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KingColliwog posted:So I started playing chess because many of my students do and it's fun to play against them. For endgames, learn how to win with two rooks (or a rook and a queen) vs a lone king, one queen vs a lone king, and one rook vs a lone king. They all follow super easy, reproduceable principles. You will feel a lot more confident when you get an advantage if you can think "if I trade away every piece on the board except the one I'm up by then I can win the game easy".
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Jun 24, 2023 02:41
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I've realized that I should play more rapid because it's so much more satisfying when you can actually spend time to calculate positions like this: instead of making the most obvious move and instantly blowing it against someone making bad moves faster unfortunately I don't think I have the attention span for classical, not that many people seem to play it online
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Jun 24, 2023 03:56
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I'm kind of in the same spot as you, but a few months ahead (started in the high 600s, now up to the 1k range). I've probably wasted a lot of time on stuff that didn't actually help me, so here is what I think is the best "adult learner now what?" plan. First, focus on getting better because you want to feel more confident in your games and want to understand it and enjoy it at a deeper level, not because you like watching the number go up. Playing just for your rating is going to cause you brain problems. Second, there are basically 4 endgames you need down pat at our level. Q+K vs K, R+K vs K, Ladder mate (2 Rs, 2Qs, R+Q), and I would add Kings and Pawns. If you've both burned off all your pieces and you have the pawn advantage, knowing how to turn one of your pawns into a Queen is important. This is a little tougher than the above scenarios, where you are guaranteed a win if you play it right, but the scenario comes up fairly often and it's be helpful to know what to do say, here:  Third, YouTube is great. John Bartholomew Chess Fundamentals is a good starting point. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ao9iOeK_jvU And ChessBrah's Building Habits series is really instructive. He starts with concrete rules for every Elo range and sticks to them. He plays as simply and fundamentally as possible (no crazy tactics, no sacrifices, no gambits), and doesn't win every game under his own rules but shows how just being solid will take you a really long way. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8pZbhjL-fQ Beyond that, the game is 90% spotting tactics. For that, it's just grinding puzzles, which may be where you draw the line at the game becoming too tryhard. To the point that studies have shown that if your goal is winning games, actually playing games is less important than puzzles. As in, the puzzles are where you learn to play, and the games are where you demonstrate what you've learned (but for the most part you don't learn much by playing). I'm not sure if Chessable's free courses are free to everyone or just free to me because I pay for chess.com, but if you can, I have found this to be a very good free course of just, "there's a simple fork here, find it ASAP." And as you do the same simple puzzles 3-5 times spread out over time, the patterns start to show themselves in actual play. https://www.chessable.com/course/77784 OPENINGS are where I (and I think almost all) beginning players waste the most time. It's simply the least impactful phase of the game and the least important to study. But they're fun to learn and they have cool names and you fall down a trap of, "maybe I'm on a bad streak because I am not playing the right opening with white." But at our level it's almost NEVER that. Basically just pick something sound (Italian, 4 Knights, Queen's Gambit, London) and stick with it. With black play e5 against e4, and d5 against d4 and follow principles. Know what to do against black's most popular nonsense responses, and then just play. (As in, as a d4 player, you will need to know what to do against e5, which is a trappy gambit from black, but beyond all that it's fine not to kill yourself on openings.) If you want to dig deeper into one in particular, Chessable has a "Short and Sweet" course on nearly every popular opening, but they can be hit or miss and a REAL waste of time at our level. As in, some courses spend 75% of their runtime on a 2nd or 3rd move that we will never see at our Elo. You can do some work paring them down, though again this is getting really tryhard. If you go to Lichess, you can look at popular responses to moves sorted by Elo. So like, you can say, "If I open e4, people at my level respond e5 75% of the time and c6 3% of the time, so I shouldn't spend a lot of my time studying what to do against c6." Then in your chessable course, you can just not learn the c6 responses until you start seeing it. But Fundamentals and Tactics are where the money is. Huxley fucked around with this message at 16:41 on Jun 24, 2023 |
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Jun 24, 2023 16:37
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An amusing anecdote along these lines, my winrate with the Caro is only like, 40-45%, so I have spent a fair bit of time trying to sort out where I'm going wrong or finding a different response to e4. I finally this week dug into the Lichess analytics and found that my winrate in all the mainline Caros is like 60%, but over half my games are "Caro-Kann, other variations." Well, what the hell does that mean? It turns out at at my Elo, e4 players only see c6 about 5% of the time. And "Other Variations" is Lichess's way of saying my opponent went, "oh god c6, what is this nonsense, I don't know what to do, better just start slamming pawns forward as fast as possible." And I'm not very good yet at converting against opponents whose plan is "drop a piece and panic, close the position as quickly as possible, then win on flag." So knowing 6-8 moves deep and solid Caro middlegame plans against 2/3 of my opponents is useless, because 2/3 of my opponents are just going to throw pitches at my head starting on turn 3. This is what people mean when they say openings don't matter, and particularly don't matter at low Elo.
