Chess Master class

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AndyRM

XOXO
Location
North Shields
Ah... I like the fact that you are checking my credentials before buying into my waffle - others take note!

I have a rating and play in the national league (4NCL), am a former junior British Champ, am a full time chess coach, have played in the Olympiad and organised quite a few tournaments.

Chess has an Olympics?! Do you have to chuck javelins in between goes and stuff?
 
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Thomk

Thomk

Guru
Location
Warwickshire
Chess has an Olympics?! Do you have to chuck javelins in between goes and stuff?
Only if you're losing.
 

Profpointy

Legendary Member
The best thing to do if you're losing badly is to 'accidentally' slip and knock all the pieces over then say 'let's call it a draw'.


the real expert jiggles the board carefully until half an inch projects over your side of the table. It only takes a casual lean to set the whole lot flying
 
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Thomk

Thomk

Guru
Location
Warwickshire
[QUOTE 3708399, member: 9609"]I don't know if that is correct, been a member of chess.com for quite a ouple of years, my standard rating (30min) varies between 1300 & 1400 and has done since I started, and my Blitz (10min) stays between 1100 & 1200 except for the moment where it has plummeted to 1081 because I just keep making stupid mistakes - I am not very good but just love playing[/QUOTE]
Well I'm getting worse I think but I've been playing for over 35 years. If you've only been playing for a few you've no excuse....

Having said that I once taught the son of a maths professor who became a pretty good player. His dad however was possible the worst player I have ever met as well as the keenest! By the time I'd stopped coaching his son the prof was worse than when I started.
 

ColinJ

Puzzle game procrastinator!
I once played a former Scottish junior champion and beat him. He flew into a rage and accused me of cheating. Why? Because I "didn't play a standard opening". Guess I must have confused him :wacko:
I once played a friend at backgammon and thrashed him after rolling the same double 4 times in succession, the odds against which are 1,679,616 to 1!

He accused me of cheating, went into a major tantrum, threw the board in my face, and fled up our back garden path in floods of tears! :laugh:

I didn't even get the chance to ask him how exactly one cheats at dice rolling, when casting them vigorously into the lid of a box each time ... :whistle:
 
OP
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Thomk

Thomk

Guru
Location
Warwickshire
I once played a friend at backgammon and thrashed him after rolling the same double 4 times in succession, the odds against which are 1,679,616 to 1!

He accused me of cheating, went into a major tantrum, threw the board in my face, and fled up our back garden path in floods of tears! :laugh:

I didn't even get the chance to ask him how exactly one cheats at dice rolling, when casting them vigorously into the lid of a box each time ... :whistle:
Of course
I was being vaguely serious, hard to tell I know.

So how does it work? Is it a straight knockout sort of thing? Countries or individuals?
It's just really a big tournament where countries (well over 100) send teams (of 4 + reserves) and they compete against each other using what's called a "Swiss pairing system". This means that you generally play a team on the same or similar points as you each round (it used to be 14 rounds but I think is 11 these days) and the one with the most points wins. I can't remember if it's game points or match points (match points I think these days) but I promised myself I wouldn't Google replies in this thread. Anyway it's called the Olympiad and you can Wiki it.
 
OP
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Thomk

Thomk

Guru
Location
Warwickshire
I once played a friend at backgammon and thrashed him after rolling the same double 4 times in succession, the odds against which are 1,679,616 to 1!

He accused me of cheating, went into a major tantrum, threw the board in my face, and fled up our back garden path in floods of tears! :laugh:

I didn't even get the chance to ask him how exactly one cheats at dice rolling, when casting them vigorously into the lid of a box each time ... :whistle:
It's fairly common to beat a much stronger player at BG in a one off game, not so much in chess. Over a match to 11 or 21 points though the much stronger player will almost always win.
 

ColinJ

Puzzle game procrastinator!
Chess is one of those activities that I would like to get into, but other things always seem to get in the way - bike riding, for instance.

I make time to play a few games of Backgammon, Sudoku and Spider Solitaire a day so perhaps I am just being lazy. I think I ought to be pretty good at chess, but can't really be bothered to put the work in to develop my skills.

Mind you ... I was sorting through old books the other day to reduce my collection - 2 chess books got put in the recycling bag but then I changed my mind and fished them back out again. Perhaps I still have a suppressed desire to get into chess? :whistle:

As for BG ... The BG game I have on my tablet makes annoying mistakes. Most of the time it plays reasonably well, but sometimes it goes crazy and leaves blots all over the place for no good reason. Other times it does not spot that it is going to be backgammoned and blindly moves other pieces forward while ignoring ones stuck in my home quarter. I also get annoyed that it does not spot when games are definitely lost and insists that every move be played out to the end. (A superior chess player once got annoyed with me when I would not surrender a clearly lost chess game. He sneered at me and asked if I was trying to bore him into making mistakes! :blush:)
 

Profpointy

Legendary Member
I remember being roped into a chess team in uni. The understanding was I'd fill in if they were short - which turned out to be every bloody week. Big difference between nearly always beating your mates and nearly always losing to low-grade club players and spotty schoolkids but it did teach me not to make silly blunders. As we mostly played in pubs, I did find I played better after a pint - slight more detached so you see the wood for the trees. I once was doing rather well against the 3rd best in wales - quite fancied my strategic position until it all went wrong. Talking afterwards the chap explained that I'd tied him up with various threats so he couldn't do much against me - I didn't let on that I was completely unaware of all these potential attacks I had. A lesser player would've beaten me much earlier. I prefer proper games (eg poker), chess is merely a puzzle
 

AndyRM

XOXO
Location
North Shields
Of course

It's just really a big tournament where countries (well over 100) send teams (of 4 + reserves) and they compete against each other using what's called a "Swiss pairing system". This means that you generally play a team on the same or similar points as you each round (it used to be 14 rounds but I think is 11 these days) and the one with the most points wins. I can't remember if it's game points or match points (match points I think these days) but I promised myself I wouldn't Google replies in this thread. Anyway it's called the Olympiad and you can Wiki it.

Thanks, I'll have a look. And no doubt be disappointed when I discover no javelins are involved...
 
The best thing to do if you're losing badly is to 'accidentally' slip and knock all the pieces over then say 'let's call it a draw'.
Lean back on two chair legs, overbalance, wave one arm like you're in a rodeo whilst grabbing table and board with the other and finally hoofing table with both feet when you're beyond the point of no return: Never done that myself though.
 

ColinJ

Puzzle game procrastinator!
Lean back on two chair legs, overbalance, wave one arm like you're in a rodeo whilst grabbing table and board with the other and finally hoofing table with both feet when you're beyond the point of no return: Never done that myself though.
Wouldn't a good chess player be able to remember the positions of all the pieces?
 
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User33236

Guest
It's fairly common to beat a much stronger player at BG in a one off game, not so much in chess. Over a match to 11 or 21 points though the much stronger player will almost always win.
As a new bowler (normal grass bowls not 10 pin!) I beat the reining club champion in the second round ( I got a bye in the first) of the next club championship. It was first to 21 shots and I wad 20 - 3 down at one point. I came back, much to my opponents annoyance, to win 21 - 20.
 
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