paced attacking game.

I had some kind of opening going on with tiohn but I completely forgot the best way of playing it and now I'm in a less than satisfactory position.

Don't give up Murph! I started playing Chess Titans again only 3 months ago after having a break from chess for several years apart from the odd game with my dad. I was making all kinds of silly mistakes at first, but it starts to come back quickly. Also, use the Analyse facility on chess.com (right hand side, under Moves tab) - it simply brings up a duplicate board that you can experiment with. It's amazing how many silly errors I've avoided by playing the move I was going to play, and then suddenly seeing it in a new light. I think it takes practice before you start to do that in your mind effectively once more.

[tiohn]

He seems to like that. It's a lot of fun, but the problem is you can never move them back again....

Wait, you can't move them back?

[Chris Nahr]

No, but you can move them to the teleporter fields on the sixth row. That's also where they get the plasma cannon upgrade.

[tiohn]

R.I.P. Jag's knight.

[baruk]

Tonight I'm playing the second semi-final game in my local chess club's championship. In the interests of full disclosure, there weren't many entrants and I had a bye in the first round, so I have only won one match to get this far.

My opponent is about 300 points stronger than me, and I was crushed in the first game, playing white:
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bg5 Bg7 4. e3 O-O 5. c4 d6 6. Nc3 c5 7. Bd3 cxd4 8.
Nxd4 Nc6 9. Nxc6 bxc6 10. Qe2 Rb8 11. O-O Be6 12. Rab1 Nd7 13. Ne4 Ne5 14.
b3 a5 15. Rfd1 Qc7 16. Bc2 f5 17. Nd2 Nf7 18. Bf4 Bd7 19. c5 e5 20. cxd6
Nxd6 21. Bg3 Kh8 22. h3 f4 23. Bh2 Nb5 24. Ne4 f3 25. Qe1 fxg2 26. Kxg2 Bf5
27. f3 Qc8 28. h4 Bh3+ 29. Kg3 Rxf3+ 30. Kxf3 Qg4+ 31. Kf2 Qg2#

A simple way to view games:
1. Copy and paste the game into notepad
2. Download and install winboard (http://www.chesscentral.com/Free_Chess_Software_Download_a/228.htm)
3. Drag the notepad file on to the winboard shortcut

[tiohn]

Miramon is a son of a bitch for getting me interested in Go again.

[Tim James]

I thought there was a way to paste and view games online somewhere.

[Gorath]

I thought there was a way to paste and view games online somewhere.

You should be able to copy & paste (with CTRL-V) the notation part of baruk's post into just about every chess program with basic database function. Tested with Fritz 11.

[Tim James]

Keyword there was online, without a chess program.

[Gorath]

Tonight I'm playing the second semi-final game in my local chess club's championship. In the interests of full disclosure, there weren't many entrants and I had a bye in the first round, so I have only won one match to get this far.

My opponent is about 300 points stronger than me, and I was crushed in the first game, playing white:
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bg5 Bg7 4. e3 O-O 5. c4 d6 6. Nc3 c5 7. Bd3 cxd4 8.
Nxd4 Nc6 9. Nxc6 bxc6 10. Qe2 Rb8 11. O-O Be6 12. Rab1 Nd7 13. Ne4 Ne5 14.
b3 a5 15. Rfd1 Qc7 16. Bc2 f5 17. Nd2 Nf7 18. Bf4 Bd7 19. c5 e5 20. cxd6
Nxd6 21. Bg3 Kh8 22. h3 f4 23. Bh2 Nb5 24. Ne4 f3 25. Qe1 fxg2 26. Kxg2 Bf5
27. f3 Qc8 28. h4 Bh3+ 29. Kg3 Rxf3+ 30. Kxf3 Qg4+ 31. Kf2 Qg2#

A simple way to view games:
1. Copy and paste the game into notepad
2. Download and install winboard (http://www.chesscentral.com/Free_Chess_Software_Download_a/228.htm)
3. Drag the notepad file on to the winboard shortcut

Nice game, if a bit uneven. Nice mating combi. :)
According to a brief check with Deep Rybka you've missed two chances to get a clear advantage:
a) after 14. - Nxd3 (secures the bishops pair!) followed by d5 to open the position your advantage is obvious.
b) you could play Na3 for many moves. It also secures the bishops pair and opens the white Ne4 up for a pin with Bf5 (after say Na3, Rc1, Nxc2, Rxc2, Bf5).

