Why do I s*ck at chess?

[Jac de Molay]

Re: Re: Why do I s*ck at chess?

Originally posted by Urban Ranger


You need to look deeper. Come up with combinations that net you either material, tempo, or position. Preferably all 3. I am not sure how easy that is, though.

Well, I 'm improving a little bit now. I picked up a chess for idiots book, and understanding material advantage has helped my game a little bit. I've won some games on Yahoo beginners now. But, I'm like Dissident, and it's hard to "see" more than two turns ahead.

Best play against a chess program.
Chessmaster is very good.

Actually, just picked up a Chess program (Chessmate 2000?) from the bargain bin, and I'm very glad I did because I can play turns as long as I want. Played games all night saturday, and was able to beat 1100 and 1200 players.

A great game, but, damn, very very tough.

[Harry Seldon]

Sometimes seeing ahead is a disadvantage. I assume people play like me but unfortunately not too many people are as wreckless and grandiose as I am. I'll anticipate this string of activity and suddenly on the very next turn I get checkmated.

[Sarxis]

I got those Yasser books too. Good beginner books.

[Harovan]

Re: Re: Re: Why do I s*ck at chess?

Originally posted by Jac de Molay
Well, I 'm improving a little bit now. I picked up a chess for idiots book, and understanding material advantage has helped my game a little bit. I've won some games on Yahoo beginners now. But, I'm like Dissident, and it's hard to "see" more than two turns ahead.

Actually, just picked up a Chess program (Chessmate 2000?) from the bargain bin, and I'm very glad I did because I can play turns as long as I want. Played games all night saturday, and was able to beat 1100 and 1200 players.

A great game, but, damn, very very tough.

Why would anyone pay a cent for a chess program, if there's Winboard (or Xboard, for that matter) with some terrific chess engines (GnuChess 5, Crafty 19) available for free? I bet alone Crafty is better than every game from the bargain bin and at least on even with $50 commercial games.

[DrSpike]

Crafty19 is strong enough for the vast majority of players. But it just plays; some of the commercial software has many other features.

[Pave]

Originally posted by Sir Ralph
Why would anyone pay a cent for a chess program, if there's Winboard (or Xboard, for that matter) with some terrific chess engines (GnuChess 5, Crafty 19) available for free? I bet alone Crafty is better than every game from the bargain bin and at least on even with $50 commercial games.

I pay for chess program, because there´s no Winboard with my computer (or I´m just stupid and think it comes with Windows.

Jac, if you just can, play, play, play and play. You have to lose about 100 times before you can even dream about winning.

Atleast I have to

[DaShi]

Originally posted by Harry Seldon
Sometimes seeing ahead is a disadvantage. I assume people play like me but unfortunately not too many people are as wreckless and grandiose as I am. I'll anticipate this string of activity and suddenly on the very next turn I get checkmated.

That's not what is meant by looking ahead. Yes, you try to anticipate your opponent's moves (and if you know them well enough, you can try a strategy based on that), but you need to look at all their available moves. One good technique is to look at it from their perspective. Try to see how they could penetrate your defenses, and see where their defenses are weakest.

Anyway, the best way to learn is to play as much as you can. I was so young when I started that I barely remember those days. However, I had a friend who wanted to learn to play. I was well above him at this time, but I offered to play him over and over again. He lost nearly every game, but he got better each time.

As you play you'll learn the nuasances of the game. You'll be able to push your opponent back with even taking any pieces, In fact, if you get good, you needn't worry what your opponent is doing, because you'll be controlling them.

[vovan]

Heya, Jac, and Dissident (and anyone else that sucks at chess ),

I was reading this here thread, and following some of the chess games around here, and found out that I suck at chess as well. So, I was thinking: maybe us n00bs should play each other? Then some of the more experienced folks could kind of dissect our games, and point out positive and negative parts, and decisions (MtG has nicely volunteered for that part already ). So, what do you all think 'bout that? I think it would be beneficial for us to learn that way...

[MichaeltheGreat]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Why do I s*ck at chess?

Originally posted by Sir Ralph


Why would anyone pay a cent for a chess program, if there's Winboard (or Xboard, for that matter) with some terrific chess engines (GnuChess 5, Crafty 19) available for free? I bet alone Crafty is better than every game from the bargain bin and at least on even with $50 commercial games.

Winboard is great, but for beginners, being able to repeat games, do opening study, or put different time constraints on the human and the computer would help a lot.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by DrSpike
Crafty19 is strong enough for the vast majority of players. But it just plays; some of the commercial software has many other features.

Exactly. IIRC, Chessmaster has some good features to help you learn the game.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Pave
Jac, if you just can, play, play, play and play. You have to lose about 100 times before you can even dream about winning.

Yeah. Lost a few times to the Fool's Mate before I realised I better put that knight up.

[DaShi]

Just finished reading "All the King's Horses" today. Definite chills.

[Harovan]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
Yeah. Lost a few times to the Fool's Mate before I realised I better put that knight up.

The shortest game I ever won was a 3-turner at a simultaneous seance I gave at a local summer festival in a little town in northern Germany. One of my challengers was a drunkard, who already had downed quite some beers. He sat down and said "Hey, but wizzout dirty tricks, okeee?"

I had granted everyone the right to choose the color, and he begun:

1. f4

Oh, the Bird opening, I thought. Seems to be a good player. But screw it, I counter with From's gambit

1. ... e5

He thought a while, and played

2. g3??

No, definitely not a good player, I thought. I quickly captured the pawn

2. ... exf4

He looked at the board for a moment and then recaptured it

3. gxf4??

and here the game ended

3. ... Qh4 checkmate.

He looked at me and shouted "Goddamn! Hey... chessman... I said wizzzzzzout dirty tricks... no dirty tricks I said."

[MichaeltheGreat]

Yeeeee-ha!

Speaking of Winboard and GNUChess, I just kicked it's ass twice in a row as white in closed Sicilians.

Won on time the first time, a pawn up and threatening mate or additional material at move 40, and won in a long endgame (70+ moves) that reverted to a pawn ending with me two pawns up.

[Harry Seldon]

I was playing WinBoard and trying to walk though some formations against the engine but it seems to anticipate this and kills me. I had a wonderfully humiliating game this weekend where it demolished me with its queen early into the game. The clock was making me nervous; is there some way to turn this off? What does capture the flag mean?