64 squares, 32 pieces. Mano a mano - Lounge

19loveless91
mag. druž. inf

I don't know if it's just a sudden bout of nostalgia, or just me being lazy with my studies and diverting my time and attention to irrelevant things again, but I suddenly feel like playing chess these days. Now I played (and trained) a lot when I was younger, to the point that I achieved quite a bit, although I never became as good as I would need to be to actually be able to keep that up after I would get out of "youth" competition. I had for a while (still do to some extent) held a grudge towards this game, as I felt like it took too much of my time in the past while I never really became as good as I could have.

Still I have admiration for this game, I hate when I hear people describing it as a "board game", as it's way more sophisticated and can be a pleasure to just study.. And let me tell you, there aren't many things as satisfying as when you get a certain tactical combination right, or when you build up an elaborate plan in your mind and it turns out to be perfect.

So how about you? Do you know how to play chess? If yes, how well? Do you have any special feelings towards it, any special experiences?

I have a feeling this could be a short thread, but I know there's at least one user who mentioned playing chess before (tekin)

Guest

I grew up playing chess. I never took it that seriously, and never studied or analyzed strategy or anything like that, but I'd say I've gotten pretty good from playing quite a bit over the years. My fondest memories of the game came from my gifted teacher in Elementary school who had a chess tournament every year. Prior to the tournament itself we would always spend a lot of class time learning the game and playing it for fun. It was pretty dope.

Guest

I loved when people played Benoni and I'd just jump at the chance of Benko; the game would always turn out wild but I'd lose every time I played it (I never studied it thoroughly though). I always wondered how people like Anand and Kasparov can pull it off in hard games with that system playing with black. I could play blindfolded easily when I was in high school (I tried it a year ago, lost all the picture after 7th move). We would play all the time with one of my friends on the way back home and continue it tomorrow. But there came a time that my family didn't let me dedicate myself to it. Seeing that you'll never be sth always can turn you off; I've not played seriously for four years now.

JMan

I can be generally good at chess, but it's hard to get better when almost everyone you know doesn't like it or know how to play it.

AlexZangari

Gender: Male
Age: 30
Location: gone

I'm a chess instructor, actually.
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Patman360
Serenity Now

Gender: Male
Age: 31
Location: Cork, Ireland

Moderator

I can occasionally beat someone on the Chess With Friends, but that's the limit of my playing in recent years, I like chess, just wouldn't play it often to be honest.
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2023
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bongritsu
电子人 ( ｃｙｂｏｒｇ)

Location: bog

I really wanna learn :0
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I FEEL DISCRIMINATED AGAINST AS A PERSON OF JUDGEMENT.

Guest

That "I can beat my mom" option has this tiny flaw: what if you're Judit Polgar's child?

19loveless91
mag. druž. inf

tekin wrote:

I loved when people played Benoni and I'd just jump at the chance of Benko; the game would always turn out wild but I'd lose every time I played it (I never studied it thoroughly though). I always wondered how people like Anand and Kasparov can pull it off in hard games with that system playing with black. I could play blindfolded easily when I was in high school (I tried it a year ago, lost all the picture after 7th move). We would play all the time with one of my friends on the way back home and continue it tomorrow. But there came a time that my family didn't let me dedicate myself to it. Seeing that you'll never be sth always can turn you off; I've not played seriously for four years now.

Ah, I played Benko for years (still might occasionally online) with black. Not sure if I ever won an "important" match with it though. I guess nowadays I play Benoni mostly, but I don't know that much theory, just have a basic idea of how to play. Blindfold chess is something I'm quite horrible at.. Okay I should try it out first as it's been a while, but honestly, there are guys that are otherwise roughly on my level and can play blindfolded games simultaneously, which is something that is totally inconceivable to me.
It's a shame if your family didn't let you dedicate time to chess (i.e. if you wanted to), I think it has been completely the opposite with my family. Looking back, I feel like there were a lot of times where I continued playing just because of how much they supported me, even if I myself hated training it..

tekin wrote:

That "I can beat my mom" option has this tiny flaw: what if you're Judit Polgar's child?

Well I guess the order of answers is shuffled a bit for them, but they have plenty of other options. On the other hand, RZA seems to be a popular answer, but I have no idea how good he actually is. He surely seems enthusiastic about chess

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

AlexZangari wrote:

I'm a chess instructor, actually.

Like.. Do you run a chess club in a school or something like that? I'd be interested in hearing more about that. I have an option of potentially with something like that too, but as my chess friends tell me it's usually little more than a daycare center.

AlexZangari

Gender: Male
Age: 30
Location: gone

I work for a company that runs chess clubs in schools around Atlanta. Unfortunately we only really work with elementary and younger, with maybe one or two middle schools. One of the schools I coach at is our best; this year they had a team get 3rd in states and another get 12th in nationals.
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