Does Anyone Play Chess?

[Maxito]

I know the moves, but I don't know any strategy from opening, midgame, and endgame.   I have watched my fair share of YouTube videos, mainly Anna Cramling's videos of her games.  Seeing her videos I never knew pawns were so important.   

Edited February 29 by Maxito

[Jumbo]

I played at somewhat above potzer level as a member of a chess club in Anchorage as a yute and a teen. Sime buds of mine were class a and b but we had a couple at expert level one master. Had a handful of Russians and Czhecks. My English friend there was a class a player. Aaron Nimzomich was a guy I picked to learn about as a chess sports fan 😛.

 

The big noise of the day in the chess world  of course were the Spassky and Fischer battles. Oh, and Karpov.

 

 

[Corcaigh]

30 minutes ago, Jumbo said:

Aaron Nimzomich

 

 

He was special and top five in the world at one point. His first book chess principles is modestly titled ‘My System.’

 

He stood up in anger when he realized he was not going to win an important game against a world-class player and shouted “Why must I lose to this idiot?”

 

Another time he complained to the tournament organizer when an opponent put an unlit cigar beside the board, saying that he was threatening to smoke and that “the threat is stronger than its execution.”

[Corcaigh]

1 hour ago, Maxito said:

I know the moves, but I don't know any strategy from opening, midgame, and endgame.   I have watched my fair share of YouTube videos, mainly Anna Cramling's videos of her games.  Seeing her videos I never knew pawns were so important.   

 

There’s something about her voice that irritates and I find her videos almost unwatchable.

[ixcuincle]

used to 

 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C1z1qLKIrhK/?igsh=d3BmbTJ1dW1ndDBh

[Thinking Skins]

So I've settled that I'm at about an 800 rating. I listen to chess podcasts and people who started chess and had a 1500 rating from the start and settled at 2100 or so. Thats not me. I got beat by by 4 year old last night. I mean. I taught him everything he knows, so I'm proud, but I'm also kinda shamed. I shoulds seen the mate with the rook and bishop setup coming. I thought it was just a queen. Anyway. I can play a bunch of games against the computer at a level of about 800- 1000 and win some lose some. That's about where I want to be. 

 

The main problem I have with the phone / computer play is that when I'm analyzing moves, they think I want to do the move. I don't want to press the knight. I just want to look at the knight. I'm analyzing the possibilities because there are about 5 possible moves each turn and three are good and 2 are dumb. So that's my main problem. But I have been getting my game going on chess.com regularly again. 

 

I think I like The Collie & London opening for its beauty and simplicity. look it up. 

[Corcaigh]

2 hours ago, Thinking Skins said:

The Collie 

Bro, that’s a dog.

[Corcaigh]

In terms of a simple thinking process in chess:

(1) understand your opponent’s last move. Is it threatening a check or a capture? Did it leave a piece or square unguarded

(2) look at your own options; first checks (forcing move), then captures, then threats

 

If you take a little time to do this each move your vision of the board will improve dramatically. If you play under time controls where you don’t have time to do this you won’t improve. You have to play slow in order to develop the quick recognition that will allow you to play faster and at a higher level of analysis.

 

Swiss GM Noel Studer has a really good blog and free newsletter about chess improvement. Here is one short blog post about thinking.

 

https://nextlevelchess.blog/how-to-think-during-a-chess-game/

 

 

Edited March 1 by Corcaigh

[Thinking Skins]

I wish I could show you some of my recent games. I'll get bad "grades" from community I guess from just stuff of common scenarios of boards, but it's like what they recommend doesn't take my opponent into consideration at all. 

 

I'm one game, I had a knight about to do a fork on my rook and queen and I'm trying to stop it and so I move my bishop to f3 and then capture it with my knight. But (up till I got the knight) they acted like I was a lunatic. But then suddenly my score shot up. 

 

But as far as winning games, man I missed some mate in one cause I just didn't see them. I was too scared of losing. But sometimes I have like a knight and a  bishop that can move to the same square and I'm saying which one should make the move? And I think one time I was playing a game where I made a capture with a pawn that I could have made with a rook that later I wish I had made. 

 

 

[Corcaigh]

Teichmann said ”Chess is 99% tactics”. That’s going to be the single activity that will give the greatest improvement until you get to 1500 or higher. Work on puzzles and you will start to see  these themes in your games.

[Thinking Skins]

So I wrote this program. To help me with my matches, but then thought it would be cheating so I'm not using it. But I think it's a good way of thinking. 

