

Ask HN: Chess players here? - S4M

Following the enthusiasm for the Anand - Carlsen match, I&#x27;m wondering how many of you are chess players.<p>I personally have a FIDE rating of 1930, but haven&#x27;t played in competition in a while.
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kohanz
Former chess player. I played competitively up until about age 17. My national
rating (Canada) peaked at ~2200 (probably putting me around (2000-2100 in FIDE
terms), but didn't play in enough FIDE-rated tournaments.

Once I started studying engineering, I had neither the time nor energy to stay
competitive enough to keep going. I'm early 30's now. The only chess I play
now is with the occasional stranger at the public library or to surprise
someone giving a chess exhibition with one of those giant chess boards ;)

What blows my mind now is that I used to have better concentration abilities
as a youngster (12 to 17 years old) than I do now. I was notorious for playing
marathon games and getting into time trouble (imagine flagging after 6 hours
of play!). Now I can't fathom sitting for 30 minutes to decide on a single
move. That being said, I would say it has transferred over to other parts of
my life. My wife will be the first to tell you that I love to analyze (and
over-analyze) decisions and will hold off on making them until I'm very sure
about things.

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papaf
I suck at chess but I recommend a holiday in Indonesia. People don't drink
alcohol much but socialise by playing chess. I ended playing chess nearly
every day. I didn't win at all. The coffee is also awesome.

[http://www.shunya.net/Pictures/Indonesia/Yogyakarta/Chess.jp...](http://www.shunya.net/Pictures/Indonesia/Yogyakarta/Chess.jpg)

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dl8
I'm a chess newbie but I think the best/most simple chess website to play at
is [http://www.lichess.org](http://www.lichess.org)

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chrisweekly
I'm unrated and without a particular talent for the game, but I've always
enjoyed it. I managed one draw and one win (out of dozens of matches) against
someone supposedly rated >1800 (not sure if FIDE or US) ... 20 years ago. I
haven't even had a game in over a year so I'm not really a "player" if I ever
was. :)

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ricsteb
I like chess but i suck at it.I would like to have sparing
partner(tutorial,book recommendation will do it too), someone who can teach me
how to think like a chess player precisely explaining why at any given moment
you would move a piece instead of another. To me there are so many options
that it would take hours to make a sure move.

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iends
I play chess, but not very often anymore. In my peak I drew an IM during a
simul on ICC, but probably was only rated 1800-1900. I stopped studying it and
took up the violin because I got tired of sitting by myself for hours. With
music I can at least play with others, and my wife can enjoy it!

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phaus
I play every once in a while, but I've never studied or practiced enough to go
beyond around 1200. I have trouble forcing myself to spend more than about 3
seconds per move. I also don't think about playing while its my opponent's
turn. That's probably not ideal.

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Rami114
I used to think I was ok at it but then:

* I've never beaten my dad in a game in 20 years * I took up the offer from a guy in a NY park and got my ass royally whooped (not to mention the 20 dollars heh)

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tptacek
I'm a sloppy 5-minute speed chess player, for whatever that's worth.

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velikos
FIDE Master here. Rated 2317 according to the latest FIDE ratings.

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deeteecee
i was not interested in chess and it was really hard for me to get interested
until i followed this guy's videos:
[http://www.youtube.com/user/ChessNetwork](http://www.youtube.com/user/ChessNetwork)

Just watching it got me excited and I picked up the basics and was having fun
learning the game.

~~~
cabacon
You might also enjoy
[http://www.youtube.com/user/kingscrusher](http://www.youtube.com/user/kingscrusher)

He comments on professional matches, but the part of his feed that I enjoy are
the 1/3/5 minute time control games he plays. He is very good at articulating
his thoughts during the game, and I find that much more engaging that
listening to analysis of alternate lines that's more common in commentated
chess matches.

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adultSwim
Yes; i suck. Haven't played a tournament since the mid 2000's.

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akbarnama
I play slow (correspondence) chess at redhotpawn.com. Great site!

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FurrBall
I play yahoo's online chess once and a while.

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mseidl
I play chess, but terribly and not rated...

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davidsmith8900
\- I play chess

