Say, @newbrof - I conceded the game after there was no point in playing anymore. Is this good etiquette, or what is normal these days? Do people want the “kill”, so to speak?
depends. If your opponent is at your level, blunders can happen. Let him show, that he actually knows how to convert an advantage.
Thanks for the game - I think I understand now, that its more of a points game, than a game of check-mate when you play 5 minutes like this. At my level at least. Very interesting!
Also, I never open like I did there normally - that was just because I thougt it was a clever opening that I read about 20 minutes earlier ;-)
yes, when you are ahead in material (points), then you can try to exchange all other stuff and you will be up in material in the end, like a knight up and then you push your pawn and make it a queen. Your opponent cannot prevent that.
REgarding the opening, your bishop was blocking your pawn, so you never could fight for the center with that pawn.
The center is important, if you control the center you can have opportunities for attack or squeeze your opponent.
Realize this isn’t against humans and that’s primary focus of this thread, but just as an aside I thought this might be of interest as it’s a program written to learn chess like alphazero rather than use tables or brute force.
Later. Let’s play Global Thermonuclear War.
Challenge accepted! I enjoy those games of games quite a bit - they are what I normally play.
Nowadays, with youtube, there are so many fun ways to explore and learn chess. A lot of beginner friendly videos, or experienced and advanced lessions.
As a kid, I had to learn it from books and by playing in a club. Club play is dead right now, corona killed it, too. I don’t enjoy playing online, occasionly a 5 min blitz session, but blitz is not real chess. Real chess is sitting at a table for 3+ hours and using everything you have learned and getting really deep into a position.
I played some async 2day/per move on my phone, but I don’t have the patience any more. I reached 1650 rating at some point, but at that level you really need to invest real time into the moves. Also cheaters, they are the pestilence of modern chess. I don’t get it why you would invest time in cheating, there is nothing to win in amateur chess.
I added you as a friend, razgon. I’m awscyh. Chess.com has me pegged at 800 in blitz, so if you’re looking for a blunder-fest, I’m your man.
I used to be very good at chess. Back in the day when I had time to study the openings and the like. My high point was holding my own against a master-rated player for a while.
I keep wanting to get back into it, but going through the openings and learning strategies, ugh. The books that worked out well for me were the Yasser Seirawan books. Very approachable.
Many moons ago I belonged to a chess club in CA, and then joined a club when I moved back to NY. My highest rating was only around 1550. It occurred to me that in order to get better I was going to have to devote way more time to studying the game than I wanted to spend on it. At that point I stopped playing completely except for an occasional game against my computer. Taught both my kids how to play but neither has really taken to the game.
I highly recommend the books by IM Jeremy Silman: Silman’s Complete Endgame Course and How to Reassess Your Chess along with the Reassess Your Chess Workbook.
He seems like a charming guy.
There is an old guy in our club, 70+, he is rated 1800. I asked him if he can recommend a book, but he told me straight to the face, that he never learned openings or by a book. He advanced by the most basic principles, that’s how far he got.
I agree, castle your king, develop your minor pieces, fight for the center and connect the rooks (develop the queen). And then either go for an attack on the king side or the queenside. Don’t blunder pieces. Figure out what the intent of your opponent moves are. Is he attacking something, is he preparing a pawn break etc. I think you can get pretty far with basic principles.
This is actually pretty cool to hear. I’ve always been a trash chess player, and every time I looked into learning more it seemed like openings/etc., was such a fundamental part of the game that I never really went into it. 1800 on just ‘git gud’ is encouraging.
It is very easy to get lost in the minutia and theory. You don’t need an opening library of 200+ openings and knowing the proper response to the variants. I am thinking of getting back into chess and this is the advice I am giving myself:
- Learn the 5 most common openings for each side. This will cover me for the basics.
- Learn the value of piece
- Learn piece promotion
- Learn to control the center.
- Approach each game with a specific learning goal. I don’t care if I win, but if I decide I want to get out of the opening segment with a solid structure and good control of the board, I don’t get upset when the middle and endgame fall off the rails.
that’s good advice, I would put the opening stuff to the bottom. Because what does learning an opening actually mean? There are so many lines and side-lines. Maybe: learn the principles of the common openings. I would agree.
Also, when you are starting with chess. One important thing is, learn how to convert a material advantage. Say, you are 1 or 2 pawns ahead in material. How do you make it a win? Or you are up a bishop or knight. The basic way to win positions with material advantage is, trade pieces. The less pieces on the board, the stronger your advantage will become.
Imagine you trade off every thing, Queen for Queen, Rook for Rook etc. Until only your 2 pawns and your king against the opponent king. This is an easy win. Promote one of your pawns to a queen and mate your opponent.
When you are down in material, try to avoid trades. Because above. You can get counterplay if you have enough pieces and the material advantage is not effective yet.
I’m down. EDIT: for whoever wants to play. Already apparently have a few friends from here from back in the day.
mmurphy1
hey guys,
this one very good unferstandable chess video by GM Seirawan, check out his videos at St.Louis chess club on YT
this is about the sicilian defense, but basic principles are explained, too. He is such a great teacher.
Like with most games I’m a Chess dabbler. :P Always mean to play more but never really do.
I like John Bartholomew’s videos. This series on fundamentals is pretty great, he basically goes up against lower ranked players while commentating to teach specific points about strategy and tactics:
(what’s up with broken inline?)
The first in the series is especially worth a watch for the beginner, there’s nothing on openings, end games, or learned patterns - his number one thing is being aware of undefended pieces. Before anything else you need to stop the blunders.
In this video he plays simple moves using that basic principle, waiting for his opponent to make an unforced error. It’s highly instructive.