[baruk]

Nice game, if a bit uneven. Nice mating combi. :)
According to a brief check with Deep Rybka you've missed two chances to get a clear advantage:
a) after 14. - Nxd3 (secures the bishops pair!) followed by d5 to open the position your advantage is obvious.
b) you could play Na3 for many moves. It also secures the bishops pair and opens the white Ne4 up for a pin with Bf5 (after say Na3, Rc1, Nxc2, Rxc2, Bf5).

I was actually the chump playing white and getting mated. :)

Would have to disagree with Deep Rybka's analysis there - I think black's actual moves were as good, if not better than the computer's suggestions.

a) The "bad" bishop on d3 (bad as it is hemmed in by pawns) is worth less than the knight on e5 (knights are at their strongest when centrally placed), so exchanging both wastes a move and leaves white better off.

b) Playing Na3 is not as strong as leaving the knight on b5 (threats are most effective when left unplayed!) and using the move to develop the attack against white's weakened king position.

I'm sure there are a lot of improvements to find from white's perspective - probably my worst mistake was playing 26. Kxg2 - unthinkingly grabbing the pawn when my King could have simply stayed where he was, hiding on g1 - leaving the black pawn on g2 would actually have shored up the king's position somewhat.

Here is game 2 of the semi-final from Monday night - playing black I started off well, but got hit by some good combinations and ended up resigning a hopeless endgame.

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Be3 Bg7 5. Qd2 Nc6 6. h3 a6 7. a4 O-O 8.
Nge2 e5 9. g4 exd4 10. Nxd4 Re8 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. Bg2 Rb8 13. O-O-O Nxe4
14. Bxe4 Rxe4 15. Bh6 Qf6 16. Bxg7 Kxg7 17. g5 Qe5 18. f4 Rxf4 19. Rhe1 Qf5
20. Re8 Rbb4 21. Ne2 Rxa4 22. Qc3+ f6 23. Qxf6+ Qxf6 24. gxf6+ Rxf6 25.
Rxc8 Rf7 26. Nd4 Kh6 27. b3 Ra1+ 28. Kd2 Rxd1+ 29. Kxd1 c5 30. Ne6 Rf3 31.
Rxc7 Rxh3 32. Rxh7+ Kxh7 33. Ng5+ Kh6 34. Nxh3 g5 35. c4 Kg6 36. Ke2 Kf5
37. Ke3 Kg4 38. Nf2+ Kf5 39. Ne4 Black resigns 1-0

I thought there was a way to paste and view games online somewhere.

This seems to work, just click "import pgn" and paste in your game notation:
http://www.caissa.com/chess-tools/chess-game-viewer.php

[Gorath]

I was actually the chump playing white and getting mated. :)


And I was the one who didn't read your post carefully enough. ;)

[Gorath]

a) The "bad" bishop on d3 (bad as it is hemmed in by pawns) is worth less than the knight on e5 (knights are at their strongest when centrally placed), so exchanging both wastes a move and leaves white better off.
I would respectfully disagree here, for two reasons:
1. You have to count what's left on the board, not what's gone. ;) Black gets an advantage in the center and a very strong - unopposed - white squared bishop. That's a stable advantage, however big it may be.
2. For whatever reason, today Rybka likes something slightly different. *g* Here is a forced variation: 14. - h6 15. Bh4 or f4 Nxd3 16. Qxd3 f5 17. Nd2 (Nc3 is slightly worse) g5 18. Bg3 f4 19. exf4 gxf4 20. Bh4 Bf5 Black wins an exchange on b1 and has a clear, almost winning, advantage (+1.22). Please not that the white queen is unprotected if it enters the e file, so white can't take on e7 with the bishop.

In the game white got counterplay with c5. Rybka even sees a small white advantage after the counterstrike 22. Nf3 f4 23. Qd2 fxg3 24. Qxd6 gxf2+ 25. Kxf2 Qxd6 26. Rxd6 Be8 because white is more active and has one weakness less.



b) Playing Na3 is not as strong as leaving the knight on b5 (threats are most effective when left unplayed!) and using the move to develop the attack against white's weakened king position.

