1. e4
    Joined
    06 May '08
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    42492
    18 Jan '13 16:032 edits
    Actually this trick has more success on here with 4.Be2 rather the 4.h3.


    The idea is the same, 4...Nxe4 5.Qa5+.
    (4.Be2 develops a piece and does not weaken g3.) 🙂

    However back here....


    Don't spring the trap till after the bait has been taken.

    This game kapenta - rrlack3066 RHP 2010 is such a case.
    However White's 14th move is hilarious and brilliant.

  2. Account suspended
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    18 Jan '13 16:06
    Originally posted by greenpawn34
    Actually this trick has more success on here with 4.Be2 rather the 4.h3.

    [fen]rnbqkb1r/pp2pppp/3p1n2/2p5/4P3/2P2N2/PP1PBPPP/RNBQK2R b KQkq - 0 4[/fen]
    The idea is the same, 4...Nxe4 5.Qa5+.
    (4.Be2 develops a piece and does not weaken g3.) 🙂

    However back here....

    [fen]rnbqkb1r/pp2pppp/3p1n2/2p5/4P3/2P2N2/PP1P1PPP/RNBQKB1R w KQkq - 0 4[/fen]
    D ...[text shortened]... is building a mating net.} 23. b4 g6 24. d3 Bh6+ 25. Rg5 Bxg5[/pgn]
    justice!
  3. Joined
    03 Feb '13
    Moves
    217
    03 Feb '13 22:57
    Hey, guys, what has been lost in this discussion of the game of chess
    (and within that context,
    improving our performance as competitive players)
    is that chess is a game.

    It is a source of pleasure.

    It is why we play the player and not the position.

    It is how chess as a game differs from the solving of a puzzle,
    a solitary activity.

    The purpose is not developing the minor pieces,
    or increasing their mobility,
    or deploying and maintaining threats,
    or building the tension,
    or seizing the initiative,
    or playing for the future of the position,
    or increasing the yield of one's assets
    (one's forces or pieces or fortress or pawn structure),
    or maximizing a position's dynamism,
    or attacking on defense,
    or transforming one advantage into another --
    as with any game,
    the purpose is simply

    to have fun.
  4. Account suspended
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    04 Feb '13 01:161 edit
    Originally posted by YourWorstKnightmare
    Hey, guys, what has been lost in this discussion of the game of chess
    (and within that context,
    improving our performance as competitive players)
    is that chess is a game.

    It is a source of pleasure.

    It is why we play the player and not the position.

    It is how chess as a game differs from the solving of a puzzle,
    a solitary ac ng one advantage into another --
    as with any game,
    the purpose is simply

    to have fun.
    sledging is fun, bouncing on a trampoline is fun, water parks are fun, roller coasters
    are fun. Chess is about winning and losing. Winning is fun and losing is not.
  5. Joined
    29 Aug '11
    Moves
    729
    04 Feb '13 10:201 edit
    Losing is actually the real fun.Because you can't improve without many many many many defeats.
    So if winning is fun , the only way to do a lot of winning is do a lot of losing.
    Because winning and playing good is even more fun than winning because your opponent played awful.
  6. Account suspended
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    38239
    04 Feb '13 10:24
    Originally posted by Roper300
    Losing is actually the real fun.Because you can't improve without many many many many defeats.
    So if wiining is fun , the only way to do a lot of winning is do a lot of losing.
    Because wiinning and playing good is even more fun than winning because your opponent played awful.
    I have never been fond of losing. I was having a discussion with someone else who stated that it did not matter to them if they lost to something that was beautiful, i disagreed, we play to win the game! Losing is beneficial, yes, in that we get to understand why we lost, but i disagree, its never fun.
  7. e4
    Joined
    06 May '08
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    42492
    04 Feb '13 14:19
    You should be able to lose on here without batting an eyelid.
    The only disapointment being if you missed a cute win and went onto lose.

