In light of some of the negativity on this forum, I thought it would be a nice change of pace to get to know you all, in a lighter, more personal thread.
Why did you first start playing at RHP? And why did you decide t stick around?
For me, it started after a supervisor saw me playing chess against a computer at work. He's a real cool and respectable guy, but definetely was a stickler for rules. So imagine my surprise, when instead of a reprimand, he started talking about his love of chess, and other supervisors who played.
He then told me about this site, and said he'd be waiting for me to challenge him. It was fun playing, because I discovered something about my supervisor: as much as he stuck to all the rules at work, he broke one: using work computers to play games. It was kind of fun checking RHP, and seeing he had just moved a minute ago. It was our little secret.
I stopped playing for a while, but decided to come back after my son was born last month. It gave me something to do during the late night hours while feeding/changing him, or rocking him to sleep in my arms. I now have a desire to take chess seriously, and try to get good at it.
I play to work on my game for my OTB play. I use RHP to test new openings or new ideas in openings I already play, and also to work on my endgame technique.
I originally came here because my old college roommate and I reconnected, and since we used to play chess all the time in school, this was a good way to keep in touch.
I did not anticipate the community aspects, but I really enjoy them, and I have met some pretty neat people around the world.
I also enjoy helping newer players learn about the game. I think one of the neat things about chess is that it is a shared knowledge, passed on from player to player. I appreciate what I have learned from better players who happily and willingly spent time with me to help me learn, and I want to pay it forward.
Almost 6 years ago, when I was 16 years old, I decided to join my high schools chess club. I knew the rules of the game, except en passant and some castling things. I opened every game with the scholars mate. The club had been just created that year, so we only had one chess board. So we played chess in the computer lab and the teacher in charge of the club showed everyone RHP. Thats how it all started for me. I guess I just got hooked after that.
1. g4 {This move was inspired by a thread in the forums, titled "The Grob destroys all" created by Dragon Fire if my memory is correct.} c6 2. Bf1g2 d5 3. e4 {I didn't know anything about the grob} e6 4. d4 b6 5. exd5 exd5 6. h3 Bc8a6 7. Ng1e2 Bf8b4 8. c3 Bb4d6 9. O-O Qd8h4 10. Bc1f4 Bd6e7 11. Bf4e5 {Wasting time} f6 {Nf6 is much better.} 12. Be5g3 Qh4g5 13. h4 {Completely missing g4 is now unprotected} Qg5xg4 14. f3 Qg4g6 15. Qd1a4 Qg6d3 16. Rf1e1 Ba6b5 17. Qa4d1 Qd3g6 {Qxd1 Rxd1 Bxe2 wins a piece} 18. Nb1a3 Bb5a6 19. Bg3d6 {Setting a trap} Ba6c8 20. Ne2f4 Qg6g3 21. Qd1e2 Bc8a6 {Stop and look at the position, what would you play now?} 22. Qe2xe7 {My first brilliancy} Ng8xe7 {I remember this moment well. Standing at my locker at school, when my friend came by saying "I won your queen, ahaha. Did you not notice my knight?". I just smiled.} 23. Re1xe7 Ke8f8 24. Nf4e6 Kf8g8 25. Bd6xg3 g6 26. Re7g7 {1-0 GG} 1-0
Originally posted by SwissGambit I play at RHP because I just pick sites at random and play chess on them. This one lets me take chess breaks in between talking smack on the forums.
The clown from "Five Characters In Search Of An Exit" says it all: "We're here because we're here because we're here".
Originally posted by paulbuchmanfromfics The clown from "Five Characters In Search Of An Exit" says it all: "We're here because we're here because we're here".
OK, I confess. It was a typo googling "Red Hot Pr0n". 😞
I'm here because I love the game, get a chance to play otb about twice a year so need the practice, and enjoy interacting with some extremely clever people either on the forum or during a game. There are even a couple of folk I am now friends with outside of RHP, VelvetEars and I have been meaning to actually meet up and have an otb game based on the friendship developed here.
Originally posted by morgski I'm here because I love the game, get a chance to play otb about twice a year so need the practice, and enjoy interacting with some extremely clever people either on the forum or during a game. There are even a couple of folk I am now friends with outside of RHP, VelvetEars and I have been meaning to actually meet up and have an otb game based on the friendship developed here.
I sincerely believe that in order to get better at chess one needs to play CC, we are
afforded the opportunity to research our play while the game is in progress, this has to
be good for us. I am playing all lines from my book, the dynamic English, by GM Tony
Kosten, its simply just wonderful to see all the lines come to life in this way.
I started here because i was working nights and the computer network i was on had banned all games sites, but for some reason Chessatwork.com got through the filter because it had 'work' in the title and was didn't mention 'game' anywhere on the homepage. I was just starting out at chess and was playing a lot of blitz on yahoo. I found the site incredibly slow at first and only signed up because sitting on a 12 hour shift with only 6 games going became very boring (refreshing the page once or twice a minute).
Well, it wasn't long before i totally ditched playing blitz in favour of correspondence full time. I'd probably still be floating somewhere in the 1400's if it wasn't for this site. Correspondence really taught me the depth of this game (still is teaching me). The concept of analysing a move, going away for a day or two, coming back and looking again. Sometimes doing this repeatedly over a week or two. It doesn't matter how many times you come back to a single position, there is always some subtlety that you over looked the first time.
I also got hooked on the forums. I used to spend hours in debates until i realised that you just end up repeating yourself over and over as new people join a discussion. I only use the chess forum now, it's much harder for people to fall out talking about chess. 😉
Originally posted by Marinkatomb I started here because i was working nights and the computer network i was on had banned all games sites, but for some reason Chessatwork.com got through the filter because it had 'work' in the title and was didn't mention 'game' anywhere on the homepage. I was just starting out at chess and was playing a lot of blitz on yahoo. I found the site incredibl ...[text shortened]... the chess forum now, it's much harder for people to fall out talking about chess. 😉
I only use the chess forum now, it's much harder for people to fall out talking about chess.
I value the search for truth that is inherent in correspondence chess. Although I often play CC as I do OTB and blitz (impetuously), sometimes I take the time for deep research into openings while games are in progress. Many years of such play, beginning in the age of postcards, has improved my OTB play.
I started playing correspondence chess with a friend in the mid-1970s when I started becoming serious about playing chess well.
In the early double-oughts (c. 2003), I started playing email and web-based CC. When I started exploring and comparing sites with CC, I found that RHP was one of the three or four best, and it had the most active forums.
I cut back here when another site arose with active forums and a better design, but returned several months ago on a reduced basis. I teach chess, and one of my students wanted to play here. Once here, I accepted a few open challenges, too.
I have never been without at least five turn-based games in progress since 2003.