I’m a decent player. I win more often than I lose. But I’ve never played in any competitions and most of the people I’ve beaten are amateurs like myself.
The best game I’ve ever had was when I played a computerized chess game. I set it at the highest level and played. The game ended up going for three days (I put it on pause whenever I got too frazzled) but I won in the end.
Oh, so I’m the only freak who doesn’t know how to play at all?
any mid-level players wanna try a game over the web? I don’t even know of a site offhand but I’m sure one could be found easilly…so whose up for a game sometime soon?
You’re the only one who’ll admit it, at least :).
I’m definitely pretty bad at chess. I can never look more than one or two moves ahead; I just don’t have the attention span for it (and I’m not ADD or anything like that).
I do remember perhaps the best chess victory I had. It was my freshman year, near the beginning (when everyone was just getting an idea of who everyone else was in the dorm). Somehow, I ended up playing a game of chess with another guy (I’ll call him CO for chess opponent), and beat him without too much difficulty. Afterward, his roommate (CO’sR) told me that when CO had come to get the chess set, he had told CO’sR he was going to go mop the floor with me. CO’sR told me about this later, and that made the victory oh so delicious (I didn’t say anything about it to CO, though).
This is why I soundly believe that I am somewhere between Novice and much worse than Mediocre, perhaps at Beginner. There is no such thing as being too modest in chess, unless you’ve been scientifically measured in some sort of tournament.
Well, if I didn’t admit I couldn’t do things, I reason that no one would ever teach me how.
I know how to fight valiently and lose. I always get a move or two behind my opponent in a race to checkmate. OK, not always. Sometimes it’s further than that, and sometimes I get lucky.
zone.com has a pretty decent chess area, but you have to download their software, of course.
I can usually tell the horsies from the prawns.
I suck at chess. I lack the patience to develop strategy, the motivation to study openings and tactics, and the … I dunno, “wit,” I guess, to spot the immediate hazards of a particular move.
For anyone who wants to learn to play chess in the humiliation-free privacy of their own computer, I can hardly say enough good things about a nifty piece of software called “Learn To Play Chess With Fritz and Chesster”, available at places like Best Buy and Amazon.com. I had wanted for years to learn to play chess, and it wasn’t until I started working with this game that I finally “got” it. It’s designed to teach children how to play chess, there are kewl tutorials to play with besides the main chess game, where you have to defeat King Black to save the kingdom’s honor, and it’s just a really, really neat game, the best $19.95 I ever spent on software.
I can beat Chesster the Rat most of the time with him set at level 3 (out of 10) if I use the Takeback function liberally.
Also, Hoyle Board Games and Hoyle Table Games, while they don’t have tutorials, both have good chess games that are nice, presumably using the same chess engine. The graphics are different on each one, so if you have both the Board and Table Games CD, you have 6 sets to choose from.
I can beat the Beginner level just about every time, but beating the Medium level also requires liberal use of the Takeback function, which means you forfeit your Hoyle Bucks, but I don’t care.
And for the more advanced player, Fritz 8 and Fritz Grandmaster Challenge is good.
I can’t beat Fritz 8 at all so far. But it’s good masochistic fun to try.
I’m a dreadful chess player. I quit playing about 35 years ago. Playing against me would grate upon your sensibilities. If I were on a chess team, we’d be the Dreadful Grates. I became fair-to-middling at defense, and I could whittle a piker down to three pieces, and lose.
Friends told me I had to think 5 moves ahead, but when I did, they would say, “Move something, willya!” (which translated to Make A Stupid Rash Move, So I Can Beatcha, Dammit!)
I’m a professional chess teacher. 
My highest ELO (international chess rating) was 2390.
Because of age and playing less, it’s sliding inexorably downwards. :eek:
I have won a couple of National titles and specialise in chess problem solving.
Antiochus,
here’s a couple of my short wins as White - let me know if you want any in-depth games!
e4 e5
Bc4 Nf6
Nc3 Nxe4
Bxf7+ Kxf7
Nxe4 Nc6
Qf3+ Kg8?
