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Harbour Dog

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Jul 16, 2015
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Anyone play? This guy has a sick channel: agadmator's Chess Channel

I try to play as much Blitz (10 min time control) on Chess.com as I can.

Had the morning off today, so I watch the Chessbrahs beating the Wind.

And I can't f***ing wait for the Candidates Tournament to start.

Over the last couple of years it has slowly edged out golf for the second game/sport that I follow.
 

Harbour Dog

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Yeah, with the year he's had, you gotta think he carries on and retains in December. Both Caruana and Ding are serious threats for him, if they advance though.

I don't really have a horse in the race for the Candidates; I just hope it comes down to the wire.

I guess if Alekseenko has a poor showing and it leads FIDE to re-work or even eliminate the wild card selection, I'd be pretty pleased with that as well. But I don't want to cheer against the kid.
 
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ETTER DE

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Jun 24, 2017
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I play 5 min. games on Chess.com. 50 years since my brother taught me the moves. Cant say I have improved that much the last 49 years:)
Chess is big in Norway now with Magnus Carlsen as the best player for the last decade. Most of the big tournaments are live on TV with a studio full of experts and celebrities.
 

Harbour Dog

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Jul 16, 2015
10,234
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St. John's
I play 5 min. games on Chess.com. 50 years since my brother taught me the moves. Cant say I have improved that much the last 49 years:)
Chess is big in Norway now with Magnus Carlsen as the best player for the last decade. Most of the big tournaments are live on TV with a studio full of experts and celebrities.

I get by with Chess.com and Twitch streams for the big tournaments. Which is fine. For the Candidates; Vishy, Nakamura, and So will be joining Hess during the commentating. Can't hope for much better than that!
 
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ETTER DE

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I get by with Chess.com and Twitch streams for the big tournaments. Which is fine. For the Candidates; Vishy, Nakamura, and So will be joining Hess during the commentating. Can't hope for much better than that!

I am a terrible player. Hardly know any openings. Played a little bit as a child in school. And for the last decade or so blitz games on chess.com. But NRK, the national broadcaster has done an excellent job and made it possible for the masses to follow the matches.
 
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#Norris4Fox
Jan 31, 2013
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I try to play as much Blitz (10 min time control) on Chess.com as I can.

Had the morning off today, so I watch the Chessbrahs beating the Wind.

And I can't f***ing wait for the Candidates Tournament to start.

Over the last couple of years it has slowly edged out golf for the second game/sport that I follow.
How much freaking patience do you have that you actually watch golf and chess? :laugh:

I play the computer on Chess.com and do the Lichess puzzles. I’ve only been practicing since like December. Working on openings and black now; it’s like a totally different game.

The opening principles are easy....pawn tension and checkmate tactics I'm still getting the hang of. #NoLife
 
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Harbour Dog

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How much freaking patience do you have that you actually watch golf and chess? :laugh:

I play the computer on Chess.com and do the Lichess puzzles. I’ve only been practicing since like December. Working on openings and black now; it’s like a totally different game.

The opening principles are easy....pawn tension and checkmate tactics I'm still getting the hang of. #NoLife

Lmao, not enough patience to watch a full baseball or basketball game.

I played a lot over the board between 16 and 20 years old, but only over the last couple years have I started playing online.

I've got nearly 3000 games under my belt on chess.com now, and I'm still learning new ways I should be responding in my openings, which have been mostly the same since game 100 or so. And I'm relatively weak at end game tactics.

I think I enjoy analyzing openings and figuring how to steer them into the middle games that I want more than actually playing the game. I play the Sicilian as Black, and just this morning I spent an hour going over a specific, rare variation of it (McDonnell Attack, Tal Gambit) #NextLevelNoLife

Edit - nearly 2600 games
 
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Harbour Dog

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Jul 16, 2015
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St. John's
I am a terrible player. Hardly know any openings. Played a little bit as a child in school. And for the last decade or so blitz games on chess.com. But NRK, the national broadcaster has done an excellent job and made it possible for the masses to follow the matches.

