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Levi Bennett Inner circle 1778 Posts 
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I found this site last night: http://en.lichess.org/
So far I really like it. I did hours of training. It's free and fun with lots of levels to choose from!
Performing magic unprofessionally since 2008!
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RogerTheShrubber Veteran user 301 Posts
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On Jul 21, 2015, Theodore Lawton wrote: You don't know the half of it. My wife almost killed me when I bought the entire "Yusopov's Chess School" series. I don't collect sets, though - any set with typical Staunton design is fine with me, and in fact I insist on Staunton design (which is the design pretty much all players are used to). If there's anything I hate, it's novelty sets. One friend wanted to play against me and couldn't understand why I didn't want to use his new Star Trek set. Pretty set, obviously very expensive, but not my bag. So many of those sets have problems such as bishops not sufficiently taller or different than the pawns or knights and rooks being *** near the same shape for me to feel comfortable with them. If I can't take off my glasses while playing, the set isn't for me. Once you get through Polgar's tactics book, here's another one to add: http://www.amazon.com/ChessCafe-Puzzle-B......8690216/ - full of tactical puzzles, but much tougher than Polgar's examples. When it comes to learning from the greats, you can save a lot of money by figuring out what your natural inclinations on the board are. If you're most comfortable playing like Petrosian or Karpov (positional "boa constrictor" play which leads you to sieze the smallest advantage and squeeze it to death), then don't go out and buy every book you can find on Fischer, Kasparov and Capablanca - one will suffice until you get through it and see if it's changed your style at all. I only tell you this to save you a fortune, because the more you learn the more you will WANT to learn, and you can avoid mistakes I've made by not going mad with your cash / credit card just because everything looks good to you. I have played through every game played by Fischer, Tal and Kasparov during their title matches as well as hundreds of their other games (when I was where you are now, there was no Internet, we got our latest theory by a famous series of books called Informants), and they're so far above my level and play so differently than my natural inclinations lead me to play that the amount I honestly learned didn't come close to justifying the hundreds I spent on those books. I learned FAR more by studying Karpov and Petrosian, whose styles are the exact opposite of those of Fischer, Tal and Kasparov, and I could have saved countless hours and dollars if I had figured that out before doing what everyone else did by trying to emulate Fischer, Tal and Kasparov. |
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RogerTheShrubber Veteran user 301 Posts
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One other piece of advice - when buying any chess book, make sure to read the reviews carefully if you ever use a reader like a Kindle or plan to start doing so. There are a lot of books out there which weren't converted into electornic format very well and in many cases the diagrams are either wrong or just don't display well.
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Levi Bennett Inner circle 1778 Posts
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That's some great advice about player styles. I'll keep that in mind.
I do have a kindle, but prefer to do most of my reading the old fashioned way. I did download a couple of pretty good chess games! Thanks!
Performing magic unprofessionally since 2008!
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magicfish Inner circle 7016 Posts
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Quote:
On Jul 18, 2015, Magnus Eisengrim wrote: Wow |
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Magnus Eisengrim Inner circle Sulla placed heads on 1053 Posts
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Quote:
On Jul 22, 2015, magicfish wrote: What wow?
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity.--Yeats |
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Chessmann Inner circle 4247 Posts
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I would avoid studying openings deeply until you become fairly proficient, tactically.
- when I became more concerned with playing good chess moves than with making sure I got my opening played, I improved, considerably. - I am sure that I overlooked many mistakes made by opponents because of focus on my opening. Mastering tactical principles I think will make later opening preparation more efficient, and you'll get a broader understanding as to why a given opening works.
My ex-cat was named "Muffin". "Vomit" would be a better name for her. AKA "The Evil Ball of Fur".
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RogerTheShrubber Veteran user 301 Posts
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On Jul 22, 2015, Theodore Lawton wrote: You're welcome. The debate about greatst game ever played is one hot topic, and if you ask 50 different experienced players their opinions you'll get at least 30 different answers. Many say Donald Byrne-Bobby Fischer, the so-called "Game of the Century." Many others say it's the sixth game of the '72 Spassky-Fischer match. My vote is Karpov-Kasparov, game 16, 1985. What Kasparov did to a reigning world champion AS BLACK in that game was beyond amazing. Plus, since I regard Kasparov as the greatest player in the history of the game, I'm willing to take him at his word when he called this game his "supreme schievement." One of the most interesting games ever, an absolute brilliancy, was Fischer's win as black against Robert Byrne in the 1963/64 U.S. Championship. After Fischer's 21st move, the commentators all thought Byrne was winning, but Byrne resigned because he was the only person (other than Fischer) who saw what was coming. I once read in a Russian book that this was the game that truly got the Soviets nervous about Fischer, and as you know by now, they were right to be. |
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Magnus Eisengrim Inner circle Sulla placed heads on 1053 Posts
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On Jul 18, 2015, Magnus Eisengrim wrote: Sourceforge.net is up and running again. Anyone who wishes to check out a good chess database for storing, analyzing and studying games might want to check out SCID. I use it all the time. http://scid.sourceforge.net/
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity.--Yeats |
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magicfish Inner circle 7016 Posts
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For you mobile guys, check out Chess With Friends on google play store.