Ng5 Resigns
e4 d5
exd5 Qxd5
Nc3 Qa5
d4 Nc6?
d5 Nb4
a3 Bf5
Bb5+ c6
axb4 Qxa1
dxc6 a6
cxb7+ axb5
Nxb5 Resigns
My chess is ok, I’d say around average for a person who plays. I only get to play either online at gameknot, or I play my Chess Master. I have found that the other computer chess games are just too hard. I think what they do is while they only think one or two moves ahead, they always pick the best move. The Chess Master however, will make “mistakes”. I wish I could play more, but there are not many people around me who like to play.
I’m about 1600. I’ve been up around 1700.
That means I’m all right, lower part of the spectrum for a club player. I routinely put together some decent games against good players, and mix in some stinkers against poor players.
This is probably a familiar refrain, but I think my best games are probably 1900-2000 quality, but I don’t play to that level consistently. I’ve had a few wins against 1900+ players and a couple draws against 2000+ players.
I actually drew a 2200 once, but it was the last round of a tournament and a draw won it for him. I declined his first draw offer because I wanted to play and then he went a piece up and offered another draw. I took it.
Chess computer programs are now looking ahead about 4 moves for each side. This results in millions of positions to be assessed using simple rules (e.g. how much material each side has).
Of course Masters make mistakes (we’re only human!), but we have judgement and strategical knowledge the computer doesn’t.
Do you want a training game with me?
I’m a pathetic Class C (1400-1600 avg.) player. I will always be a Class C player. Still, I love the game! 
Actually I didn’t say it right. I have a couple of the cheaper chess programs, and while they have an easy and hard settings they all seem to do the same thing, they play the best move it can. I also have a handheld from Excaliber I think and it’s the same way I can never beat it. On the other had the ChessMaster 7000 works pretty well and the lower the ranking plays a bit more like those types of people. It will play dumb moves enough so that I can beat them. I perfer playing against the ChessMaster then the other programs.
A training game would be interesting. We can try it out if you want.
I do enjoy playing over at GameKnot, it’s free and works pretty well. If you’re looking at free places to play that’s where I hang out. Same screen name, just no spaces. The games can take a few months though because they are moves per day.
I suggest we play on a thread here, so anyone can watch, and we can move anytime.
Do you know chess notation (e2-e4)?
To the OP, I can play, just, but not really any good at it. I can normally beat other people in the same boat, but anyone who knows anything about chess normally whips me. I’ve wanted for some years now to learn how to actually play the game. Lack of partners is a large limitation.
It’s listed at $29.99 on Amazon, but they have it for Mac so I might go for it anyway. We’re running out of things to keep my six year old challenged and he has a birthday coming up. Thanks for the reco!
I would be happy to play a training game with you on a thread here, using chess notation. Comments either during or after the game, if you like.
I lettered in chess for six years. There was only one player at my high school that I couldn’t beat (well, I beat him once, but it was a total fluke, he was way better than me). I won one regional tournament, which was a big thrill for me. The highest I was ever officially rated was about 1570, but since then I’ve beaten players rated in the 1750s.
Not enough to start a thread, but I do have a few victories I’m mighty proud of. Here’s one from about 8th grade:
Another team was visiting our school, and we were getting ready to play in the library. I was young, usually playing sixth board. One of their players had somewhere to go, so he wanted to start his game early. His proposed opponent, our third board, wasn’t there yet. So, they set me up with him.
Early on, I started blowing it. He forked my queen and rook with his knight. I was down on points, and we were just getting started. Hell, I thought, this game is lost. But, I soldiered on.
Several moves later, I take a deep look at the board. “You know,” thinks I, “if I take that pawn with my knight, and he retakes with that knight, it’ll leave his king wide open for a check by my queen, and he’ll have no pieces in position to defend. Guaranteed checkmate in five, maybe three, and he can do nothing. And he thinks he has me beat, so he won’t question why I’m making such a seemingly stupid sacrifice move, trading three points for one.” So I took the pawn.
Sure enough, he didn’t analyze it at all. He took my knight. I checked with my queen. And he realized he was cornered, utterly screwed, and mate was inevitable. He made a couple more futile evasive moves and resigned.
I was stoked. His team couldn’t believe he lost. My own team was flabbergasted. “That guy has beat Christian (our third board) before, and you just beat him.”
It was the first time I’d ever pulled off a major piece sacrifice for a victory. Oh, what a sweet victory that was.
The tournament win was sweet, too, but not nearly as dramatic. I know that I still have all these old notation sheets, but man, it’ll take some doing to find them; they’re boxed in storage.