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I'm horrible at chess

post #1 of 21
2/25/10 at 11:03pm
Thread Starter 
I played chess when I was younger, but I haven't played for like 15 years or so, maybe longer.

I started playing online if I had some spare time and wanted to relax. I'm really really really really bad.
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post #2 of 21
2/25/10 at 11:05pm
Chess is such a difficult game. There are so many pieces. So many squares where you can go, so few promises.
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post #3 of 21
2/25/10 at 11:09pm
Chess is fascinating. It's all about a great opening and defense, and the ability to adapt to threatening and sometimes mortal changes. Chess is not different than any other game, you can be good with practice, it's all about pattern recognition. For example, if someone attacks on the left side, he'll likely castle-king on the right side, unless he's a pro and can beat you without a queen.
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post #4 of 21
2/25/10 at 11:40pm
yes, pattern recognition is a good way of putting it. here's a very game-building tip for newbies: if your opponent moves either of the pawns that are in front of their horses (b7 or g7) it opens up their rooks to attack from your bishops so if they move b7, you move bishop to g2, or if they move g7, you move bishop to b2; either scenario gives your bishops a direct line of attack to the rook with no chance of retribution (as long as you move your bishop back quickly) see what i mean? this is a fantastic move for new players to learn, because while it seems like a debilitating attack, youll eventually come up against a guy who can counter it - which teaches you how to defend against it and eventually youll start opening up your own rook to attack in order to bait some sucka fools basically chess is all about scenarios like this. as the guy said, pattern recognition
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post #5 of 21
2/25/10 at 11:44pm
The permutations, especially from opening to decisive middle moves, are actually quite limited. This is why it's kind of boring to see pros play until they both lose their queens. I much prefer 2 minute games though where it's more on skill than people think.
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post #6 of 21
2/25/10 at 11:48pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pantisocrat View Post
Chess is fascinating. It's all about a great opening and defense, and the ability to adapt to threatening and sometimes mortal changes. Chess is not different than any other game, you can be good with practice

Chess is like most games in that it's about knowing how to gain a small advantage, and then knowing how to capitalize on that small advantage to gain a bigger advantage.

I used to play chess against people who were lower-tournament level (even one guy who had played Bobby Fischer when Bobby was like twelve... said guy got whooped, needless to say.) It's just got too humiliating getting my ass handed to me over and over again.

Plus, it doesn't help that endgames bore me to tears. The whole deal about pushing pawns forward at the end just takes much too long.

I will say that my brother, who frequently plays chess on-line, was insistent on playing chess with me during our last vacation, and I roundly kicked his ass.
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post #7 of 21
2/25/10 at 11:52pm
Thread Starter 
Any beginner level books or websites that explain basic strategy and tactics?
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post #8 of 21
2/25/10 at 11:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Milpool View Post
Any beginner level books or websites that explain basic strategy and tactics?

I have some books I'm not using.
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post #9 of 21
2/25/10 at 11:54pm
http://www.amazon.com/Most-Instructi...7153087&sr=8-1

This is a great book to help you learn the game. It helped me out considerably.
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post #10 of 21
2/25/10 at 11:57pm
"Fool's Mate" is a hilarious way to win in 4 moves if you're playing an inexperienced and obnoxious opponent. There are several permutations to this, and I guarantee you it will shut somebody up if they've been talking like a jackass about how great they are at chess.
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post #11 of 21
2/26/10 at 12:03am
Quote:
Originally Posted by tagutcow View Post
I have some books I'm not using.

haha, don't we all
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post #12 of 21
2/26/10 at 1:39am
I love chess. I love starcraft even more. It's like chess on steroids.
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post #13 of 21
2/26/10 at 1:43am
play online reversi/othello instead. its super fun especially on the iphone.

its quick (games less than 10min) and still involves a ton of strategy and its actually better suited for computer play (playing live is so confusing and there are mistakes flipping over pieces all the time).

chess is nice and all but to get really really good there is no way but to brute force memorize all the openings and defenses. all the lowest grade pros have all the opening books memorized down pat...

it just requires so much mentally to play well and on top of that losing (when you play/think so hard) is such a blow to the ego on sooo many levels.
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post #14 of 21
2/26/10 at 3:47am
I'm terrible at chess, but extraordinarily good at convincing my opponent that we should be doing something else rather than finishing the game, therby preventing my officially losing. We usually end up at Chipotle.
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post #15 of 21
2/26/10 at 2:43pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Milpool View Post
I played chess when I was younger, but I haven't played for like 15 years or so, maybe longer.

I started playing online if I had some spare time and wanted to relax. I'm really really really really bad.


are you on http://www.freechess.org/ ? if not, download babaschess and you can watch games or even tutorials. this will improve your skill very fast. and you can see the score of the players or bots that you want to play with ..
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