Chess Club's topics - tribe.net

Where do you play online?

LeDuge — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 18:08:57 GMT

hmmmmmmmmmmmm - i play at alle'y katz den.

posted in Chess Club - 10 replies

Best Chess Player of All Time

Cuindless — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 22:37:39 GMT

This is largely an academic question, but its one that has fascinated all the great historians of chess. While I'm not a master and certainly not fit to judge the powers and playing styles of the chess greats, there are certain statistical and historical arguments that can be made.

By Elo rating, Garry Kasparov is the greatest chess player of all time. With a peak rating of 2851, Kasparov is arguably the strongest player in chess history. Elo ratings, though, may not be the best way to judge the strength of chess players because of a phenomenon called "rating creep". If you look at the highest ratings of all time, you'll notice that the top seven are all from within the last ten years. As ratings go up, the ratings earned through victory increase as well. This flaw of the Elo rating system means that it can't be used to compare chess players of different generations. That being said, "Chessmetrics" rates him as the strongest player over a 5, 10,15 and 20 year period. Only Bobby Fischer outranks him according to single year rating. "Warriors of the Mind", a popular book on chess history, also ranks him as the number one chess player of all time. He also holds records for consecutive tournament victories and Chess Oscars, so it is obvious that Kasparov must be in the running.

Another contender must be Alexander Alekhine. No other chess player has as great a win percentage as Alekhine. His brilliant attacking style has been lauded by every serious student of chess. He was world champion for a combined total of 17 years, and successfully defended his title more times than any of his contemporaries. Alekhine, unlike many world champions, held on to his title until his death. Unfortunately, Alekhine was known to pick and choose his battles and was many times criticized for playing opponents far below his ability. He has also been accused of modifying and even inventing games and using his position as world champion to get them published in chess publications. He also refused a series of rematches against another contender on this list, Jose Raul Capablanca.

As far as records go, Emmanuel Lasker certainly belongs on any list of contenders for "Greatest Chess Player of All Time". Lasker held the title of World Chess Champion for 27 years, longer than any other champion, and was easily the most dominant player of his generation (he lost the world championship to a much younger contender at the age of 58). He was widely regarded by other chess masters as being a "psychological" player and was accused by many of his opponents of purposefully playing weak moves to throw them off. Analysis of his games by chess engine Deep Rybka 3, however, has revealed a play accuracy far and above what was originally thought, and it is believed by many historians of chess that his understanding of positional play far exceeded his time. The problem arises when you look at just how few games of his are available compared to other world champions. He demanded high fees for matches, and the conditions he required for tournament play and championship matches were very controversial. For this reason, very few people actually wanted to play against him.

Jose Raul Capablanca is strong contender for "Greatest Chess Player of All Time". In his entire career, Capablanca suffered fewer than 40 losses in serious games. For 8 years of his professional chess playing career, Capablanca was undefeated. This was a streak of 63 games. Many top chess players, such as Richard Reti, Boris Spassky and Mikhail Botvinnik, consider Capablanca to be the greatest player of all time. In addition, the computer chess engine Crafty analyzes Capablanca's play as being the statistically most superior. Against all this are some serious problems. First, Capablanca has only one world championship win against the much older Emmanuel Lasker. He never successfully defended his title, and never regained the title in his entire chess career. Capablanca's own writings indicate a very simple view of chess, bereft of detailed analysis with an obvious preference for clear cut positions.

This list is by no means exhaustive, and there are many names that I haven't mentioned (mostly because I haven't studied their history of playing styles extensively). Botvinnik, Petrosian, Fischer and Korchnoi all come immediately to mind, so please, by all means, disagree with me. The purpose of this brief list is to generate ideas and discussion from better chess minds than I. I look forward to your analysis.

posted in Chess Club - 5 replies

Favorite and Least Favorite Openings

Cuindless — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 15:59:53 GMT

All this time I've talked about how studying the endgame is far more important than studying the opening, I've neglected to mention that every Master, Grand Master and serious amateur DOES study the opening and studies it extensively. The openings are filled with numerous tricks and traps, but that's the least important aspect of the opening. More importantly is the principle of sound opening theory, which is triune in nature:

1. Control the center! This is the fundamental principle of every sound opening. From the direct central attacks of the King's Pawn Opening to the fianchettoed bishops of the Benko Opening, every major opening has controlling the center in mind. A few obscure openings, such as 1.a3 (the so-called Anderssen's Opening, named as such because he played it in one, lone famous game), have other ideas in mind, but these are far less sound.

2. Develop your pieces. Getting knights and bishops into powerful squares and developing a pawn structure is arguably the second most important aspect of the opening. That's where all those opening axioms come in. "Develop knights before bishops." "A knight on the rim is dim." "Bishops belong on long diagonals." All these speak to the fundamental principle of piece development.

3. Protect the king. The king begins in a very vulnerable square. A king left in the center is not long for the game unless you play VERY accurately. Jeremy Silman says in "The Amateur's Mind" that a king in the center is asking to be checkmated. That's why castling is such an important part of so many openings: It is a natural way to protect your king AND develop your rooks.

Now, everyone has their favorite openings. My personal favorite as white is 1.d4 - The Queen's Pawn Opening. I prefer the following variation of the Queen's Gambit Accepted: 1.d4 d5, 2.c4 dxc4, 3.e4. It's risky, though, because after 3...e5, 4.Nf3 exd4, 5.Nxd4 Nf6 black has re-established equality. I'm not as good with the Queen's Gambit Declined (either Main Line, Slav or Semi-Slav) and I detest the Indian Defense because it's just so damn sound! As black, I like the Sicilian Defense, especially the Accelerated Dragon, against 1.e4 and the Indian Defense, especially the Nimzo-Indian Defense, against 1.d4.

As for my least favorite openings, I dislike the Ruy Lopez or any variation of 1.e4 e5, 2.Nc3 Nf6 (i.e. 2 Knights Defense, 4 Knights Defense, et cetera, ad nauseum). I'm not a big fan of the Caro-Kann, and though I like the Nimzo-Indian when I'm playing it, I hate a well-played one against me. I know the Reti Opening (1.Nf3) is sound, but I can't fathom how to play it correctly and seem to defense against it well enough. For these reasons, my opening repetoire typically consists of 1.d4 and 1...c5 or 1...Nf6.

What's everyone else's opening repetoire look like?

posted in Chess Club - 1 reply

Old 1959 lowes chess set

clayton — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 06:13:47 GMT

Who ever was looking for that E.S. LOWES chess set. I have the original carrying case with all set pieces. And i know it is for sure because we've had it in the family for ever. This is one of the sets i teach my kids on. Plus when you open the case it has the lowes logo at the rear. Also what is so GREAT and VERY RARE it has the 1959 book that came with box and pieces. The book is a little lite brown in some places. But not in bad shape at all considering its age. So who ever is looking to purchase write me back. Thank You!

posted in Chess Club - 0 replies

A Very Unexpected Result

Cuindless — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 15:30:21 GMT

I just drew a game against Rybka 3. I didn't think it was possible, but in 13 moves I did a threefold repetition draw. Here's the PGN:

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.g3 Nf6 7.Bg2 h6 8.O-O Be6 9.e3 Rc8 10.Qa4 Bd7 11.Qd1 Be6 12.Qa4 Bd7 13.Qd1 Be6
1/2-1/2

For 8 moves we followed the Queen's Gambit Declined / Tarrasch Defense / Rubenstein System / Prague Variation. Move 7...h6 was out of book. I played a couple more solid moves before 10.Qa4, which I actually thought was a poor move. When I noticed Rybka repeating moves, I decided to try it again and ended up with a draw.

Does this represent progress, or is it a one-time fluke? I haven't been able to pull a draw agains the machine since, so I'm apt to think that this just happened to happen once.

posted in Chess Club - 4 replies

The Give and Take of Blunder Chess

Cuindless — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 06:26:33 GMT

As painful as it may be to admit it, most of the chess played at my level is blunder chess. My opponent and I make sound positional and tactical moves until one of us makes a mistake and the other capitalizes on it. Then, whoever capitalized on the initial blunder either wins or makes a blunder of his own that evens things out and prolongs the struggle. Looking back through every one of my games, I'm filled with horror at the mistakes I make that, in hindsight, seem ridiculous.

A recent game of mine illustrates this point perfectly. I was playing against a slightly lower rated opponent when he blundered away a knight on move 9 just as we were transitioning into the middle game. Of course, I took the piece, and proceeded to develop the rest of my pieces to good positions in preparation for an assault on the kingside. Then something magical happened. Rather than get frustrated, lose his head and start throwing away moves, my opponent dug down deep and parlayed his gain of tempo into a solid positional advantage.

Then, in the late middle game, *I* blundered away a piece, and suddenly things were looking very bad for me. Having turned his loss into an advantage of position and tempo, the sudden evaporation of my material advantage meant that he had the winning position, and he started punishing me for it. Just as we were transitioning into a winning endgame for him, he blundered *again*, missing a mate in one opportunity that I, of course, took immediately. Looking back through the game there were all sorts of minor mistakes that a Master or GM would have been able to exploit and force victory on either of us, but overall we played to our rating and did pretty well.

This got me thinking about the nature of blunders. A blunder in the opening can be rectified with accurate play during the middle game. A middle game blunder is very difficult to recover from, and all you can really do is stave off defeat and hope for inaccurate play by your opponent. A blunder in the endgame is devastating, though. A blunder in the endgame is almost always a loss.