I'm far from able to watch Grandmaster games without somebody to lead me around by the nose as well.

Robert Hess on chess.com is my favourite commentator that I have seen. He sees interesting variations incredibly quickly, doesn't confuse me by rambling them out faster than my eyes can stumble around the board, and explains the reasoning behind them exceptionally well.

Will you be cheering against Caruana and Ding in the Candidates for Magnus' sake?
 
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#Norris4Fox
Jan 31, 2013
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Lmao, not enough patience to watch a full baseball or basketball game.

I played a lot over the board between 16 and 20 years old, but only over the last couple years have I started playing online.

I've got nearly 3000 games under my belt on chess.com now, and I'm still learning new ways I should be responding in my openings, which have been mostly the same since game 100 or so. And I'm relatively weak at end game tactics.

I think I enjoy analyzing openings and figuring how to steer them into the middle games that I want more than actually playing the game. I play the Sicilian as Black, and just this morning I spent an hour going over a specific, rare variation of it (McDonnell Attack, Tal Gambit) #NextLevelNoLife

Edit - nearly 2600 games
There's like 15 Sicilian variations lol. I like queen's pawn openings...Colle system is good, London system kinda sucks. Reti and Catalan are cool. It's usually the moves right after castling where I f*** things up, either by not taking advantage of being ahead in development, or resolving the pawn tension. King's pawn is a little boring, and the Sicilian is annoying to play against. I always like bumping the c pawn to c4 early.

Pawn tensions in the opening really mess me up. I guess the rule of thumb is the player who doesn't resolve the tension comes out on top? And take center pawns with flank pawns? Do you have any tips for transitioning from the opening to middle game?

Playing black is really fun. Btw, how do you decide which person goes as white?
 
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Harbour Dog

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There's like 15 Sicilian variations lol. I like queen's pawn openings...Colle system is good, London system kinda sucks. Reti and Catalan are cool. It's usually the moves right after castling where I f*** things up, either by not taking advantage of being ahead in development, or resolving the pawn tension. King's pawn is a little boring, and the Sicilian is annoying to play against. I always like bumping the c pawn to c4 early.

Pawn tensions in the opening really mess me up. I guess the rule of thumb is the player who doesn't resolve the tension comes out on top? And take center pawns with flank pawns? Do you have any tips for transitioning from the opening to middle game?

Playing black is really fun. Btw, how do you decide which person goes as white?

There's a bunch of ways that white meets the Sicilian, yup. Because it is my only answer to 1.e4 though, I've gotten used to most of the lines that come with it. It goes a long way with knowing how to set up your pieces immediately after castling, if you specialize in openings (to start anyway), learn the variations of those openings, and get accustomed to where your pieces will be most usefully positioned.

Those are solid rules of thumb for how to deal with pawn tensions. I normally fall back on doing those two things if I find myself in an opening that I'm not as familiar with.

The most important thing that I found for learning how I wanted to transition to the middle game was figuring out exactly what type of middle game I prferred. If you like things complicated and double-edged, then using openings like the Sicilian can get you there the majority of the time. If you want a steadier game where you attempt to increase your advantage over time, then an opening like the Queen's Gambit a bunch of the 1.e4 openings may be the way to go.

In my case, I exclusively play the English Opening as White, but my intention with it has evolved over time. I used to stubbornly try to lock the centre of the board up and win using my rooks to pressure the f-file. But over time as I got comfortable with more and more of the lines, I stopped trying to force that single middle game and instead recognized where the game was headed early enough that my bishops and rooks were finding better squares more often out of the opening. Now sometimes pieces will get liquidated early, or the board will get locked down, but because I've seen it happen so many times I'm not normally caught totally flat-footed.

