Chess thread

[Tal]

This is an example from last year's London Classic. The American Nakamura has just beaten the world champion Anand of India and the two of them join British GM Danny King (who does the Your Move feature we looked at a while ago) and fellow Brit IM Lawrence Trent to go through the game.

You will notice that the notation on the right hand side has different letters to denote some of the pieces. This is because Chessbase and Playchess are German-owned and those are the German names for the pieces (D = Queen; S= Knight; T= Rook).

They discuss an opening called the King's Indian, which has a bit of an unfavourable reputation in modern circles (these things go in and out of fashion like poker-plays) which Nakamura played here but got a nice counterattack out of it (which is the idea) and won well.

You only get audio but you will hear the English accents as the commentators, the Indian the victim and the American the victor.

[titaniumbean]

<3 victim.

I just feel as a complete and utter amateur, that I need to focus on the first set of moves because I have such little clue. If I were to play a game of chess. I would just move some pieces and see what my opponent did, I would not have a clue why or what I was hoping to achieve.


Massively interested in these discussions, trying to read the newspapers chess section or even some of the articles I cant see the board in my mind or even just a few moves on from what is pictured so I don't enjoy it. Massively enjoyed those 'puzzle boards' just because I know there is a good move it's just a case of finding it. I'm not competent enough to see a position on the board and know even who it's in favour of without alot of thought or an obvious imbalance of pieces.

[Tal]

I would suggest investing in a novice book (I know that's a dirty word on a poker forum ), which will explain about how to get going. You need to know the chess equivalent of position, starting hands and TAG.

Fundamentally, all openings are about developing your pieces and getting some sort of influence in the centre.

If you are making developing moves (knights and bishops out and castle to get your king safe), you are on the right track.

[titaniumbean]

I would suggest investing in a novice book (I know that's a dirty word on a poker forum ), which will explain about how to get going. You need to know the chess equivalent of position, starting hands and TAG.

Fundamentally, all openings are about developing your pieces and getting some sort of influence in the centre.

If you are making developing moves (knights and bishops out and castle to get your king safe), you are on the right track.

rofl where's the novice of novices book. i'm tez.

I played on the school team as a kid merely because I was competitive and weird (yay) and I had the ability to crush school children by thinking upwards of 2 moves ahead sometimes 3 on a good day.

I am probably alot worse now than I was then. I really haven't played since, except on a computer chess board game set I was bought when I was about 10. Obv could beat easy then the second the computer was trying to win absolutely no chance.

I don't think I can play enough to get anywhere near able to be only a -99% ROI chess player ldo, so think these post match discussions might be a more worthwhile chess related way to spend my time.


I basically move the one infront of kingy, always 2 because that's what you do isn't it. Then some combination of moving the knight/bishop so I can castle. Then i'm purely reactionary, often get into spots where i'd rather check and react to them lol

Wish you could open jam i'd have more chance then!


Big fan of this thread though, ty

[Tal]

Pawn in front of kingy up two is called 1.e4 and it is the most popular first move, so so far so good

You want to look from there to develop your knights and bishops and there are usually reasonably straightforward ways of doing that. For example:



Then bring the other knight out, move the pawn in front of "Queenie" up one and the bishop then has a diagonal to move on. Castle kingside and you, sir, have an opening.

[Skippy]

I've said it before and I'll say it again: go to http://www.chesskids.com/lessons04.shtml, and work through the lessons. If you ignore that it's for kidz, you'll be well on the way.

[titaniumbean]

yeah see but then i'm absolutely done and the next move taaaakes ages and I have absolutely no idea what i'm hoping to achieve.

The best way to describe it might be I just open donk 100% and then randomly respond to aggression lol



I'm mentally like a 6 year old sometimes so no problem with insulting my own intelligence Skippy. ty.

[Tal]

By all means send me some games or post them up here (a couple of people have done it) and we can offer some advice.

Just experiment a bit from the same positions; try using your pieces to attack his King; try throwing your pawns up on one side of the board; try making a break in the centre with your rooks on d1 and e1. Just see what sort of game you get. Maybe you win one. As with poker, it might not mean you got it in good but it will start to give you a feel for the position.

