Page 2 of 5 [ 71 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4, 5  Next

CRACK
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 2 Nov 2005
Age: 38
Gender: Male
Posts: 765

25 Nov 2008, 8:41 pm

Never liked chess at all. It requires a certain depth of forethought and strategy that my mind cannot effectively work with. It's like trying to solve a rubics cube. I dislike real-time-strategy computer games for the same reason.



gismo
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 10 Mar 2006
Age: 27
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,803

26 Nov 2008, 3:05 am

Orwell wrote:
gismo wrote:
I'm pretty good, I'm better than most people my age, but I couldn't beat an adult.

In my experience, kids are almost always better than adults at chess. I'm 19, and already too old to really learn to play chess at a high level.

RE; Ragtime: Postal chess: usually this is done by e-mail nowadays, or on dedicated web sites like chess.com. Correspondence chess is very fun because it allows for much deeper analysis of the position than traditional OTB play.


Well, I go to a chess club at school, and I have either drawn, won, or ran out of time, so...



Ragtime
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 2 Nov 2006
Age: 46
Gender: Male
Posts: 7,927
Location: Dallas, Texas

26 Nov 2008, 9:42 am

Orwell wrote:
Ragtime wrote:
Orwell wrote:
I'm 19, and already too old to really learn to play chess at a high level.


Oh, I don't know about that... I'm finding, now that I've re-taken up chess, that I have much more patient slyness than I did back when I was younger and only wanted to win, win, win. Now, I actually enjoy the whole game, and since humans' brains reach maturity at around age 30, I'm finding new mental resources that I didn't have before. (I can also attest that that last part has been true for each year of my twenties.)

I've had the humbling experience of being slaughtered by 8-year-olds too many times.


Dang, that's a little out of the ordinary! Do you have an estimation of your numerical chess skill rating?
I'm about a 1400, even though I'm so out of practice that I got beaten 4 times in a row last night by this
cool new chess program I downloaded, when I had set it to play at a 1400 level:
http://www.download.com/Deep-Sjeng/3000-7562_4-10670361.html?tag=mncol&cdlPid=10734491

But then I beat it this morning. :)

It's a really cool program, and is free as a trial for 30 days. You can set the skill level in exact increments -- anywhere from a 600 rated player to 3000, which is the top end of world champion. It says it adapts to your playing style, and can help you learn by annotating your moves and the strategies involved. But I don't use that part. I prefer learning naturally. You can also set it to play defensively, aggressively, or "balanced", which is the default. You can also set how much time you want to allow the computer to take per move. I set it at 10 seconds, just to keep things moving.

Anyway, I had great fun kicking its ass at 1000, 1100, 1200, and 1300 last night. 1400 proved too difficult at first, due to really boneheaded mistakes I was making because I'm so out of practice, and I was playing so fast for no particular reason other than I felt like it. So, I took back 2 really stupid moves I had made, and then went on to slaughter it on the 1400 skill level. :)
It's a 30-day free trial, but I have 4 computers, so... :P I get 120 days free. But it's only $29, so if I stay into it for the 30 days I may go ahead and purchase it. I was surprised just how much I enjoyed playing this program.


_________________
Christianity is different than Judaism only in people's minds -- not in the Bible.


Ragtime
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 2 Nov 2006
Age: 46
Gender: Male
Posts: 7,927
Location: Dallas, Texas

26 Nov 2008, 9:52 am

CRACK wrote:
Never liked chess at all. It requires a certain depth of forethought and strategy that my mind cannot effectively work with. It's like trying to solve a rubics cube. I dislike real-time-strategy computer games for the same reason.


I'm like you in that way, but the program I mention in my above post can be adjust so precisely in its difficulty level, that it's not intimidating. If you beat it at a low level, you can literally increase the difficulty by around as little as 0.1%!
To me, that makes a very tempting learning process, because it doesn't completely wipe the floor with you, like former chess programs with cruder settings used to.


