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cock hero flux posted:the trick to playing against humans is that, rather than playing in order to demonstrate your skill or intelligence, you should be playing to make your opponent feel bad and look stupid There's basically infinity people who are better than you at chess, and infinity people who are worse than you, so just play somewhere that you can get a close game and have fun. The purpose of a rating is to facilitate fun matchups, not to evaluate your worth.
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Aug 22, 2023 19:51
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Boy, there's nothing like winning a nailbiter online, then checking analysis and finding out both players made a dozen blunders.
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Aug 31, 2023 02:18
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rollick posted:No, it just hides it from view. The other player can type what they like in it, and you can go back and look any time. There's also a "kid mode" that permanently removes it from view, but it's still there. I don't know why, but just knowing that it's there makes me desperately curious to check it, so I'd love a way to get rid of it entirely. Nobody ever even chats in my games. Or maybe I just don't notice.
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Sep 10, 2023 23:23
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Huxley posted:
Yeah that was my first thought. I would've finished developing the queen and rook before pushing the pawn to d4, although I'm lower rated so what do I know.
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Sep 13, 2023 03:12
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Perry Mason Jar posted:If you had to recommend one chess book for a beginner - I haven't played ladder due to number fear, so I don't know - which one would you recommend? My first book was Winning Chess Strategies, which I loved as a kid. Play Winning Chess is the beginner-level book but WGS was my favorite..
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Sep 17, 2023 16:56
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Urethane posted:definitely one of a kind mind for teaching chess with the written word We were just talking about the Winning Chess series.
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Sep 24, 2023 23:26
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Youth chess update: My 7yo went a combined 1-5 in her first two beginner tournaments, but she's game for more, and the tourney director gave her a free year's membership to USCF, I guess as a bonus participation prize. So overall I'm pretty excited for her chess future. My 5yo who claims beating him is "illegal" says he isn't quite ready for the tournament scene.
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Sep 25, 2023 02:17
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Spokes posted:it sounds like he's ready to be world champion 2006-2007 He likes to negotiate mutual rights to promote pawns, maybe he'll be world champ of Diplomacy, and may God have mercy on his soul.
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Sep 25, 2023 03:02
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Mrenda posted:I watched a couple of videos on openings, one on the Italian Game and one on defending against E6. Firstly, there's absolutely no way I'll remember close to the majority of what even a 20 minute video will tell me but equally I'm wondering how useful it'll actually be for me at my low level. I've just signed up to a Lichess account but I can't imagine, once I'm put at the right level, many people playing in a way that the opening doesn't descend to a chaotic mash within a few moves. The lines I'm trying to remember won't be applicable, if I can even remember them. Why do you think you're losing your games? Is it because of positional shortcomings or because you're blundering pieces or tactics? I think the reason people discourage opening theory for beginners is that it's not the low-hanging fruit for improvement. Also, focusing on internalizing opening principles will still help you later whenever you are outside your opening book. I could say "play the Four Knights Italian" but the point isn't for you to memorize lines from a book, you should learn and practice principles like moving each piece once, control the center, knights before bishops, castle early, etc. If you know your principles you'll always have an idea to fall back on; even if you run into a weird opening position you know what you're trying to do. Arrhythmia posted:I would sit down and learn exactly how to punish an f-pawn move. 1.e4 e5 2. Nf3 f6 is relatively common at low levels, is very easy to punish, but the first move is probably not what a beginner would play. This is true but I don't think it's step one. First just get the opening principles down. As you start to recognize "hey I'm getting crushed by these specific moves every time", then find the easiest way to counter it. Even then I wouldn't go out of your way to punish openings or activate your trap card as a beginner before Glicko 1300* or so, just find simple moves that get to a playable middle game. On the other hand, chess is ostensibly something you're doing for fun so if memorizing opening lines is what gets your rocks off then go for it. But it's not the best way to graduate from beginner to novice chess player. *Rating is arbitrary, really it's "before you stop stepping into forks or blundering pieces constantly". PerniciousKnid fucked around with this message at 19:48 on Sep 30, 2023 |
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Sep 30, 2023 19:45
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Move each piece once before moving a piece twice (pawns are not pieces) Knights before bishops Move toward and control the center Don't hang pieces (pawns are not pieces) Follow those rules in the opening. If you're nervous, just play the computer. Analyze your game after ten moves and assess whether you're following the principles. Repeat until you can make the first moves without freezing up, then play people. You'll lose the first ten games while your rating corrects.