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Jun 24, 2023 17:14
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Chessable's free courses are for everyone. Edit: yeah, look at what people are playing - you usually won't see main lines until you get higher up or play OTB. BadOptics fucked around with this message at 17:17 on Jun 24, 2023 |
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Jun 24, 2023 17:15
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Have been traveling recently, gone to a few places with "big piece chess" live. Was going to play the other day when the old dude who was already up a piece just straight up cheated and moved their already-moved-once pawn two squares to threaten a rook (among other things). What's the etiquette there as an observer? The opponent didn't say anything, the other folks watching didn't seem to be paying attention.
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Jun 24, 2023 17:21
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I'd probably just stay quiet. It's as likely as not that it's just two randos who both don't know the game that well and want to fool around with the huge rear end pieces.
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Jun 24, 2023 17:54
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Start yelling for a judge. If one doesn't arrive after 5 minutes you're authorized to make a citizen's arrest.
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Jun 24, 2023 19:27
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Edly posted:Start yelling for a judge. If one doesn't arrive after 5 minutes you're authorized to make a citizen's arrest. CHESS POLICE! YOU'RE GOING DOWN, SUCKA!
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Jun 25, 2023 21:57
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Sataere posted:CHESS POLICE! YOU'RE GOING DOWN, SUCKA! I think you mean *whispers* "chess police! you're going down, sucka!"
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Jun 26, 2023 01:40
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Redmark posted:I've realized that I should play more rapid because it's so much more satisfying when you can actually spend time to calculate positions like this: This is a delightful puzzle  No chance I would think of the first move in a game though, although it makes perfect sense in hindsight to take away the escape to h8. I guess that's why they always say to look at every check.
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Jun 26, 2023 03:02
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BadOptics posted:I think you mean *whispers* "chess police! you're going down, sucka!" SHHHHH!!!
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Jun 26, 2023 15:43
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Huxley posted:I'm kind of in the same spot as you, but a few months ahead (started in the high 600s, now up to the 1k range). I've probably wasted a lot of time on stuff that didn't actually help me, so here is what I think is the best "adult learner now what?" plan. Thanks for this post. I am in a similar situation as some of the other people in this thread, where I started playing only a bit over a year ago and have definitely improved since then, but am feeling kind of stuck with things (currently at ~870 ELO on lichess). This seems like some pretty helpful advice to apply to the situation.
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Jun 26, 2023 18:11
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The single biggest thing that's helped my game was switching from 15+10 time control to 30 minutes. Pretty much all of my games used to end in time pressure, unless my opponent conceded early. Now I have a comfortable amount of time to think through all of my moves, which makes playing far more enjoyable and less stressful, even when I lose. I also feel like I'm learning a lot faster. It's hard to explain exactly why, but I think it's been really helpful to play through endgames accurately instead of getting a winning middlegame position and then just flailing because I'm out of time. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, April 27 is when I switched to 30 minutes: 
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Jun 26, 2023 20:07
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Edly posted:The single biggest thing that's helped my game was switching from 15+10 time control to 30 minutes. Pretty much all of my games used to end in time pressure, unless my opponent conceded early. Now I have a comfortable amount of time to think through all of my moves, which makes playing far more enjoyable and less stressful, even when I lose. Yeah, when I went from just 10+0 to 15+10 that helped a lot. I'd love to do 30 minutes but it's tough when you have family/kiddos. Only time I really get for that is OTB the one night I go.
