[SpecialK]

As a teenager I taught myself to play chess and eventually over the years I got to be “pretty good”. Haven’t played in probably 30 years, though.

A month or so ago, for some reason, I got re-interested in it and started watching historic tournament games – such as Bobby Fischer vs Boris Spassky, and much older ones played by people who have a well-known opening named after them.

There are several “hosts” of these youtube chess games, but the one I like best is a Croatian guy named Antonio. He gives some feed back on the good and bad moves, and some history of the players. He even includes a game he played against a grand master, in which he managed a draw.

His site is here:

agadmator's Chess Channel - YouTube


I also downloaded a free chess game, called Chess 2020. The free version is pretty basic, and you can only set the skill level of the computer to beginner, novice, or recreational, though the pay version has about 20 more levels and many more features.

Here it is:
Computer Games | Filip Höfer

I beat it more often than not, but it does occasionally make a stupid move - but so do I. So, I’m a decent “recreational player”.

After a couple weeks, I wanted a bit more of a challenge, and downloaded Arena. Here is the Arena website:

Arena Chess GUI for Linux and Windows - Welcome to Arena

It has a lot of bells and whistles, you can import and export games, choose different engines, etc, but in the end it is still about the game. There is a simple-sounding way to reduce the computer skill level, from 100% (grand master?) to something lower, but I have not quite figured that out.

Out of the box I’ve lost 12 straight 😊

[swanlefitte]

I had a few Chessmaster versions. I can get to 2000 an drop to 700. I see diagonals very wrong. The bishop pinned by my pawn structure is actually taking my queen.

[sergeremy]

I never got beyond the very basics of chess... Way too much thinking ahead for me!
:-D

[timb64]

I was taught by my grandfather as a boy and played recreationally at school.Didn't pick up a set again for about forty years when I started volunteering at a local Age Concern charity.
The first thing the old guy I was paired with for befriending asked me was "Do you play chess?"
We played once a week for about five years until he passed away in 2016.
Haven't played again since but yesterday I was out shopping with the missus and picked up a neat little wooden travel set and we are going to start playing.

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Last edited by timb64; 06-02-2018 at 05:45 AM.

[Unregistered User 8]

Out of the box I’ve lost 12 straight 😊

A wonderful game. I bought a chess computer ( Garry Kasparov endorsed ) about 30 years ago, and I think it was one of the best things I have ever bought. It's top level is rated at beating 98% of players world wide..................................................so it will last me 10 lifetimes before I challenge the top level. But I keep trying.

BTW, I have found that losing games teaches me much more about chess than winning.

[bertwert]

BTW, I have found that losing games teaches me much more about chess than winning.

You learn from your mistakes, though in my case I find I keep repeating them...

[Unregistered User 8]

You learn from your mistakes, though in my case I find I keep repeating them...

Me too !!

[SpecialK]

Turns out, from what I read in the cryptic "Help", is that Arena comes with several engines - all of the "UCI" variety - which do not respond to the computer strength-limiting setting. So, I'm about 0-20 there, but still winning more than losing in Chess 2020 - though we both still make stupid mistakes.

[Hattifnatt]

Haha, just when I thought chess was the only thing missing on Pentaxforums )))

I was very dedicated and reached NM in high-school... now I haven't been playing in competitions for quite some time. I think my positional understanding of the game is still strong, but I find it harder and harder to calculate (not so old but still age makes a huge difference). Also nowadays everybody prepares with the computer so it's incredibly difficult to stand a chance in a competition against a well-prepared opponent. And I'm lazy. But I still follow some Youtube channels. I thing the best are:

In my opinion the absolute best chess channel on Youtube: ChessNetwork - YouTube

The second best: PowerPlayChess - YouTube

This guy can be very funny, matter of taste I guess: Ben Finegold - YouTube

[ChristianRock]

I was never good, just ok... but didn't play for many years and about a year ago I decided to download chess in my cell phone just for kicks and played a couple of games at entry level, in a very casual manner. It quickly dawned on me that you need to really pay attention while playing chess, as I got my butt kicked pretty hard both times, and have been telling myself I'll play again when I have time to actually focus... someday it'll happen

[Hattifnatt]

I was never good, just ok... but didn't play for many years and about a year ago I decided to download chess in my cell phone just for kicks and played a couple of games at entry level, in a very casual manner. It quickly dawned on me that you need to really pay attention while playing chess, as I got my butt kicked pretty hard both times, and have been telling myself I'll play again when I have time to actually focus... someday it'll happen

Hi Christian, if you wanna give it a more serious try I would recommend check the first channel in my post above. Jerry (aka ChessNetwork) has a series of videos for beginners which is very very instructive, I think it's called "From beginner to chess master", 20 videos or such. Real pleasure to watch.