Chess Players ITP

[MCerberus]

A certain signature has recently driven me mad regarding the moves the white player has made (dropping the c pawn and letting black have a chain blocking in the bishop. MADNESS). This has gotten me thinking, how many chess players do we have floating around?

Are you casual, USCF rated, play Yahoo chess or a former chess club geek? Why do you/did you play chess? I myself was rated in the mid 2000s my senior year of high school. It was a good year for me and was board 2 in a moderately competitive state chess team (we went 5-2. Year before we were 6-1, but we had a prodigies graduate.) Since then I've not really kept up the practice, mostly playing a couple of people at the coffee shop.

[Dallas-Dakota]

Played chess years ago.
Joined a club.
Stopped playing chess, a couple of months after joining that club.

[KuReshtin]

Used to play chess against my grandfather ages and ages ago.
Then I played a bit at Yahoo Games for a while, but haven't played in a long while now.

I'm still looking for an opportunity to be able to get the glass chess set out for a game.

[thubby]

i know enough to beat the people i know and get destroyed by those i don't :P

[Thufir]

A certain signature has recently driven me mad regarding the moves the white player has made (dropping the c pawn and letting black have a chain blocking in the bishop. MADNESS). This has gotten me thinking, how many chess players do we have floating around?

Are you casual, USCF rated, play Yahoo chess or a former chess club geek? Why do you/did you play chess? I myself was rated in the mid 2000s my senior year of high school. It was a good year for me and was board 2 in a moderately competitive state chess team (we went 5-2. Year before we were 6-1, but we had a prodigies graduate.) Since then I've not really kept up the practice, mostly playing a couple of people at the coffee shop.

I'm guessing that would be my signature... Dropping the c pawn like that I think you'll find is known as the Queen's gambit, we've now progressed into the Miles variation. All perfectly sound opening theory (Though not something I'd play myself, I'm following a grandmaster game).

I play at club level and in the local league. ECF grade 161, which according to wikipedia converts to an FIDE grade of 2055.

[Perenelle]

I love chess! :smallbiggrin: I was planning on joining a chess club at my school but they dont have one anymore. :smallsigh: If I had more time i'd probably start one.
I played chess with my grandpa a lot. and since I'm an only child sometimes I end up playing chess with myself.... :smalltongue:

[WalkingTarget]

Played some as a kid and a lot in high school. My older brother and I were involved in getting a chess club started in our school, but it was largely an excuse to hang out with a bunch of people one day a week and play. We had a ladder ranking structure within the group, but we didn't actively set out to learn theory or anything (and we had nothing to do with the official-style rankings). By the time my younger brother graduated the club had pretty much died off as our circles of friends were the motive force for it and the sponsoring teacher (i.e. the one that let us use his classroom for meetings and played with us) retired.

I've played occasionally against friends in college and after and I win more than I lose (and though I may not have ever been officially ranked, some of these friends were in chess clubs that actually went to tournaments and whatnot, so I can't be too bad).

[MCerberus]

I'm guessing that would be my signature... Dropping the c pawn like that I think you'll find is known as the Queen's gambit, we've now progressed into the Miles variation. All perfectly sound opening theory (Though not something I'd play myself, I'm following a grandmaster game).

I play at club level and in the local league. ECF grade 161, which according to wikipedia converts to an FIDE grade of 2055.

I usually play a position then trade game as white, usually a Grunfield-London and moving the king's knight forward. My problem with that kind of gambit is that it can become very easy as black to force a queen trade or otherwise trap the king in the center. Focus on the trading in the mid game, and you may very well go into an early endgame with the open c file giving you a queen.

I'd love to see how c5 plays out, but GMs are always so passive.

[Dvil]

I play chess a fair amount. I'm not brilliant, but reasonable.
One thing I have often thought of is how much I want to get a miniature chess set, play half a game then glue the pieces down. Then visit a theme park, ride the log flume-y ride (the one with the picture at the end) and as the pic is taken, focus on the board, make it look like the game is in progress. Then I'd buy the picture, but maybe that's just me.

[MCerberus]

I play chess a fair amount. I'm not brilliant, but reasonable.
One thing I have often thought of is how much I want to get a miniature chess set, play half a game then glue the pieces down. Then visit a theme park, ride the log flume-y ride (the one with the picture at the end) and as the pic is taken, focus on the board, make it look like the game is in progress. Then I'd buy the picture, but maybe that's just me.

Maybe you can hold your index finger up "Eureka!"

[Dvil]

Maybe use a wire to suspend a light bulb above my head...

[GoC]

Played chess years ago.
Joined a club.
Stopped playing chess, a couple of months after joining that club.
This. The club took all the fun out of it. I'm still pretty good though.

Dvil: You didn't "think of it". You read it somewhere (most likely a web page).

[Dvil]

Ah, technically, what I thought of was how much I want to do it.
You need to get up pretty early to catch me out, I'm afraid :smallwink:.

[Berserk Monk]

I love chess, but I don't play too often.

[Winthur]

I like to play chess, but I haven't ever been motivated enough to try and learn it well enough. I can't really plan my moves in advance and I do a lot of blunders, so I'd bet anyone here would wipe the floor with me.

Although I'm just skilled enough that I've attended to a local school chess tournament (as in, between schools in my city). We won that one, and missed the first place in the next stage by 0,5 point. :smallfrown: Then again, people there weren't very skilled, save one school (That got the first place).

[golentan]

People stopped playing me because it wasn't fun anymore. Except for the one really creepy guy who claims to be a grandmaster, who wipes the floor with me and, as I said, is REEEALLY creepy.

So no. Haven't played since a couple weeks ago.