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Jun 26, 2023 20:11
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BadOptics posted:Yeah, when I went from just 10+0 to 15+10 that helped a lot. I'd love to do 30 minutes but it's tough when you have family/kiddos. Only time I really get for that is OTB the one night I go. This is my problem - 10+0 is the the absolute sweet spot for my current situation.
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Jun 26, 2023 20:14
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I feel like I've got the opposite problem: I've been playing 10+0 but rarely use even half my time.
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Jun 27, 2023 02:33
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I talk a big game about Rapid for improvement, then I'll play 50 2+1s in a day then not play again for a week. Truly the most degenerate way to enjoy this beautiful game.
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Jun 27, 2023 03:21
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This game sucks rear end. Nothing but cheesers and pawn spammers in the lower elos. Kings gambit is so fuxking op and devs refuse to buff anything but the queen which was already busted af while ignoring massive exploits like en passant
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Jun 27, 2023 04:35
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Control Volume posted:This game sucks rear end. Nothing but cheesers and pawn spammers in the lower elos. Kings gambit is so fuxking op and devs refuse to buff anything but the queen which was already busted af while ignoring massive exploits like en passant
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Jun 27, 2023 06:26
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If you want new poo poo, look up paco sako, it's wild. In brief, instead of capturing you hug, and if the piece you're hugging already had one of your pieces in a hug, you dislodge the old one which gets to move...and potentially start a new hug. Game ends when you hug your opponents king. Can have absolutely ridiculous combo puzzles.
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Jun 27, 2023 12:10
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Hans Niemann has had his lawsuit thrown out
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Jun 27, 2023 18:18
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No way
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Jun 27, 2023 18:37
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quote:The judge in the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Missouri noted that "counts 3 and 4," both regarding a possible antitrust injury, were dismissed "with prejudice," meaning they cannot be brought again. The other counts were dismissed for lack of jurisdiction but "without prejudice," leaving the door open to for the case to be re-filed, for instance if new evidence appears. Dismissal for lack of jurisdiction should mean he can identify the correct jurisdiction and file there, right? But the issue might be that each defendant could be in a different jurisdiction, requiring multiple separate lawsuits.
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Jun 27, 2023 18:41
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Leperflesh posted:Dismissal for lack of jurisdiction should mean he can identify the correct jurisdiction and file there, right? But the issue might be that each defendant could be in a different jurisdiction, requiring multiple separate lawsuits. There are multiple kinds of jurisdiction going on. There are 5 counts to this complaint: (1) slander, (2) libel, (3) [antitrust], (4) [antitrust], (5) breach of contract [only against chess.com]. The court says "your antitrust counts are trash" and tosses them for failure to state a claim. After that, with no federal counts left (slander / libel / breach of contract are all state law), the court says "take that to a state court." There is a separate argument as to whether or not this court has power over Rensch / Nakamura / Play Magnus based on their contacts with the court's area (personal jurisdiction), but this court doesn't reach that argument since it doesn't have to.
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Jun 27, 2023 18:57
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Leperflesh posted:Dismissal for lack of jurisdiction should mean he can identify the correct jurisdiction and file there, right? But the issue might be that each defendant could be in a different jurisdiction, requiring multiple separate lawsuits. From what I remember from when it started there is also the issue that the correct jurisdictions also have much higher penalities for frivolous lawsuits then where he originally filed. Bad look, that.
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Jun 27, 2023 18:58
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I won an endgame because my opponent forgot en passant and the capture let me promote 
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Jun 28, 2023 03:24
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Dang, did you guys see the Anand Carlsen endgame https://youtu.be/w_GRMXUUWms
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Jun 30, 2023 00:39
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Is there any way to train specific puzzle themes on the lichess mobile app?
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Jul 1, 2023 05:19
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Arrhythmia posted:Is there any way to train specific puzzle themes on the lichess mobile app? I don't believe so. One of the reasons I ditched the app and just open up lichess in chrome.
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Jul 1, 2023 05:51
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Women's world championship started today. I can't find any actually good commentary streams, though.
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Jul 5, 2023 11:54
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Found an unusual chess notation: And also an interesting artefact.
