# For those interested in Chess



## Lukecash12 (Sep 21, 2009)

Do you get aroused when you hear a stranger say the names Capablanca, Ruey Lopez, Fischer, Morphy, Topalov, Anand, and hear talk about "book moves" and Evan's Gambit? Well, it would be a pleasure to talk with you about the great game of chess.

It's an amazing exercise in critical thinking, and thinking of values in terms of fairly concrete strategy, as opposed to mere Sophist semantics. Time to put up or shut up, right? Or just a casual thinking session with a chum, maybe even something educational for your nephew/niece.

Let's have a chessmoot, then. Talk about forming a social group, or if there is an existing social group for it, ruminate on chess history, discuss it's benefit to society, how much a professional/GM should be payed to play, etc.


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## Amfibius (Jul 19, 2006)

I love chess, but not enough to memorize opening moves and talk about grand masters  Would be nice to see such a group take off on TC though.


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## Krummhorn (Feb 18, 2007)

I learned the game of chess from my Dad ... sans the titled opening moves. There was a book, _Lasker's Chess Primer_, that I did read at one time on my learning journey of the game. Dad and I would take several hours for just one game, and he won most of our matches.

I taught my Son the game and we would challenge each other often ... but he grew up (he's 24 now) and out on his own, and we haven't played in years; my wife has no interest or desire to learn.

I still have the original board my Dad made ... complete with inlaid wood, etc ... and the chess pieces he had as a youth and which we used when we played the game in my younger years. Of course, Dad is gone now ... some 21 years ago ... and I haven't played in probably 6 years.

But chess is like riding a bicycle - one never forgets.


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## jurianbai (Nov 23, 2008)

oh yeah, we can talk about chess, surprisingly it is the thing I followed well , beside the string quartet thing.

Good to see some of you got interested in chess and "chess literated". I play correspondence chess almost daily. I got subscribe to few online playing site and enjoy the moves while listening to that Haydn or Schubert quartet everyday.

I also watch live chess , that is tournament with GM playing almost everyday. Just weeks ago there was 2011 Chess World Cup in Khanty Mansiysk ... well somewhere in Siberia. Won by respectable mid age GM Peter Svidler. And right on this second, I am following massive GM sweating on board in European Chess Club Champ. And then few hour next is the Bilbao Grandslam in Sao Paolo, hence the time different. Bilbao is most top notch tournament, with Magnus Carlsen (currently no.1 in rating, still teenage), Vishwanathan Anand (current World Champ), Hikaru Nakamura (current highest US player) playing. Along with other respectable GMs. You can quickly followed this via chessbomb.com (google it) and the live transmission will come with engine analyzing software to provide you clue on what happened on board now.

Prokofiev is said a chess player of master strenght. And then many chessplayer connected with classical music very well. My avatar, Andre Phillidor was a legend player and opera composer.


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## GoneBaroque (Jun 16, 2011)

I enjoy chess but do not play enough to be very good at it. I think the most valuable lesson chess has taught me is how to be a graceful loser. Lukecash12 has a good idea in a chess group which I think we should pursue.

@jurianbal -I must take a look at chessbomb


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

I played as a teenager, then never more. It's been decades without playing chess. I wouldn't be any good playing it any more, since I forgot all the theory. I'm not that interested in the game any longer, I have other fish to fry.


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## kv466 (May 18, 2011)

I'm with Amfibius on this one, although between 11 and 13 I was sent to Russia for a competition and did fairly well...some things just fade away, I guess...I used to be a chess champion and a billiards hustler champion.

I stick can beat most at pool but at chess I'm about 50/50. The best game ever, though!


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

Krummhorn said:


> ...chess is like riding a bicycle - one never forgets.





Almaviva said:


> I wouldn't be any good playing it any more, since I forgot all the theory.


Many decades ago, I was the _second_ best player in my High School- which I suppose doesn't count for much... but then, our High School Chess Team was good enough to qualify for the Illinois State H.S. Tournament one year- [in those days, the field was limited to 24 teams out of the scores of teams that competed seriously] so we had a few reasonably strong players.

