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Booyah- posted:Somehow I'm interested in learning chess again despite never really getting past the newbie stage. I'm basically at the layer 1 where I'm trying to develop my pieces without hanging any, but also walk face-first into forks and wind up losing pieces anyway. This was brought up a bit earlier in the thread but if you're just starting out then learning endgames probably won't get you the most out of the time you put in. Watching out for hanging pieces, both yours and your opponent's, as well as practicing simple tactics puzzles would net you more improvement. Goon discord here: https://discord.gg/JS24G7Z4
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Aug 31, 2021 21:01
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I mean if you're really serious about learning chess the Russian school starts with end games. Literally, you do some end games to even learn how pieces move, you don't even see a knight until you've learned rook pawn endings. Is it better? Who knows, I'm not a chesslearningologist but it has produced some amazing players over the years - but then so has just loving around.
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Sep 1, 2021 07:42
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Hand Knit posted:I know a couple of people here have picked up coaches online. Do you remember where you looked, and do you have an idea of what the going rates are? I'm thinking about looking to pick up a student or two. I found a coach on Wyzant pretty easily. Untitled coaches were charging $15-20 per lesson, titled were anywhere from $20-40 depending on experience.
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Sep 1, 2021 14:39
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There's a coaches section on lichess. 
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Sep 1, 2021 20:33
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Maugrim posted:Hello thread. Chess has become my latest "obsessive interest that will probably last a few weeks or months before I move on". I last played seriously at school when I was like 14 or something. If anyone wants to play some correspondence games on chess.com my username is Maugrimmau. Sent you a game challenge, I'm... ok at the game. I tend not to hang pieces quite so much anymore.
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Sep 2, 2021 14:50
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qsvui posted:There's a coaches section on lichess. Thanks. I remembered there being one but couldn't find it, possibly because I'm an idiot.
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Sep 2, 2021 15:03
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El Spamo posted:Sent you a game challenge, I'm... ok at the game. I tend not to hang pieces quite so much anymore. Nice, I didn't know who it was but I accepted anyway  I've been losing every single game to dumb mistakes so far, so you're in with a good chance 
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Sep 2, 2021 17:57
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Interesting, today's chess.com daily puzzle (Sept 5) fools stockfish. Maybe it doesn't look far ahead for underpromotions
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Sep 6, 2021 05:40
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It is a lovely puzzle. I think the chess.com built-in version of stockfish is a few years older than current? Some youtuber mentioned that in one of the videos I watched I think.
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Sep 6, 2021 09:16
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My non-browser tuned-for-correspondence stockfish saw it immediately. I think browser stockfish can't do NNUE because the weights file is too large? So yeah any javascript version of stockfish will be weaker since NNUE came out.
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Sep 6, 2021 15:56
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I was playing with the opening explorer on Lichess for the Catalan and stumbled on this game: https://lichess.org/yXd9NrV3 What happened here? A dual piece blunder from two strong players so early in the opening seems like it would be very rare, but google doesn't turn up any results. Was it a mistranscription?
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Sep 7, 2021 01:12
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I would guess a recording transposition, and Fressinet actually played Nf3 before Bg2.
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Sep 7, 2021 01:20
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I'm 1100 on lichess in 10+5 and I play for a KID with black most games. Can someone help me understand the pirc and why it might be useful? What's the reason for going d6 first? I've been playing 1. e4, Nf6 and seeing if I can bait out an Alekhine defense which I'm kinda learning, but is the pirc only used against 1.e4 just to ensure you get to play Nf6 later? Do you ever play 1...d6 against other pawn moves?