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Jul 6, 2023 23:27
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Hmm that looks like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICCF_numeric_notation
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Jul 7, 2023 03:38
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I'm looking to get a chess table for my office and nothing on Etsy or Wayfair quite fits. Looking for a round pedestal style table with a nice board inlay and ideally a sliding tray that I can put a timer on when playing but can be slid back in. Anyone seen / own something like that? E: https://www.chairish.com/product/7990522/late-20th-century-neoclassical-style-carved-gilt-pedestal-base-chess-game-table found this but don't really like the pedestal regulargonzalez fucked around with this message at 17:35 on Jul 11, 2023 |
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Jul 11, 2023 17:09
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Aloha. I played chess super casually when I was a kid because school decided I was "gifted" and sticking me in a room with a chess set and a bored teacher "supervising" was easier than actually having a gifted program. That was 25 years ago, and I decided I'd like to learn properly now. Couple of questions: 1. How do I go about actually learning? Like, I know the very basics - how to set up the board, how each piece moves, and the ultimate goal of capturing the King, but that's about it. 2. I'd like to buy a nice chess set to keep at home to play with my brother or friends, as well as just display because I like how chess sets look. What's a nice set that is: solid wood, weighted pieces, and has some sort of storage for pieces. Preferably felt lined wood rather than felt lined plastic.
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Jul 11, 2023 17:44
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regulargonzalez posted:I'm looking to get a chess table for my office and nothing on Etsy or Wayfair quite fits. Looking for a round pedestal style table with a nice board inlay and ideally a sliding tray that I can put a timer on when playing but can be slid back in. Anyone seen / own something like that? What's your budget? You could ask in the woodoworking thread, see if someone would like to take it on as a commission. But you'd want to expect to pay at least a couple grand, maybe more, depending on your specs, particularly because the board itself requires inlay or tedious joinery. If that's not an issue there's some very talented people in there.
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Jul 11, 2023 17:52
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Annath posted:Aloha. Go through the tutorial on one of the chess sites. You might start in the middle of the beginner one: https://lichess.org/learn#/ The intermediate one gets very hard at the end iic, you probably want to start skipping stuff half way. https://lichess.org/practice Then just play a few games. You will lose the first 2-3 then you will get matched against players of your level. Then once you lost against an opening that looks cool, you can look for some info on it to get some opening knowledge. You can also use chess.com instead of lichess, but they might charge money for the advanced tutorial.
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Jul 11, 2023 18:45
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Leperflesh posted:What's your budget? You could ask in the woodoworking thread, see if someone would like to take it on as a commission. But you'd want to expect to pay at least a couple grand, maybe more, depending on your specs, particularly because the board itself requires inlay or tedious joinery. If that's not an issue there's some very talented people in there. That's a good idea. I was looking to stay in the $1500-2000 range, that might limit my options.
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Jul 11, 2023 18:57
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regulargonzalez posted:That's a good idea. I was looking to stay in the $1500-2000 range, that might limit my options. It's sort of iffy. Like making a basic round table with a pedestal foot can be complicated or simple depending on a lot of design decisions. Adding a drawer takes more work. A pull out shelf that sits below the tabletop is easier. I could make a chess board butcher block style easily if I have a planer but way more effort if I'm doing it with a hand plane, and inlay is more effort still unless you've already set up to do inlay, etc. etc. I'm not a pro either. I'd probably take $2k to do that project but I would not be confident that the result would be worth $2k. But it's conceivable, anyway! I know one or two of the folks in that thread are basically professional furniture makers who could maybe quote you something though so it's worth a stab. The pull out bit kind of interferes with the pedestal base requirement, the base typically attaches with a spread of wood support (think like a bit plus-sign under the tabletop) which could make it harder to have a thing that pulls out flush, the hardware gets in the way? That might be why you're having a hard time finding that. There's ways around it of course, that's almost always the case, but maybe if you just went with a small table with four legs instead of a pedestal you'd find more with pull-out tray options. e. sorry this is wandering into wood chat, we can continue this convo in the woodworking thread if you like
Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 19:11 on Jul 11, 2023 |
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Jul 11, 2023 19:09
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half mill phil e: entirely wrong thread lol jesus WEP fucked around with this message at 20:36 on Jul 11, 2023 |
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Jul 11, 2023 19:11
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