It's interesting to me that, as the game goes on, the stakes of a blunder get higher and higher. Maybe it's because there's more at stake, the game as opposed to a piece, for example. Perhaps it's because pieces and positions become exponentially more valuable as the game goes on. I'm not sure exactly why, but it's one of the ephemeral beauties of chess that every move brings more and more tension to the game.

posted in Chess Club - 4 replies

Study The Endgame

Cuindless — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 04:43:51 GMT

I said it before in the "5 Ways to Improve Your Game" post, and I'll say it again here: Studying the opening yields short term gains only. Yes, studying the endgame is important. Bobby Fischer reportedly spent over 15 hours a day memorizing openings. That's because he already had a masterful understanding of end and middle games. World Chess Champion Jose Raul Capablanca said it best:

“In order to improve your game, you must study the endgame before everything else, for whereas the endings can be studied and mastered by themselves, the middle game and the opening must be studied in relation to the endgame”

And he's not the only one. International Masters and Grand Masters alike have all said the same thing.

“Openings teach you openings. Endgames teach you chess!”
(Stephan Gerzadowicz)

“After a bad opening, there is hope for the middle game. After a bad
middle game, there is hope for the endgame. But once you are
in the endgame, the moment of truth has arrived”
(Edmar Mednis)

"Studying openings is just memorizing moves and looking for traps. Studying the endgame is chess."
(Josh Waitzkin)

"Studying the endgame is like cheating."
(Michael J. Frannett)

Here's why: In my early chess studies, I focused on openings almost to the exclusion of all else. This means that I usually transitted to the middlegame up a pawn or even two. Sometimes I was up a whole piece. After move 9, though, I was in uncharted territory. Having made no study of the middlegame, I tended to blunder by move 15 or so. When I finally made a study of the middlegame, I started blundering away the endgame.

One of the biggest complaints of chess amateurs, myself included, is the difficulty we have in creating a clear strategy. This can only be done by understanding the difference between a winning endgame, a drawn endgame and a losing endgame. Like Capablanca said, all other aspects of the game are studied in relation to the endgame. This is the reason, above all else, that the aspiring chess player should study the endgame first.

posted in Chess Club - 1 reply

The Perils of Online Chess

Cuindless — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 13:57:08 GMT

In my previous post, I gave 5 good ways to immediately see improvements in your chess game. One of my recommendations was to play online, like InstantChess.com (my personal favorite... no I'm not a paid representative). However, playing chess online has it's own pitfalls, which I will detail how to avoid and negate as much as possible.

The first is cheating. I'm always suspicious of online play, especially when facing an opponent who is far and away superior to myself. I don't think you have to cheat to beat me (far from it if my friendly games at the local chess club are any indication), but when I see a vastly superior player, I have to wonder if they're using a computer program of some kind. I content myself with the realization that if I wasn't playing against an online opponent I would just be playing against a computer any way, so nothing is lost.

Second is a lack of commitment amongst my opponents. In a face to face game, there's a level of commitment, ego or possibly personal honor that prevents quick, repeated resignation. In the faceless world of online play, no such compunctions exist. I don't know how many times I've blundered away a queen or a rook in a face to face game only to play the game out just to see if maybe I can come out on top, or at least draw it. Online, though, that's not the case. Blundered away your queen? Resign and play a different opponent. Sicilian defense not working out for you? Resign and try the Karo-Cann. Don't like playing black? Cancel the game and start another one where maybe you'll play white. Very rarely will you find someone who will stick it out to the end. Those that do are usually endgame afficianados (players extremely good at endgame tactics). I enjoy that most of all, because my endgame is weak from playing so many quick resigners.

Lastly is the limited pool of players. In the infinite realm of the internet, you would think that you'd have no end of players to choose from. The reality is a little more complicated. When online chess first came around, there were suddenly 100 different websites that catered to it. Now that number has dwindled, but no one chess website has the e-monopoly. While there's still plenty of players to go around, the lack of true expertise (you can bet Viswanathan Anand doesn't play online chess...) means that the likelihood of anything more than a casual player finding a true challenge becomes less and less likely.

Despite all of these faults, I still heartily recommend online chess. Playing at clubs is great, and playing against a computer opponent is certainly a joy, but no where else except online can you play 20 games a day against similarly skilled players.

posted in Chess Club - 8 replies

Book Review - Forcing Chess Moves: The Key to Better Calculation

Cuindless — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 04:15:34 GMT

Let's face it, computers are outpacing humans on the chess board and have been for about 10 years now. For this reason, "Forcing Chess Moves" doesn't take a human approach to teaching calculation. Instead the author encourages the reader to adopt "Computer Eyes" while learning to calculate. The first two chapters are devoted completely to developing perfect two-move calculation, which Hertan believes is the key to mastery. I wouldn't know since I'm not a master, but I do know that through studying the two and three move mating puzzles he presented I've seen instant improvement in my game and calculation.

Another area that this masterful piece of work helped me improve is in understanding the tactics of sacrificing a piece. I tend to play for material advantage, so understanding the art of piece sacrifice has never really been my strong suit. By presenting a series of clear and fascinating sacrifice puzzles, Mr. Hertan furthered my knowledge of this technique. I still don't use them that often, but I now can recognize a sacrifice gambit when I see one.

What really impressed me, though, is Hertan's tone. His writing style is very direct, at times ascerbic, at times witty but always scholarly and excited. It is clear that Hertan really loves chess and the art of calculation. Be warned, though: The book can be grueling. It jumps right into calculation puzzles and positions and never lets up. There's very little theory or flowery text like in the works of Seirawan or Waitzkin. It is puzzle after puzzle after puzzle of interesting and formidable positions.

posted in Chess Club - 2 replies

A Recent Game

Cuindless — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 15:32:35 GMT

There's something artistic about a knight checkmate. Whether its Legall's Mate or smothered mate, there's just something beautiful about sweeping in with the eccentric knight and checkmating a king. I played a game today against a fellow amateur of about my ability. He made some mistakes, allowing me to checkmate him in 24 moves. Here's the PGN:

1.e3 d5 2.Bb5+ Bd7 3.Qe2 a6 4.Bxd7+ Nxd7 5.Qd3 Ngf6 6.Nc3 Nc5 7.Qf5 e6 8.Qf3 Bd6 9.Nh3 O-O 10.Ng5 h6 11.Nh3 Re8 12.Nf4 c6 13.Nd3 e5 14.Nxc5 Bxc5 15.Qf5 g6 16.Qh3 d4 17.Na4 b6 18.Nxc5 bxc5 19.Qxh6 Qd6 20.exd4 exd4+ 21.Kf1 Qe6 22.g3 Qe4 23.Rg1 Ng4 24.Qf4 Nxh2# 0-1

While not my best game, I was very happy to have used the knight as the final checkmating piece. I invite better chess minds than I to evaluate the game if they wish. Your advice and analysis will certainly prove useful.

posted in Chess Club - 0 replies

Five Ways to Improve Your Chess Game

Cuindless — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 07:51:38 GMT

Hello everyone. I'm new here, and I noticed there wasn't a lot of activity. I thought I'd just start posting some interesting ideas and see what you guys have to say. I'm not a NM, IM or GM in any way, I'm just a big chess enthusiast who would like to discuss chess with other enthusiasts. If you have any criticisms or comments on any of my ideas, feel free to chime in. The more the merrier.

Without any further ado: Five Ways to Improve Your Chess Game.

One: Learn principles, not positions. Many chess players start out by memorizing openings and strategies in the hopes of destroying their opponent with easy gains early on and riding out their advantage until the end. Unfortunately, this tactic yields short term results but long term losses. By focusing on contrived situations, the would-be student of chess ignores the fundamentals of good chess strategy. What results is that the player will progressively move away from their areas of comfort and toward increasingly unknown territory. A better way to play chess, according to international masters Kasparov, Waitzkin and Seirawan, is to focus on the actual principles of play. After all, aren't the various opening techniques and mid-game strategies based on those principles?

Two: Don't try anything fancy until you've mastered what you know. The vast majority of chess players play one of two strategies: King pawn forward or Queen pawn forward. The reason is because those two are the most efficient strategies. The Sicilian Defense, English Opening and Nimzo-Indian Defense are awesome strategies, but only in the hands of masters. In the hands of amateurs, they likely create holes that a canny opponent will easily exploit. By all means, experiment with those strategies, but stick to tried and true methods during important games.

Three: Go to tournaments. You might think you're not ready, but no one does. A chess tournament will expose you to more diverse styles of play than anything else. There are even different categories to insure that you don't face an opponent who is devastatingly superior to you. Playing against your friends or at a local chess club is great, but in the end you will only be exposed to a limited number of players and play styles. Tournaments include such factors as pressure and diversity that completely change the face of a good chess game.

Four: Document your games. International Grand Master Josh Waitzkin has this to say, "If you aren't documenting your games, you aren't playing chess. You're just flailing around and hoping you'll get better." By documenting the moves of your previous games, you can analyze them later and improve on the mistakes you made. Face it, your memory is flawed. Unless you're an eidetiker, that is. As such, you will never be able to remember exactly what mistake you made. And who knows? Maybe you'll look back on the game and realize that the mistake you thought you made wasn't a mistake at all... or maybe you made the real mistake much earlier. Documenting your games is an aid to memory which will provide you with insight into the strengths and weaknesses of your particular play style.

Five: Play online. Playing against a computer is demoralizing and difficult because the computer always wins. Playing against a computer can be rewarding though. Computers don't mock you when they win. Computers don't cheat. Computers don't feel mercy. Computers don't mind if you take back a move and try again. Despite all that, I still recommend playing online. Use a computer to re-examine your games. Playing online will expose you to new players. Worst case scenario: They're cheating (using a computer), which is what you'd be playing against anyway. Best case scenario, you play someone just above your level and can see the different strengths and weaknesses of various strategies. Either way, you win! Play online for free here: www.instantchess.com/

I'll see you there.

posted in Chess Club - 4 replies

Play to the END!

