Chess

[aofl]

At this point it might be worthwhile to start exploring on a forum dedicated to chess. Chess Forums | Free Online Chess Game & Forum is one such, though I've not spent much time on it.

A

 

[Almo]

Great story Nero!

I play some chess, but I find go more interesting. If you're looking for chess weirdness, play Shogi, the Japanese variant of chess. Pieces are all the same color; they're shaped like points so you know who they belong to. Captured pieces may be dropped on the board instead of moving a piece. You both start with one rook and one bishop, but capturing your opponent's rook means you now have two.

 

[Ron_Tomkins]

Not that I would ever do this you understand (not even after losing 12 games straight and wanting a real chess set to shove down some throats, so it would be completely excusable even I did) but if you run a chess game against an AI at the same time you're playing against a person all you do is play your opponents move against the computer and copy the computers response against your opponent. Given that chess programs can consistently beat average to above average players, it's an annoying form of unstoppable cheating.

Jesus!... just like the guy from the Youtube video that was posted here.

Yes, I can see now. It's so evident that it actually never crossed my mind.

 

[Ron_Tomkins]

I didn't understand that thing you said about cheaters "invoking a chess program when they start loosing". You mean they use some kind of Computer program to help them pick the next best move?

That's right. I figured it out after two experiences:

1) A player I was beating started accusing me of using a chess program.

2) A player who played really poorly, after I started beating him badly, suddenly started playing excellently.

Here are some rules about castling I just recalled:

- Best time to castle is when there's a pause in the game (your pieces are developed and you're not under attack).

- Castle on the king side if you can, preferably behind pawns the have not yet advanced.

More tidbits (I had some really good teachers):

- Try not to have more than one pawn on the same file.

- Forks are very powerful moves. Look for opportunities to fork your opponent, keep guard against your opponent forking you. Sounds obscene, but that's how we say it!

- A powerful position for the bishop is the fianchetto. BTW, there's lots of good chess advice on wiki.

Hey, perhaps if we set a time we can meet on Yahoo and play. Send me a PM if you're interested.

Yeah man, that would be great. I'll PM you. The best day for me to do something like that is a sunday evening. I don't know if that works for you.

 

[Ron_Tomkins]

I imagine the majority of us play a mixture of pattern recognition, limited move analysis (I can only really analysis three-or-so moves ahead) and basic rule following. The rules that Mr. Scott posted above seem to pretty much cover my play plans.

A little story. I played chess for my school team, I usually played from the second board I was a good strong player but not great. A lad called Dan usually played board one, he was clever, bright, likeable, and always beat me when we played (b’stard). We ended up playing at a tournament, and as the games progressed I was drawn against him for a place in the semis. I knew I had to play a really tight game, if I made any mistakes I would be immediately toast. As the game progressed we ended up in a really tangled mess of pieces attacking, defending, and threatening, with as far as I could see absolutely no way I could win. I ended up in a position that to me looked hopeless, every move I could make would have an overall negative impact on my position. So rather than looking for an advantageous move, I started to look for the least damaging move. Eventually I found a move that at the best looked neutral, but I figured would lead to my losing as it was a wasted move.

By this stage we had quite a crowd of other, already finished, players around the table, I made my move. The crowd gave a very audible intake of breath, “bugger” I thought I must have missed something, my move must have been even worse than I thought. At this stage my opponent looked up, glared at me and knocked over his king. To this day I have absolutely no idea how I won the game.

WHAT??
That is incredible. That is without a doubt the single most unique chess anechdote I've ever heard.
You should have asked how is it that you won, though.

 

[LordoftheLeftHand]

I've always liked Chess but one thing I've found out is that while I'm playing, I'm trying to predict every move the other guy might do and every possible way I could be attacked but I finally realize it's just impossible. There will always be a move or a combination of moves that will outdo anything I do and turn the tables on me. Therefore, do you know of any particular strategy to at least learn from what the opponent is doing and thus try to predict what he might do? Is there like a basic guideline, a way to reduce everything to its minimun denominator so that what seems as an infinite set of possibilities in terms of attacks and defenses, can be reduced to a basic minimal strategy where every single move is subject to this principle?


(By the way, I wasn't sure if this was the right place to start this thread. If it's not, let me know)

My advice:

Don't attempt to brute force (examine every possible move and the following moves) until you reach the end game. That being said I always preform a cursory examination of the obvious moves and sacrifices. Play for the middle, develop your pieces, get to a castled position! Good luck.

LLH

 

[Nero]

WHAT??
That is incredible. That is without a doubt the single most unique chess anechdote I've ever heard.
You should have asked how is it that you won, though.

Yes I know everyone has a story of winning without knowing how, but ahem.

 

[phrenicgermal]

I've always liked Chess but one thing I've found out is that while I'm playing, I'm trying to predict every move the other guy might do and every possible way I could be attacked but I finally realize it's just impossible. There will always be a move or a combination of moves that will outdo anything I do and turn the tables on me. Therefore, do you know of any particular strategy to at least learn from what the opponent is doing and thus try to predict what he might do? Is there like a basic guideline, a way to reduce everything to its minimun denominator so that what seems as an infinite set of possibilities in terms of attacks and defenses, can be reduced to a basic minimal strategy where every single move is subject to this principle?

I was thinking that mathematically chess had been recently solved. I went to look up a refrence and found out hat it was checkers instead.

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3997

So, the strategy is: solve chess, memorise the algorythm, take over the world.

 

[Shoogar]

I play at www.gameknot.com as shoogar. I'm only average because I usually don't take the time to look at the board properly, but sometimes I get lucky.

Anyone else want to play. We could start Team Randi over there. Anyone else interested, I'll see about running a team.

 

[m_huber]

Great.. Life was going on just fine, and then you reminded me of chess. In the last two days, I have gone through 300 of the mating patterns in "1001 Brilliant Ways to Checkmate" and I have been addicted to playing online chess.

Thanks a lot.

 

[Ron_Tomkins]

Great.. Life was going on just fine, and then you reminded me of chess. In the last two days, I have gone through 300 of the mating patterns in "1001 Brilliant Ways to Checkmate" and I have been addicted to playing online chess.

Thanks a lot.

You're very welcome.

 

[MG1962]

I play at www.gameknot.com as shoogar. I'm only average because I usually don't take the time to look at the board properly, but sometimes I get lucky.

Anyone else want to play. We could start Team Randi over there. Anyone else interested, I'll see about running a team.

Yeah PM me if you get it of the ground - I might have time zone issues, but could be fun.

 

[m_huber]

I just can't.. stop.. playing......