I'll take this one back. After a little longer analysis Rybka no longer likes the Na3 maneuver. Of course such a decentralising move only makes sense if it has a concrete benefit. This doesn't seem to be the case here.

I'm sure there are a lot of improvements to find from white's perspective - probably my worst mistake was playing 26. Kxg2 - unthinkingly grabbing the pawn when my King could have simply stayed where he was, hiding on g1 - leaving the black pawn on g2 would actually have shored up the king's position somewhat.
Agreed. Sc5, Rbc1, Be4, Bxc6 and Bxg2 looks much better. White's king is relatively safe and he has good piece coordination.
IMHO the real mistake was one move earlier though. It seems to me the black "attack" was unfounded and you should have simply strengthened the center by taking on f3. After 25. gxf3 Bxh3 26. Rbc1 I see 4 black pawn islands compared to white's 2, and no kingside attack. I would prefer white. (Rybka: +0.63 edit: increasing, now +0.88)


I'll have a look at the other game later. It's a variation I play with white, so I'm looking forward to it.

[distauma]

chess with friends on the iPhone is starting to consume my life... This is very bad. I have like 10 games open lol. My user name is 'distauma' if anyone wants to give it a go against me

[Jag]

I apologize for the games I abandoned. Was out of town for a few days and forgot the moves were timed. Enjoy the free wins! (although tjohn was spanking me)

[baruk]

I would respectfully disagree here,

It's a matter of playing style - in over the board play I'm keen on keeping pieces on the board until I can gain a decisive advantage, whereas a computer will often see decisive advantage in an innocuous looking exchange.

I thought I'd post up one of my wins, but to make things interesting, I've also put up a couple of master games (one recent, one famous).

Game one:

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Bg5 e6 4. e3 Be7 5. Nbd2 c5 6. c3 Nbd7 7. Bd3 O-O 8. Ne5 h6 9. h4 Nh7 10. f4 Nxe5 11. dxe5 f5 12. exf6 Nxf6 13. Bg6 d4 14. e4 dxc3 15. bxc3 Qd3 16. Rh3 Qd8 17. e5 Nd5 18. Qg4 Bxg5 19. hxg5 Rxf4 20. Qh5 Qxg5 21. Qxg5 hxg5 22. g3 Rf8 23. O-O-O Ne7 24. Bh7+ Kf7 25. Ne4 Ke8 26. Nd6+ Kd7 27. Nf5+ Nd5 28. c4 exf5 29. cxd5 Ke7 30. Bg6 f4 31. Rh7 fxg3 32. Rxg7+ Kd8 33. e6 Bxe6 34. dxe6+ 1-0

Game two:

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Bd3 Bc5 6. Nb3 Be7 7. O-O d6 8. c4 Nf6 9. Nc3 b6 10. f4 Nbd7 11. Qe2 Bb7 12. Kh1 Qc7 13. Bd2 h5 14. Nd4 g6 15. f5 gxf5 16. exf5 e5 17. Ne6 fxe6 18. fxe6 Nf8 19. Bg5 Rg8 20. Bxf6 Bxg2+ 21. Qxg2 Rxg2 22. Nd5 Qc5 23. Bxe7 Nxe6 24. Kxg2 Kd7 25. Bf5 Qa5 26. Bxe6+ Kxe6 27. Rf6+ Kd7 28. Rxd6+ Ke8 29. Rf1 Qd2+ 30. Kh1 1-0

Game three:

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Bb7 10.d4 Re8 11.Nbd2 Bf8 12.a4 h6 13.Bc2 exd4 14.cxd4 Nb4 15.Bb1 c5 16.d5 Nd7 17.Ra3 f5 18.Rae3 Nf6 19.Nh2 Kh8 20.b3 bxa4 21.bxa4 c4 22.Bb2 fxe4 23.Nxe4 Nfxd5 24.Rg3 Re6 25.Ng4 Qe8 26.Nxh6 c3 27.Nf5 cxb2 28.Qg4 Bc8 29.Qh4+ Rh6 30.Nxh6 gxh6 31.Kh2 Qe5 32.Ng5 Qf6 33.Re8 Bf5 34.Qxh6+ Qxh6 35.Nf7+ Kh7 36.Bxf5+ Qg6 37.Bxg6+ Kg7 38.Rxa8 Be7 39.Rb8 a5 40.Be4+ Kxf7 41.Bxd5+
1-0

So, which is which?