Cuindless — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 05:27:59 GMT

One thing I've taken to heart from Jeremy Silman's book "The Amateur's Mind: Turning Chess Misconceptions into Chess Mastery" is to always play to the bitter end. NEVER make things easier on your opponent. No one in the history of chess ever won a game by resigning. Many amateurs, myself included, are *horrible* at the end game. I've taken a "never resign" mentality into my games. Even when I'm down all material and have only my king while my opponent has both rooks, a queen and a bishop, I don't resign. There's always the possibility of stalemate. Too many players blunder away their queen and quietly resign hoping they won't make the mistake in the next round. Don't do that. Play to the end. Make your opponent EARN that point. Even if you do end up losing to a nice checkmate, you will still have learned something about endgames. Resigning only insures defeat and allows you to wash your hands of the game. Sticking with it to the bitter end means that you are invested in the game and want to know if your opponent can actually force a win. Make him earn it. Don't give up. Play to the END.

posted in Chess Club - 4 replies

Black vs White

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 02:26:31 GMT

Has anyone played across this tribe?

posted in Chess Club - 1 reply

boards

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 02:31:47 GMT

Who here collects chess boards?

posted in Chess Club - 0 replies

Fritz 10 rocks!

RPMcMurphy — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 20:53:44 GMT

I love the tutorial section where grandmasters like
Kasparov and...
Korchnoi...

analyze and teach openings...
and you see a video of them to add the human element.

posted in Chess Club - 0 replies

Santa Monica is holding a "Chess Week" of events revolving around chess.

bill — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 22:23:08 GMT

SANTA MONICA BAY CHESS CLUB
www.geocities.com/santamonicabaychessclub (310) 827-2789
Nolte Hall, 11555 National Blvd. (& Federal Ave. ) West Los Angeles

Santa Monica is holding a "Chess Week" of events revolving around chess. The events are to be held at the Ocean Park Library 2601 Main St. (@ Ocean Park Blvd.) and the Fairview Library 2101 Ocean Park Blvd. (@ 21st St.)

CHESS WEEK

MONDAY November 5th
Main Library 4-6:30 PM

Youth & Family Chess Instruction
Youth Area Activity Room

TUESDAY November 6th
Ocean Park Library 7-9:00PM

Invitational Blitz Tournament
Hosted by SMBCC & Sponsored by Main Street Merchants
Players by Invitation only (each player gets 1 guest)

Seats to observe must be reserved
for reservations: smgotchessblitz@gmail.com

WEDNESDAY November 7th
Ocean Park Library

3-6:00PM Youth & Family Chess
7-9:00PM Open Chess Instruction All Ages

THURSDAY November 8
Fairview Library

3-6:00PM Youth & Family Chess
7-9:00PM Open Chess Instruction All Ages

SATURDAY November 10
Fairview Library
12:30 -2:00PM Public Play & Instruction
2:15 - 5:15 PM Akobian Talk & Simul
Reservations only.
To WATCH or PLAY the Grandmaster
email for reservations :
Akobianlibrary@gmail.com
Please be clear whether you are seeking to PLAY or WATCH

There is no other way to request reservation.
All requests are on a first come first serve basis
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com

posted in Chess Club - 0 replies

My www.chessword.net ID

webcam54901 — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 15:01:40 GMT

54901 Email:tom54901@aim.com

posted in Chess Club - 0 replies

A pretty finish ...

scooter-ron — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 18:25:08 GMT

I actually played this OTB last week.

r3r1k1/pp4pp/2n1Nn2/2b5/2Q1P3/2N5/PPP2PPP/R4RK1 w - - -2 1

1.Ng5+!

(My computer tells me that 1.Nd8+! actually mates one move quicker, because black can't sacrifice both the N and and R to delay the mate, but since my opponent didn't sac either - not seeing the queen sac coming - it was moot.)

(The finish was 1.Ng5+ Kh8 2.Nf7+ kg8 3.Nh6+ Kh8 4.Qg8+!! Rxg8 5.Nf7#)

posted in Chess Club - 6 replies

Mikhail Tal

Sat, 08 Sep 2007 19:19:33 GMT

http://www.chesscorner.com/worldchamps/tal/tal.htm

Mikhail Tal

1936 - 1992

8th World Champion, 1960 - 1961

Mikhail Nekhemievich Tal was born in Riga, Latvia in 1936. His father was a physician and the young Tal became interested in chess when he saw the game played in his father's waiting room. However, it was not until he was in his teens that he began to study the game seriously. Tal soon became obsessed with the game and played as often as he could. He could even be seen playing a game or two of blitz chess between rounds at tournaments.

For much of his life he suffered from ill-health but his obsession with chess was made apparent when, prior to an operation, he talked about chess until the mask was placed on his face and when recuperating he had to be taken back to hospital on several occasions after making his escape to a local chess club. He defeated Mikhail Botvinnik in 1960 at the age of 24 to become the youngest grandmaster to hold the world champion title until then.

Tal was an attacking genius at the board. His attacks often looked like sheer madness but later analysis would show that his intuition had been correct. Botvinnik is quoted as having said, " I was surprised by his ability to figure out complex variations. Then the way he sets out the game; he was not interested in the objectivity of the position, whether it's better or worse, he only needed room for his pieces. All you do then is figure out variations which are extremely difficult. He was tactically outplaying me and I made mistakes."

posted in Chess Club - 0 replies

a Benoni with a Czech

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 18:11:42 GMT

thanks, Johnny, for telling me about, Chess.com. I'll check it out more thoroughly, I hope that others will too. Much appreciated. Take care and happy playing!
_______________________________________________________________________

http://www.chess.com/

***
http://www.chess.com/article/view/a-benoni-with-a-czech

The Benoni Defense, 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5, can be a good choice for Black if he likes a crampled game for awhile. Ben-Oni is Hebrew for child of my sorrow. In this game, Black was sorry he played this opening, as White sacrificed on the kingside and was able to mate Black. The game was played in Czechoslovkia by two Czech players and it demonstrates a nice mate.

posted in Chess Club - 0 replies

chess is war!

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 17:33:35 GMT

http://www.bobby-fischer.net/

"Chess is war over the board.
The object is to crush the opponent's mind." - Bobby Fischer

Robert James "Bobby" Fischer (born March 9, 1943), won the World Chess Championship on September 1, 1972 and lost the title when he failed to defend it on April 3, 1975. He is considered to be one of the most gifted chess players of all time and, despite his prolonged absence from competitive play, is still among the best known of all chess players.

"I am the best player in the world and I am here to prove it." - Bobby Fischer
_______________________________________________________________________

now play chess against the computer! enjoy and good luck!!

http://www.bobby-fischer.net/bobby_fischer_chess_against_a_computer.htm

posted in Chess Club - 2 replies

Bobby Fischer

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 17:48:37 GMT

Blue Knight Chess Club Blog

http://www.funchain.com/~blueknightchessclub&category=About%20Robert%20James%20Bobby%20Fischer

Bobby Fischer settles down

The news was he planned to sue the US Government for $200 million. Now we learn that Fischer has dropped the lawsuit, which may have been filed without his consent. He is settling down in Iceland, enjoying the food (especially seafood and lamb), the space and fresh air, the absence of nuclear plants. We bring you the latest news and lots of new photos.

First the news
We reported that Bobby Fischer had recruited La Jolla (San Diego) attorney Richard Vattuone to represent him in a lawsuit against the United States, and that Fisher was ready to file a $200 million claim against the United States illegally revoking his passport and causing a nine-month detention in Japan.

Now a San Diego news service has reported that Fischer has dropped the federal lawsuit, which was filed March 23, the same day Fischer was released from a Japanese detention center and took up residence in Iceland. "He wants to get on with his life," Richard J. Vattuone, the attorney who filed the lawsuit told The San Diego Union-Tribune in Tuesday's editions. "He's not interested in any more lawsuits, so that matter is over, dismissed." [AP report in SignOn San Diego].
However, we have learnt that Fischer in fact fired his attorney on March 26 this year. It is possible that Vattuone had filed the lawsuit without Fischer's permission.

The Russian news agency RIA reported that Fischer is planning to play another match in Serbia, this time against veteran GM Pal Benko, 75. A friend of Fischer, Janos Kubat, was the source of this information. Kubat said Fischer wanted to play the match in Kanizsa, a town located on the border between Serbia and Hungary, where he had spent some time in 1993. According to Kubat a sponsor has already been found and the venue decided. [Full RAI report in Russian]

The Bulgarian news agency Standart is reporting that Fischer has been invited to attend the M-Tel Masters in Sofia from May 11?22. Organizer Silvio Danailov broke the news before reporters of the Focus news agency. "We have sent a personal invitation to Fischer and a copy of the invitation the Chess Federation of Iceland, asking them for assistance" Danailov explained. From friends in Iceland we learn that Fischer had indeed received the invitation, but that Danailov had not stated any conditions, just VIP treatment. They did not expect Fischer to go to Sofia.

I a recent interview with the newspaper Morgunbladid in Reykjavik Fischer was asked about his best or most beautiful game of chess. Fischer responded, after some thought: ?Probably the game I played against Donald Byrne 1956 in New York, sometimes called 'the game of the century. My opponent does not seem to have made any serious mistake, but lost very quickly. The perfect game of chess does not exist, not even that one against Byrne. I took a risk with the move 11...Na4". He also spoke about his "kidnapping" in Japan, the detainment and the harsh conditions, about his new chess clock, his friendship with Saemi Palsson, the policeman who is so unpolicemanlike, the US tax claims (unjustified according to Fischer), his political views ("There is no law against saying that the moon is made out of green cheese"), and the Karahnjukar Hydroelectric Project in East Iceland, between Landsvirkjun, the National Power Company and Alcoa Inc., the big American Utility. Fischer criticised this mega project which would harm the environment of Iceland, which has the largest unspoiled open wilderness in Europe. He said the project must be stopped, and advocates that Iceland should cut off all relation with the US, close the US base at Keflavik, close down the US Embassy and prohibit all business with the US.