 

What I try to do is just really analyze the board before making a move. And what I mean by that is taking account is each piece on the board and each each square and which pieces have power over which squares. 

 

In the attached image, black had the blue attacking color and white has the red attacking color. 

 

 

I think that along with algebraic notation I'm going to practice doing this. 

[Thinking Skins]

So I sent the above image to my dad and talked to him about it and he was a bit confused. Each piece is represented by a single letter. I'm trying to see which pieces are attacking other pieces and the free squares (where I may want to move). 

 

So here's what the letters mean. 

K - white king

Q - white queen

R - white rook

N - white knight

B - white bishop

P - white pawn

 

k - black king

q - black queen

r - black rook

n - black knight

b - black bishop

p - black pawn

 

Like I said in the post above, these are also color coded so the black side has its threats blue and the white side has its threats red. 

 

Now about letters appearing together. That just means that multiple pieces are attacking the same square. So the red RKN in cell h4 means that the white rook, king and knight are all attacking it. 

[TradeTheBeal!]

King.

 

[Sacks 'n' Stuff]

32 minutes ago, TradeTheBeal! said:

King.

 

 

On 3/1/2024 at 11:21 AM, Corcaigh said:

Bro, that’s a dog.

 

[Corcaigh]

On 3/4/2024 at 4:21 PM, Thinking Skins said:

So I sent the above image to my dad and talked to him about it and he was a bit confused. Each piece is represented by a single letter. I'm trying to see which pieces are attacking other pieces and the free squares (where I may want to move). 

 

So here's what the letters mean. 

K - white king

Q - white queen

R - white rook

N - white knight

B - white bishop

P - white pawn

 

k - black king

q - black queen

r - black rook

n - black knight

b - black bishop

p - black pawn

 

Like I said in the post above, these are also color coded so the black side has its threats blue and the white side has its threats red. 

 

Now about letters appearing together. That just means that multiple pieces are attacking the same square. So the red RKN in cell h4 means that the white rook, king and knight are all attacking it. 

I’m not sure where you are headed with this but I don’t understand how this is fruitful. Tactics come about because the interactions of pieces in combinations, and this is only looking at individual pieces. Might be a useful exercise for a complete beginner to see how the pieces move but seems unhelpful as a tool for analysis.

 

25 minutes ago, Sacks 'n' Stuff said:

 

 

My absolutely hilarious response was around ThinkingSkins writing Collie rather than the Colle System. And that the Colle System is considered a bit of a dog anyway to us superior smartasses.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 26 by Corcaigh

[Sacks 'n' Stuff]

On 3/4/2024 at 12:15 PM, Thinking Skins said:

So I wrote this program. To help me with my matches, but then thought it would be cheating so I'm not using it. But I think it's a good way of thinking. 

 

What I try to do is just really analyze the board before making a move. And what I mean by that is taking account is each piece on the board and each each square and which pieces have power over which squares. 

 

In the attached image, black had the blue attacking color and white has the red attacking color. 

 

 

I think that along with algebraic notation I'm going to practice doing this. 

I love the idea, but I suspect the work you’re putting into this will outweigh the benefits. This is a game that has been around for a long, long time, and there are a lot of really, really, really smart people who have dedicated their lives to it, and are willing to share their knowledge including how to study and improve. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel.

4 minutes ago, Corcaigh said:

My absolutely hilarious response was around ThinkingSkins writing Collie rather than the Colle System. And that the Colle System is considered a bit of a dog anyway to us superior smartasses.

I know but it works on so many levels.

[Corcaigh]

41 minutes ago, TradeTheBeal! said:

King.

 

I have a black dog. I might have to get a white one now and they can line up against each other on the chess board.

1 minute ago, Sacks 'n' Stuff said:

I love the idea, but I suspect the work you’re putting into this will outweigh the benefits. This is a game that has been around for a long, long time, and there are a lot of really, really, really smart people who have dedicated their lives to it, and are willing to share their knowledge including how to study and improve. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel.

That level of positivity is very disappointing and beneath you. You wouldn’t talk like that to yourself so why do it to somoneelse?

[Sacks 'n' Stuff]

5 minutes ago, Corcaigh said:

That level of positivity is very disappointing and beneath you. You wouldn’t talk like that to yourself so why do it to somoneelse?

I read a couple of my posts and didn’t like my tone. Trying to be less of a dick to people who don’t deserve it. Keeping my fingers crossed that bosshogg cat comes back around again. Need to let off some steam.

