Chess

[Bob Dole]

Out of curiosity, does anybody else here play a lot of chess?

If so, how good are you? What openings do you play? Have any fun games to share?

Right now I'm rated at about 1354, according to the USCF. Which is accurate for the time controls I usually play, but with extended time controls, I usually play around 1600-1800. In layman's terms, in most tournaments I win more often than I lose. I also beat my chess coach more often than he beats me.

As white, I play the Queen's Gambit. As black, if playing against 1.e4, I'll play into a standard Italian game. Though if I'm feeling adventurous, I'll play the modern variation of the Alekhine's Defense. If playing against the Queen's Gambit, I'll play the King's Indian and do my damnedest to rip my opponent's pawn structure to threads via the e5 push and piece pressure. Nimzoswitsch would be proud. If playing against the English, I will play the symmetrical variation. Simply because I do not give a damn for playing against a goddamn reverse Sicilian, especially not as black. White does not get the first move advantage and the goddamn theoretical clusterfuck of the Sicilian shapes.

As for fun games, I don't have my scorebook with me right now, but I might post some later.

[random_name]

My Mum's boyfreind tried to teach me chess (the ways the peices can move etc.). He ended up facepalming at me.

[Quioxte]

I used to play online a lot when I was younger against people on yahoo, my ratings were a little bit lower then average but I still held my own against people. I really love chess, I guess it is my favorite board game.

[Vatman]

I was president of my chess club, I never played in any competitive tournaments but I have played and beat a few pretty decent players myself.

[Murktomp]

Nice, I play chess competitively too (well on and off) but i'm really not good. Like at tournys 40/2 SD 1 I am rated 1200. I havn't played much in a while though.

As white I normally play e4, and try for the roy lopez exchange variation. Against almost any other response by black, I almost always play the open variations.

As black, it is much more exciting. Against e4, d4, or any other first move i play the modern defense (specifically Tiger's modern). Its setup basically is d6, g6, Bg7, a6! with the plan of b5!, c5, Nd7 later. I like it a lot.

[classclown]

i use to play it alot. but it kinda just stoped. i wasnt bad i i beat like every kid at my school. except some retard who moved his pieces the wrong way. and wouldnt believe he was wrong.

[Pieman]

I used to play and was pretty good a few years back. Never used any sort of strategy though.

[Bob Dole]

Murktomp Wrote:Nice, I play chess competitively too (well on and off) but i'm really not good. Like at tournys 40/2 SD 1 I am rated 1200. I havn't played much in a while though.

As white I normally play e4, and try for the roy lopez exchange variation. Against almost any other response by black, I almost always play the open variations.

As black, it is much more exciting. Against e4, d4, or any other first move i play the modern defense (specifically Tiger's modern). Its setup basically is d6, g6, Bg7, a6! with the plan of b5!, c5, Nd7 later. I like it a lot.

Yeah, I probably play around that level at that time control. I like my games to be four hours long.

Yeah, against the lopez, I'll play a6. If they exchange, I'll rapidly attempt to castle and solidify my lines in the center. Though now, I find myself moving more towards the Sicilian. I fucking hate the massive amount of theory behind it, but I get to dictate the way the game goes as black.

Against any hypermodern opening, I will always play as slowly as I can, and just grind the position out. Since a hypermodern opening seeks to destroy the pawn center by forcing an overextension and then challenging it, I'll just keep my pawns in a modest position and play to tie up any flank attacks whilst positioning my pieces to tear apart my opponent's position.

I think the one main advantage of hypermodern openings is that they force completely unfamiliar lines due to the odd placement of the hypermodern player's pieces. I mean, open game, closed game, semi-open, I got all those lines, tactical shots, and strategic motifs down. But once somebody busts out the Alekhine's or something, fuck me, there goes all that knowledge.

But the main thing still is that playing a hypermodern position does give up space in the opening, and forces you to make an attack later on. If your opponent thinks ahead and establishes and reinforces their position, and then plays solid, defensive moves until you lose initiative, then you're at a positional disadvantage and a strategic disadvantage.

[Murktomp]

Yeah. When white doesnt go all out against Tiger's Modern (which happens a lot in my level, especially since people at my leve don't even know what it is ) I just try and get that ultimate setup I described. I'm pretty comfortable with it no matter what white does. But sometimes, I will have to admit it gets annoying losing with it. Sometimes I'm like "What the fuck am i doing, this opening is shit." And when I win with it im like "It's a miracle! It's still alive!" What I like about it is that it surprises the opponent (like you said). 99 percent of the people at my level think i'm retarded playing those moves , so really I have the advantage. My theory is that the people I play at my level I am usually 75 percent sure I can beat them if there isn't theory involved. Hence, the modern.

I used to play the scicilian a lot. The dragon variation. Yes. There is tons of theory, but I loved it since it was extremely aggressive and fun to play. The most aggressive is the Yugoslav attack, which I love to play against as black. However, most people in my level play the classical version, which is just BORING...and I just feel like resigning. That's why I like the Modern.
I am pleased to say that I have never ever lost a match as white when playing the exchange variation in the Roy Lopez (in tournys with time settings I described). So I like it as white. Then again, most people don't play a6 which is just annoying and dull .

[Bob Dole]

I actually used to play the Najdorf variation of the Sicilian. Most often, white would try for an attacking game and would just get destroyed after they lost the initiative. I also tried the Dragon and hyper-accelerated Dragon for a while. But it was just a tad too sharp for me. I prefer a more slow, closed game.

[Leon Kinotolian]

I haven't played for some time, but I used to be decent at it. Perhaps now, with greater intellect, I might do better.

[Quioxte]

We should have a tournament among us... It'd be fun.

[Pieman]

L Wrote:We should have a tournament among us... It'd be fun.

This. Hey, maybe you'd be surprised what happens people don't use a strategy.

To me it clogs thinking, clutters up the mind too much. I just focus on where to effectivly move my pieces so they won't get taken, and if sacrifices are needed, then that'll happen. I also at the same time, plan ahead, to get where I'm going, I don't use any form of moving.

[Bob Dole]

I think a tournament would be agreeable, probably going to need to do it in a couple of months though.