Chess - classic or dud?

ah no. posted the wrong image. oh well!

https://wansteadandwoodfordchess.club/index.php/61-magnus

magnus is a bro

: )

ale for the champion

The Speed chess championship final between Wesley So and Hikaru Nakamura is happening now.

https://www.twitch.tv/chess

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dx6xUfMWkAAawtz.jpg:large

I’d like to blame it on my penchant for playing while drinking, but my rating seems to just get worse and worse, now flirting with mid 900s, falling from around 1100 when I started playing daily maybe a year and a half ago. But the game is so real.

I don’t have any inclination to stop playing though. Maybe I’ll get down to true beginner level soon and can rebuild my foundation from scratch

down to 930! I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, but hey

too much focusing on attack at expense of defense?

i'm somehow getting worse the more i play. maybe i'm more aware of how bad i am

1 step back 2 steps forward is for sure a thing in chess i find when i'm a losing streak it helps to start being more attentive, think more about whether i'm hanging any pieces, think more about possible checks and captures, and just slow down in general. nb i have lots of clock problems when i play ymmv.

In the openings - develop your minor pieces, don't do too many pawn moves, don't bring out your queen too early, castle early.

streaks are a thing in chess, for sure.
I also I tend to lose the first game of the day. It's almost a law.

Yes, I am aggressive. That’s how you win, right?

Attack can be the best form of defence, but from a solid base as per cajunsunday's post

These days I’m just trying to have a bit more fun with it. Like jumping into a multiple move exchange just to see what interesting positions can emerge

Which is also good in that you get more space on the board to play with hopefully

starcraft > chess

Starcraft vaguely like real time chess

starcraft is great but not better than chess

been playing backgammon lately, a lot, for some reason. Maybe i no longer believe in brains just in FAITH

:P

I'm hooked again I think. I played everyday for a couple of years, 25 years ago in college.
I estimate my rating to have been 1400-1450. We had some strong players in the club who were
very helpful. One guy was rated 2400+ and was always top 2 or 3 in Wisconsin. I think I'm back to
over 1300 again, but I'm confident that's going up, although slowly I'm sure. I know now to study more
endgame and tactics now. Back then everybody wanted to memorize the opening moves.

OMG the tools that are available now. Just all those videos on youtube alone. I like the St Louis
Chess Club's channel the best.

Chess.com has to be the greatest website ever. The new interface for going over your games is so cool.
You can go back and see all your mistakes and the better moves in about 5 minutes. The puzzle rush for tactics
practice is also great.

This could be trouble for my free time.

Just won a 10 minute blitz game and am on top of the world

Recently reached 1k after a long time
You’ve come a long way, baby

I beat that Korean entity btw

https://youtu.be/zIE3CFNpZ5Y
Cavett v Fischer

That Fischer video is so cool.

In other news: The Candidates has started! The Giri Vs Nepo. game is looking pretty interesting - neither player has castled after 18 moves.

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

Hurrah! Chess has the undivided attention of a sports-obsessed public

Magnus Carlsen commentating too. Awesome

Yes its cool that Magnus is commentating. His company bought the chess24.com website, so he can do what he wants I guess.

Giri having to lose the game to draw it as things stand. Magnificent defence from the zen master

Oof though, wow - Nepo finds it!

Ding is in trouble against MVL. Could lose 2 games in a row!

Slight advantage against Caruana for Ding today. He needs the win

Caruana has just gone for a complicated line that hands Ding a clear advantage if he plays it well. Exciting!

Not ideal for Caruana to have to move the king to F2 in the first 10 moves!

Oh wait. Ding is playing white. I'm confused.

Ding now clearly winning!! Defended Caruana's preparation like a beast

Pretty much over now. Caruana's a Bishop down with no counter-play.

bit disrespectful spinning it out that long tbh

Nepo leading the tournament. Would be a good challenger for Carlsen; he wouldn't win of course but there might be some fun games

I think Nepo has a pretty good record against Carlsen so it could be interesting. I still think Caruana will come through in the end - he's got experience winning the big tournaments.

6th round, Nepo in a winning position against Ding

FIDE stops #FIDECandidates

Official announcement - Starting March 27, 2020, Russia interrupts air traffic with other countries without indicating any time frames. In this situation FIDE President decided to stop the tournament.https://t.co/bnDDJhFuiG pic.twitter.com/YYo3SMidqj

— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) March 26, 2020

They're taking everything away from us lads

ffs this has been keeping me going

Sad times!

maybe we can just give it to MVL lol

They're taking everything away from us lads

― Le Bateau Ivre, Thursday, March 26, 2020 11:10 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

ffs this has been keeping me going

― strangely hookworm but they manage ream shoegaze poetry (imago), Thursday, March 26, 2020 11:27 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

Magnus tasted what it was like to have the world's eyes on chess, and liked what he saw

https://chess24.com/en/read/news/magnus-carlsen-launches-online-chess-super-tournament