As for me, it's hard to say which of the two competing quotes applies more to me, personally. On the one hand, I certainly don't subject it to serious study anymore. Alternatively, maturity has likely improved my play in some aspects, because as a teenager, a viewed myself as a 'swashbuckling' player- and over the years, increasingly realize that it's generally better to sacrifice your _opponent_'s pieces.


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## Lukecash12 (Sep 21, 2009)

Chi_townPhilly said:


> Many decades ago, I was the _second_ best player in my High School- which I suppose doesn't count for much... but then, our High School Chess Team was good enough to qualify for the Illinois State H.S. Tournament one year- [in those days, the field was limited to 24 teams out of the scores of teams that competed seriously] so we had a few reasonably strong players.
> 
> As for me, it's hard to say which of the two competing quotes applies more to me, personally. On the one hand, I certainly don't subject it to serious study anymore. Alternatively, maturity has likely improved my play in some aspects, because as a teenager, a viewed myself as a 'swashbuckling' player- and over the years, increasingly realize that it's generally better to sacrifice your _opponent_'s pieces.


Right. Did you know that Paul Morphy, famous for dominating in position play with Evan's Gambit, and sacrificing his queen, happened to be a very conservative player most of the time? Chess literati often compare him with Anand and Fischer.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Chi_townPhilly said:


> Many decades ago, I was the _second_ best player in my High School- which I suppose doesn't count for much... but then, our High School Chess Team was good enough to qualify for the Illinois State H.S. Tournament one year- [in those days, the field was limited to 24 teams out of the scores of teams that competed seriously] so we had a few reasonably strong players.
> 
> As for me, it's hard to say which of the two competing quotes applies more to me, personally. On the one hand, I certainly don't subject it to serious study anymore. Alternatively, maturity has likely improved my play in some aspects, because as a teenager, a viewed myself as a 'swashbuckling' player- and over the years, increasingly realize that it's generally better to sacrifice your _opponent_'s pieces.


I should explain my quote better.

I guess at one level, one never forgets. I could still play if I wanted to play (which I don't), and would likely beat most amateurs who haven't studied the game seriously as I did for a few years (different openings and subsequent development of the middlegame, pawn structures, positional theory, etc. - I used to follow championships, study the great masters, solve chess problems...) - but now, I wouldn't play *at the same level that I once reached,* no way. I don't even think I'm as intelligent and as focused as I was as a teenager. Brains age. Memory is not the same, and advanced chess does involve the memorization of certain patterns and configurations. Another way of putting it is that if I had a time machine and traveled back in time and met myself back then, I believe that I would lose badly to my younger self if my two versions played a game of chess.

And it's not only that, it's also that if you don't use it, you lose it. I haven't played for *decades.* Even without the aging, the skills still decline from sheer disuse.

And to tell you the truth, I have no desire to find out how bad I probably am right now. People have invited me to play against them and I have consistently declined. Also, motivation has changed a lot. As an impetuous young man, I wanted to crush my opponent, I wanted to feel better and smarter. In my 6th decade of life, this motivation is far gone.

I think I lost interest for chess because I evolved as a person. I'm not saying this to imply that anybody who still loves chess at a more mature age is wrong about it - no, I'm not saying it in any way, shape, or form. Probably those persistent chess lovers love the game for some more fundamental aspect, or just out of a more genuine and disinterested love for the game. Maybe I used to like it for the wrong reasons (to intellectually humiliate an opponent, maybe) and after I grew out of these immature feelings, the game lost interest for me.

Another interesting aspect is one of attention span. Usually people think or assume that the young have no attention span with all the stimulation, the text messaging, the tweets, etc.

Actually I think that as I grew older, my attention span has shortened.

At a point in my life I was able to play a non-timed game of chess for hours and hours. Today I resent operas that have a running time of more than 150-180 minutes, and opera is *the* most rewarding hobby of mine. Any time I think about playing a long game of chess, I think - 'Oh my, I can find much better uses for that same chunk of time.'

But for those who love the game or still love the game, enjoy, I say. It's a great game, more power to you if you love it and can find the rewards that I can't find anymore.


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## Lukecash12 (Sep 21, 2009)

By the way, you guys, the chess group has been made: http://www.talkclassical.com/groups/chess-dilettantes-masters-alike.html


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## dmg (Sep 13, 2009)

I'm always down. Love chess. Haven't played a match in years, though.


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