Ask HN: Chess players here?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6783489

by S4M • 13 years ago

10 17 13 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Following the enthusiasm for the Anand - Carlsen match, I'm wondering how many of you are chess players.

I personally have a FIDE rating of 1930, but haven't played in competition in a while.

mseidl• 13 years ago

I play chess, but terribly and not rated...

kohanz• 13 years ago

Former chess player. I played competitively up until about age 17. My national rating (Canada) peaked at ~2200 (probably putting me around (2000-2100 in FIDE terms), but didn't play in enough FIDE-rated tournaments.

Once I started studying engineering, I had neither the time nor energy to stay competitive enough to keep going. I'm early 30's now. The only chess I play now is with the occasional stranger at the public library or to surprise someone giving a chess exhibition with one of those giant chess boards ;)

What blows my mind now is that I used to have better concentration abilities as a youngster (12 to 17 years old) than I do now. I was notorious for playing marathon games and getting into time trouble (imagine flagging after 6 hours of play!). Now I can't fathom sitting for 30 minutes to decide on a single move. That being said, I would say it has transferred over to other parts of my life. My wife will be the first to tell you that I love to analyze (and over-analyze) decisions and will hold off on making them until I'm very sure about things.

davidsmith8900• 13 years ago

- I play chess

chrisweekly• 13 years ago

I'm unrated and without a particular talent for the game, but I've always enjoyed it. I managed one draw and one win (out of dozens of matches) against someone supposedly rated >1800 (not sure if FIDE or US) ... 20 years ago. I haven't even had a game in over a year so I'm not really a "player" if I ever was. :)

adultSwim• 13 years ago

Yes; i suck. Haven't played a tournament since the mid 2000's.

papaf• 13 years ago

I suck at chess but I recommend a holiday in Indonesia. People don't drink alcohol much but socialise by playing chess. I ended playing chess nearly every day. I didn't win at all. The coffee is also awesome.

http://www.shunya.net/Pictures/Indonesia/Yogyakarta/Chess.jp...

deeteecee• 13 years ago

i was not interested in chess and it was really hard for me to get interested until i followed this guy's videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/ChessNetwork

Just watching it got me excited and I picked up the basics and was having fun learning the game.

cabacon• 13 years ago

You might also enjoy http://www.youtube.com/user/kingscrusher

He comments on professional matches, but the part of his feed that I enjoy are the 1/3/5 minute time control games he plays. He is very good at articulating his thoughts during the game, and I find that much more engaging that listening to analysis of alternate lines that's more common in commentated chess matches.

dl8• 13 years ago

I'm a chess newbie but I think the best/most simple chess website to play at is http://www.lichess.org

iends• 13 years ago

I play chess, but not very often anymore. In my peak I drew an IM during a simul on ICC, but probably was only rated 1800-1900. I stopped studying it and took up the violin because I got tired of sitting by myself for hours. With music I can at least play with others, and my wife can enjoy it!

ricsteb• 13 years ago

I like chess but i suck at it.I would like to have sparing partner(tutorial,book recommendation will do it too), someone who can teach me how to think like a chess player precisely explaining why at any given moment you would move a piece instead of another. To me there are so many options that it would take hours to make a sure move.

FurrBall• 13 years ago

I play yahoo's online chess once and a while.

phaus• 13 years ago

I play every once in a while, but I've never studied or practiced enough to go beyond around 1200. I have trouble forcing myself to spend more than about 3 seconds per move. I also don't think about playing while its my opponent's turn. That's probably not ideal.

velikos• 13 years ago

FIDE Master here. Rated 2317 according to the latest FIDE ratings.

tptacek• 13 years ago

I'm a sloppy 5-minute speed chess player, for whatever that's worth.

akbarnama• 13 years ago

I play slow (correspondence) chess at redhotpawn.com. Great site!

Rami114• 13 years ago

I used to think I was ok at it but then:

* I've never beaten my dad in a game in 20 years * I took up the offer from a guy in a NY park and got my ass royally whooped (not to mention the 20 dollars heh)

Ask HN: Chess players here?

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