If I had one piece of advice, it would be to pick playable openings that you enjoy and specialize in them. Learn them as best you can, and after every game you play take a look at what you could of done better in the first dozen moves or so. Chess.com has a great analysis tool for that, as well as great learning exercises for all parts of the game.

For me, I play the English with a very early e4 as White, the Sicilian against 1.e4, and I answer 1.c4 and 1.d4 symmetrically.

I'm not sure, but I think that the website keeps track of the percentage of games you've played as white, and whichever of you or your opponent has the lowest percentage, gets white.

You should try playing people! It's so much more fun than the computer, and it adds a psychology and time control dynamic to the game that may also affect your opening preferences and move choices.
 
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#Norris4Fox
Jan 31, 2013
53,402
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New Jersey
There's a bunch of ways that white meets the Sicilian, yup. Because it is my only answer to 1.e4 though, I've gotten used to most of the lines that come with it. It goes a long way with knowing how to set up your pieces immediately after castling, if you specialize in openings (to start anyway), learn the variations of those openings, and get accustomed to where your pieces will be most usefully positioned.

Those are solid rules of thumb for how to deal with pawn tensions. I normally fall back on doing those two things if I find myself in an opening that I'm not as familiar with.

The most important thing that I found for learning how I wanted to transition to the middle game was figuring out exactly what type of middle game I prferred. If you like things complicated and double-edged, then using openings like the Sicilian can get you there the majority of the time. If you want a steadier game where you attempt to increase your advantage over time, then an opening like the Queen's Gambit a bunch of the 1.e4 openings may be the way to go.

In my case, I exclusively play the English Opening as White, but my intention with it has evolved over time. I used to stubbornly try to lock the centre of the board up and win using my rooks to pressure the f-file. But over time as I got comfortable with more and more of the lines, I stopped trying to force that single middle game and instead recognized where the game was headed early enough that my bishops and rooks were finding better squares more often out of the opening. Now sometimes pieces will get liquidated early, or the board will get locked down, but because I've seen it happen so many times I'm not normally caught totally flat-footed.

If I had one piece of advice, it would be to pick playable openings that you enjoy and specialize in them. Learn them as best you can, and after every game you play take a look at what you could of done better in the first dozen moves or so. Chess.com has a great analysis tool for that, as well as great learning exercises for all parts of the game.

For me, I play the English with a very early e4 as White, the Sicilian against 1.e4, and I answer 1.c4 and 1.d4 symmetrically.

I'm not sure, but I think that the website keeps track of the percentage of games you've played as white, and whichever of you or your opponent has the lowest percentage, gets white.

You should try playing people! It's so much more fun than the computer, and it adds a psychology and time control dynamic to the game that may also affect your opening preferences and move choices.
That's interesting that you play the English and the Sicilian. They're kind of mirrors of each other. Have you ever tried the Catalan? 1. d4 ... 2. c4 ... 3. g3 ...

Chess.com used to have a feature that told you what lines/openings were being played. Idk what happened to it, it made learning openings so much easier.
 
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Harbour Dog

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That's interesting that you play the English and the Sicilian. They're kind of mirrors of each other. Have you ever tried the Catalan? 1. d4 ... 2. c4 ... 3. g3 ...

Chess.com used to have a feature that told you what lines/openings were being played. Idk what happened to it, it made learning openings so much easier.

It still has that feature. When I decide to start analysis on a new opening, I normally just go back to my last game and choose whichever opening is listed.

I find that I end up with mirrored positions quite frequently (very commonly I end up in the Reversed Sicilian as White), but somehow they don't feel related to me. Like you said, when you're Black, it just feels like a totally different game.

Funny you would mention the Catalan. The way I play the English, I could easily transpose into it and have had a look at whether I should put the work into adding it to my repertoire. But I mostly look to push my f-pawn and/or close the a8-h1 diagonal by trading knights on d5 and extending my pawn chain in the way. I find that my King Bishop is most effective on c2 early on, and on d3 a little later in most games.