_________________
Christianity is different than Judaism only in people's minds -- not in the Bible.


Ragtime
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 2 Nov 2006
Age: 46
Gender: Male
Posts: 7,927
Location: Dallas, Texas

26 Nov 2008, 9:55 am

gismo wrote:
Orwell wrote:
gismo wrote:
I'm pretty good, I'm better than most people my age, but I couldn't beat an adult.

In my experience, kids are almost always better than adults at chess. I'm 19, and already too old to really learn to play chess at a high level.

RE; Ragtime: Postal chess: usually this is done by e-mail nowadays, or on dedicated web sites like chess.com. Correspondence chess is very fun because it allows for much deeper analysis of the position than traditional OTB play.


Well, I go to a chess club at school, and I have either drawn, won, or ran out of time, so...


Cool, I was in chess club in high school, and enjoyed it a lot, while it lasted.
The trouble was, few people showed up, and eventually, no one did but me. :?
But I used to carry a folding, pocket, magnetic chess board with me from class to class,
and play people while the teacher wasn't watching. Don't do that yourself, though! You can get caught.


_________________
Christianity is different than Judaism only in people's minds -- not in the Bible.


Dyspergian
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker

User avatar

Joined: 19 Feb 2007
Age: 74
Gender: Male
Posts: 69
Location: Twickenham, London, England

26 Nov 2008, 1:23 pm

Hi everyone

I'm a professional chess teacher so, yes, I like chess.

If you want to learn to play better I run an online interactive chess teaching website for kids: chessKIDS academy, which, apart from a course taking you from learning the moves to adult club standard, also includes five computer chess programs for you to play against, a series of instructional chess books for you to download and much else. Everything on the site is free.

If you have any questions about chess post to this thread, or, if you prefer, PM or email me.


_________________
It's not just what you're given: it's what you do with what you've got
(Si Kahn)


gismo
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 10 Mar 2006
Age: 27
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,803

26 Nov 2008, 1:38 pm

Ragtime wrote:
gismo wrote:
Orwell wrote:
gismo wrote:
I'm pretty good, I'm better than most people my age, but I couldn't beat an adult.

In my experience, kids are almost always better than adults at chess. I'm 19, and already too old to really learn to play chess at a high level.

RE; Ragtime: Postal chess: usually this is done by e-mail nowadays, or on dedicated web sites like chess.com. Correspondence chess is very fun because it allows for much deeper analysis of the position than traditional OTB play.


Well, I go to a chess club at school, and I have either drawn, won, or ran out of time, so...


Cool, I was in chess club in high school, and enjoyed it a lot, while it lasted.
The trouble was, few people showed up, and eventually, no one did but me. :?
But I used to carry a folding, pocket, magnetic chess board with me from class to class,
and play people while the teacher wasn't watching. Don't do that yourself, though! You can get caught.


You could play an imaginary game of chess by using notes like mail chess...

"Pawn to E4"



Ragtime
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 2 Nov 2006
Age: 46
Gender: Male
Posts: 7,927
Location: Dallas, Texas

27 Nov 2008, 3:16 pm

Although there aren't that many people in this thread, I'll play anyone at e-chess if you want to. We'd each keep the game set up somewhere, and type each other the moves in this thread. No getting outside help, though, because then
it spoils the point of it.



gismo
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 10 Mar 2006
Age: 27
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,803

27 Nov 2008, 3:25 pm

Ragtime wrote:
Although there aren't that many people in this thread, I'll play anyone at e-chess if you want to. We'd each keep the game set up somewhere, and type each other the moves in this thread. No getting outside help, though, because then
it spoils the point of it.


Ok, Maybe, I have an MSN Chess thingy I can use.
http://zone.msn.com/en/chess/
There's the link... I'll probably get thrashed but It will be cool to see how good you are...



To3To3
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker

User avatar

Joined: 26 Nov 2008
Age: 35
Gender: Female
Posts: 52

27 Nov 2008, 3:33 pm

It's alright. Never really got into. My uncle has always been a pro when it came to chess...



