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So chess is a thing now.

bighugeguns

Member
Anyone watching the pogchamps on Twitch? It's pretty sweet, chess is getting super popular now thanks to Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura and xQc (Streamer).

Hilarity followed as chess elitists spill their spaghetti over the Nascarification of Chess.
 
I love watching Hikaru troll other high level players with the Bongcloud opening, it's hilarious. I also follow Agadmator on Youtube, best chess channel by far. A coworker gifted me the book "Complete Book of Chess Strategy" by IM Jeremy Silman but I haven't gotten to it yet. I really should cuz I've been playing like completely trash on Chess.com lately.
 
I worked with a dude years ago that carried around a chessboard and would ask people around the office to play. Most said no or didn't have time, so it was kinda painful to see. I guess since chess is now a thing(?) I'm hoping he'll get in on it.
 

RaptorGTA

Member
I couldnt get into Chess...wish I could and probably should try. But I really enjoy Backgammon. I am not great or anything but I enjoy it
 
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Sidney Prescott

Unconfirmed Member
He's actually doing well in the tournament, dude's played like 10k games on chess.com already, whatever he lacks in brains he makes up for in the ability to grind!
I watch xQc on occasion, one of the only big streamers I find entertaining. Mostly when he plays variety games. I actually don't think he's as dumb as he acts on stream. His chat is the worst though, I have to turn that off. Too spammy for my taste.
 

Goro Majima

Kitty Genovese Member
It was kind of a big thing in the 90s with movies like "Searching for Bobby Fisher" and that whole Kasparov vs Deep Blue thing.

But yeah it definitely fell off a cliff in the 00s and 10s.
 
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Kamina

Golden Boy
He had this classic moment:


pKwIyI8RyGtPW35ZFg2m
 

dave_d

Member
Only took 500 years, but it’s a thing

Don’t forget that classic crossover sport, ChessBoxing (one round of boxing, fixed time of chess, repeat)
My personal favorite alternate chess is "Around the house chess".(Not sure how many have heard of that one.)
 
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Sidney Prescott

Unconfirmed Member
Wasn't it that Queen's Gambit show that caused this recent surge in popularity?
Partly. It's a mixture of Twitch & Netflix, I would think. I distinctly remember Chess just popping off on Twitch when big streamers started to get in to it. I had never noticed it before then but you couldn't miss it on the front page.
 

ReyBrujo

Member
Wasn't it that Queen's Gambit show that caused this recent surge in popularity?
Chess has been growing since last year, with the pandemic many IM/GM turned to Twitch, Hikaru started his growth last year for example. Obviously such a massive hit helped in getting random people interested and opened a window for some of the content creators (xQc and others) to jump into. Heck, even CarlSagan42 who plays Mario Maker 2 started playing it.

I used to play when child (typical father-son stuff), then at college I played a couple of tournaments and got my ELO measured at 1680, then dropped to 1630 by the third and then stopped playing. I got a chessboard and a clock at the office, we had one guy who was pretty good at it and we would play during the long deploy nights.

I recently started again with the Danish Gambit as white and trying to find a black opening different from the King's Indian which I used to play, almost reached 1200 at chess.com in a couple of days but then started having some trouble so I dropped to 1100 and have been playing unrated games mostly until I get confident again. I've beaten one 1600 player who I was paired with and can beat the bots up to 1500, unfortunately I'm quite rusty (somehow my mind can't elaborate moves to take advantage of pinned pieces).

Some prefer lichess.org, personally I got an annual membership at chess.com to see if I can return to my old shape
 

Cyberpunkd

Member
Guess who’s back? Your favorite thread grave digger - almost 19 months dead thread, let’s do it.

Lord Of The Rings Yolo GIF by Mashable


Late 30s, started to make adult decisions so after starting learning piano I decided to learn and play chess before my father passes away so I can beat his fat ass.

Is 10-15 years of steady play enough to carry me to GM rank GAF?
 

jufonuk

not tag worthy
I didn’t start the chess thread just this mini numberwang thread.

Thank you to whoever gave me gold 🤘🤘

Chess is good I’m learning to play. But remember don’t start doing evil plans with the knowledge of chess. I’m not your prawn in the machination. Etc etc.

Don’t give into the evil cliche of a chess playing mastermind resist that urge.

Alfonso Cuaron Thank You GIF by The Academy Awards
 
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dave_d

Member
A year and a half later and I still haven't heard of it
It's pretty simple.
  1. Setup your chess board outside your house. Both players sit down
  2. White moves first. After white moves he starts running all the way around the house.
  3. Black can move only once at any time while white is running around the house.
  4. When white gets back and sits down black must get up immediately and start running around the house. Same rules as 2/3 but with black and white swapped. If black has not moved a piece by this time black loses a turn
  5. This goes back and forth under standard chess rules until one side wins
One rule that has to be decided on before the match is do you run around in the direction so the seated played can see you coming or from behind. Anyway it adds a new complexity since if you move early then the opposing player has to figure out which piece you moved. Also if you don't have a lot of endurance you end up giving your opponent more time to make a move.
 

kurisu_1974

Member
Never really been that interested as it is somewhat of a "solved" game (I know that that's not entirely accurate) and memorization is more important than skill, or at least that's my experience with it.
 

Lasha

Member
Never really been that interested as it is somewhat of a "solved" game (I know that that's not entirely accurate) and memorization is more important than skill, or at least that's my experience with it.

Chess is probably the purest game of skill. The skills are pattern recognition and cognition. Being able to see the board several moves ahead and capitalize on those moves is something you need to develop. You can always play non-classical timings if you want more intuitive games at lower levels.
 

Cyberpunkd

Member
Never really been that interested as it is somewhat of a "solved" game (I know that that's not entirely accurate) and memorization is more important than skill, or at least that's my experience with it.
It's the opposite, probably the purest game of skill. It's a "perfect information" game - you and your opponent have exactly the same knowledge of the pieces, everything is open and transparent. The rules do not change, so you can focus on applying these rules the best way possible.
 
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