Chess

[kenny]

I've been playing chess for c.60 years, though I'm not very advanced.
I've never been rated or graded, but on the website lichess (which has 8 levels) I'm level 3 because I win about 50% of the time.

Chess dot com has only 4 levels.
I usually win at level 2, but usually lose at level 3.

I've only played live human beings, (remember those things?) or against online software.
Since last week I've been playing real but anonymous humans (somewhere in the world), live.

Wow!
What a difference!!!
Real humans vary.
The software at lichess is totally predictable.
So, game after game, when I do X it does Y, every time, which eventually gives me an unfair advantage.
That makes it less challenging and interesting.

When playing humans you get a different one every time so every game is fresh and new.
So, when you do X, you have no idea what they'll do.
It keeps you on your toes, and learning.

I'm lovin it!
Yet I don't want to register, even though that would give me access to lessons and coaching.

Anyone here play chess???
If so, what software or website do you use, or how do you find real humans to play with?

 

[missy]

I used to play with my dad. He used to play in Greenwich Village in NYC with some of the greats and I used to watch when I was a little girl. Then I started playing chess with my dad too. Not as good as him though and it never really caught on with me so after a few years I stopped playing. I find it a fascinating game and admire anyone who does well playing chess.

This was before the age of online software (1970s)

 

[kenny]

Color me green, @missy
Lucky you ... Watching those chess greats in person in what is likely one of the quintessential American chess playing colosseums.

I LOVE how chess exercises the brains ability to think!!!!!!
It's kinda like the opposite of the brain-rotting watching of TV, or most social media today.
Today it's so easy to get lazy with our bodies, and our brains.

I learned chess at 12 from my brother.
Sometimes I watched the old farts at a local park play.
They had ancient cement tables with a chess board painted on.
It was always busy, with benches of old farts waiting for someone to leave.
Today that's gone, of course, and replaced by a skate board park thing.

Sadly, most kids today are addicted to instant gratification.
Thinking is so much work.

Now

 

[missy]

Color me green, @missy
Lucky you ... Watching those chess greats in person in what is likely one of the quintessential American chess playing colosseums.

I LOVE how chess exercises the brains ability to think!!!!!!
It's kinda like the opposite of the brain-rotting watching of TV, or most social media today.
Today it's so easy to get lazy with our bodies, and our brains.

I learned chess at 12 from my brother.
Sometimes I watched the old farts at a local park play.
They had ancient cement tables with a chess board painted on.
It was always busy, with benches of old farts waiting for someone to leave.
Today that's gone, of course, and replaced by a skate board park thing.

Sadly, most kids today are addicted to instant gratification.
Thinking is so much work.

Now

You’ve inspired me Kenny. I think I want to get back to playing chess.

Have you ever played the game Go? It’s a game that requires a similar skill set to chess. A fascinating game. Challenging. And addictive. In a good way. You really use your brain

 

[kenny]

Go. Hmmm,
I've never jumped in, but I have been very curious about it.
But for the moment chess has me fully challenged.

https://www.chess.com/ lets you play against software or real humans, and you don't have to register to do either.
When you get to the second screen, click on your skill level, then scroll down to the bottom to play as a guest, that is, if you don't want to give any personal info.
Last you have to pick the time the game can last.
I'm not really clear how this works, but it times each player separately.

Who knows, maybe we'll get randomly picked to play against each other - though we'd never know since we never see a name, just some number.

 

[missy]

Thanks Kenny. I’m going to start playing chess with my dh first and see how it goes. Thanks for starting this thread

 

[Matata]

I played for 3 yrs before I won and I stopped because I wanted to stay on that high note.

 

[LilAlex]

I played a lot as a little kid (elementary school). My Dad took us to a weekly local chess club where we played until 1:00 AM on school nights. It was so thick with cigarette smoke, you could barely see the ceiling lights by the end of the night. I think we were the only kids; it was mostly 80-somethings, seemingly. I was "good for my age" but did not progress very far or fast. I got to play against one of the world's best players who came for a big simultaneous event (maybe 50 boards).

I stopped abruptly when I got into some other things, resumed briefly in HS when we had a (vestigial) chess team and a teacher twisted my arm, and then stopped again. Taught my (now adult) son -- and we play a couple times a year -- almost invariably in some poorly-stocked AirBnB (chess set but no sharp knife or spatula?!). Although we played a month or two ago in Europe on one of those giant urban walkaround boards with the two-foot-tall pieces -- which was super-disorienting on so many levels. We even attracted some spectators -- not because we were good but because we were doing it at all.

 

[kenny]

I played for 3 yrs before I won and I stopped because I wanted to stay on that high note.

LOL
That reminds me ... once when bowling I knocked down one pin.
One.

It felt great.
I was maybe 10 years old.