[Corcaigh]

2 minutes ago, Sacks 'n' Stuff said:

I read a couple of my posts and didn’t like my tone. Trying to be less of a dick to people who don’t deserve it. Keeping my fingers crossed that bosshogg cat comes back around again. Need to let off some steam.

You changed man.

[Thinking Skins]

here's a question I have and i may ask it to somebody else but I played a game against a computer foe yesterday that I'm getting better at beating. He was beating me yesterday morning and then i beat him three times in a row (its sad that I'm giving gender roles to computers), but in trying to get better I have been analyzing the last game I played which I think was my best. 

 

I'll post the PGN here then ask my questions

 

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3 Bc5 4. d4 $6 exd4 5. Nd5 Nxd5 6. cxd5 d6 7. Bh3 $6 Bxh3

8. Nxh3 Na6 $6 9. Nf4 O-O 10. Qd3 $6 Nb4 11. Qb3 (11. Qb3 a5 12. O-O Qd7 13. Bd2

Rae8 14. Qf3 Bb6 15. Bxb4 axb4) 11... c6 $6 (11... Nxd5 12. Nxd5) 12. Qd1 $2 cxd5 $9

(12... cxd5 13. a3 Nc6 14. b4 Bb6 15. Nxd5) (12... Nxd5 13. Nxd5 cxd5) (12...

cxd5 13. a3 Nc6 14. b4 Bb6 15. Nxd5) 13. f3 $9 Qa5 $6 14. Ne6 $4 Nc2+ $6 15. Kf1

Nxa1 16. Nxf8 Kxf8 17. a3 Qb5 18. Qe1 $6 Nc2 19. Qd1 Qc4 20. Qd2 d3 21. Kg2 $6

Ne3+ 22. Kf2 dxe2 23. Qxe3 Bxe3+ 24. Bxe3 d4 25. Bd2 d3 26. b4 Qd4+ 27. Kg2 $6

Qb2 28. Be1 d2 29. Rg1 d1=Q 30. Bf2 Qxg1+ 31. Bxg1 e1=Q+ 32. Kh3 Qxg1 33. Kh4

Qbxh2+ 34. Kg4 Qgxg3+ 35. Kf5 Qf4# 0-1

 

So this was a cool game because I was able to get THREE queens (though not at the same time). I had never done that before. 

 

But there are some moves that I'm looking at and they're (the computer analysis) is saying hey you took that pawn with a pawn, you could have took it with a knight and won a knight, but I was being greedy and trying to keep by knight. I wonder if there is some way to just figure this out easier. 

[PokerPacker]

On 2/27/2024 at 12:29 PM, Sacks 'n' Stuff said:

**** ALL OF YOU MOTHER****ERS!!!

 

 

edit: I’m TheChessDragon55 at chess.com if anyone wants to play.

 

[Corcaigh]

22 hours ago, Thinking Skins said:

here's a question I have and i may ask it to somebody else but I played a game against a computer foe yesterday that I'm getting better at beating. He was beating me yesterday morning and then i beat him three times in a row (its sad that I'm giving gender roles to computers), but in trying to get better I have been analyzing the last game I played which I think was my best. 

 

I'll post the PGN here then ask my questions

 

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3 Bc5 4. d4 $6 exd4 5. Nd5 Nxd5 6. cxd5 d6 7. Bh3 $6 Bxh3

8. Nxh3 Na6 $6 9. Nf4 O-O 10. Qd3 $6 Nb4 11. Qb3 (11. Qb3 a5 12. O-O Qd7 13. Bd2

Rae8 14. Qf3 Bb6 15. Bxb4 axb4) 11... c6 $6 (11... Nxd5 12. Nxd5) 12. Qd1 $2 cxd5 $9

(12... cxd5 13. a3 Nc6 14. b4 Bb6 15. Nxd5) (12... Nxd5 13. Nxd5 cxd5) (12...

cxd5 13. a3 Nc6 14. b4 Bb6 15. Nxd5) 13. f3 $9 Qa5 $6 14. Ne6 $4 Nc2+ $6 15. Kf1

Nxa1 16. Nxf8 Kxf8 17. a3 Qb5 18. Qe1 $6 Nc2 19. Qd1 Qc4 20. Qd2 d3 21. Kg2 $6

Ne3+ 22. Kf2 dxe2 23. Qxe3 Bxe3+ 24. Bxe3 d4 25. Bd2 d3 26. b4 Qd4+ 27. Kg2 $6

Qb2 28. Be1 d2 29. Rg1 d1=Q 30. Bf2 Qxg1+ 31. Bxg1 e1=Q+ 32. Kh3 Qxg1 33. Kh4

Qbxh2+ 34. Kg4 Qgxg3+ 35. Kf5 Qf4# 0-1

 

So this was a cool game because I was able to get THREE queens (though not at the same time). I had never done that before. 

