P&B Chess League - Season 8 coming soon….

[101]

Good game @Frank Grimes I think you cornered yourself at the end there. 

[johnnydun]

@invergowrie arab I have been looking for you to invite, but can't find you mate. 

Edit; found you bud.

No rush if you have another game on the go.

Edited February 15, 2021 by johnnydun

[Frank Grimes]

Very much so @101

Aggressive pressure down one side didn’t pay off unfortunately, you defended well 

Good game 

[D Angelo Barksdale]

I just played at primary school level, once I hit high school I never looked at a board.

I was decent at that level, around 1050-1100 at 10/11 years old, my primary school was pretty strong. I played board 3 as we came runner up in the Scottish schools. I also came 3rd place in a Scottish age group tournament once.

[Richey Edwards]

3 hours ago, Bigmouth Strikes Again said:

It's on a 7day setting @Richey Edwards just start the game?

Did I send you the invite?

[invergowrie arab]

21 minutes ago, johnnydun said:

@invergowrie arab I have been looking for you to invite, but can't find you mate. 

Edit; found you bud.

No rush if you have another game on the go.

Are we on a new round of fixtures? I'm not paying attention 

[johnnydun]

2 minutes ago, invergowrie arab said:

Are we on a new round of fixtures? I'm not paying attention 

It's the 2nd fixture from last Friday bud.

[Gordon EF]

2 hours ago, Henderson to deliver ..... said:

I just played at primary school level, once I hit high school I never looked at a board.

I was decent at that level, around 1050-1100 at 10/11 years old, my primary school was pretty strong. I played board 3 as we came runner up in the Scottish schools. I also came 3rd place in a Scottish age group tournament once.

It's all coming out now eh? Have we got any grandmasters lurking in the league?

[Bigmouth Strikes Again]

12 hours ago, Richey Edwards said:

Did I send you the invite?

Yes

eta Thats the game started @Richey Edwards

Edited February 16, 2021 by Bigmouth Strikes Again

[Ziggy]

14 hours ago, Leicesterlichtie said:

Has anyone else played chess for an actual club?

Up until the pandemic, I was playing for a local chess club for whom I've played for about 15 years. Have also represented the county at differing levels and was part of the side that won the ECF national u-100 (ECF grade) title about 4-5 years ago.

I was a member of Cathcart CC when I stayed in Glasgow.

I played on either the top boards of the B team or on one of the bottom boards for the 1st team. (The 1st team was strong, international masters on boards 1 & 2 and grades of 2000 or above down to board 5 or 6.

I never achieved a grade that high however I did beat an international master in a tournament game once.

[DiegoDiego]

I achieved my first international master norm just before covid hit.

Not really. I played one competitive game at school when I was about 14 and since then I've played a handful of meaningless games in hostels. This is my first time playing humans online.

The other day Anna Rudolf was saying she had a job in Spain teaching chess to nursery children, preparing them for a mate in one test they get in P1!
Chess does teach a lot of good skills and concepts: problem solving, concentration, patience, opportunity cost, analytical thinking. I wouldn't complain if a child of mine was taught chess at school but the problem with curricula is to put something in you need to take something out.

[Stellaboz]

Just now, DiegoDiego said:

I achieved my first international master norm just before covid hit.

Not really. I played one competitive game at school when I was about 14 and since then I've played a handful of meaningless games in hostels. This is my first time playing humans online.

The other day Anna Rudolf was saying she had a job in Spain teaching chess to nursery children, preparing them for a mate in one test they get in P1!
Chess does teach a lot of good skills and concepts: problem solving, concentration, patience, opportunity cost, analytical thinking. I wouldn't complain if a child of mine was taught chess at school but the problem with curricula is to put something in you need to take something out.

In P1 we just played most of the time. Granted this was like 30 odd years ago but still. 

[DiegoDiego]

In P1 we just played most of the time. Granted this was like 30 odd years ago but still. 

I was at primary school at roughly the same time and the closest I'd have got to a chess set would have been if there was a Viking hoard buried 'eneath the playground.

Can anyone with school aged children enlighten us to current practices?

[Frank Grimes]

@Loki you are GCarlos9 aren’t you?

Your cup opponent is @adampar FYI 

Eednud pulled out the cup 

[Bigmouth Strikes Again]

9 minutes ago, Frank Grimes said:

@Loki you are GCarlos9 aren’t you?

Your cup opponent is @adampar FYI 

Eednud pulled out the cup 

Is Eednud PurpleKangaroo? Played him in the cup yesterday.

[D Angelo Barksdale]

The computer on chess.com is a fucking dick with the x3 repetition draws.

[Eednud]

4 minutes ago, Bigmouth Strikes Again said:

Is Eednud PurpleKangaroo? Played him in the cup yesterday.

Eh’m flamingalah01 ye ken.

[gkneil]

43 minutes ago, Bigmouth Strikes Again said:

Is Eednud PurpleKangaroo? Played him in the cup yesterday.

CraigKillie is PurpleKangaroo

[GordonS]

I liked chess at primary school and I set up a competition in P7, basically so I could win it. I've never got over losing to a ned in the semi final. We never had a chess club at primary or secondary and it wouldn't have occurred to me that they existed for a board game. I'd never have thought there were clubs or strategies for opening moves in chess any more than for Battleships or Guess Who. I'd have absolutely loved a chess club when I was a kid and I'm sure it would have led to me playing throughout my life. I could make a point here about opportunity and underprivilege, but this isn't the place.

I used to play my dad regularly. He was pretty good and would never let me beat him, so when I finally did, twice in one night when I was about 13, it was like a coming of age. We never played much after that because he's an arsehole.

Apart from that the only chess I played was against a friend of a friend when we were about 17 who claimed to be good. He said he'd got a draw against Gerry someone, a grandmaster from Scotland. He played me and a pal at the same time and he was creaming me until he put his queen and king on a skewer for my rook. After that I clawed my way back and beat him. He took it badly and challenged me to a best of five at his house. I won the first three and it finished 3-2. As I was cycling home he followed me in his car for a bit for no apparent reason, and I think he was seriously contemplating running me over.

Since then I can only recall playing 3 adults - my wife, a pal and a colleague, all terrible at chess. I play my kids but neither of them are a challenge.

I bought a wee portable chess computer about 1995 and I played that for a bit, but I found I would become obsessed with it. I regularly couldn't sleep for thinking about moves. I'd play it from time to time but it's not like a human. Even the bots on Chess.com, they're not realistic. It's like they're mostly perfect but take a dive every now and then to come down to the ranking.

I'm glad this thread and competition has got me playing chess against people again, it's been brilliant during this lockdown.

[DiegoDiego]

I'd never have thought there were clubs or strategies for opening moves in chess any more than for Battleships or Guess Who.

Wait, you don't have a solid opening repertoire for Guess Who?

As for the computers not playing like humans there's a lichess bot called maia which has analysed tens of millions of human vs human games and plays the move that a human of that rating would be most likely to play. So it might not notice a discovered attack but it won't blunder the Queen on move ten. I've l played it a few times and found it much more "natural" than playing against stockfish. Search for maia1, maia5 or maia9 on lichess and challenge it.