In many games, my opponent claims that diagonal and by getting his bishop fianchettoed on b7 and then I immediately get my knight traded on d5 and that bishop is useless; forcing him to move it back to it's starting square to try to get back into the game. I'm sure if I was playing against stronger players, they would find ways to avoid that situation, but at my level right now it works well.

That's probably a good example of how you can use your opening to transition into the middle game. And that purely has come from experience for me; I found something that I liked and that worked to give me solid positions and my openings kind of evolved from that.

What type of game do you enjoy? You sound like you want to play very measured and logical, so I'm guessing you try to avoid board complications and strengthen your position slowly and safely? And really, against the computer, board complications are not your friend.
 

Harbour Dog

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I was really into it when I was younger. Big fan.

Same, and a couple years ago I decided to start playing again and to try to get better and I quickly got addicted. It really highlights when your brain is mush and when you are alert and thinking well.

Chess.com tracks your move accuracy versus a chess engine, and my accuracy drops nearly 20% on days when I woke up to an alarm as opposed to on my own accord. Goes to show what sort of employee my company gets at work every day!
 

aufheben

#Norris4Fox
Jan 31, 2013
53,402
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New Jersey
It still has that feature. When I decide to start analysis on a new opening, I normally just go back to my last game and choose whichever opening is listed.

I find that I end up with mirrored positions quite frequently (very commonly I end up in the Reversed Sicilian as White), but somehow they don't feel related to me. Like you said, when you're Black, it just feels like a totally different game.

Funny you would mention the Catalan. The way I play the English, I could easily transpose into it and have had a look at whether I should put the work into adding it to my repertoire. But I mostly look to push my f-pawn and/or close the a8-h1 diagonal by trading knights on d5 and extending my pawn chain in the way. I find that my King Bishop is most effective on c2 early on, and on d3 a little later in most games.

In many games, my opponent claims that diagonal and by getting his bishop fianchettoed on b7 and then I immediately get my knight traded on d5 and that bishop is useless; forcing him to move it back to it's starting square to try to get back into the game. I'm sure if I was playing against stronger players, they would find ways to avoid that situation, but at my level right now it works well.



I play 80% queen's pawn, 15% king's pawn, 5% Reti (and I've been trying the English now, it makes for very interesting games.) I like to go with the Colle system or transpose into, although it's not aggressive sometimes so I just do 1. e4 ... 2. d4.

That's probably a good example of how you can use your opening to transition into the middle game. And that purely has come from experience for me; I found something that I liked and that worked to give me solid positions and my openings kind of evolved from that.

What type of game do you enjoy? You sound like you want to play very measured and logical, so I'm guessing you try to avoid board complications and strengthen your position slowly and safely? And really, against the computer, board complications are not your friend.
Really? Do I have to sign up or something?

upload_2020-3-14_17-45-30.png


What type of game do you enjoy? You sound like you want to play very measured and logical, so I'm guessing you try to avoid board complications and strengthen your position slowly and safely? And really, against the computer, board complications are not your friend.
That's accurate. I'm less into strategic gameplans and more into taking each position itself, and winning by material rather than tactics. I don't even know the common amateur tricks like the fishing pole and whatnot. What fascinates me the most about chess is the fact there's always a "good" move in any situation (well, 99.99% of situations, unlike a stalemate.) It's interesting to kind of assess everyday situations in that same way, i.e. best possible moves.

I play 80% queen's pawn, 15% king's pawn, 5% Reti (been trying the English now, it makes for very interesting middle games.) I like the Colle system, or transposing with it. I know you're not supposed to rely on systems as a beginner so I use it kind of loosely, like playing e4 instead of e3, etc. The London system I've tried and I think it's straight-up terrible.