Ragtime
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 2 Nov 2006
Age: 46
Gender: Male
Posts: 7,927
Location: Dallas, Texas

28 Nov 2008, 2:19 pm

gismo wrote:
Ragtime wrote:
Although there aren't that many people in this thread, I'll play anyone at e-chess if you want to. We'd each keep the game set up somewhere, and type each other the moves in this thread. No getting outside help, though, because then
it spoils the point of it.


Ok, Maybe, I have an MSN Chess thingy I can use.
http://zone.msn.com/en/chess/
There's the link... I'll probably get thrashed but It will be cool to see how good you are...


I just now joined Yahoo chess, since I already had a Yahoo membership. If you or anyone else wishes
to play me on there, I'm "idealistt". My rating after my one and only game on there so far is 1217,
which I hope to increase quickly.


_________________
Christianity is different than Judaism only in people's minds -- not in the Bible.


gismo
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 10 Mar 2006
Age: 27
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,803

28 Nov 2008, 2:32 pm

Ragtime wrote:
gismo wrote:
Ragtime wrote:
Although there aren't that many people in this thread, I'll play anyone at e-chess if you want to. We'd each keep the game set up somewhere, and type each other the moves in this thread. No getting outside help, though, because then
it spoils the point of it.


Ok, Maybe, I have an MSN Chess thingy I can use.
http://zone.msn.com/en/chess/
There's the link... I'll probably get thrashed but It will be cool to see how good you are...


I just now joined Yahoo chess, since I already had a Yahoo membership. If you or anyone else wishes
to play me on there, I'm "idealistt". My rating after my one and only game on there so far is 1217,
which I hope to increase quickly.


Ok, I'll see if I can sign up..



Ragtime
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 2 Nov 2006
Age: 46
Gender: Male
Posts: 7,927
Location: Dallas, Texas

28 Nov 2008, 9:54 pm

Gismo, Yahoo chess seems to have tons of technical problems. For starters, there's lots of lag time, so that I lost 2 minutes off my time clock after I moved, and I never got them back. But it gets worse. I moved my queen out of harms way during a game, and then the threat takes my queen -- on the very square I moved it from!

So, I wanted to ask you is MSN's online chess better, since you've apparently played lots of games on there? If so, I'll join. Yahoo's is simply intolerable, with all the bugs it has.



gismo
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 10 Mar 2006
Age: 27
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,803

29 Nov 2008, 8:29 am

Ragtime wrote:
Gismo, Yahoo chess seems to have tons of technical problems. For starters, there's lots of lag time, so that I lost 2 minutes off my time clock after I moved, and I never got them back. But it gets worse. I moved my queen out of harms way during a game, and then the threat takes my queen -- on the very square I moved it from!

So, I wanted to ask you is MSN's online chess better, since you've apparently played lots of games on there? If so, I'll join. Yahoo's is simply intolerable, with all the bugs it has.


I reckon the MSN one is probably alot better, no lags, or anything...



Bradleigh
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 25 May 2008
Age: 34
Gender: Non-binary
Posts: 6,669
Location: Brisbane, Australia

29 Nov 2008, 8:35 am

I dont think I am exactly very good, I like to do risky moves and they don't realy work out, I guess I dont realy like to have the whole fun taken out by leaving it all up to formula, much rather it be about confusing them.


_________________
Through dream I travel, at lantern's call
To consume the flames of a kingdom's fall


Ragtime
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 2 Nov 2006
Age: 46
Gender: Male
Posts: 7,927
Location: Dallas, Texas

29 Nov 2008, 10:05 am

gismo wrote:
Ragtime wrote:
Gismo, Yahoo chess seems to have tons of technical problems. For starters, there's lots of lag time, so that I lost 2 minutes off my time clock after I moved, and I never got them back. But it gets worse. I moved my queen out of harms way during a game, and then the threat takes my queen -- on the very square I moved it from!

So, I wanted to ask you is MSN's online chess better, since you've apparently played lots of games on there? If so, I'll join. Yahoo's is simply intolerable, with all the bugs it has.


I reckon the MSN one is probably alot better, no lags, or anything...


Ok then, I'm now on MSN Chess. What's your nickname on there? I'm "Ragtime223".


_________________
Christianity is different than Judaism only in people's minds -- not in the Bible.