Meanwhile Fischer is being sought by the US media. After the 60 Minutes enquiry HBO and others have requested reporting time with Fischer, who however currently does not show any special interest in being filmed or interviewed. After his fianc饠Miyoko Watai left for Japan last Friday Bobby has spent most of his time in his hotel suite, relaxing and acclimatizing. He enjoys Icelandic food a lot, especially seafood and lamb. He is also very gratified to know that there are no nuclear power stations around, just natural thermal baths, lots of space and refreshing air.

posted in Chess Club - 0 replies

98% mental energy!

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 17:43:13 GMT

http://bobbyfischer.net/

"I give 98 percent of my mental energy to chess. Others give only 2 percent."
-- Robert J. Fischer, USA, World Chess Champion 1972-75

Some Fischer facts

Born: March 9, 1943 in Chicago, Illinois
Learned the rules of chess at age 6!: 1949
First recorded tournament game: July 1955
International Grandmaster title: 1958
U.S. Champion eight times in eight attempts!: 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1966
Winner of: every tournament and match in which he participated from December, 1962 through World Championship match 1972 with the exceptions of Capablanca Memorial, 1965, (2nd place - ½ point behind Smyslov), and Piatigorsky Cup, 1966, (2nd place - ½ point behind Spassky).
Bobby Fischer's tournament and match results: 415 wins, 248 draws and 85 losses out of 748 games played from 1955 through 1992 for a performance average of .721 or 72.1%
Fischer's highest achieved rating: 2785 ELO.

Featured email:

Subject: coming clean

If bobby was reading this somewhere on this planet, I would say. Come clean, and do what your suppose to do do as a human being. People do things all the time that they don't want to do, but they have to. Come back to us. The least you could do is be a man about it and do the right thing. Maybe you'll get lucky and get a little respect back, and maybe not, but at least you got off your lazy ass and done something instead of whining all the time like a little kid. For someone who has an i.q. of 180 or whatever you show no common sense. Think about it. Wonder just how many letters such as this Bobby has read? Why can't we all do what we're supposed to instead of griping all the time. No wonder people go insane.

derek

Question:
"Where is Bobby now?"

That is the #1 question I find coming to me via email.

Answer:
"The latest news places Bobby in Japan."

The truth is that Mr. Fischer moves around a lot and when he does pop up, in one form or another, those news bits also pop up. Bobby has been sighted in Brazil, Hungary, Philippines, England and Japan.

Fischer has long been regarded as an eccentric genius. One of the world's greatest chess players, with a reported I.Q. of 180, he wrested the world chess championship away from the Soviet Union's Boris Spassky in a 1972 match. But he lost the title when he refused to show up to defend his title three years later.

Mr Fischer, who has been a Grandmaster since the 1950s, became the first - and so far only - American world champion in 1972. He disappeared for the best part of 20 years before surfacing in 1992 to play against his old opponent Spassky for $5 million. The match broke sanctions imposed by the United Nations and in a controversial move he was indicted in the United States. President George Bush, the father of the current president, gave his personal approval for the legal action.

Since then, he's been a recluse. Fischer's 1992 non-title rematch against Spassky, which Fisher won despite having been away from professional chess competitions for two decades. At that time, he said he had not paid U.S. income taxes for 15 years and asked why economic sanctions were not being imposed against Israel.

At a press conference on June 19, 1996 in the Argentine capital, Fischer was received by hundreds of journalists and chess fans, many of whom had come from all over the world. The object of the conference was to publicize the launch of Fischer's new game, Fischer Random Chess. Fischer pointed out, that with his new improved chess variant chess creativity and talent would be more important than memorization and analysis. He stated, that many games are prearranged before the players begin the game, and that even the so-called world championship between Russian players Kasparov and Karpov had been prearranged, this would be impossible in Fischer Random Chess. He also pointed out, that due to such long hours in front of the computer screen, many top players today, such as Anand and Kramnik, wear thick glasses. He also mentioned, that all of the study necessary to play conventional chess made it hard work, and that he had gotten into chess in order to avoid work! Fischer stated, that without access to databases of the millions of opening variations in traditional chess, computers do not really play chess all that well.

On January 13, 1999, Bobby Fischer conducted his first live radio interview in Hungary. He has given a total of 21 live radio interviews from Hungary, Philippines and Iceland. You can listen to the Bobby Fischer Live Radio Interviews here which are in .mp3 format, or use the links below.

posted in Chess Club - 0 replies

San Francisco chess anyone?

Monster — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 02:00:45 GMT

I am a medium-level occasional tournament player.

I usually play 3 0 or 5 0 on FICS.

Sometimes it would be nice to play with real pieces against a person sitting across the board from me. Anybody in SF interested?

Chris

posted in Chess Club - 0 replies

How do you improve your game?

bravebird — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 09:14:39 GMT

I've played for years now but it seems as though I've hit a plateau.

Any tips?

posted in Chess Club - 11 replies

New here

shazlaw — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 05:49:17 GMT

Hi,
Just want to introduce myself.
I was a State Chess champion at the age of 13, and am now considerably older, but not a better player.
Is there anyone else in this Tribe, who peaked early in their Chess accomplishments?
Does anyone know of a Chess Club in SF?
Thanks

posted in Chess Club - 2 replies

A fun game

scooter-ron — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 19:10:27 GMT

Scooter - NN

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 f5 3. Nxe5 Qf6 4. d4 d6 5. Nc4 fxe4 6. Nc3 Qg6 7. Nd5 Qf7 8.
Nce3 c6 9. Nc3 d5 10. Be2 Nf6 11. O-O Bd6 12. f3 Qc7 13. fxe4 Bxh2+ 14. Kh1 Nxe4
15. Nxe4 dxe4 16. Bc4 Bg3 17. Bf7+ Kd8 18. Nd5 cxd5 19. Bg5+ Kd7 20. Bxd5 Qd6
1-0

I feel like black resigned prematurely here - I would have forced me to prove it, but I do believe that white wins here even against hte best defense.

posted in Chess Club - 2 replies

Scooter v. Sh_az

scooter-ron — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 18:29:37 GMT

1. e4

posted in Chess Club - 3 replies

Note from tribe.net: please assign a moderator

touguy — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 23:34:21 GMT

Hey there, "Chess Club" members--

This Tribe doesn't have an active moderator, but as a matter of policy, Tribe.net likes all groups to have a leader. Can you collectively choose someone to moderate your Tribe?

When you've reached consensus, have the new moderator send a note to help@tribe.net, with the words "Moderator Change –Chess Club" in the subject header, letting us know that you've selected a new leader. Please be sure to include a link to this discussion thread!

Thanks--

TOU (Terms of Use) Guy

posted in Chess Club - 5 replies

Tips for newbies?

LeDuge — Sat, 21 Jan 2006 23:47:23 GMT

The 4 spaces in the middle of the board are important? Just lookin' for some tips.

posted in Chess Club - 8 replies

Finite or infinite

James — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 21:59:03 GMT

I was playing chess against a computer the other day and post game I began to wonder if there are a finite number of chess games or are the possibilities unlimited. Maybe I should qualify that with the parameter of games within a tournament time framework.

I have a pet project to beat computer chess programs and I find this can be done with proper planning. It seems to me that there are many programs out there that make good short term calculations but can be tripped up with long term strategy such as getting stuck with bad bishops and by not seeing the long term effects of a sacrifice.

posted in Chess Club - 5 replies

To my dismay...

DeniseDenise — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 06:38:04 GMT

This exhibit is being shown in Philadelphia: http://fi.edu/bodyworlds/
or, http://www.bodyworlds.com/en/pages/home.asp
It is an internationally travelling and critically acclaimed yet very controversial anatomical exhibition of real human bodies created by Gunther von Hagen, a German (mad) scientist.

After spending hours learning and looking and discovering the biology of the human body as it has never been shown before, pushing my intellect to places it has not gone before and wondering in amazement about the body and the mind and the potential we all hold; I came upon this display with utter dismay.

Within the exhibit there is a person sitting and looking at a chess board. It was supposed to show the compacting of the vertebrae that occurs when a person sits in the same position for a long time. To my utter disbelief, the chess board is positioned incorrectly, with the right hand square being black, instead of white.

I just wanted to share this with some people who would actually understand my disappointment. I mean, the place was so rich with learning, and then that!

rant over.

posted in Chess Club - 4 replies

Women chess players

bravebird — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 08:25:41 GMT

Why is it that you see very few women playing chess, if at all?

posted in Chess Club - 10 replies

I am in search of E.S. Lowes' Renaissance Chess Set

Phoenix — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 02:39:30 GMT

Greetings and salutations, to fellow chess loves. I feel a tad impractical discussing this but, I recently played a game of chess New Year’s Day that brought back some memories from when my father taught me chess on the Black and White Plastic E. S. Lowe's 1959 Renaissance set. I am wondering if anyone would be able to come across an extra set or at least the pieces? I do not know where to begin on finding this set. The motivation for looking for it is because the pieces from the set my family had were stolen from me, and besides the sentimental value, I find it easier to be able to play with these pieces. If anyone could locate another set, I would be eternally grateful. Please just let me know either way if anyone is willing and able to help me in this quest of mine. Thank you for your time and take care,

Becky

"Believe nothing just because a so-called wise person said it. Believe nothing just because a belief is generally held. Believe nothing just because it is said in ancient books. Believe nothing just because it is said to be of divine origin. Believe nothing just because someone else believes it. Believe only what you yourself test and judge to be true."
The Buddha

posted in Chess Club - 0 replies

openings?

