Any chess players here?

[libre]

Most of the talk in the games thread are about video games, which makes sense given we are online.
I was wondering if anyone here played Chess, Go or other traditional games?

I was big into Chess in my youth and just got back into it as an adult a few years back. I've enjoyed following it's new developments in entertainment and the pro world.

 

[Misunderstood]

I played chess when I was younger, loved the game, but cannot say I was ever very good. Now it is just to hard to find anyone to play with, so now I play Solitaire.

 

[ajay0]

Days back, I came across a discarded brochure on the ground stating about a chess tournament in a nearby village chess club.

It was a sort of an initiative to lure youth away from drugs and alcohol, as mentioned in the brochure. I think chess is an inexpensive game unlike other sports, requiring just a chess board, desk and two chairs. You can even play it on the bare floor if you don't have a desk.

It has given me some insights into human productivity which has been helpful to me.

I think chess is fun when you play for the sake of enjoying it. Competitiveness in this sport brings about heavy seriousness, tension and a headache after a long spell. So if I wish to play chess at present, it would be for fun and not for competition's sake.

 

[Arnaud1221]

Before the electronic game. I mean, when we know all the work have been put in the electronic game, I feel this has treason.

 

[ChristineM]

I was in the school chess club many years ago. After leaving school my interest lapsed until i fairly recently took up playing the occasional game online with my brother in law.

 

[SalixIncendium]

I used to play when I was in school. I'll occasionally play on my laptop, and still suck at it as much as I ever did.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

I bordered on mediocre when I was much younger and even tried shogi.

Sadly:

1. I joined the San Francisco chess club and quickly discovered that I was way out of my depth, and
2. finding available Shogi partners proved frustratingly difficult.

 

[libre]

I joined the San Francisco chess club and quickly discovered that I was way out of my depth, and

Glad I am not the only one with this experience joining chess clubs.

Last year I went from competing in small city chess club tournaments to trying to compete in Montreal and Toronto and I went quite quickly from one of the more skilled players in the room to losing every game back to back for weeks.

Shogi's intensity and obscurity in the west has been enough to keep me at bay, but perhaps I should give it a go one of these days.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Glad I am not the only one with this experience joining chess clubs.

Last year I went from competing in small city chess club tournaments to trying to compete in Montreal and Toronto and I went quite quickly from one of the more skilled players in the room to losing every game back to back for weeks.

Shogi's intensity and obscurity in the west has been enough to keep me at bay, but perhaps I should give it a go one of these days.

In truth, I'm not smart enough to become reasonably good at either. Part of the problem is that I tend to be more auditory and kinesthetic than visual. This deficit in the ability to "see" weaknesses and/or "see" ahead is a significant handicap.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

BTW, I found the "Queen's Gambit" mini-series on Netflix fun to watch.

 

[Eddi]

I know the rules but I'm rubbish

I have tried to get better at it but failed to do so

It's just that I have next to zero aptitude for it

 

[We Never Know]

Most of the talk in the games thread are about video games, which makes sense given we are online.
I was wondering if anyone here played Chess, Go or other traditional games?

I was big into Chess in my youth and just got back into it as an adult a few years back. I've enjoyed following it's new developments in entertainment and the pro world.

I played a lot of chess when I was younger. At lunch time in school I would go in and beat the chess club. Haven't played much since then. I play with a friend every now and then and dabble in a online site but that's the sum of it now.

 

[icehorse]

Most of the talk in the games thread are about video games, which makes sense given we are online.
I was wondering if anyone here played Chess, Go or other traditional games?

I was big into Chess in my youth and just got back into it as an adult a few years back. I've enjoyed following it's new developments in entertainment and the pro world.

I used to be a serious Chess player.. until I discovered Go. I still like Chess and play it occasionally, but Go is IMO a far, far better game for many reasons:

- it has a really good handicap system that allows players of differing strength to truly challenge each other
- it's much less "brittle" than chess, lose a pawn early and that can be the end of the game. Not so with Go.
- it does a better job of requiring both the focused "reading" that chess has with "seeing the big picture".

As an aside, people who play a lot of fast twitch video games can suffer from abnormal brain development that parallels the brain development of drug addicts. So be careful playing those fast twitch games!

 

[libre]

I know the rules but I'm rubbish

I have tried to get better at it but failed to do so

It's just that I have next to zero aptitude for it

Chess is very hard to improve at for adults, so I wouldn't be too hard on yourself.
It's definitely not everyone's cup of tea to study an 8x8 grid as the days and months pass us by though.

 

[Eddi]

Chess is very hard to improve at for adults,

It was hard for me to improve at when I was a kid

I went to a chess club run by an actual chessmaster

And I was terrible at it so stopped going after a few weeks

The chessmaster was quite a tragic person, his only son died in a boating accident on a lake I think he drowned

 

[libre]

I used to be a serious Chess player.. until I discovered Go. I still like Chess and play it occasionally, but Go is IMO a far, far better game for many reasons:

- it has a really good handicap system that allows players of differing strength to truly challenge each other
- it's much less "brittle" than chess, lose a pawn early and that can be the end of the game. Not so with Go.
- it does a better job of requiring both the focused "reading" that chess has with "seeing the big picture".

As an aside, people who play a lot of fast twitch video games can suffer from abnormal brain development that parallels the brain development of drug addicts. So be careful playing those fast twitch games!

I have a go set but I've not played in recent years. I agree with your benefits of go, had trouble finding people to play with.
I will always be a chess player at heart though

 

[icehorse]

I have a go set but I've not played in recent years. I agree with your benefits of go, had trouble finding people to play with.
I will always be a chess player at heart though

Sadly, I play 99% of my Go online.

 

[libre]

Sadly, I play 99% of my Go online.

Have you ever seen/read the Anime/Manga called 'Hikaru No Go'? An interesting drama about Go I watched in the early 2000s.

 

[icehorse]

Have you ever seen/read the Anime/Manga called 'Hikaru No Go'? An interesting drama about Go I watched in the early 2000s.

Yeah, I thought it was great! you?

 

[libre]

Yeah, I thought it was great! you?

Fond memory for me. I should give it a reread. I don't recall how it ends.