Was pretty surprised this thread hasn’t been created already - especially considering the proliferation of game-related threads. I’m sure there are some Elektronauts who enjoy / might be interested in playing chess.
Currently the FIDE World Championship is going on between 2023 champion Ding Liren and the unbelievably young challenger, 18 year old Gukesh Dommaraju. Despite the complaints I’ve seen online, they’ve been good matches so far IMHO.
I’m very much a low-level amateur player, but I’ve been enjoying playing chess since I was a kid. I’d bet there’s at least one secret chess whiz floating around this forum somewhere though…
I tend to use Lichess if there’s anyone who’d ever be up for a game, either time-controlled or correspondence
I love to play chess and I like the aestethic of the game. A beauty chessboard with classic Staunton pieces is something. But I’m a very bad player, because I play too fast and make a lot of stupid errors
Made the final of the Fide rated English Open Seniors a few years back. My best rating was 2250. Just play for fun now. Have played with a few Gms. Won one lol.
…i can just forsee / forplan 3 moves ahead at max and when doing so, i frequently loose trac and focus on what the other one is about to plan and to do…
and i only enjoy the game, if the board and the figures can call some style their own…
i’m really a bad player…but i would be also a bad king…
but my son starts to become a pretty good player…
I’ve recently started playing and very light study with a couple colleagues on chesscom (humnprogram, usually play 1- or 3-day, 12-1300 for now). As a kid I was always too serious and competitive to enjoy the game, but I’ve come to appreciate the beauty of the game for itself as an adult. Recently picked up Silman’s Endgames book, never would have imagined I’d be reading that solely for entertainment, but it’s great.
I’ve been following the World Championships, I’ve really enjoyed the youtuber Jerry/“chessnetwork” account for his analysis of this as well as classic games. His commentaries help me understand the appeal of spectator sports…
The Championship has been exciting to watch (okay, the string of draws started to get old, but then it picked back up). I don’t know too much about the players but am rooting for Gukesh.
My big weakness (apart from the middle, and the end game) is openings. Any good things to read to help me with that? Books are good, blogs or websites too.
I used to play as a kid. We had a chess class and it was my favorite experience in middle school. I think they only had it the one year, and made it after school program after that.
Since then, I only play ever once in a great while.
I’m sure I’m terrible, especially now! I would definitely be up for it as something fun if anyone wants to play.
Competitive Scrabble is less about being verbose (although it helps) and more about knowing how to maximize turn potential.
It’s not too difficult once you figure out how scoring and multipliers work, but it’s frustrating to lose to someone who has a fair vocabulary and already understands how to turn a 2-letter word into a 40-point turn.
Ive played the Kings Indian Defence and the London opening all my life. Got me to IM level. Id start there as they are both easy to learn and will beat most club players.
Forget books. Get the free Chessable courses on these openings and you will learn much faster.