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BobMillerMAGIC! Regular user MN 105 Posts
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On Jul 23, 2015, RogerTheShrubber wrote: I used to be a competitive chess player. Growing up, Fischer was my hero. Thanks for the review of this game. It makes me want to look it up. BTW, do you know about the Fischer movie coming out in Sept 2015, 'Pawn Sacrifice.'
PreDate: The NoMem Calendar Trick
http://www.BobMillerMagic.biz |
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RogerTheShrubber Veteran user 301 Posts
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On Jul 26, 2015, BobMillerMAGIC! wrote: By all means look up that game. The combination that Byrne saw, the one which would have won the game if he had not resigned before Fischer got a chance to play it (BTW, Fischer used the words "bitterly disappointed" in reaction to Byrne's resignation) is of such depth that every other grandmaster watching the game missed it. And yes, I know of the movie. Speaking of "bitterly disappointed," I'm bitterly disappointed that Tobey Maguire is playing Fischer. Leaving aside the fact that he should stick to ruining superhero movies instead of branching out and ruining other movies, Maguire is the size of a junior high school student. Fischer was an athletic 6'2", towered over most of his contemporaries and by their own admission intimidated them physically. This is a pretty important part of Fischer's story, and it won't be part of the movie - especially since Boris Spassky will be played by Liev Schrieber (who could throw Maguire through a concrete wall without breaking a sweat). However, my plans to skip the movie out of disgust went down the drain as soon as I learned that Schrieber would play Spassky. I'm a big fan of his work, not just with CSI and Ray Donovan, but also the work he did in Salt. I speak Russian and was impressed with his (he has Russian roots), so he seems a perfect choice to play Spassky (even if he is a bit more intimidating than Spassky himself). I've seen so many actors butcher Russian to the point of turning my stomach (Mark Harmon, Chris O'Donnell, Clint Eastwood, Sidney Poitier, Bruce Willis and so on) that I'll watch almost any movie featuring an actor I know can handle the language well. Anyway, back to R. Byrne-Fischer, if you find the game and can't figure out why Byrne resigned, let me know and I'll type up the combination in whichever notation you prefer. I never would have seen it myself, but I certainly know it by heart now. Many consider D. Byrne-Fischer to be Bobby's crowning achievement (especially since it involves a queen sacrfice by a 13 year-old), but I am far more impressed by R. Byrne-Fischer. |
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Chessmann Inner circle 4247 Posts
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I've always thought that Brad Darrach's book, "Bobby Fischer vs. the Rest of the World" would have made a great movie. I'm assuming "Pawn Sacrifice" will be different/different source material?
At first blush, I like the idea of Tobey M. as Fischer. Height issues are among the easiest for filmmakers to deal with, and I think Maguire brings other characteristics that make him (for me) a very interesting choice for the role. The proof will be in the pudding, of course.
My ex-cat was named "Muffin". "Vomit" would be a better name for her. AKA "The Evil Ball of Fur".
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RogerTheShrubber Veteran user 301 Posts
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I've been pleasantly surprised before. As an example, I grew up reading Ludlum novels and scoffed (it would be more accurate to say that I was outraged and disgusted) at the idea of Matt Damon playing Jason Bourne. Boy, was I wrong about that - he was great. I find it hard to believe, however, that Maguire is going to surprise me. I think less than nothing of him as an actor (whereas in Damon's case, at least I liked him, even if I thought his casting as Bourne was a joke). Still, I've been wrong before, so I'll keep an open mind to the best of my ability.
As for the height issue, I don't think Hollywood plans to address it at all. I know they can do some amazing things (the guy who played Bane in the most recent Batman movie is 5'9"), but too few people know enough about Fischer to the point where I'd expect Hollywood to care. I've read Darrach's book, it was great. I'm not proud of this, but I borrowed it from the library years ago and liked it so much that I told them I lost it and paid to replace it (there was no Amazon back then and I couldn't find it in bookstores). I did the same with Svetozar Gligoric's book on the 1972 match. But getting back to Hollywood, I'd bet anything that they plan to blow off the height issue entirely. I've always been disgusted with the cavalier attitude Hollywood has towards chess accuracy. I watched an episode of Criminal Minds where Reid defined Zugzwang as the point where you have to decide whether to continue or resign (you know, as if that only happens on a particular move). I saw an episode of CSI where they described the non-existent Osterlitz Ending as "The Holy Grail of chess," a position that a championship-level opponent is just supposed to walk into so that the protagonist can deliver a flashy checkmate instead of playing the mate in one available to him earlier. I've lost count of the times where I've seen the king and queen in the wrong starting positions, a dark square in the right corner for White, and so on. As such, I find it hard to believe that they're going to say "Whoa, wait - Fischer was a half a foot taller than Spassky, we have to do something about this." |
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Posted: Jul 22, 2015 01:01 pm 
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