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Sep 7, 2021 22:49
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Salt Fish posted:I'm 1100 on lichess in 10+5 and I play for a KID with black most games. Can someone help me understand the pirc and why it might be useful? What's the reason for going d6 first? I've been playing 1. e4, Nf6 and seeing if I can bait out an Alekhine defense which I'm kinda learning, but is the pirc only used against 1.e4 just to ensure you get to play Nf6 later? Do you ever play 1...d6 against other pawn moves? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPIMRMl0guA
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Sep 7, 2021 23:09
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Salt Fish posted:I'm 1100 on lichess in 10+5 and I play for a KID with black most games. Can someone help me understand the pirc and why it might be useful? What's the reason for going d6 first? I've been playing 1. e4, Nf6 and seeing if I can bait out an Alekhine defense which I'm kinda learning, but is the pirc only used against 1.e4 just to ensure you get to play Nf6 later? Do you ever play 1...d6 against other pawn moves? From my terrible beginner amateur lichess 1000 perspective, it just defends against 2. e5 and you having to move your knight again. I wouldn't say openings don't matter at that level, since at least having a few moves in the hopper can save you a few seconds and avoid dumb opening traps. But certainly tactics are where the money is at our level.
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Sep 7, 2021 23:18
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I like openings 3 good reasons to learn them 1) An opening gives new players a roadmap that helps to prevent blunders in the first 5-6 moves. 2) Openings are fun and an enjoyable part of learning chess, just as much as tactics (IMO) 3) When you understand why opening moves are done, instead of just memorizing them, you get a sense of why a move is good outside of the opening
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Sep 7, 2021 23:19
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Salt Fish posted:I'm 1100 on lichess in 10+5 and I play for a KID with black most games. Can someone help me understand the pirc and why it might be useful? What's the reason for going d6 first? I've been playing 1. e4, Nf6 and seeing if I can bait out an Alekhine defense which I'm kinda learning, but is the pirc only used against 1.e4 just to ensure you get to play Nf6 later? Do you ever play 1...d6 against other pawn moves? I mean, the number one reason you play d6 first is to avoid the Alekhine. If you’re cool with the Alekhine, feel free to let it ride with 1…Nf6. Kind of like the people of play 1…e6 against 1.d4 because they’re cool with transposing to the French. That said, there are lines of the Modern where you start with d6-g6-Bg7 and don’t end up playing Nf6 (or don’t until later). Kramnik’s played it at a fairly high level, with a6-b5. The reason the Pirc only happens against 1.e4 is just that the quick Nf6 forces white to play Nc3, blocking c4 and therefore white being by able to turn it into a KID. Against 1.d4 or 1.c4 Nf6 doesn’t come with that tempo, so white can get the setup they want.
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Sep 7, 2021 23:21
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 just drew this game as black, black to move i got to this position with 4 minutes left and on the clock and a 10 second increment after a grueling string of gaining advantage and then blundering horribly, but somehow he managed to blunder worse and here i knew that it was winning. i proceeded to think for about 40 seconds and play Qb5+, which he followed with Kd8. now somehow during my brief calculation i thought i had Qd6+ to force him into a mating net, but obviously that was bonkers failure of board vision on my part, but following up with Qb6 is essentially the same idea and if this was a puzzle i'm sure i'd find the solution in under 3 minutes. instead of finding it, i thought for another 30 seconds, decided that i was mentally done and played Kxd4 and offered the draw. at the end of the game i still had 3:19 on the clock i'm so frustrated with myself, this is just the latest in a trend of games where i get a better position in the middlegame by really thinking through each move and almost always finding a winning tactic, and then don't keep the mental discipline up, fail to consolidate or simplify properly, let my opponent equalize or pull ahead, and only manage to win if they play an inaccuracy or blunder bad enough to turn the game around. i don't know how to keep myself from rushing through critical positions when i'm not in time pressure and keeping up the same level of thought throughout the game (15/10 time format, so not incredibly long games). bleh, it feels bad to have my puzzle rating be much better than my rapid rating
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Sep 8, 2021 02:28
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IMHO as a chess noob you're making it too complicated. You don't need to find mate in the minimum number of moves, just take both the pawns and then mate in however many moves it takes you. The only brain power you need to expend is being careful not to blunder your queen or stalemate.