[daggaz]

I got back into it a year ago, and got good enough to start consistently beating all my friends, who subsequently stopped playing. Bummer. =(

Cant stand playing on the net... its not the same.

[Athaniar]

I play some chess, but I'm not really interested in it on a professional level.

[Jokasti]

I play chess a fair amount. I'm not brilliant, but reasonable.
One thing I have often thought of is how much I want to get a miniature chess set, play half a game then glue the pieces down. Then visit a theme park, ride the log flume-y ride (the one with the picture at the end) and as the pic is taken, focus on the board, make it look like the game is in progress. Then I'd buy the picture, but maybe that's just me.

I'm pretty sure that that's from xkcd.
In fact, here it is. (http://xkcd.com/249/)
And another chess pic (http://xkcd.com/232/), just cause.

[Myshlaevsky]

I'm pretty sure that that's from xkcd.
In fact, here it is. (http://xkcd.com/249/)
And another chess pic (http://xkcd.com/232/), just cause.

Possibly Cryptomnesia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptomnesia), if not a direct reference?

[AmberVael]

I love chess, but don't have much opportunity to play against people.
Also, I'm a horrific chess player.
So I don't really win.

[flabort]

I'm a novice player myself. Sure, I lose EVERY game I play, but I really enjoy playing it!

I've got an octogonal board as well as the classic square, taken off of an idea someone put on the internet. However, I can only ever find one or two people interested at a time, when I need THREE others to use it. So, i'm stuck using my square board. Considering making a Hexagonal as well, so i don't need to get three whole other people...

Yah, conspiracy, teamworkship, and betrayal are not really that common in chess... I'd post pictures, but I'm using a REALLY old computer.

[Deathslayer7]

2000 in your senior year? That's really good!

I was about 1600 in USCF during my senior year. Kind of lost the habit now that I moved on into college. Still play it for fun though every once in a while. Played in chess club as well. That was fun. The first board (i was second) and I would almost always win our games, then we just needed board 3, 4, or 5 to win to pass on to the next round. Made the finals all 4 years, but we have bad luck there. Our first board always seems to choke when the pressure is on. Made 8th, 7th (due to the fact that the 8th team left early :smalltongue:), 4th and and 2nd I believe. We have a nice shiny trophy that we won. ^^

But yeah, I used to enjoy playing our first board. I would place him about 1650/1700 end of senior year. So it was a close matchup between us. I would say out of 10 games, he would win 5, draw 2, and I win 3.

[rogueboy]

Can't say I've ever been rated, but I always enjoy playing a game of chess. I'm not outstanding, but I can usually play a strong game. I learned to play going against my dad and grandfather, and my primary board was made by the two of them, which makes me happy every time I play with it. Unfortunately, I don't get to play very often, partly due to lack of time and partly due to lack of other people...

[Thufir]

I play chess a fair amount. I'm not brilliant, but reasonable.
One thing I have often thought of is how much I want to get a miniature chess set, play half a game then glue the pieces down. Then visit a theme park, ride the log flume-y ride (the one with the picture at the end) and as the pic is taken, focus on the board, make it look like the game is in progress. Then I'd buy the picture, but maybe that's just me.

GAH. No no no no no! Vandalism! Vandalism of a perfectly good chess set!

[Eldariel]

I played back in high school. I did alright in the few tournaments I played, though my Finnish ELO rating is only around 1600. Haven't played for ~5 years now and have lost most of the perspective I used to have to play with.

[Reinholdt]

I play chess, but very casually. In that I won't play for years, then play for several weeks before falling back into chess hiatus. I get pretty competitive when I do play though.


I play chess a fair amount. I'm not brilliant, but reasonable.
One thing I have often thought of is how much I want to get a miniature chess set, play half a game then glue the pieces down. Then visit a theme park, ride the log flume-y ride (the one with the picture at the end) and as the pic is taken, focus on the board, make it look like the game is in progress. Then I'd buy the picture, but maybe that's just me.
Exactly like the XKCD comic did, right? :smallwink:

[MCerberus]

2000 in your senior year? That's really good!


In the early years over here we were supported by the local Optimists, who hired 3 coaches. One of them was a master, and every year we held a camp instructed by GMs. 2 days a week practice (3 in High School), Bi-weekly tournament participation, and an atmosphere of extreme competition in this town drove us pretty hard. Needless to say we had something of a reputation in the local school league. Our top rated people of all time went something like: 2400, 2150, 2110, a lot of people hovering around there, and our low boards were in the 15-17 hundreds. It was serious business, and we wouldn't have gotten nearly as good if we weren't being pushed so hard.


At least we got to trash 2 hotel rooms each year.

[Green Bean]

I was a big time chess player in middle school (grades 7-8). I wasn't too bad at it either; I ended up being team leader in our very tiny four-school tournament. Which I then lost when I forgot to call check. *kicks self* I played casually in high school, and I try the occasional game even now, but skills-wise I'm still just a somewhat decent eighth grader.

[EndlessWrath]

I played a bit in my time. I certainly love the game, but love and proficiency do not measure up to talent and ability :smallbiggrin:. I'm a mediocre player I suppose, I win some and I lose some. I do love the game though, and I have a few chess sets somewhere in my attic. Some I just like to collect, some I just like the feel of the pieces.

I've always wanted to play 3-D chess, but I don't think I'd really be able to. It'd take a long time for me to think about all the moves.

[Dvil]

I'm pretty sure that that's from xkcd.
In fact, here it is. (http://xkcd.com/249/)
And another chess pic (http://xkcd.com/232/), just cause.

So it is. Thanks for that, I always forget where my inspiration comes from.

And to actually further the thread, I've never been rated or played in a tournament.
Also, @ flabort: Where did you get that octagonal set made? Is it cheap or expensive?