*** Official OcUK Chess Thread ***

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Soldato
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Yes, boring I know! But I've always wanted to do an 'official thread'. I feel validated. :D

Figured I'd make this thread; it's pretty self-explanatory...

If you play chess regularly, or are looking to get involved and brush-up your game, you now have somewhere to post and ask those silly questions.

To kick us off, I'm thinking of getting a little OcUK chess tournament or maybe even a league (knock-out or round-robin based) going for a little bit of fun. I'm sure we have a site-subscriber somewhere who'd be kind enough to start us our own little group too.

If you're interested, just say so. A few of us are already over at Chess.com (a very good site I must add), so I'm assuming we will function through there. Time isn't really an issue as games don't have to be played 'live' and can be anywhere between 3-15 days per move, although for the above, I think the 3-day per move format will work best.

We have our own Chess.com group, found here.

Once you have signed up to Chess.com, just post a link to your profile and I'll add it to the list below:

Members:

Amleto - amleto
Bill Door - Civ77
Captainbumfluff - CAPTAINBUMFLUFF
Clown - Clowneh
Gillywibble - Gillywibble
icysniper - icysniper
kalvindeane - kalvindeane
Khaaan! - Khaaan
maustin - maustin
Nix - Nixeh
Platypus - russdunn
Pneumonic - Pneumonic
TheBrooder - Brooder
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Last Updated: 18/06/10
 
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Okay, I've updated the list. We just need a few more interested parties and a kind member (I don't know if you're able to Platypus?) make us our own group and away we go!

Glad to see so many people willing to get involved. :)

Maustin, I can't seem to find your profile?

Challenge me to an unrated game and I'll talk you through the basics. I've just read Bobby Fischer Teaches You Chess. It's definitely a book that you'll find worthwhile. You can pick it up for < £4 at the moment too, so no excuse! :p
 
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iviv said:
Holly :D

I'm not a fan of online chess, because I don't know if I'm playing against a human or a computer. I mean, have a program like Chessmaster open in one window, set to grandmaster difficults. You play the moves your opponent makes into CM, it gives you the best reply, which you then put into the web game.
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Well I'm hoping that those members who'd like to join and genuinely improve their game/have fun, would be above 'cheating'.
 
maustin said:
My first game I actually think I played well in:

http://www.chess.com/livechess/game.html?id=29563966

Feel free to point out if I could have done better after the b2 move.
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That was very risky play allowing that pawn to march down to your lines. I would try to avoid doing that again in future as it can serve as an outpost for your opponent. On move two, I personally would have either developed my queen early, winning the piece and sacrificing a tempo, although already having your D-file open is a large advantage, or I would've played Nf3, continuing with the development as the pawn is easily captured a few moves later anyway.

That was a very nice discovered check winning the queen. However, I fear that against a better opponent, you had already given the game away a few moves in.

As a general rule, try to:

1. Control the centre of the board.
2. Protect your pieces. More so, if you are playing highly positional/tactical games.
3. Develop early. This means pawns, bishops and knights.
4. Castle early, as to avoid losing tempo later in the game.
5. Use pins, forks, discovered checks and exchanges to your advantage. Do not be afraid to sacrifice a piece if it wins you control.
6. Try to avoid developing your queen too early.

Above all, take your time. Don't jump on the first move that looks attractive. Always try to find another before deciding.
 
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Interesting.

I remember a few years ago when I played Bullet chess, it definitely fostered my intuition. At the very least, you tend to quickly learn some main-lines.

I'm definitely interested in using Chess Mentor/Trainer on the site, but I can't quite afford the subscription at present, nor does this computer want to run the damn thing without crashing every five minutes. :p

I think at present, I'm gaining a lot from slow play whilst reading up on openings as I play them. The analysis board helps no end, but I fear that I may be sacrificing my normal calculation through using it so any real-life play may suffer as a result.

I'm also currently thinking of investing in a couple of solid books on theory, etc. so I'll get back to you if I think they're any good. :)
 
As much as I like the Semi-Slav Gillywibble, I fear it's still too passive for my style of play. I hate sitting back and letting white hem me in slowly. :o
 
Nice. I really don't like the way you've managed to hem my pieces in on that backline gillywibble. Reducing me to almost complete passivity! :p
 
As an aside, in the future, if and when we get a stronger member-base in the OcUK group, how do people feel about group matches?
 
I've joined the team vote chess match. Currently only Pneumonic and myself as members though!

Shall we go with the QP opening, keep it simple?
 
Yeah, I'm playing those lines mostly at the moment. I have an intention to start practicing some English lines if you'd like to have an unrated game similar to what Russ and myself currently have?

EDIT:

It seems in the vote-chess, we all select a move then the one with the most responses wins, so we each have to move a piece on the board ourselves.
 
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anant_shah94 said:
guys, I'll be free to play next friday to sunday.

don't know how good any of you are :\

I've played against a few chess journalists but been beaten. my mate plays for England. I've played against Grand Master Raymond Keene and he destroyed me :(
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Well yeah, he would do. He's a GM. :p

Just join the group when your exams are over anant, there's no rush.
 
What I love and hate about this game is how quickly you can go from being in a great position to fighting tooth and nail for even a draw and vice versa.
 
Maustin, are you finding the in-game comments helpful? I'm sure Playtpus et al. will also be happy to do the same if you wish.
 
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