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Sep 8, 2021 03:11
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Time pressure and avoiding blunders from pressure is part of chess skill Even in agadmator's videos where he reviews GM games, they often go "well knight to f4 is best, because of this this this and then it's a very strong position for black, but this is rapid and so-and-so is low on time so understandably he plays...." Time is also part of the game like board position. If you've got 4 minutes banked it's like having a strong position. You don't need to find the most efficient mate, you can pick off the pawns and convert the K+Q if you want.
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Sep 8, 2021 03:14
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My puzzle rating is also a full thousand points higher than my rapid so I know the feeling. Here, stopping a 7th rank pawn by pinning it to the king is a common enough endgame pattern that it's good to run across it. Once you've encountered it enough you should start seeing it right away and then you won't have to take as much time to calculate all the variations. Another common idea would be to try to force the white king onto the promotion square, which you could do by playing Qh7+ and then snaking the queen over the 7th/8th ranks towards the king.
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Sep 8, 2021 03:39
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fisting by many posted:Time is also part of the game like board position. If you've got 4 minutes banked it's like having a strong position. You don't need to find the most efficient mate, you can pick off the pawns and convert the K+Q if you want. This is actually a position where you maybe can't. There are positions where it's just KQ v KP where the pawn is on f or c, about to queen, that are drawn. These positions take some finesse. In this position the quickest win as black is 1...Qb7 2.Kd8 Kd6 3.c8=N+ (3.c8=Q Qe7#) Ke6. But that's extremely non-obvious if you're figuring it out over the board. As an aside, the reason c/f pawn KQvKP endgames can be drawn is that the defending K can let the pawn drop on c2/c7/f2/f7 by moving into the corner. The Q capturing the pawn results in stalemate.
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Sep 8, 2021 03:40
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Something I've learned (the hard way) about queen endgames is remember that your queen can move a lot of different directions. It seems obvious, but take a few extra seconds when you have them to look at every line your queen can move on. In this case, you have the unusual-looking Qh7, which permanently traps their king on the back rank. Then you just make sure white can't promote a queen with check. I think Qh7, Kd8, Kd6 is good here, because white would have to waste their promotion on a knight to avoid getting mated on Qe7.
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Sep 8, 2021 08:56
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I noticed that while puzzling it out, and it's hilarious. I've never seen a legitimate underpromotion in an actual game I played. Although I think the suggestion from Promethium of Qh7+, Kd8, Qg8+... is what I prefer, because I feel like I'd be less likely to blunder with that sequence.
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Sep 8, 2021 09:31
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I make a lot of unsound sacrifices in bullet but it’s nice to get rewarded for it once in a while https://imgur.com/a/8tUYq41
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Sep 9, 2021 04:08
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GhostofJohnMuir posted:
The others have described the winning methods here but the important thing is to know the basic ideas behind the KQ vs KP endings where the KP side is about to promote. The main idea generally is to prevent the promotion by either checking the king or pinning the pawn, and when the enemy has no other move but to place his king blockading his own pawn's advance, you can use that tempo to advance your own king closer to the enemy pawn, and eventually the king and queen together win that pawn and you checkmate easily. As the others have said, if you know the method and can work towards KQ vs K you don't have to be perfectly precise, especially if you have an increment. You can win with more than the optimal number of moves and it's still a win. In this position the complicating factors are that the seventh rank pawn is a bishop pawn (the inferior side can force a stalemate through the method Hand Knit described) and that there is an additional pawn, so obviously whatever method used must prevent that pawn from joining up and supporting the other pawn, or getting close to promotion itself. I believe rook pawns can also result in a stalemate if the enemy can get their king into the corner ahead of their pawn? The extra pawn might be helpful in some scenarios, you might be able to move your king and the availability of a legal move for that pawn might avoid stalemate for one move, so long as you don't let the pawns connect. Anyway even if you know how to play the KQ vs KP ending precisely and you know your opponent can draw with best play, you should definitely make them prove it to you. Like, you play using the basic methods described to win the pawn, and if he plays perfectly he earns the draw, but if he doesn't know the drawing resources then you win. I've won many a KP vs K ending that was drawn because the opponent didn't know to maintain the opposition when they had it. Ditto drawing some games I should have lost, etc. Knowing an ending method means you can confidently win with little time on the clock (especially with an increment), and without burning a lot of mental energy on each move so long as you understand the winning method. This even applies to some even simpler endings like K+R vs K where I'm sometimes surprised people don't know the method to efficiently get the mate.