To view games, copy the notation and paste it here:
http://www.caissa.com/chess-tools/chess-game-viewer.php

[Godzilla Blitz]

chess with friends on the iPhone is starting to consume my life... This is very bad. I have like 10 games open lol. My user name is 'distauma' if anyone wants to give it a go against me

Request sent! I've been playing Chess with Friends off and on for a couple of months now.

Looking forward to the game!

[Gorath]

So, which is which?

To view games, copy the notation and paste it here:
http://www.caissa.com/chess-tools/chess-game-viewer.php

The Pirc game you've posted a couple of days ago was nice. You had your opponent completely outplayed, found the should-have-been-decisive combination and then lost the thread and failed to stabilize the situation. An undeserved loss.


The 3 new games:

1. Spectacular and good, but a bit uneven. White's attack was extremely risky because the center was open. With such a game you have a lot of interesting stories to tell at the club evening.

2. Almost as spectacular but on a generally higher niveau.

3. That's the famous one. Good annotations can be found in Understanding Chess Move by Move. (Kasparov - Karpov from one of their WCh matches. Very complex game.)

My conclusion has to be that your game was the first. But it's of course hard to tell with such a small sample.

[baruk]

My conclusion has to be that your game was the first. But it's of course hard to tell with such a small sample.
Correct, not too difficult. Thought I'd lost that game when the f-pawn dropped and the queens came off - g3 turned out to be the move that kept up the pressure.

Here is a commentary on the second game, Panchanathan - Rowson at the Scottish Open:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrIw65dHPmQ&feature=related

Kasparov and Karpov talking about game 20 of their 1990 match (from 1:15:24 onwards):
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-123587302886162278&ei=LXxmStHfFtCA-AbN1ehc&hl=en

The Pirc game you've posted a couple of days ago was nice. You had your opponent completely outplayed, found the should-have-been-decisive combination and then lost the thread and failed to stabilize the situation. An undeserved loss.
The start of my troubles in that game was perhaps 16 Kxg7. With hindsight, Qxg7 seems a lot better - much harder to dislodge the Queen from the important diagonal. 19 Qxg5 was probably fine, and I missed 21. Rfc4 to prevent Qc3+.

[Gorath]

Thanks for the links. :)

The start of my troubles in that game was perhaps 16 Kxg7. With hindsight, Qxg7 seems a lot better - much harder to dislodge the Queen from the important diagonal. 19 Qxg5 was probably fine, and I missed 21. Rfc4 to prevent Qc3+.

I think you had a couple of interesting choices. As you mentioned, Qxg7 instead of Kxg7 was probably the safest solution. Stuff the e-file with Be6, exchange a rook on e1 if necessary and you must be close to winning.

The "refutation" 15. - Bxh6 is also tempting. The logic behind it is that black's attack is actually faster than white's. After 16. Qxh6 Reb4 17. b3 Be6 18. Qe3 Qf6 you're already threatening to smash something into b3.

15. - Bh8 is the "pure" solution, and it may be even objectively best. With your fianchetto bishop alive you can be quite sure your queenside attack will crash through. But of course you need good nerves to put yourself on a back rank mate.

19.- Qxg5 was necessary and good. Qf5? allows the counter 20. Nd5! cxd5 21.Qc3+ and suddenly black has to play many precise moves to escape white's heavy pieces. Objectively black is probably still better, but that's not a position one wants in a practical game.

21.- Rfc4: Agreed. Then everything is fine.

[krayzkrok]

GOG is running a special offer for chess games until the end of Monday EST, although the only worthwhile one is Chessmaster 9000 (http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/chessmaster_9000) for $7.99. Given that my version of CM is 2100 I thought it was a pretty good deal, and it's surely better than Chess Titans for games against the computer.

So tiohn, I'm waiting for that second rematch but apparently you're not accepting new challenges right now. This time I will not fail...