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Thread: Chess

  1. #11
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    Here is something to focus the mind.
    Our school fundraiser on the open day, the chess team played against all comers at buzzer chess.

    Heres the hooker - there were odds. So you paid to play and if you beat the top board, you got back five times what you paid. So it took a feat of concentration for me to come away in significant profit. It went on for several hours in half hour stints. Some of the parents were pretty good, you would meet them in regular matches at the local clubs!

    There was a trick of course. You played obscure openings and complex lines that you knew and they did not. They may not have been very sound lines in strong competition but i seem to remember kings gambit and poison pawn najdorf caught a lot of unsuspecting punters out on the buzzer!
    Last edited by Oracle; 18-02-2020 at 12:51 AM.

  2. #12
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    I think in the league I played in, we had something like an hour on the clock each, so there was never really any time pressure.

    But did enjoy the odd quick-fire match and it does knock your concentration!

    I was always really defensive and tried to eke out a tiny advantage.... try and double their pawns up, then turn it into a pawn advantage, and trust my endgame from there... I was like the Italian football of chess!

    But watching that youtube channel it seems the grandmasters seem to play a lot looser, and prefer positional advantage over chasing pieces, as they trust themselves to pick up pieces later in the game.

  3. #13
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    I checked out agadmator. His commentary makes it interesting. Good headsup.

    Have to admit, I didnt have the patience for slow positional grind you down chess. Its where I got into time trouble.

    I was the opposite to you: I went for the fireworks and agressive openings. I knew the ruy lopez inside out and played agressive sicilian lines as black. Win or lose type lines, I rarely drew. Trouble was, the sheer time it took to keep up on opening knowledge wasnt my kind of thing. That with 3 or 4 matches a week, from schoolboy, club , county, occasional congress (and a few bridge matches) left little time for anything else. After three intensive years I burnt out, lost interest. Took up golf in its heyday of Nicklaus etc. (when people carried 1 irons, instead of these silly hybrid things)



    Quote Originally Posted by Travs View Post
    I think in the league I played in, we had something like an hour on the clock each, so there was never really any time pressure.

    But did enjoy the odd quick-fire match and it does knock your concentration!

    I was always really defensive and tried to eke out a tiny advantage.... try and double their pawns up, then turn it into a pawn advantage, and trust my endgame from there... I was like the Italian football of chess!

    But watching that youtube channel it seems the grandmasters seem to play a lot looser, and prefer positional advantage over chasing pieces, as they trust themselves to pick up pieces later in the game.
    Last edited by Oracle; 18-02-2020 at 11:29 AM.

  4. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Oracle View Post

    I was the opposite to you: I went for the fireworks and agressive openings. I knew the ruy lopez inside out and played agressive sicilian lines as black. Win or lose type lines, I rarely drew.
    This is the kind of opponent which causes me the most trouble...!

    lichess.org is a good site, you can easily sign up and play a vast range of opponents and time restrictions. I'm on there Travs82 although rarely get time in the week. Might have a few hours on a quiet weekend, think I played 5 matches last sunday afternoon.

  5. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Travs View Post
    This is the kind of opponent which causes me the most trouble...!

    lichess.org is a good site, you can easily sign up and play a vast range of opponents and time restrictions. I'm on there Travs82 although rarely get time in the week. Might have a few hours on a quiet weekend, think I played 5 matches last sunday afternoon.
    Just being cynical: what stops someone running one of the chess packages alongside the game from lichess and transferring recommended moves from one to the other?
    How do you know you are playing an opponent not a computer?

  6. #16
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    I don't suppose there is anything to stop that. However i'm not playing for serious ranking points or anything so it wouldn't necessarily bother me.

    You start with a fairly low 'grade' anyway, and have a separate grade for each time format you play, so you get pitted against equally graded opponents (unless you specifically search someone to play).

    I know that at my current grade levels, the quality of people i'm playing, they are certainly not using a chess package to assist them...!!

  7. #17
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    The puzzles are quite fun on the RHS of the home page, although all are fairly easy 2-3 move combinations
    Its about my maximum attention span now!

    Quote Originally Posted by Travs View Post
    I don't suppose there is anything to stop that. However i'm not playing for serious ranking points or anything so it wouldn't necessarily bother me.

    You start with a fairly low 'grade' anyway, and have a separate grade for each time format you play, so you get pitted against equally graded opponents (unless you specifically search someone to play).

    I know that at my current grade levels, the quality of people i'm playing, they are certainly not using a chess package to assist them...!!

  8. #18
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    Yes, looking at that Agadmator’s channel, it’s amazing how far ahead the grandmasters can see...

  9. #19
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    Had a go at a few games with a 10minute clock last night. Won two, lost one.

    Certainly made a couple more mistakes than I would normally, but I found the tactic of constantly going on the attack and posing problems, really ate into the opponents time, and put the time-pressure onto them...

  10. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by Travs View Post
    Had a go at a few games with a 10minute clock last night. Won two, lost one.

    Certainly made a couple more mistakes than I would normally, but I found the tactic of constantly going on the attack and posing problems, really ate into the opponents time, and put the time-pressure onto them...
    It’s your fault travs. I can’t put the damn thing down now!

    Is there a cure for lichess puzzle addiction?
    I’m discovering though, that the lichess answer to quite a few puzzles is wrong. There are outright refutations to some of their “ right moves” , and on others there are simply better lines. It affects 5-10 percent of them. I think they must be picked automatically from games played on li, without human checking. Lichess tracks winning , so it gradually gives harder puzzles if you succeed. But there’s a limit to the grade you can get when the answers are sometimes wrong.
    Last edited by Oracle; 22-02-2020 at 09:38 AM.

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