/cg/ Chess General

>knights turned to face the central files.
Based

The white bishops, too, but for some reason the black ones are turned to face out.

no matter how much chess i play or how many books i read i don't get better. my neuroplasticity is fried. i'm over 50 years old though.

Fuck off chess has always been an Yea Forums-approved sport along with spelling bee

Chess is boring to play at higher levels, it’s too algorithmic to enjoy imo. I kinda wish I could forget all of it and play like I did as a child, where I’m constantly discovering best moves for situations and always being surprised by what my opponent does. That’s how I feel when I play Fischer Random which is why I like it so much, even if certain base facts of the game remain unchanged.
It’s a wholly different realm of competition but I’ve started to enjoy esports a lot more than chess, it’s a lot more lowbrow but despite the constraints of a game like LoL, it’s much more enjoyable to both watch and play for me. Maybe I’m just kinda burned out on chess rn or I’m too much of a zoomer.

If you really want to improve your game I recommend chessbase for studying.

>tfw finally getting back to approaching the level of play and results I had five years ago

Who /optimistic/ here? I feel I've been playing really well so far this year, compared to the last couple of years.

Now this definitely is Magnus posting

Hi Magnus

No, I'm just an average club player who happened to break through a plateau in 2014 before getting a gf and finding out that these creatures just suck the playing strength out of you.

Why do we need ANOTHER general on Yea Forums? Don't we have enough? Can't this go on Yea Forums or /tg/ or literally anywhere else? Why did a thread have to die for chess? And why do you want it to flood the board with another shitty general?

man, I wish someone would succ the playing strength out of me

Are you excited for the US Chess Championship, which starts soon? I know I am. First and foremost to see how Leinier Dominguez does after more than a year of inactivity in classical chess, and his transfer from Cuba to USA. To be honest, I though Le Quang Liem would be the next guy on Sinquefield's shopping list, but I suppose Dominguez was also a good candidate.

uschesschamps.com/2019-us-championships/2019-us-championship/the-field
(You may freely disregard the ratings, as they are in USCF instead of FIDE, which is almost as ridiculous as using pounds instead of kilograms.)

It feels good but it's not really worth it.

chess only gets terrible at high GM levels where they basically have memorized the first 20 moves by heart

but that's just classical

>the first 20 moves by heart

Try 30-move equalizing variations of the Marshall.

Also, I've seen and even played games in rapid where basically the whole game had been played before.

idk, feels like a draw by agreement

it definitely isn't optimal play since both brute force and nn's wipe the floor with people regardless how many moves you've memorized

Just avoid the Ruy Lopez. Not too hard.

Is it possible to be decent at chess without any studying or watching videos? I have 1250 rating on lichess at rapid mode. I feel like otherwise it would stop being fun and become a grind fest

Sometimes going for a draw is the right thing to do, and sometimes, the game you're repeating is one where one player got a big advantage. A good example is when Kamsky beat Shankland at an earlier US Championship:
chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1917033
chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1563494

A fun way to play as white is to open with 1. h3 and follow up with 2. c3 and 3. d4. You either get a Caro-Kann or a Slav with an extra move (the advance of the h-pawn is often useful), or a London System if black plays less consistently.

The most important thing you can do is to play a lot and above all learn from your own mistakes, but if you study, you don't have to reinvent the wheel, so to speak. Studying makes progress much easier.

youtube.com/watch?v=-S4BU_AYJEs

tactics trainers are a useful complement to playing, but you should at least watch videos about generic ideas in strategy and tactics to make playing easier, even if you're not into reading a 200 page book on fried liver variations.

>a 200 page book on fried liver variations

Yeah, no. Read Nimzowitsch instead. His ideas are well explained and accessible even to beginners, especially the first few chapters.

Attached: ௵.jpg (372x260, 21K)

Yeah, thats what I try to do, basically trial and error. Most important thing is having fun, right?

Interesting perspective

Idk how to explain it, but I have this weird feeling that is like I would be cheating and killing the fun of exploring, if that makes any sense

t. 1300 patzer

Cheating is if you play online with an opening book in front of you. It is not cheating if you learn the opening, and even then, it is more about understanding the ideas than remembering the exact moves (unless you're playing sharp variations, in which case you need to remember the exact moves or you lose immediately).

>officially recognized as a sport by the International Olympic Committee
Life saving is a sport to the IOC

To git gud should I go with John Bartholomews video series or Jerry's video series?

Pretty good lad, im stuck between 1500 and 1600

/tg/ - Traditional Games

Board games, paper games, war games, card games, etc. go here!

Go with Ben Finegold.

Is chess a sport? Elaborate why you believe chess is a sport or not.

I like to play f6 though user

Yes, as long as you have the white pieces.

In all seriousness, f6 is more often than not a terrible move. It usually weakens the kingside and takes away an important square for the knight.

HI THIS IS MATO

Norway shitposts here must be fun.

hi, mato. 1.g4

The only Norwegian poster here is that autistic guy that pretends he isn't Magnus Carlsen

Chess is for nerds

Americans fear and attempt to ridicule 100+ IQ activities. Just part of the culture.

At least we play our sport your 300 pound ass sits on the couch watching football complaining about how bad the players are.

Fuck off, faggot

how is just not a sport desu