Erin Sara — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 21:15:23 GMT

i play alot with the same person and we dont know many openings, our peices end up mirroring each other: queens pawn, followed by knight too gard, kings pawn ect. ect. any sugestions?

posted in Chess Club - 6 replies

b6

Muldoon — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 18:17:56 GMT

Have you used this idea as Black? I just bought the book to see if I can add to what I tend to use now.

posted in Chess Club - 3 replies

Full contact chess ain't such a pipe dream after all!

whiskyandfeet — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 15:33:13 GMT

http://site.wcbo.org/content/index_en.html

posted in Chess Club - 0 replies

Two miniatures

scooter-ron — Sat, 27 May 2006 07:08:24 GMT

No chatter on this tribe lately. That's no good. Here's two short games for your perusal. I was white in both.

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bc4 Nxe4 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. O-O Nxc3 6. dxc3 Be7 7. Qd5 O-O 8.
Nxe5 Nxe5 9. Qxe5 c6 10. Re1 d5 11. Qxe7 dxc4 12. Bf4 Qb6? 13. Qxf8+!! {Black
resigns} (13. ... Kxf8 14. Bd6+ Kg8 15. Re8#) 1-0

1. e4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. e5 Nfd7 4. d4 e6 5. Nf3 c5 6. dxc5 Bxc5 7. Bd3 Nc6 8. Bf4
Qb6 9. O-O Qxb2 ?! 10. Nb5 O-O? 11. Bxh7+! Kh8 12. Ng5 g6 13. Nc7 Rb8?! 14.
Ncxe6! fxe6 15. Bxg6 Rxf4? 16. Qh5+ Kg7 17. Qh7+ Kf8 18. Nxe6# {Black
checkmated} 1-0

C'mon. I can't be the only person who posts games here!

posted in Chess Club - 0 replies

A game

scooter-ron — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 00:18:53 GMT

So I played the following game today on FICS. I'm rather proud of it. The time control was 30 minutes + 30 seconds a move:

[White "White"]
[Black "Me"]
[Result "0-1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 c5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. g3 Nf6 7. Bg2 Be7
8. O-O O-O 9. Bg5 cxd4 10. Nxd4 h6 11. Be3 Re8 12. Qa4 Bd7 13. Rfd1 Nb4
14. Qb3 a5 15. Rd2 a4 16. Qd1 a3 17. bxa3 Rxa3 18. Ncb5 Rxe3 19. fxe3 Ng4
20. Qb3 Bg5 21. Qxb4 Bxe3+ 22. Kf1 Qf6+ 23. Bf3 Nxh2+ 24. Kg2 Nxf3 25. exf3 Bxd2 26. Qd6 Qxd6 27. Nxd6 Bc3 28. Rd1 Ra8 29. Nxb7 Rxa2+ 30. Kg1 Ra1 31. Rxa1 Bxd4+
{White resigns} 0-1

A few notes:

It's all very well known (to me, at least) up through 14. ... a5. I know there are variations in here where black has to sacrifice a pawn. The a4-a3 idea isn't particularly original, but it's thematic.

18. ... Rxe3! is the move that I'm most proud of - even thought it was based on some faulty calculation on my part. This is a great example, however, of playing through lots of master games in your opening. Would I find this on my own? Normally, probably not. But black sacrifices R(e8)xe3 in the Tarrasch all the time - it's one of those basic themes. Here, I get to sacrifice my normally less-active rook. This HAS to be good for black.

20. ... Bg5!? is where the whole faulty calculation thing comes in. I had seen 21.Qxb4 Bxe3+ 22.Kf1 Bxd2 completely missing 23.Qxd2. Whoops.

Nevertheless, it didn't take me long to figure out that I was still fine. 22.Kh1 Nf2+ 23.Kg1 and, from the position on move 21, I saw 23. Ne4+ winning me back my rook, up a pawn in a slightly better position. It wasn't until just now, however, that I saw 23.Nd3+, winning the queen and the game.

22. ... Qf6+ is a pretty thematic move here. The next round of tactics aren't that complicated.

26. Qxd2 Bxb5 (27.Nxb5? Qxa1!) is stronger because it keeps more material on the board, but black's two solid pawns up and has the advantage of B v N in an open position.

30.Kg1? loses material, but with two extra pawns and the bishop pair, and the rooks coming off regardless, black should win with little trouble. This is the sort of move people make when their position is bad. I'm quite confident that this opponent wouldn't normally make this sort of error.

posted in Chess Club - 0 replies

A psychological test

Bo — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 16:55:19 GMT

http://extremehonesty.tribe.net/thread/b46a3fde-6299-47ab-b19c-3f3c11b52862

Post your answers in this thread not the above thread. I want to compare answers from different tribes.

posted in Chess Club - 3 replies

gameknot.com

diogeneslantern — Fri, 04 Jun 2004 04:10:47 GMT

Hi all--
I'm betting most of you know about gameknot, but it's the best chess site I've found; it's free, has a wide variety of players and has options for correspondence and "blitz" chess...

Challenge me there if you like; my name is "modesto"

posted in Chess Club - 6 replies

The Most Powerful Piece

Sun, 30 Oct 2005 03:11:25 GMT

So what is your opinion of what the most powerful piece on the chess board is, and why? What do you think this says about your personality?

posted in Chess Club - 20 replies

mini-tourney on gameknot.com between tribers?

Wed, 18 May 2005 05:26:38 GMT

Hi all,

I think that would be fun if someone could organize a mini-tourney on gameknot.com?
Please keep me posted. My id is thelan

cheers

posted in Chess Club - 10 replies

ChessManiac.com

Dennis — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 11:18:24 GMT

ChessManiac.com is a free online chess playing community where you can participate in tournaments, teams, chess clubs and more.
http://www.chessmaniac.com

posted in Chess Club - 0 replies

checkmate challenge!

Fri, 10 Jun 2005 07:55:26 GMT

http://testyourchess.com/cgi-bin/(cdsgcd555rcjxp45mqtkp245)/TYCHome.aspx?G=GEZDQMI

posted in Chess Club - 3 replies

Would it be too forward.....

DeniseDenise — Sun, 30 Oct 2005 05:48:51 GMT

for this new-to-this-tribe lady to come right out and say that I am looking for a mentor? I guess I was hoping for someone to play me on gameknot who can give me ongoing tips, point out my mistakes and show me new strategies, casually, no pressure, no commitment. My rating has been stagnant (between 1200 and 1300ish) for about three years on GK. I'm looking to improve it.

My details: IQ: 133; age: 27; sex: yes please (kidding, female); extra time: not really but I make it for chess; my view of the game: an amazing infinite realm of intellectual possibilities, an international language, a dance between brains; will I read books on chess?: not really, I prefer learning through playing.

So there, I decided to go ahead and ask. Can't hurt right? If anyone out there would like to be the Plato to my Aristotle, I'd be much obliged, and you'd reap the rewards of watching my rating go up- how gratifying :)

Thanks,
iategoatbrains (on GK)
Denise (in the real world)

posted in Chess Club - 38 replies

Photos Check it out I will post Great links for you..........

roger — Sat, 10 Dec 2005 16:45:53 GMT

Photograph.......A picture says a thousand words....pls check it out and leave a comment...

posted in Chess Club - 0 replies

Book recommendations

scooter-ron — Fri, 02 Dec 2005 06:46:35 GMT

Denise asked for a book that wouldn't put her to sleep. I figured it's time to start a new therad for that (although I'll post some comments on the early moves of your second game later, Denise).

I would start with tactics: Chernev and Reinfeld's "Winning Chess: How to See Three Moves Ahead" is a great intro on tactics, and it doesn't require a board and pieces to read through. It's out of print, though, unfortunately - but I'd pick it up if you can find a copy.

If you can't find that, two books by Murray Chandler are also great introductions to tactics. "How to Beat Your Dad At Chess" and "Chess Tactics for Kids." These books are designed to be light, easygoing, but they're really solid introductions to fundamental tactics. (THe former focuses on forcing combinations leading to mate, the later on more general tactics - I'd probably start with the later). Don't be put off by the fact that these books appear aimed at kids.

If you can't solve every position in both of those books instantly, you've missing a lot of easy wins in your games. Luckily, these books are aimed at teaching you just that. Read them! You'll improve!

I'd be remiss if I didn't include at least one book of complete master games, even if I am worried about putting you to sleep. But Chernev's "Logcial Chess, Move by Move" is great "second book" on chess. You'll need a board and pieces to go through it, but every move of every game is annotated, with instructions geared to a player of your (Denise's) level.

posted in Chess Club - 2 replies

A quick finish

scooter-ron — Sat, 19 Nov 2005 03:22:49 GMT

r1b2rk1/pppn1N1p/3b4/3P4/2BP3q/2N2Qn1/PPP3P1/R4RK1 b - - 0 14

White just played Nxf7. How does black end the game instantly?

