Chess - classic or dud?

classic. I've always meant to join the chess club at uni but ILX stops me.

Searching for Bobby Fischer is one of my fave movies evah

Or just the giant pieces in general that they have someplaces in Europe. They are fun to play with.

Also in "Alice Through the Looking Glass"

And also all the many different kinds of chess sets like civil war pieces or other themed sets are classic:

http://www.war-art.com/images/f602.jpg

http://www.sapart.freeserve.co.uk/aa.jpg

http://www.geocities.com/dovshuk/jjppga/krig11.jpg

http://chess.com.ru/img/opposition-13.jpg

(From the Weekly World News, May 24, 1994)
MOSCOW - Doctors are blaming a rare electrical imbalance in the brain for the bizarre death of a chess player whose head literally exploded in the middle of a championship game!
No one else was hurt in the fatal explosion but four players and three officials at the Moscow Candidate Masters' Chess Championships were sprayed with blood and brain matter when Nikolai Titov's head suddenly blew apart. Experts say he suffered from a condition called Hyper-Cerebral Electrosis or HCE.

"He was deep in concentration with his eyes focused on the board," says Titov's opponent, Vladimir Dobrynin. "All of a sudden his hands flew to hi temples and he screamed in pain. Everyone looked up from their games, startled by the noise. Then, as if someone had put a bomb in his cranium, his head popped like a firecracker."

Incredibly, Titiov's is not the first case in which a person's head has spontaneously exploded. Five people are known to have died of HCE in the last 25 years. The most recent death occurred just three years ago in 1991, when European psychic Barbara Nicole's skull burst. Miss Nicole's story was reported by newspapers worldwide, including WWN. "HCE is an extremely rare physical imbalance," said Dr. Anatoly Martinenko, famed neurologist and expert on the human brain who did the autopsy on the brilliant chess expert. "It is a condition in which the circuits of the brain become overloaded by the body' own electricity. The explosions happen during periods of intense menta activity when lots of current is surging through the brain.

Victims are highly intelligent people with great powers of concentration. Both Miss Nicole and Mr. Titov were intense people who tended to keep those cerebral circuits overloaded. In a way it could be said they were literall too smart for their own good."

Although Dr. Martinenko says there are probably many undiagnosed cases, h hastens to add that very few people will die from HCE. "Most people who have it will never know. At this point, medical science still doesn't know much about HCE. And since fatalities are so rare it will probably be years before research money becomes available."

In the meantime, the doctor urges people to take it easy and not think too hard for long periods of time. "Take frequent relaxation breaks when you're doing things that take lots of mental focus," he recommends

So was it any good? I saw the preview, but I thought maybe it would be difficult to get much on-screen drama about chess.

have you seen Rosenbaum's review?

I had a brief chess phase when i was a kid during which i played in tournaments like those shown in the movie (i think waitzkin may have been at them), but in the lowest division and i don't think i ever won more than one game - at best, i think i got a rating in the 1300s. fun stuff, but i think you need to start reading about chess and memorizing tactics to get anywhere and i didn't have the patience or the interest.

I used to be fairly good at Othello, which I guess is kind of "Go, jr." Now Go, I have always found very aesthetically appealing, but I've never played it. Chess seems sort of ugly to me somehow. It's not just the pieces, since I've seen that I like (especially those from Man Ray or Arp, or whoever it was that designed those chess sets you see Marcel Duchamp sitting next to.)

(not work-safe)

I've started playing a Facebook version of chess with a friend lately, and I'm getting better. (Where better = very slightly above totally clueless.) I know some ilx people used to play on RedHotPawn.com, and I much prefer that interface to the Facebook one. For instance, on Facebook, there's no submit button -- all moves are final. And some other stuff that makes it more difficult for a beginner.

Anyway, who still plays? Dan Perry is schooling me pretty good right now (I had him a pickle a few moves ago, then I blew it big-time).

What version is it? Hit me up on it if you'd like.

