Why do I s*ck at chess?

[Harovan]

Originally posted by ljcvetko
Are you a grandmaster, Sir Ralph?

No.

[Ljube]

Inter Master?
Master?
Master candidate?

[Harovan]

Neither of it, and never was. I played some chess in the 70s and 80s. Quit 1986. I didn't play a single game since then.

[MichaeltheGreat]

Originally posted by Asmodean


That's a whole lot of studying you have to do, if you want to get back to that level. Chess at that level is about two things. 1-The ability to think ahead. The further the better. The ability to visualize the board is also important here. And 2-The amount of time you put into it. The more the merrier. Most GM's spend all their off tournament time studying previous games ,and thinking out new moves.

Asmodean

With time limits from kids and work and life in general, (I played competitively from age 13 to 21 so I had a lot more time and needed the money from tournaments ), there's no way I'll get to that level. If I can play competitively as an A player, that'll be good enough.

[Ljube]

Sir ralph, you seem to be the best around here.
Pure talent?

[Harovan]

If I had talent, I wouldn't have quit playing.

Actually I lied. I just looked up some old games, and the latest was 1989.

[MichaeltheGreat]

Originally posted by DrSpike
Drawing with Seirawan is a nice result.

He was a bit irritated. Normally, in those weekend swiss tournaments, the GM's would cream everyone for no sweat wins until the last round, then play each other for easy draws and split the prize money. Easy weekend earnings for them, and not much for anyone else, especially if you had four guys in the Senior Master to GM bunch - everyone else just got to donate entry fees.

I got my draw in the second round, after beating a Master in the first round (then I got creamed the rest of the weekend ), but that put Yasser 1/2 point shy of the winning group.

[MichaeltheGreat]

Originally posted by Sir Ralph
If I had talent, I wouldn't have quit playing.

yep, that's the way it works. If we had any talent, we'd have been Senior Masters while in our teens.

[Ljube]

Originally posted by MichaeltheGreat


yep, that's the way it works. If we had any talent, we'd have been Senior Masters while in our teens.

After playing seven years competitively and achieving nothing, I must agree.

[Harovan]

Well at least I won a show-case full of crystal and porcelain vases. Nothing special, but nice enough to keep at least my wife happy with my frequent absence.