Chess.

[jfarnsworth]

I don't use the en passant rule. It can help at time though, I have seen it used only and only if the passed pawn used during this technique has a piece that can protect it from being captured. Usually I find myself just losing the piece during that stage so I elect not to use it. Just my thought.
Jason Farnsworth

 

[arnisador]

I always wanted to learn how to play well but never found the time and the consistent opponent. I should probably find an Internet opponent. Are there good chess-by-e-mail programs out there now?

 

[Nightingale]

you don't need a program. you need a chess board that has the numbers and letters next to it...or just label a regular board. A chess board is a grid laid out like this:


1_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
2_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
3_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
4_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
5_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
6_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
7_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
8_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
..a.b.c..d.e..f..g.h

Your email buddy needs to have a chess set too. then, you set up the board, decide who's white and who's black, and then, for example you send an email saying "Pawn (D7) to D5, which tells your opponent to move the pawn that is on square D7 two spaces forward to square D5.

An easier option is microsoft's gaming zone...www.zone.com, I think. or games.msn.com. you can play online with someone else, and they do have beginner rooms, and even better, they won't let you make an illegal move.

Best of luck.

 

[arnisador]

I was hoping there'd be an application that would remember where the pieces were, code the move for me from a GUI interface and send it, etc. You know, a CTP (chess transport protocol) is what I want!

I should check out the online games as you say. I have a compute chess game on the PC, but the machine plays such a "mechanical" game.

 

[Nightingale]

computers are a good place to learn, tho. they can be really helpful for a beginner.

 

[Bod]

http://games.yahoo.com has a chess section. There are a lot of immature people who walk away from a game they are losing and don't log off, so always make sure you play a timed game.

I used to play a lot. The way to take advantage playing black is either the sicilian against 1 e4 or that counter gambit thingy when playing against d4. I'm still to get comfortable with a defence against queen pawn openings though.

The main similarity between chess and MA is the egos involved. Also groundwork is a lot like chess, since it is played that bit slower, but there are still huge advantages in knowing set replies to different techniques.

 

[Nightingale]

Originally posted by Bod

The way to take advantage playing b...o need to work on our chess language fluency?

 

[arnisador]

I'm at the point where I'd like someone to say "You should have tried this" or "You're failing to develop/protect this" or "For your style, consider such-and-such an opening". I haven't seen chess software that provides this feedback yet though it may be out there--just suggesting a move isn't what I'm thinking of though. I've played for years--just not well.

 

[jfarnsworth]

The Sicilian Defense,
white moves to e4, then black moves to c5, here you are using opposite files to open the game. The only problem with this is that white has the opportunity to develop the queen and white bishop at a more rapid pace. Depending on how black uses the next pawn white can control the center.

There's two types of Queen's Gambits, declined or accepted.
white's first move is d4, black moves d5.
white's 2nd move is c4, black takes c4. This leaves a doubled pawn on the c file as well as it is an extremely passed pawn.
This is the accepted version. Black accepts the capture.

Queen's Gambit Declined.
white's first move d4, black is d5.
white's 2nd move c4, black elect's not to take but move e6. Black creates a nice pawn chain but white has the ability to control the center. White can capture d5 but the queen can take back immediately leaving black the intact pawn chain where white already would have file open as well as the black queen at the center of the board. Hope this helps.

 

[arnisador]

Yes, this is the kind of thing I need--hints on an opening/defense to play that's suitable for someone who knows the rules and has played the game but has never played in a disciplined manner. I have some books on it but nothing that says "Just starting to think about playing strategically? Try this opening for the next 10 games and see how it works" or the like.

 

[jfarnsworth]

I'll ask the guy that teaches me how to play chess if there's any books out there better than others. Maybe there's a book of just chess opening. I don't know but i'll ask.

 

[jfarnsworth]

Well, I asked my chess mentor (i'm not sure what other term to use here) this morning about a book that he would recommend. He came up with
The Complete Chess Course, written by Fred Reinfeld.
Jerry said to me that if he were to keep only 1 book out of his library that would help someone in their chess play this would be the one. Hopefully this will help anybody and I'm going to check it out myself.

 

[arnisador]

My children are starting to learn and I'd like to give them something to work with too. I play chess like an untrained fighter fights--sometimes I win, but it's as much by luck and intuition, tempered by experience, as anything else. I lack a strategy.

 

[arnisador]

OK, I picked up the Reinfeld book at Walden's. How about a game?
http://www.letsplaychess.com/

I'm "Arnisador" there also.

 

[jfarnsworth]

Did you find the book good? I haven't had a chance to go to the book store to look yet. I have too many things going on at the moment. I'll look for you from time to time. Are you playing chess there at any specific time?

 

[arnisador]

As my old academic advisor used to say, it's "dehydrated"--you've got to add a lot of water (sweat) to it to get something out of it. I can't say it looks any better or worse than others I've flipped through but I've never seriously studied one before. At this point what i want are some openings--I play so haphazardly.

The site I mentioned is asynchronous (and free, at least for the first several games). It e-mails you whenever it's your turn to move. You make your move then leave. Very convenient!

 

[Senfeng]

I used to play chess when I was younger, but I play Go quite often now. Learning to play is very simple, but the strategies can be very conplex.

 

[arnisador]

I've played it on occasion but it never did much for me. I suspect if I studied it it'd look more interesting but having only played a few times it looks more-or-less random to me!

 

[Senfeng]

I thought the same thing. Then I started noticing some of the patterns. Its extremely simple, yet very competitive and controlled.

An interesting note from "Learn to play GO":

"In 1907, a famous chess master named Edward Lasker discovered Go in Berlin, watching Japanese students play in their leisure hours. At first skeptical that it had the depth of chess, he quickly became entranced. In one of his books, he wrote: "My friends to whom I showed the game... soon preferred it, like myself, to all other games they knew." These early Go players founded the New York Go Club in 1927, and in 1935, the American Go Association (AGA), which today has grown to over 100 member clubs."