I am pretty bad at chess if only bcz I cannot concentrate lately. I was pretty good when I played it a lot but not HS chess club levels. My boyfriend is so paranoid that if he leaves the room I will mess up the pieces that I have to take a digital camera photo while he's there to compare. It's the one 'trust issue' he has.

I am very bad at chess - I like to be aggressive, 'trade pieces' etc. and it never works out well.

Do not really understand the whole 'openings' thing about chess - doesn't that mean certain moves are basically scripted and both sides should know how to counter? Is black always on the defensive in that case?

The version Bobby Fischer made up where the back pieces are semi-randomized seems interesting.

yeah, so does naziism

i havent played in years but yeah openings are 'scripted' to a longer & longer length the higher you go; typically yes black is going to be on the defensive but can counter white in ways that make him unfamiliar; immediate & simple ex being the sicilian defense (instead of e4-e5, e4-c5). some opening variations run into the teens & twenties amongst the really really schooled guys.

Yeah the dude I've been playing is better at thinking about chess than I am, just more experienced, but I've been studying the common openings and defenses and he hasn't, and he didn't even realize that's what I was doing. He'd be like, "Wow... you're defense in very enviable right now." Yes, well. Of course my middle game is a mess.

Should read "Your defense is very enviable" etc. Oh, typing.

Kenan pwns this app.

Best first two books about chess (in this order)

1. http://www.amazon.com/Right-Way-Play-Chess/dp/1585740462

2. http://www.logicalchess.com/resources/lc/

http://i.somethingawful.com/inserts/news/images/diamondchess.jpg

Kenan pwns this app.

Oh, I do not, either. You just have it out for your own king. Which is very egalitarian of you, and I applaud your ideals.

I promise to be a benevolent ruler to your people. Here's proof: last game I captured your king while killing only a single pawn of yours. Your officers, your queen... they will all be treated well. Here, have some mead.

my favorite chess-endgame problems no longer work online. they were interactive, which i loved. so i'm back to the sort that you have to stare at.

i'm julesb74 on redhotpawn if anyone's playing on there. after playing some facebook chess, i like redhotpawn sooooo much better.

Bobby Fischer dead (not going to say RIP due to his anti-semitic ranting- is that mean?):
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7195840.stm

Sorry, ignore this, just seen RIP thread!

I started playing again using the Chess.com app on Facebook. Someone should play me:

http://apps.facebook.com/chessfb/?page=create_game&challenge_to_id=1273496841

If anyone with an old animus against me wants to play: I have been playing suck-ass chess lately. I'm very rusty. So hit me up!

Did I ever mention I was the New South Wales under 16 champion in 1986? But now I'm very rusty, any patzer could beat me.

I have never really played chess and now my gf's brother is challenging me via facebook. I don't even know the rules or basic tactical ideas. He's super competitive at board games (he nearly fucking wet himself when he won at the last minute at Settlers the other week with a timely development card reveal); how do I not get my ass kicked?

Post moves here and the ILx collective will help you destroy him.

Candidates is on again and Fabi has already sacked 3 pawns and a piece

https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/fide-candidates-2020/8/1/1

Ok they have the same number of pieces now at least. Must have been an inbetween move!

anyone watching the World Championship match at the moment? Looks like Carlsen is edging it

I'll tune in, but this (who is doing better) is one of those things I cannot possibly have an opinion on. Pure spectacle

https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/carlsen-nepomniachtchi-world-chess-championship-2021/1/1/1

judit polgar and anish giri arguing is all part of the fun

me, an idiot: 'nepo is up a pawn, he must be winning'

oh that's absolutely my level too, but that's why the theory chat is so fascinating

game 6 looks like being more exciting

and is

carlsen dicing with the clock to unveil something that could be spectacular

but nepo has blundered under pressure to help

aaahhh the counterblunder!

Now its a bullet game.

magnus won it, then lost it, and may be winning it again now. what an epic

wooooow

GAME OVER

136 moves

awesome

gg