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Sep 30, 2023 21:57
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Actually just watch Aman's first "Building Habits" video on YouTube, not perfect but it does a good job of showing how to play and make decisions without memorizing. You can still learn an opening if you want to, but you'll still benefit from having principles to fall back on. So, instead of melting your brain trying to calculate ten moves ahead when you're offered an even trade, you just take the trade and move on.
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Sep 30, 2023 23:53
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I was looking at Winning Chess Opening and realized it didn't have anything to say about the London, which I was curious about. So I flipped through a copy of Fundamental Chess Opening, and didn't find anything there either. Am I crazy? I thought the London system was somewhat common, aren't there any beginner books that discuss it?
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Oct 2, 2023 03:07
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VictualSquid posted:I don't know those books. But, the London was a considered a mediocre opening for boring people who are also to lazy to learn openings until very recently. With most theory focussing on how to play for a win as black. Well that's unfortunate. I wanted to read an openings book and get some more insight into the motivations behind them, but I guess many of the lines I see are apparently too hip for school.
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Oct 2, 2023 18:14
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ikanreed posted:Serious question. If you're doing a computer aided game review and you can't figure out why a move you made was a blunder, nor what the suggested move accomplishes, is there a trick to figure out what the computer is thinking? If you press enough buttons you can see the computer continuation. Sometimes it's still not obvious, but sometimes you see it's actually a mate threat or something. tanglewood1420 posted:If you are at the level where it is worth studying opening theory then you will gain more by looking at a different opening than the London System. I'm not shopping for an opening, I was looking at defenses. In any case I was more looking for some reading material that satisfied my theoretical curiosity. It's not just the London, it seems like half the openings I look for are absent. Or I'll flip to the chapter on Sicilian which has multiple pages, but I look for the Alapin line and it just says something like "dickless losers play c3 here" and moves on. I guess it makes a certain amount of sense that books about opening lines won't focus on the simple openings I'm curious about.
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Oct 2, 2023 21:56
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tanglewood1420 posted:Oh right, gotcha.  Ah well.
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Oct 2, 2023 23:49
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Mrenda posted:Yep. I'm being far too fancy for my own good, overthinking things and thinking chess is some genius brain move game when at my level it's, "Don't be immensely stupid, just moderately stupid." And a lot of that is just dealing with what I see is the "pressure" and pulling bullshit out of my arse. With triple-digit Rating you shouldn't feel pressure. If you fall behind just keep focusing on counting correctly and half the time you'll come back when your opponent blunders a piece back. If they don't make any mistakes they were smurfing or playing out of their mind, either way you were doomed from the start.
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Oct 3, 2023 14:41
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Also, a dog who chased two hares catches neither. Focus on protecting pieces and counting properly, then when you've mastered that move on to tactics, then strategic stuff. Probably some other steps in there but you get the idea. It'll be easier to evaluate when not to take trades after you've mastered the basics.
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Oct 3, 2023 15:04
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Mrenda posted:
Have fun! Your rating is going to drop. Even setting aside that Lichess starts you with a very high rating, it will drop because you have an eclectic mix of chess habits and solidifying your foundation will result in missing tactical and strategic opportunities. As you master counting, your rating will stabilize and increase to a new plateau, and then repeat the process every time you add something new. But, it will all work out in the long run!
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Oct 3, 2023 17:20
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ikanreed posted:1500 is a very high rating? I've looked at the distribution and it's almost exactly the median. Median rating is very high for a beginner.
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Oct 3, 2023 17:56
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Leperflesh posted:That 1500 average therefore represents not an average of all chess players, but rather, an average of dedicated multi-year online chess players. OTOH I just had a rapid game today with a 1400 who tried some scholars mate thing with a Queen and no bishop. His plan failed, then he stepped on a dozen rakes in a row and lost. So I think 1500 is probably pretty achievable at some point. I didn't even play well! Edit: Apparently it's called the King's Pawn Game: Wayward Queen Attack, Kiddie Countergambit. PerniciousKnid fucked around with this message at 04:32 on Oct 4, 2023 |
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Oct 4, 2023 04:26
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Leperflesh posted:doesn't a brand new account start at 1500 though? Provisionally. This dude has 130 games played.
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Oct 4, 2023 04:33
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ikanreed posted:The kiddie counter gambit was your move Yeah I just posted the whole name because it's funny.
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Oct 4, 2023 19:00
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I hit 1400 on Lichess last night. I was very excited, not by the magnitude of the number but by how round it is. 