    Losing OTB is different, especially if was a team game and your loss
    was the critical result.
  8. Standard memberRJHinds
    The Near Genius
    Fort Gordon
    Joined
    24 Jan '11
    Moves
    13644
    04 Feb '13 16:54
    Originally posted by robbie carrobie
    sledging is fun, bouncing on a trampoline is fun, water parks are fun, roller coasters
    are fun. Chess is about winning and losing. Winning is fun and losing is not.
    Right on. One thing we can agree on. 😏
  9. Account suspended
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    04 Feb '13 17:53
    Originally posted by RJHinds
    Right on. One thing we can agree on. 😏
    makes gun with two fingers and thumb and points at head!
  10. Standard memberbill718
    Enigma
    Seattle
    Joined
    03 Sep '06
    Moves
    3298
    10 Feb '13 03:48
    Originally posted by robbie carrobie
    I was listening to a Magnus interview in which he stated that there are many people who know a lot about chess but cannot seem to improve, why is that the case?
    Hi Robbie- Just my opinion, but I think this has to do with the fact that chess requires a great deal of effort and dedication in order to improve, and to play at a high level. Most people are also concerned with earning a living, a social life, and other daily activities. These things won't improve one's chess game. Most of the greatest chess players in history were not only talented, but spent a massive amount of time and effort on improving their skills. I guess it's all a matter of what's most important to us. 🙂
  11. Account suspended
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    10 Feb '13 10:29
    Originally posted by bill718
    Hi Robbie- Just my opinion, but I think this has to do with the fact that chess requires a great deal of effort and dedication in order to improve, and to play at a high level. Most people are also concerned with earning a living, a social life, and other daily activities. These things won't improve one's chess game. Most of the greatest chess players in his ...[text shortened]... fort on improving their skills. I guess it's all a matter of what's most important to us. 🙂
    this is true Bill, however, it appears to me that with some basic understanding, great improvement can be made, even within a limited time. I have heard that the best way to improve is to join an chess club? why should this be the case? simply because i suspect that one becomes exposed to a certain pool of chess understanding (different from mere chess knowledge) and thus the environment that one saturates oneself in permeates our thinking and we must surely make some improvement for if Andrew Soltis is to be believed, we learn chess subliminally. Thus one is exposed to ideas and these ideas translate into a kind of chess vocabulary which we can utilise in our own games. Understanding is the primary thing to be grasped and this takes experience to a degree, so yes i suspect that time and effort are indeed a factor, but even so, some little improvement can be made.
  12. Standard memberDeepThought
    Losing the Thread
    Quarantined World
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    87415
    10 Feb '13 11:57
    I read the first and last page, but not the others, so at the risk of repeating something:

    One's understanding of any subject develops over time, and is always imperfect. One effect is that old or missing knowledge can get in the way of learning the new stuff. It contradicts one's existing wisdom so the brain rejects it. The theories of chess we develop for ourselves, e.g. bishops are better than knights, can be a drawback in progressing. The rule that a bishop is better than a knight is to stop beginners overvaluing their knights while they're learning how to avoid giving pieces away for nothing. Past a certain stage you shouldn't be worrying about relative values of pieces but on the position in front of you - someone who persists in believing that bishops are better would tend to overvalue them which will lose them the odd game and keep their rating down.

    I think what sometimes happens to people is that some assumption about the game that they should have dropped is slowly weakened without them really being conscious of the process and they then suddenly improve by 200 points because their mind is freed from it's shackles.

    So if you're stuck at 1,800 it's possibly a matter of clearing out some old knowledge about the game which was helpful as a beginner, but are holding you back now. I think the big mistake is to expect linear progress and then become discouraged when it doesn't happen.
  13. Donationketchuplover
    Isolated Pawn
    Wisconsin USA
    Joined
    09 Dec '01
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    71112
    10 Feb '13 17:01
    Sometimes we look but don't see.
  14. Joined
    12 Jul '08
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    13814
    11 Feb '13 22:26
    Hey Ketchup, nice to see your post!

    I'd say that reason why we don't improve is because to improve you must at some point change how you look at things. That is very difficult to do.
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