Issues:
• pawn tension
• moving out of openings
• not taking advantage of tempo/development
• extra moves while checkmating (I'm assuming this is one of the biggest issues for beginners)
 
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Harbour Dog

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Jul 16, 2015
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Really? Do I have to sign up or something?

View attachment 335983

Hmm, maybe you need an account, yeah. Even in games against people it will tell you what opening the game has gone into.

I imagine that with an account, you will get access to a bunch of other tools as well. Even a free account gets like 10 game analyses a day or something like that; and you can go so deep into the game explorer as well.
 

aufheben

#Norris4Fox
Jan 31, 2013
53,402
27,074
New Jersey
Hmm, maybe you need an account, yeah. Even in games against people it will tell you what opening the game has gone into.

I imagine that with an account, you will get access to a bunch of other tools as well. Even a free account gets like 10 game analyses a day or something like that; and you can go so deep into the game explorer as well.
They do offer a ton of free stuff just for signing up. I still can't figure it out though. Idk what happened to it, it worked when I was playing in February. It you made 1. e4 ... 2. Nf3 ... 3. Bb5, it would say "Roy Lopez Opening." Oh well.

upload_2020-3-14_18-10-46.png
 

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Harbour Dog

Registered User
Jul 16, 2015
10,234
12,813
St. John's
Really? Do I have to sign up or something?

View attachment 335983

That's accurate. I'm less into strategic gameplans and more into taking each position itself, and winning by material rather than tactics. I don't even know the common amateur tricks like the fishing pole and whatnot. What fascinates me the most about chess is the fact there's always a "good" move in any situation (well, 99.99% of situations, unlike a stalemate.) It's interesting to kind of assess everyday situations in that same way, i.e. best possible moves.

I play 80% queen's pawn, 15% king's pawn, 5% Reti (been trying the English now, it makes for very interesting middle games.) I like the Colle system, or transposing with it. I know you're not supposed to rely on systems as a beginner so I use it kind of loosely, like playing e4 instead of e3, etc. The London system I've tried and I think it's straight-up terrible.

Issues:
• pawn tension
• moving out of openings
• not taking advantage of tempo/development
• extra moves while checkmating (I'm assuming this is one of the biggest issues for beginners)

Those first two issues will solve themselves as you get a better grasp on your openings. Especially against people, you will start to notice tendencies of how they play against your opening moves and possible ways that you can adapt to it; and it just takes off from there. Analysing your games is a huge piece of learning, and the "Game Report" tool on chess.com is great for that.

I still have a problem with taking advantage of development too. My instinct isn't to attack, so I need to try a little hard to look for those opportunities.

The puzzles and Puzzle Rush game help a lot with recognizing mating patterns as well as simple tactics. After a while, starting with the simplest ones and moving up, they become second nature to you.

To work on pawn tension and taking advantage of your devlopment, the Queen's Gambit would probably be a good opening for you to dig into. I used to play it a lot when I was younger, and I see it as Black fairly often now. It will force you to leave pawn tension on the board between the c4 and d5 pawn until the moment is right, and if they accept the gambit, then you quickly have better development that you can try to utilize.

The Colle System would of been the kind of opening I was drawn to at one time. Highly defensive-oriented; biding my time, waiting for my opponent to make a mistake on the attack. Then I would have a material advantage that I would try to convert.

I practically never see it, though looking at the move sequence, I can definitely see how pawn tension is a possible issue for you. It is very passive in the centre, and you probably end up needing to make a pawn push in the early middle game that you need to figure out. Some of you problems with that decision may come from the opening choice. Choosing a more assertive opening would allow you to be more patient in the middle game; which is your instinct.
 

Harbour Dog

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@aufheben Ah, you're right. When you play an "exhibition" game against the computer, it doesn't track the opening.

If you go into "Live Game" where you would play people, there is an option to play a computer of whatever strength you want, in a rated or unrated game. That game will list the opening and it will allow you to analyse it afterwards. It should even suggest training puzzles and whatnot based on your mistakes.
 
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