 

But there are some moves that I'm looking at and they're (the computer analysis) is saying hey you took that pawn with a pawn, you could have took it with a knight and won a knight, but I was being greedy and trying to keep by knight. I wonder if there is some way to just figure this out easier. 

If you want to improve your understanding you should write down your thinking at relevant key decision points in the game. What moves you considered and your evaluation of the candidate moves leading to why you selected the one you did.

 

Take a very simple case. 4 … exd4. What other moves did you consider and why did you evaluate that one as being best.

Edited March 29 by Corcaigh

[Thinking Skins]

I love how chatgpt does a play by play of my game. I was doing my full games, but these are just the highlights. of the game. 

 

1. 4...Bc5: Black develops the bishop to a natural square, aiming for harmonious piece development.

2. 6...O-O: Castling, which is always a key moment in the opening, completes Black's kingside development and connects the rooks.

3. 8...Bg4: This move attacks White's queen and indirectly pressures the pawn structure around White's king. It also sets up potential tactics with ...Bxf3 and ...Qg4+.

4. 10...Be2: This move forks White's rook and knight on f3, gaining material advantage. It's a tactical shot that puts immediate pressure on White's position.

5. 11...Bxd3: Black continues to win material, capturing the rook on g1 after White's response.

6. 12...Nxe4: Black continues to prioritize material gain, attacking the knight on f3 and threatening mate on g2.

7. 14...Qg4: This move initiates a powerful attack on the f3 knight, with the threat of mate on g2. It further increases the pressure on White's position.

8. 16...Bxf2+: Black wins another piece with this move, forcing White's king to move and creating further weaknesses in White's position.

9. 19...Re8+: Black maintains the pressure and improves the position of the rook, with the threat of ...Re1+.

10. 20...Re1+: Black delivers a decisive check, exploiting the exposed position of White's king.

11. 21...Qxg2#: Checkmate! Black concludes the game with a beautiful queen sacrifice leading to mate on g2.

[Corcaigh]

10 minutes ago, Thinking Skins said:

I love how chatgpt does a play by play of my game. I was doing my full games, but these are just the highlights. of the game. 

 

1. 4...Bc5: Black develops the bishop to a natural square, aiming for harmonious piece development.

2. 6...O-O: Castling, which is always a key moment in the opening, completes Black's kingside development and connects the rooks.

3. 8...Bg4: This move attacks White's queen and indirectly pressures the pawn structure around White's king. It also sets up potential tactics with ...Bxf3 and ...Qg4+.

4. 10...Be2: This move forks White's rook and knight on f3, gaining material advantage. It's a tactical shot that puts immediate pressure on White's position.

5. 11...Bxd3: Black continues to win material, capturing the rook on g1 after White's response.

6. 12...Nxe4: Black continues to prioritize material gain, attacking the knight on f3 and threatening mate on g2.

7. 14...Qg4: This move initiates a powerful attack on the f3 knight, with the threat of mate on g2. It further increases the pressure on White's position.

8. 16...Bxf2+: Black wins another piece with this move, forcing White's king to move and creating further weaknesses in White's position.

9. 19...Re8+: Black maintains the pressure and improves the position of the rook, with the threat of ...Re1+.

10. 20...Re1+: Black delivers a decisive check, exploiting the exposed position of White's king.

11. 21...Qxg2#: Checkmate! Black concludes the game with a beautiful queen sacrifice leading to mate on g2.

 

This is an excellent demonstration of how bad ChatGPT can be. A lot of this is either just wrong or empty fluff, however convincing it may sound.

 

And it doesn't matter what ChatGPT thinks. What do you think about the important moves in the game?

[Thinking Skins]

why are you ruining my joy. I like play by play. 

 

i had a response to your question but I didn't post it because I was playing a game and lost it. but basically I have a page of notes where I'm doing that. So I have the PGN notation, and the threats of each move, and the possible moves I can take. I was told that this was not allowed at tournaments, but I'm not playing at tournaments, I'm playing untimed online games against computers. But sometimes I make some blunders like one game I moved a rook into a diagonal of an attacking bishop. Why? because I was trying to do the opening that gets the rooks to the open file. Too bad I missed that. But I went from up 3 points to even and was still able to win the game.