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Chess?


Wandering Ace

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Wandering Ace

I like chess; I love the symbolism, and I view it (perhaps wrongly) as a highly intellectual game. The problem is, I absolutely suck at it. I have a game on my computer with a difficulty level that can be set from one to 100. I thought I'd start at level one and up the difficulty every time I won a game.

That is looking less and less likely as I play more. For example, the last game I played lasted six moves on my part.

I don't want to become Arkady Balagan, I would just like to be able to play on a occasional, recreational basis without looking like a complete idiot. As such, I'm not going to spend hours studying strategy and learning historical games, which is the sort of thing most chess sites I've looked at seem to recommend. If that's really the only way to improve, then I guess I'll just continue to muddle my way along, winning only by chance. But I'd like to think there's more than one way to skin a cat.

So... any advice?

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I personally enjoy chess.com its free has some learning opportunities and gives you the ability to play with others worldwide

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This thread was made for me! I'm crap at chess although I enjoy it.

One thing to remember is to get your Knights and Bishops out as early in the game as possible.

My nephew is brilliant at chess, as is his brother in law. Said brother in law was also captain of the local chess club until he left the district and moved up North.

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I loved chess as a child, but as with other games such as tic-tac-toe and checkers, you grow out of it when you realize that it's not very intellectually stimulating. It always starts the exact same way, with the exact, same pieces, and white always goes first. Risk and Settlers of Catan know how to shake it up every time.

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I've always loved chess, and I'm really very good at it. I've won or been in the top 3 of several tournaments.

There are really only a few tips that I think I can give, though. Make sure you're familiar with the way every piece can move. Looking at strategies of the masters won't help if you're not familiar enough with the basics. And just keep playing. The best way to improve is to play someone who's better than you.

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Yeah, you don't need to study historical chess games until you get to a certain level and you're trying to up your game. The best way to improve really is to keep playing... and play with other people, not just the computer although some games are really good these days. And then look over the mistakes you made and how to avoid them.

There must be some basic beginner strategy games in order to help you recognise the situations you find yourself in but I'm afraid I can't recommend any.

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  • 4 weeks later...

So despite my earlier post, I've taken a recent interest in chess again. I guess I am trying to study it to know that my earlier comments were justified.

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  • 4 weeks later...
Princess_Rhaella_Stark

I was in a chess club at my secondary school. It was very small but I enjoyed it.

Then my art teacher lent me his chess pc game and I've occasionally played but have yet to pass intermediate level/

I need to play it a bit more me thinks. Chess is often a very solitary and intense experience for me. But heck I like it!

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Dodecahedron314

I used to be really good at chess when I was a kid, but now I'm so bad at it it's frankly embarrassing. I should probably do something about that over the summer.

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I used to be really good at chess when I was a kid, but now I'm so bad at it it's frankly embarrassing. I should probably do something about that over the summer.

I started playing two years ago.. I have gotten worse. Sometimes my moves makes me cry. My mistakes give me heart burn.

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scarletlatitude

I haven't played in a while. My sister and I found an old chess set in my dad's stuff when we were kids and I kind of taught myself how to play. (There was an instruction booklet... these were the days before Google.)

I suck at it too. I only win if I play against kids. :P We should start our own tournament - whoever loses the most wins. :P

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I haven't played in a while. My sister and I found an old chess set in my dad's stuff when we were kids and I kind of taught myself how to play. (There was an instruction booklet... these were the days before Google.)

I suck at it too. I only win if I play against kids. :P We should start our own tournament - whoever loses the most wins. :P

Do you play online? Maybe we can have a match :D

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Mycroft is Yourcroft

I love chess! Not bad at it, though I don't think I'll ever be great :)

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I like chess because I'm relatively good at it (never actually competed or anything), and I can beat my best friend who otherwise kicks my butt in checkers every time. That should tell you something, right there.

My advice? Play. A lot. You will get better faster than you would think. When you play, and before you have a game that's actually timed, stop and think. It's a strategy game. I go through this, if I move this, is there any way they can immediately get me? Even if you win their pawn, it isn't worth if you lose your queen. Then ask yourself, can they move so that in two moves they can get me? If yes, look for a safe place to move after that, so that they cannot. This all comes back to your original move. Reconsider your choice of pieces, and perhaps select another one. Take your time, think about what you may know about your opponent, even if from their first few moves. Are they trying to sneak around? Do they distract with the center pieces while shifting pawns in seemingly pointless patterns on the side? Are they aggressive, taking your pieces so fast you're afraid to move anything because they'll capture it? The more you can predict, the better your strategy, and the odds increase that you will manage to win the endgame.

On TV we see chess masters and tournaments in which they have those timers? Yes, in tournaments, that matters. But that's like trying to run a lap every two minutes, when you're doing good to run twenty feet in the first place, forget timed. You get to where you can run, before you try to run with a time constraint, otherwise you get frustrated with yourself, and give up. Once you get to the point where you're confident in your ability to strategize, time each of your moves, but don't stress. Try to do it just a little faster every time. If you start to flail, that's your limit, work at it slowly. The more you do it, the easier it will be.

I'm a strategist by nature. I predict people to determine what I should say(or not say) to make them happy and create the best outcome for me. I also have a form of OCD that causes me to stress over everything I do and how it might be interpreted, as well as seeking reassurances, but sometimes it's useful because the "think before you speak" is pretty much what I do in every single conversation I've ever had.

Try thinking more, before you do anything. Ask yourself "what if..." . Don't stress over it, it isn't healthy, just let yourself play out different futures, all dependent one your single action. Like the butterfly effect. Soon the strategizing part of your brain will improve greatly.

Right now, either everyone who reads this will think I must be awesome, or I must be an idiot. Some will disagree, others agree, and sadly I don't know the ratio to determine whether or not I would be well received in posting this. However, I love the Internet, and it offers anonymity. So I will ,and I hope it helps you. If it doesn't, that's okay.

I would love to play online with anyone, chess.com is pretty good. Username Legendary7Dragons,

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Scarletlatitude, you said 'Whoever loses the most wins'.

If that is so, then I'm the champion!

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I want to get better at chess, but I get discouraged easily. :(

I see a lot of people are recommending to keep at it, and I'll keep that in mind and try not to let my emotions get the better of me.

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Grace Barton

I always wanted to be good at chess, but I also absolutely suck at it. Comes from a. Not studying the rules properly, b. Not being much of a strategist, and c. Not having anyone to play it with.

I gave up very quickly playing it online against a computer because the computer's moves are always perfect, and mine are always flawed. I can't even figure out how they won. So I end up discouraged and moving on to something I stand a chance of beating, like online sudoku.

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