Believe me when I tell you that even the best player in the world will reach positions he genuinely doesn't know what to do in. He will play through some ideas in his head (just as I have - slightly crudely - suggested) and assess the possible positions.

You can only get better by having a bash.

[titaniumbean]

ha ty I don't want to waste anyones time, I feel somewhat bad playing humans because I either am up against a 6 year old who I can beat with only a few wobbles, or i'm up against most the rest of the chess playing world and I don't provide a good enough game. It's a bit like other sports that i'd play, I understand you have to play better players to improve yourself but I hate not feeling I can give someone a run for their money. Or feeling that they may just be trying to get it over with.

I'm going to go through chess for kids, then chess for pillocks, rewatch that discussion (i'd rather watch all the moves play out rather than jump position to position though I am massively enjoying this). And then maybe try playing a game or two online when i'm tilted from poker!

[Tal]

Age makes no difference. The sooner you realise there are kids a third of your age who can own your soul the better. Get over it and focus on your own game!

The world number 1 is 21 years of age. There are 12 and 13 year old grandmasters. Makes you sick

[titaniumbean]

Age makes no difference. The sooner you realise there are kids a third of your age who can own your soul the better. Get over it and focus on your own game!

The world number 1 is 21 years of age. There are 12 and 13 year old grandmasters. Makes you sick

yup kinda foolish descriptions, I merely meant that I suck. rofl.

[Tal]

http://www.ukgamesshop.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=SFNT&Store_Code=lcc

Chess and Bridge is probably the best chess shop about. You will see there's a section for new starters with books, DVDs and sets.

[EvilPie]

I've said it before and I'll say it again: go to http://www.chesskids.com/lessons04.shtml, and work through the lessons. If you ignore that it's for kidz, you'll be well on the way.

That's brilliant thanks.

Just went through 'the fatal diagonal'. I won't be moving 'foolish Freddie' again in a hurry!!

[MintTrav]

Korchnoi played some exhibitions in Ireland in 1981 and I went to watch the one in Dublin. He was about to challenge Karpov again for the World Championship, so it was a big deal at the time. He played 30 games simultaneously and, from memory, I believe he won 26, lost 3 and drew 1. Again from memory, I think the opponents had to be rated 1800-2200 to apply. One thing I do remember was that, even then, he struck me as being a bit old to be playing at the level he was. The other thing I remember clearly was the speed of his play. The opponent had to be ready to make their move when he reached them and had to make it as he came to their board. Almost always, he responded instantly and moved on. The first couple of laps, he walked really fast, hardly breaking stride for each move. He slowed down a bit as the games developed but, no doubt, he had seen all of the positions many times; or tougher versions in fact. He actually went 1-0 down, losing the first game to finish, which was against a guy in his mid-teens, who got lots of back-slaps when Korchnoi knocked over his King and moved on.

I remember standing behind one player for quite some time. During the middle-game, while Korchnoi was off at the other side of the room, there was quite a discussion with 3-4 other spectators about the best line to take. When Korchnoi arrived, the player made the agreed best move and Korchnoi instantly replied with a move that was totally devastating to our position. Once he had done it, it was blindingly obvious but until he did, none of us came close to seeing it. That player's name, Prof Luce, stuck in my memory and I guess this was him - http://www.tcd.ie/Classics/jvl/. I see that one of Korchnoi's books, with the score-sheet from the Korchnoi-Luce game taped inside, signed by Korchnoi, was sold at auction last year for €40.

[Tal]

Brilliant story, MintTrav. To play 30 players of that strength and achieve such a stellar result is very impressive.

For those who don't know, Korchnoi is like Keres (who we discussed a couple of weeks ago) in that he has always been the bridesmaid in the World Championship and never took the title. His misfortune was to be around when Karpov was peaking, only to see Kasparov take over.

He is still going and still plays to about 2500 even at 81 years of age.

There has been some discission on other threads about St Petersburg and Viktor is one of its famous sons.