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Oct 5, 2023 15:49
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ikanreed posted:
I hosed it up and played some more, now I'm an unround 1404. Also I played a really bad game where I went up a rook (which hung for five turns before I grabbed it) and then blundered the advantage away while ignoring my opponent's hanging knight for like three turns. Oops! I need more endgame practice too, I keep stalemating won positions now that opponents don't just let me shove pawns up the board unimpeded.
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Oct 5, 2023 21:24
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I'm also managing to hold on to my 1400 for the first time
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Lol white went from +5 to mated in one with that rook move, oops!
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Oct 5, 2023 21:28
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regulargonzalez posted:I've been a 1.d4 player this far but decided to add a 1. E4 opening. Played the Giuoco Piano without knowing any concepts beyond the first 4 moves and stomped my opponent. So at 1100 chesscom / 1400 Lichess, is it good or is wack? https://lichess.org/pJUVQt0g/white#31 Seems okay to me.
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Oct 8, 2023 17:52
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Helianthus Annuus posted:another precious moment from having the black pieces in 3 minute blitz -- black is winning, but how to proceed here? lots of moves are possible... Me, checking my answer: oops!
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Oct 9, 2023 03:30
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My 5yo always wants to know when he and daddy can play "chest" again.
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Oct 10, 2023 03:21
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I've been slightly sick for like two weeks because I have kids and I lost fifty rating points. It's definitely because of my kids and not for any other reason.
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Oct 24, 2023 21:09
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Bilirubin posted:played what I thought had been a careful, thoughtful game, and in reviewing it the computer agreed. Up until the point I hung my queen. Fortunately, opponent didn't see it under the pressure I was applying but holy hell, play dumb games, If I'm feeling too good about myself I can always count on the computer to bring me back to Earth.
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Oct 26, 2023 16:45
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cock hero flux posted:sometimes stockfish will give me a blunder and then upon investigating it it will show me a series of 15 precise, brilliant moves that end with me losing a queen and then i'm like, cool, anyway in the real world my 900-rated blitz opponent's next move was hanging a rook Yeah just use the computer to look for mistakes you overlooked, but don't worry about computer lines or take the labels too much at face value. The computer will criticize you for missing mate in 12, it doesn't know that you're rated 700 and don't know what en pissant is. Take the computer seriously but not literally.
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Oct 27, 2023 04:29
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Huxley posted:It's interesting. The idea is you're supposed to pick a set of puzzles (the first 222 in the Easy section, for instance) and do them timed and scored. This sounds like my kinda style. Although I was thinking about getting the big Polger book instead and approaching it similarly. I think I can only get one book from Santa.
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Nov 20, 2023 05:08
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I'm thankful for the chess thread.
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Nov 24, 2023 00:59
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Salt Fish posted:I beat a 6 year old OTB today. Happy Thanksgiving! I blundered my queen to my 7yo but then tricked her into stalemate. 
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Nov 26, 2023 18:45
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regulargonzalez posted:And of course I get why once I see it, but it's the seeing it in-game that is the problem. It's just practice. Keep seeing these positions and filling them away, slowly but surely.
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Dec 1, 2023 05:04
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big trivia FAIL posted:that's why I think you have to know your openings somewhat. knowing the main lines leads to predictable positions that can lead to tactics. if you're just throwing things out there, good luck recognizing a position or pattern. I have played probably 3000 games of vienna and caro. I don't win all of them but it makes it MUCH EASIER that I know 3-4 variations of each 10+ moves in and can spot patterns and structures from them I guess that's why you can do puzzles in Lichess filtered by openings.
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Dec 7, 2023 05:13
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big trivia FAIL posted:yes but have you considered that playing games is more fun than doing puzzles No.
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Dec 8, 2023 22:59
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When I want low stakes chess I just do puzzles.
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Dec 13, 2023 05:07
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My daughter won a (beginner section) trophy at her first rated tournament! Just the best of her quad but she's excited and I think she's really got the chess bug, at least until soccer season starts. Meanwhile her puzzle rating is up to 1200 and mine fell from 1400 to 1275 so I guess I need to hit the books. 
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Dec 17, 2023 00:10
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Arrhythmia posted:Here's a good chess principle: if your oppenent is trying to scholars mate you, see if you can develop a minor piece in a way that threatens the queen. Huge positional advantage in the opening for no work This also applies to other openings (e.g. the Scandinavian).
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Dec 28, 2023 03:38
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