(The notation above is called FEN. You can google it. For those strugling to figure it out, I'll post a picture of the position titled "Scooter's Combination #1")

posted in Chess Club - 5 replies

A king hunt!

scooter-ron — Wed, 02 Nov 2005 19:19:44 GMT

[White "Scooter"]
[Black "N.N"]
[Result "1-0"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 c5 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. exd5 exd5 6. Bb5 a6 7. Be2 Qb6
8. Nxd5 Qd8 9. c4 cxd4 10. O-O Bc5 11. Re1 Nge7 12. Bg5 f6 13. Bxf6 gxf6 14. Nxf6+ Kf7 15. Nh5 Bg4 16. Ng5+ Kg6 17. Bxg4 Kxg5 18. h4+ Kg6 19. Re6+ Kf7 20. Qf3+ Kg8 21. Rxc6 bxc6 22. Be6#
{Black checkmated}

A fun little game, played at FICS. My 21st move isn't best (puzzle question: find a quick mate for white on his 21st move which doesn't require black co-operation. You should be able to force mate in three moves) but either wins decisive amounts of material or, in as in the game, mates.

posted in Chess Club - 0 replies

Giant Chess Set?????

bosque20 — Tue, 16 Aug 2005 07:27:13 GMT

I was wonderinng if anyone had a giant, life size chess set? I'm part of a crew putting on a festival near Santa Cruz, CA and love chess and would love to have one of those big chess sets that you have to walk to move the pieces. If anyone has one i would be into ticket trade or even renting it. get back to me. here is our festival website. www.symbiosisgathering.com
thanx

posted in Chess Club - 5 replies

chess ambivalence?

Rahim — Thu, 25 Aug 2005 18:08:05 GMT

Anyone have mixed feelings about the competitiveness of chess?

I've played lots of tournament chess, I even have the FIDE master title (my birth name is "David Roper"), but lately I'm thinking I've gotta hang up my pawns.

Why? It's the brutality of the ego-side of chess. I love the mental challenge, the concentration, lots of things. But the winning and losing just hurts too much for me.

Can anyone else "feel my pain"? And could there be a way to have the interaction and mental challenge of chess without the ego-pain?

Rahim Roper

posted in Chess Club - 8 replies

play chess near Alamo Square/Lower Haight?

Monster — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 18:57:51 GMT

I am a 'C' class player who rarely plays tournaments. I think my actual strength is around 'B' class. I mostly play blitz on the Internet these days but I'm wondering if there is anybody out there who wants to play chess with real pieces, weeknights or weekends, say once a week or so.

I would particularly like to meet someone roughly at my level, or higher, and someone who is open to discussion of theory, which is what is most lacking on Internet chess.

Thanks,
Chris

posted in Chess Club - 0 replies

chess tips

Rahim — Thu, 25 Aug 2005 18:10:49 GMT

On another note, if anyone wants to tips on openings, general ideas, etc, I'd be glad to help. I don't really expect to find people wanting paid lessons here, but if you'd like tips, I may be able to help. Just put up a post. I have played roughly 20 games with GMs, with a record of 5-15 (25%).

FM Roper

posted in Chess Club - 0 replies

Wired: Unorthodox Chess From an Odd Mind

Tue, 19 Jul 2005 20:22:29 GMT

Unorthodox Chess From an Odd Mind
By Kevin Poulsen

Story location: http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,68227,00.html

Two dozen programmers from around the world have signed up to compete in Germany next month in the first computer chess tournament devoted to Chess960, a game variant invented by fugitive chess genius Bobby Fischer that's slowly gaining rank among grandmasters.

The rules of Chess960 are mostly the same as orthodox chess -- but the setup incorporates something once considered anathema to the game: chance. Pawns begin where they always do. However, the pieces behind them on the white side are arranged at random, with the proviso that bishops must end up on opposite colors, and the king dwell somewhere between the two rooks. The black pieces are lined up to mirror the white.

click to see photos
See photos
That makes for 960 different starting positions in the game, instead of just one. The point of Chess960 is to free chess from the yoke of memorization.

The opening phase of a chess game as currently played has been subject to a hundred years of scholarship and play, and today players are hard pressed to find so much as a viable pawn push within the first 20 moves that hasn't been thoroughly analyzed.

As a result, serious players spend considerable time memorizing published openings as played by masters and grandmasters, so they know the correct, time-tested response to every move an opponent makes. One standard text on the subject, Modern Chess Openings, is 750 pages long, and will tell you, for example, that the proper answer to white's pawn advance on the 12th move of the Soltis Variation of the Yugoslav Attack, a variant of the Sicilian Defense, is to move your king's rook pawn.

"Bobby Fischer felt that this is not really what chess should be all about," said Mark Vogelgesang with Chess Tigers, a German nonprofit group organizing next month's tournament. "It should be about creativity."

Fischer unveiled the new chess at a 1996 press conference in Buenos Aires. The idea was simple: With so many possible starting positions, Chess960 -- or "Fischer Random Chess" -- takes rote memorization off the board. Opening books are obsolete, and competitors live and die by skill alone from the very first move.

The game makes room for casual players with day jobs to play at a serious level, because they no longer have to devote hours of preparatory time to studying opening variations.

Fischer captured the public's imagination in 1972 when he defeated Boris Spassky in a match in Reykjavík, Iceland, to become the world chess champion -- the first (and still only) American to hold the title, which had long been dominated by Soviet players.

He lost the championship three years later when he refused to play challenger Anatoly Karpov. Fischer then vanished from the chess world for years, re-emerging in 1992 to play and win a reunion match against Spassky, for a reported purse of $5 million. The match was held in Yugoslavia, and Fischer participated in open defiance of U.S. sanctions against that country. Back in the United States, federal prosecutors indicted Fischer, who became a fugitive.

Despite the endorsement of one of the chess world's most famous, and controversial, figures, years passed without Chess960 gaining much traction. Then, in 2001, German aficionados began organizing Chess960 exhibition matches and open tournaments as part of the Chess Classic Mainz -- an annual chess festival held outside Frankfurt that draws players from throughout Europe.

In 2003, Russian grandmaster Peter Svidler defeated the Hungarian Peter Leko to become the official Chess960 World Champion. Last year over 200 players, including scores of grandmasters, competed for the right to challenge Svidler for the championship this year.

In the meantime, Chess960 also holds a strong appeal for chess programmers. Conventional chess-playing programs, which can calculate moves deep into the future, still rely on a digital version of an opening book -- basically a lookup table dictating the right move for two million or more positions. The random aspect of Chess960, on the other hand, requires original analysis for each move.

Participants in the first Chess960 Computer World Championship are coming from Holland, Greece, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, Germany and even the United States, says organizer Vogelgesang. First place takes 1,000 euros ($1,200)

"It'll be great to get these programmers together," Vogelgesang said. "The spectrum ranges from the amateur who does this in his spare time, to the guy who lives for writing chess programs, and who is working day and night to have the best chess program. I think it'll be a big blast."

An exhibition match the day before the event will put Svidler, reigning Chess960 champion and the seventh-ranked chess player in the world, across the board from a Chess960-playing program called the Baron for two games. So far, such high-level man-machine battles are rare for Chess960, leaving unanswered the question of whether the game favors humans or machines.

In orthodox chess, the matter is largely considered settled in favor of the computer, following Hydra's spanking of British grandmaster Michael Adams last month in a six-game match in London. Adams drew one game against the supercomputer, and lost the other five.

Last year, Armenian grandmaster Levon Aronian -- the 10th-rated chess player in the world -- drew the Baron twice in a two-game Chess960 exhibition. Richard Pijl, the Netherlands-based coder who wrote the Baron, says neither game gave his program much trouble, and he thinks that Chess960 might turn out to be even better for computers than conventional chess. "I think it would be more of a problem for a human player than a computer, because the computer just calculates anyways," said Pijl. "But I'm not really certain that's true."

It's also unclear whether Chess960's reputation is helped, or hurt, by Bobby Fischer's proselytizing.

Fischer was arrested in Japan last year on immigration charges after the United States revoked his passport. From jail, Fischer continued promoting the game he invented.

"I don't play chess anymore. I play Fischer Random," said Fischer, in a radio interview from a Tokyo detention center last August. "You can learn the rules in two minutes. It's a great game, and can become the standard for chess."

After nine months in custody fighting U.S extradition, Fischer was released last March to the nation of Iceland, which granted him citizenship and a new passport.

Even before his arrest, Fischer was a controversial figure. Paranoid, rabidly anti-Semitic and a Holocaust denier, the chess king sees himself as the victim of a vast Jewish conspiracy aimed at everything from stealing the royalties for a book he authored, to blocking his work on an improved chess clock. He archives interviews and writings on these topics on his personal website.

He notoriously celebrated the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in a radio interview with Bombo Radyo, a small public-radio station in the Philippines, a few hours after hijacked planes hurtled into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, killing thousands.

"This is all wonderful news," he said at the time. "It's time to finish off the U.S. once and for all."

Vogelgesang says the chess world has mixed feelings about Fischer.

"People are very divided on him as a person and a chess player," says Vogelgesang. "There are people who think what happened to him was unjust, (and) there are people who are upset over the statements he makes. Have you heard the statements he's made? They're very disturbing."

Though Chess960 is growing in popularity, it's not the first chess variant to be proposed by a celebrity player, and seems unlikely to displace orthodox chess. But it is finding support from unlikely quarters.

Last month, former world champion Anatoly Karpov, jilted by Fischer 30 years ago, publicly challenged his absent opponent to a match at his own game.

"I would love to play Chess960 with Fischer," Karpov said, in an interview published by ChessBase News. "It is not necessary to spend ages preparing some opening variations, because there is just no theory. It is important to be in good shape and to have a clear mind. Then you can play a match with Fischer and you can even beat him."

So far, Fischer hasn't risen to accept the challenge.

posted in Chess Club - 2 replies

It's been too long...

Mshathvri — Tue, 12 Jul 2005 04:20:37 GMT

Let's start talking about chess again!

I'm the chessplayer's girlfriend; I watch but I don't play often. I feel as if I lack the concentration. Has anybody here taught themselves how to focus on the game? Sometimes I just give up and stop thinking things through completely because I get a little bored. If anybody has any concentration or focus exercises to recommend, I'd be grateful.