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Sep 9, 2021 05:27
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Like the others have said KQ vs KP about to promote is a pretty interesting endgame. You should practice how to win as queen, and how to draw with the pawn. Both sides are regular enough that if you remember the basic concept you should be able to play it in blitz. But if you don't remember it, the win is annoying to find and I can understand drawing if you aren't in the mood for a complicated endgame. Actually isn't the situation without the extra pawn the strange variant where you need to let the pawn queen in order to mate? That one I wouldn't remember in a game.
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Sep 9, 2021 11:28
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Aggro posted:I make a lot of unsound sacrifices in bullet but it’s nice to get rewarded for it once in a while he’ll yeah brother i blunder a lot in bullet too. also that looks like a traxler variant basically i just landed the most fully sick queen trap ive ever seen in a bullet game. ain’t no getting out of this one: 
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Sep 9, 2021 11:37
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You know, that is still an unreadably garbage way of displaying chess positions.
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Sep 9, 2021 12:10
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silvergoose posted:You know, that is still an unreadably garbage way of displaying chess positions.  it helps me in bullet because i can read it faster
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Sep 9, 2021 13:42
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Just realized that the bishops don't have any faces, what the gently caress?
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Sep 9, 2021 13:51
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I guess it's a matter of what you're used to because yeah that's very hard to parse for me. Tbh at this point I'd probably struggle with a real life chessboard too
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Sep 9, 2021 14:03
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That piece design has been posted so often in this thread that I can parse it immediately! Now if only I could evaluate chess positions that quickly...
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Sep 9, 2021 15:42
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I'm curious if there's some complex science between all the different pieces, at least at a glance, showing different emotions. Like our brain can instantly go 'suspicious face is rook'.
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Sep 9, 2021 22:25
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Really what it's missing is the king's expression changing based on the stockfish evaluation
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Sep 10, 2021 14:10
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dupersaurus posted:Really what it's missing is the king's expression changing based on the stockfish evaluation i think that would be cheating
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Sep 10, 2021 16:26
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https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/25065031897?tab=analysis Really happy with this game. I'm playing black. The onslaught of pawns was pretty daunting, and I'm surprised that on analysis I was apparently winning for the majority of the game.
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Sep 11, 2021 03:18
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I am deceased at the chess.com daily puzzle for September 11, 2021. The solution is to sacrifice two rooks
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Sep 11, 2021 10:36
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I went to my local chess club for the first time today. It was grand, can recommend. I'm pretty bad at chess so I was worried I'd be too weak to fit in (chess.com Blitz ~1000, rapid ~1200). Out of the ten adults there, there was 1 clearly weaker than me, 2 basically the same and everyone else various flavours of stronger. I didn't play against the 3 strongest players I think, hopefully next week. Everyone was friendly. Its the first one of the year and we just played games against whoever, apparently normally the coach sets some puzzles/strategy stuff, but this week at least it felt very informal.
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Sep 11, 2021 21:02
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fisting by many posted:I am deceased at the chess.com daily puzzle for September 11, 2021. No loving way  Edit: To be fully accurate, they would have to design it so the black king can narrowly run to safety as white wrecks all the other pieces, but blunders away a huge material advantage in a painfully long endgame only to lose on time. Blind Pineapple fucked around with this message at 07:50 on Sep 12, 2021 |
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Sep 12, 2021 07:45
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