Choosing your chess challenger

I am just curious to know, excluding the open invites, how people choose who to challenge to a game of chess?.

I generally choose by searching through the threads trying to find somebody who has made a comment that I particularly like and then see if I can challenge him/her to a game - no particular rational to that.
Am I unique in this respect or does anyone else do it that way?
I would like to know any unusual strategies any of you use to choose your challenger.

Originally posted by Andrew Hamilton
I am just curious to know, excluding the open invites, how people choose who to challenge to a game of chess?.

I generally choose by searching through the threads trying to find somebody who has made a comment that I particularly like and then see if I can challenge him/her to a game - no particular rational to that.
Am I unique in this respect o ...[text shortened]... that way?
I would like to know any unusual strategies any of you use to choose your challenger.

Prior to subscribing I had a number of friends from another forum who played here and I got a lot of games that way. Since subscribing I get most games from tournaments and clan games. And my friends from another forum have made a club here (Club 123) so I still get games with those guys.

I suggest you check out some of the clubs, find one that looks interesting and active and join it.

tournaments only.

I have this weird notion of playing players from as many countries as I can, so I scroll through the flag index to find players from a country I haven't played yet. Together with RHP and another chess site, so far I'm up to 201 countries or flags.

"I get all my games from tournaments. When I first joined I used the open invites mainly, did have my challnege settings open for a month or two but soon got fed up of every Tom, Dick and Harry and their dogs sending me challenges without a message, usually with 1 day timeouts and them as white."


...why not adjust your minimum timeout under your challenge settings? Alternately, what's wrong with simply deleting the game if it doesn't suit your needs or playstyle?

I'm not trying to call you out - I just don't understand why some people profess to require a message prior to a challenge. When someone challenges me, my first thought is usually something akin to, "Yay! I have another game!"

I usually go to the open invites but always specify rating limits and always take a look at the player profile. I take a special look at rating graphic, to see if there is any quick increase that may indicate cheating. I also dont like to play with new players cause in this case the rating is not a good indicator of the player strenght.

Out of open invites, I regularly play with friends.

I've used everything mentioned here, all methods produce mixed results, depending on your own rating and requirements.

I have built up such a long buddy list I rarely play anyone new nowadays. My profile volunteers to play P1200 newbies, if they're around my standard and civil I add them to my buddy list. If they're way better I suggest they look for 1400s, if they're even worse than I am I offer to help them practise. My challenge is not blocked but I just bin any game I don't want to play.