Wendy

posted in Chess Club - 3 replies

Chess for Teaching

Tue, 12 Apr 2005 18:55:12 GMT

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/12/education/12teach.html?ex=1113969600&en=d70de98224c663a9&ei=5070

"April 12, 2005
Chalkboards? Try Using Chessboards
By SUSAN SAULNY

The games drew about 15 chess enthusiasts to a windowless conference room at City College in Harlem, where pawns and rooks were moved with such intensity of purpose that the scene could have passed for yet another high-stakes tournament.

The grandmaster and bona fide chess luminary Maurice Ashley was there, calling out commentary as he often does when championship matches are broadcast around the world. He is known to use lines like, "Pawns are attacking mercilessly!" and "The bishop is slicing and dicing!"

But what Mr. Ashley had to say about chess on this night was more academic. Literally. "A lot of times in education we try to teach kids the one right answer and that leads, in my opinion, to robotic thinking," he told the players, encouraging them to think of multiple possible moves before choosing the best play. "Real life isn't like that. Is there ever one right answer? Generating alternatives for the sake of alternatives is a good thing."

The players, mostly New York City public school teachers, nodded. This routine, the playing of chess followed by deep thoughts on education, happens every Wednesday night during a new class Mr. Ashley is teaching called "Introduction to Logical Thinking Through Chess" for the mathematics department at City College. Mr. Ashley and the dean of the college's school of education, Alfred S. Posamentier, organized the class with a lofty goal: improve teaching by guiding a group of teachers through the problem-solving strategies that are part of a good chess player's arsenal.

The seminar, an elective class worth two graduate credits, meets once a week for two and a half hours. Mr. Ashley tries to get the teachers to do what he does in chess and in life: think backward with a desired outcome in view, generate multiple options as possible solutions to any question, consider the perspectives of others, and give respect to the least powerful, the pawns of the game.

"Over the years, we have tried many different approaches to developing the most effective teachers," Dr. Posamentier said. "We have regulated the size of the class, the material the teacher uses, the kind of content background that is most desirable, and the philosophy that should work best. However, it seems we have not concentrated enough on the general thinking strategies that a teacher should master to maximize his effectiveness."

Now the educators are thinking about their thinking.

Before class on Wednesday night, Mr. Ashley explained a personal distaste for memorization and facts, and laid out his education philosophy, the one he hopes the teachers will take from the class: "Knowledge flips every day. What we know becomes wrong tomorrow. We need kids who know how to think."

The class seems a natural fit for Mr. Ashley. Unlike many of the country's top players who spend a lot of time preparing for tournaments, Mr. Ashley, a native of Jamaica who grew up in Brownsville, Brooklyn, and lives in Queens, has been teaching children chess for years. He had never taught teachers before, but was willing to try.

"My method has always been not just to teach chess moves, but to better accelerate thinking and concentration skills," Mr. Ashley said. "These ideas have been a part of my technique for so long, I said, 'Of course!' "

The United States Chess Federation named Mr. Ashley Grandmaster of the Year in 2003, but other proud moments in his career involve lesser known titles. Mr. Ashley was coaching the Raging Rooks of Junior High School 43 in Harlem when they won the National Junior High School Championship in 1991. He also coached the Harlem-based Dark Knights, two-time national champions in the junior varsity division.

"What's he doing on campus? That was my first thought when I heard about the class," said Josh Weiner, a senior at City College who intends to be a math teacher.

Mr. Weiner was playing a tight match on Wednesday night against Eliza Kuberska, a Hunter College High School math teacher, and Levon Cooper, a City College administrator.

Ms. Kuberska said the class was the best she had ever taken. Just a novice chess player when she began several weeks ago, Ms. Kuberska has learned enough strategy to be a formidable opponent. She intends to tell her class about her transformation for inspiration.

"I want them to see that it's not magic," she said, speaking of problem-solving. "I want them to challenge their own presumptions about their capabilities. A lot of kids think if they weren't born a genius, they can't get it. But I want them to see that intuition can be learned; it can be taught."

Caridad Guerrero, who teaches seventh-grade math at Intermediate School 528 in Washington Heights, said she had learned that "one bad move doesn't end the game" and "to think beyond the moment."

She related that to her classroom this way: "Sometimes lessons don't go the way you planned. You had great ideas and it plays out another way. But that doesn't have to wreck your class."

Khalid Bashjawish, a ninth-grade English teacher at Flags High School in the Bronx, said Mr. Ashley's class had helped him push his students beyond their comfort zones to write more ambitious papers. He said he recently rejected an entire class's autobiographical essays because they were too limited in the exploration of "the self."

"You get stuck into habits of thought," he said. "Chess is a nice way to break out of that. This class has a way of saying, 'You can move beyond that.' "

The class is a product of a challenge that two alumni, Anne and Arnold Gumowitz, posed to Dr. Posamentier upon giving the college a $50,000 grant, officials said.

"There's no better sport that I know of than chess," said Mr. Gumowitz, who works with his wife as a real estate investor and a developer. He said he wanted to see if City College could do something that perhaps no college had: offer credits for chess. "I said we'll back it up with a grant and get a grandmaster, do it right," he said. "Maybe we'll get other grandmasters and get something started that's really great."

So the college came up with a way to incorporate chess into its math education.

"We had to think of something that made sense, because there are chess tournaments all over the map," Dr. Posamentier said. "But this teaching is really something special. It works.""

posted in Chess Club - 0 replies

Fischer Freed

Thu, 24 Mar 2005 07:23:54 GMT

Any thoughts, comments? As much as I hate some of the things he has said and done, it makes sense to me. Plus, I believe Iceland has the highest per capita concentration of Grandmasters of any country in the world.

posted in Chess Club - 15 replies

Posting best games....

Sat, 19 Mar 2005 21:36:36 GMT

Anybody have any games they are especially proud of, would like to share? I played this one recently and it has a very cute mate-in-ten (which I announced prior to playing it).... I add some brief notes, too, although the end position is mate-in-two, not mate-in-three. I announced the mate on move 22, but it would have been mate in ten from move 21, actually.... Good enough, I guess.

Falkbeer Counter-Gambit

Meyler vs. "Castleman"

1 e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. exd5 exf4 4. Nf3 Bd6 5. d4 Nf6
6. c4 Bg4 7. Be2 O-O 8. O-O c5 9. Nc3 Re8 10. Kh1 Bxf3
11. Rxf3 cxd4 12. Nb5 g5 13. Nxd4 Bc5 14. Nf5 Ne4 15. Qf1 Qf6 16. g4 h5 17. Qg2 Nd7 18. Bxf4 Qxb2 19. Raf1 hxg4 20. Qxg4 Qxe2 21. Bxg5 Ne5 22. Nh6+ Kh8 23. Bf6+ Nxf6 24. Nxf7+ Nxf7 25. Rh3+ Nh6 26. Rxh6+ Nh7 27. Rxh7+ Kxh7 28. Rf7+ Kh6 29. Qg7+ Kh5 1-0

Interesting game, since it required three sacrifices to set up the mating combination....I offered both Bishops (which my opponent had to turn down), then I sacrificed my Knight, followed by an exchange sacrifice of Rook for Knight to lay bare Black's kingside, and mate with my remaining Queen and Rook -- all the while I was only one move away from being mated myself! One miscalculation, and I would have been down a Rook and a Bishop with my opponent in position for a mating combination.

Very double-edged, and a game I am a bit proud of.... Not very often do I get to announce mate in ten (which I did on move 23). This was a "postal" game from Gameknot.com.

posted in Chess Club - 0 replies

resources for a newbie?

Sat, 12 Mar 2005 18:24:55 GMT

Hi,
Just discovered Chess. Been playing Gnu Chess on my G-4 and it's a really fun game! (even in defeat ;~)

Can anyone recomend a good book on theory/strategy?

Thanks!

posted in Chess Club - 3 replies

Kasparov retires

cocoafiend — Sat, 12 Mar 2005 15:09:02 GMT

I'm sure you all know this by now, but if not: http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=2258

posted in Chess Club - 0 replies

Rule question...

whiskyandfeet — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 21:06:39 GMT

Can a pawn attack on his opening move? If my opponent sets his rook down on e3, can my pawn f2 nail him right out of the gate?

posted in Chess Club - 2 replies

Computer Chess Exhibit

johnnyeponymous — Mon, 14 Feb 2005 20:45:16 GMT

So, the Computer History Museum is doing an exhibit on Computer Chess that's going to open in the Summer.
If you're in the Bay Area and you're a chess nut, you should certainly come by and check it out. Among the artifacts in the exhibit is Deep Blue, the machine that beat Kasparov (maybe with a little help).

If you happen to have any artifacts, like Boris chess machines or versions of Mephisto or other importnat chess software, drop me a line.

Keep an eye on www.computerhistory.org for more details.
Chris

posted in Chess Club - 0 replies

Someone explain 'en passant' in lay terms...

whiskyandfeet — Sun, 13 Feb 2005 09:00:08 GMT

Fairly new to chess. Was reading up at gameknot.com, and found this rule I'd never heard of before...

"A pawn attacking a square crossed by an opponent's pawn which has advanced two squares in one move from its original square may capture this opponent's pawn as though the latter had been moved only one square. This capture can be made only on the move following this advance and is called an 'en passant' capture."

I don't quite understand what that means. Can someone give me the skinny in plain English. Thanks!

posted in Chess Club - 3 replies

Players in the 707?

whiskyandfeet — Fri, 11 Feb 2005 22:53:14 GMT

Hi there. I'm an enthusiastic novice, and I don't really have anyone in my circle of friends that play chess. Does anybody know of a regular night and/or spot in Santa Rosa where regulars would welcome a n00b?

posted in Chess Club - 0 replies

Ratings -- A Challenge

Sat, 08 Jan 2005 05:06:05 GMT

What are the ratings of the players on this site? I have an old rating (ten years ago) of 2000 from tournament play. Any other A/Expert/Master players here?

Anyone want to play correspondence chess on Gameknot? My alias/handle is "epeefencer".

posted in Chess Club - 0 replies

Nightmare Chess

Wed, 29 Dec 2004 18:43:09 GMT

Anyone else play the Steve Jackson game of Nightmare Chess? It's intelligently done, but I'm curious what real chess folks (who have played it) think of it.

I have both the original and second sets of cards if anyone wants to try it.

posted in Chess Club - 1 reply

Chess players in San Francisco?

Fri, 19 Dec 2003 10:36:51 GMT

Hey, anyone want to meet for a game or two? My husband taught me to play a few years ago but I don't study like he does. His rating is about 1500 and mine is about 900.

posted in Chess Club - 12 replies

Who plays online?

painter_steve — Thu, 26 Aug 2004 06:50:25 GMT

Where?

posted in Chess Club - 21 replies

Best Chess Books

Oliver — Tue, 11 Nov 2003 15:24:55 GMT

What do you consider to be the best chess books?

posted in Chess Club - 20 replies

New Chess Club at UNCC

Jonathan — Mon, 08 Nov 2004 22:41:01 GMT

The Chess Club at UNC Charlotte is just getting started. If you're interested in coming out and playing a few games, or maybe even a challenge, check us out. Tuesday nights from 7-11pm in AfterHours. See http://jroes.sosdg.org/uncccc for more information.

posted in Chess Club - 0 replies

Bobby's antics

xdjcmx — Mon, 18 Oct 2004 18:34:46 GMT

http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/20041018p2a00m0dm001000c.html

posted in Chess Club - 0 replies

ChessTeam

Hambone — Fri, 01 Oct 2004 00:19:25 GMT

I'm about to start coaching a chess team made up of kids under 10.

I better learn how to play, fast.

Help.

posted in Chess Club - 3 replies

please!

tyood — Wed, 29 Sep 2004 15:44:29 GMT

can someone remind me what the bishop is called when it's in the place of the knight's pawn beside it (and i guess that the aforementioned pawn maybe has to be at KnP3)? (I've been trying to remember this for a week)

posted in Chess Club - 5 replies

where can i learn chess opennings?

stella — Thu, 27 May 2004 19:38:04 GMT

hi 2 everyone!

i am looking for some guide which will help me learn and memorize chess opennings.

where can i find?

posted in Chess Club - 2 replies

OC Chess Clubs

Wed, 25 Aug 2004 07:05:00 GMT

Does anyone know if there are any chess clubs in Orange County, CA? Or maybe Los Angeles area? Or maybe anywhere in southern CA?

posted in Chess Club - 0 replies

HELP ME

HARI — Tue, 03 Aug 2004 07:55:54 GMT

Hello,

I like to teach my children (6 years) Chess, could you please guide me to any chess site which is kid friendly.

regards

hari

posted in Chess Club - 1 reply

Chess engine for PDA?

Deej — Wed, 31 Mar 2004 19:58:28 GMT

Is there a chess game for PDAs?

posted in Chess Club - 3 replies

Chess and Money

Jon — Fri, 04 Jun 2004 22:22:34 GMT

So, they say, "Do what you love, the money will follow."

I love chess - does that mean I can play all day and I will get rich?

Who has thought of a way to make a living with chess? There's teaching, but I'm not *that* good.

There's got to be a way to spin it into the next metaphor for business success (a la Who Moved ... Cheese). Do high-buck corporate workshops on business success using strategies of the chess masters, bla bla bla.

Thoughts?

posted in Chess Club - 4 replies

Game Site IDs - post yours!

Pink — Fri, 04 Jun 2004 17:40:09 GMT

gameknot - pinkfrankenstein

It's Your Turn - Pink_Frankenstein

Yahoo (never on much) - pink_frankenstein

posted in Chess Club - 4 replies

New to Chess

Sonia — Fri, 06 Feb 2004 04:32:40 GMT

Hi I'm Sonia. I used to play in high school and after 10 years, last week I saw an ad in the paper for a chess club meeting in the community so I went and had a blast. I'm a total beginner but remembered which way the peices move! lol I had FreeChess on my computer and have started to play with that, and I went to ChessCentral.com and downloaded a bunch of stuff. I'm not sure which direction to head in though. Any tips for beginning chess players would be appreciated. Glad to be here! ~Sonia

P.S. I will read through the previous posts too. Some of my questions will probably be answered there. :)

posted in Chess Club - 15 replies

crazyhouse

tatha — Mon, 22 Mar 2004 01:00:32 GMT

hello,

wondering if anyone plays crazyhouse here? i used to play a lot of chess till 3 years ago. then, i basically stopped due to time constraints and such. then last month, i discovered crazyhouse - (which is basically bughouse on one board). i took to it immediately, since theory doesnt count for much, positional play is much more important than strategy, and its more fun than chess!

are there any crazyhouse resources that anyone is aware of?

tathagat

posted in Chess Club - 2 replies

Piedmont Avenue in Oakland

Mailtrain — Thu, 05 Feb 2004 09:57:32 GMT

Lots of players coming to the Boulangerie's outdoor seating. If you want a game, set up a board at an empty table, many of the regulars will drop by and give you a few games. Many weekday afternoons, Saturday and Sunday afternoons can be quite lively.

posted in Chess Club - 4 replies

Biggest Tribe

Mon, 26 Apr 2004 07:09:10 GMT

http://bigbiggerbiggest.tribe.net/

Just a little experiment of mine. I want to see how long it takes (if possible) to have the biggest tribe on this site.

Join up. Thanks.

posted in Chess Club - 1 reply

a very funny chess article

Mailtrain — Sat, 20 Mar 2004 02:25:48 GMT

www.exile.ru/150/150080800.html

posted in Chess Club - 0 replies

Blunders

Idedalus — Sat, 17 Jan 2004 19:38:30 GMT

Describe some of your worst blunders in serious games(blitz doesn't really count)and what you think caused them.

In one of my games I walked into mate in 2 twice but eventually ended up mating my opponent. I was in unfamiliar territory after the opening and wasn't sure of myself. So I overlooked combinations because I was looking for a good plan. It was a very ugly game. I'm a high B/low A player.

posted in Chess Club - 5 replies

A game of chess?

alikuli — Wed, 22 Oct 2003 14:19:04 GMT

Anyone like to play a game of chess with me here?

:)

One move per day. (at least) What do you say? And no cheating with computers! lol!

posted in Chess Club - 21 replies

Jersey Chess

Jack — Wed, 28 Jan 2004 03:01:20 GMT

Any chess players in Jersey looking for a game? Please let me know (North NJ).

posted in Chess Club - 0 replies

chicago chess

wolfepack — Wed, 21 Jan 2004 00:07:25 GMT

it's cold outside and no one is out at north beach anymore. i'm looking for some head to head action this winter. anyone know of some places to play???

posted in Chess Club - 0 replies

Chess players

Randy — Mon, 19 Jan 2004 23:43:05 GMT

Who is your favourite chess player

posted in Chess Club - 5 replies

san diego- public chess games?

adelord — Mon, 12 Jan 2004 19:30:20 GMT

could anyone suggest a place in san diego where i could easily find place to play with plenty of opponents? i prefer clocked games of about 30min duration, or hourglass, and having a variety of people to play against.

thanks,

~ad

posted in Chess Club - 1 reply

Tips on beating computer programs?

Oliver — Tue, 30 Sep 2003 21:37:44 GMT

What tips do you have on beating computer chess programs? (Besides thinking 50 moves ahead)

posted in Chess Club - 6 replies

Best chess softeware

Omar — Mon, 08 Dec 2003 03:31:49 GMT

Just woundering which one to get. Any thoughts?

posted in Chess Club - 9 replies

Best Chess Software

P. — Thu, 11 Dec 2003 11:42:29 GMT

Which is the BEST to play and study ?

posted in Chess Club - 0 replies

Portland, OR?

Fri, 21 Nov 2003 03:43:08 GMT

how about places or meets in this city?

posted in Chess Club - 0 replies

What do chess players call a bad player?

patti — Tue, 02 Sep 2003 07:56:03 GMT

I was talking with a friend tonight about games players, and in paticular people who play for money.

I noted that poker players call the weak players fish, and backgammon players tend to call them pigeons.

Do chess players have a term for bad players? If so, what is it?

-Patti

posted in Chess Club - 8 replies

Chess on ESPN

Matthew — Sun, 16 Nov 2003 20:46:14 GMT

Has anyone else been watching the Man vs. Machine 2003 match between Kasparov and Fritz? Pretty interesting coverage today, at least. Maurice Ashley, Yasser Seirawan and Paul Hoffman providing novice accessible commentary, and decent live coverage over something that doesn't necessarily lend itself to TV.

posted in Chess Club - 0 replies

Places to play in Seattle/WA

Omar — Mon, 10 Nov 2003 08:00:19 GMT

I'm just woundering where you washington people play at. As for me, I sometime go to crossroads mall in Bellevue. They have one of those big chess boards and other people playing. And there is the third place bookstore in Lake Forest Park. But there is hardly anyone there to play chess.

posted in Chess Club - 0 replies

Chess is SHARP three ways!

DaveB — Tue, 04 Nov 2003 06:44:30 GMT

There's the FORK, using knight or pawn (or promoted pawn),

There's the PIN, trapping your opponent's piece against his/her king, or soft pin that conceals attack on a non-king,

And there's the SKEWER, where moving the king or perhaps another piece discovers an attack on the piece behind it.