It looks like a fun hobby.
Just play chess on https://lichess.org/. It's free and open source, and I'm contributing computing power to its stockfish post-game analysis.
ok grandpa let's get you back to the home and put on your wargames tape
Eventually I'm gonna make a VR Chess game with a mode that vibrates your buttplug whenever your finger hovers over the piece or space that the hint system recommends. So, look out for that one day.
Technology is already there, just gotta cobble it together.
Oh, I know. I ain't kidding. It would not be the first bluetooth vibrator related application I've created.
Did you use the
buttpluglibrary? Seems like it would be fun to play around with but I don't have any of the requisite hardware.I have not, but I'm familiar with its existence and qdot's work . I had actually gotten the addresses for my toy from their notes. There's come to be a lot of cheap Bluetooth toys for people of all parts nowadays on AliExpress. I just ordered a couple myself the other day for my current project.
disclaimer: I am merely adequate at chess
Usual recommendation goes something like this:
-
early game is basically solved and tedious to learn first so don't worry about it yet. Maybe learn like the first 5 moves in a handful of popular openings if you're paralysed by indecision.
-
Midgame is too complex to understand for a beginner. Instead learn the broad fundamental principles and try to develop a sense for judging which positions are better. Stuff like whether the board is open or closed and what pieces have more value in those situations, why the centre is good to have control over, how to develope pieces and avoid common traps.
-
you cannot win reliably if you don't understand end game. End game is also the simplest as it involves the fewest pieces. Begin your learning studying end game puzzles, you will learn fundamental techniques like forking, recognising what pieces a player needs in order to check mate and what positions are stalemates, how to force moves. This will strengthen your late midgame ( you know what trades to take, what pieces you must keep in your situation), and help you avoid frustrating drawn out cat and mouse games.
After learning the very basics you also should just play chess. After all don't forget it's supposed to be about a fun game and the less you expect yourself to be good the less anxiety you'll face playing matches. Get used to the feeling of playing against people, don't overanalyse your early matches. Just play many games, lose most, learn new tricks and where you're weakest.
Eventually you'll start feeling like you need to learn openings to improve, you should do that then.
I disagree with your end game analysis, it's the least fun part for me and the hardest for me to calculate
For clarity I'm talking about mock boards with like 3 pawns a side, a rook, a bishop and it's like "white to play and checkmate" or "white to play and mate in 3" etc for beginners. Where you learn like how you get a checkmate with 2 rooks or whatever.
where would you suggest a beginner start?
I'm just bad at endgames because you can technically calculate to the end and I'm not smart
Yeah fair enough. Before I did any kind of structured learning I used to get very frustrated at feeling like I was ready to win but not understanding how to, and occasionally throwing the game with massive blunders that cost tempo.
I don't play anymore though, I really dislike playing games that are well enough understood that you need to play somebody else's game to be competitive. 960 blitz is fun though, as that's all gut feeling no analysis (unless you're like a grandmaster).
Go is really fun but also stressful sometimes because it's such an open game tree. Modern boardgames are where I get most of my fun now.
My take is it's mostly tactics. I'm not very good at chess but I'm better than most and it's mostly tactics.
I was around 1600 bouncing up and down on chess.com (which I think has somewhat inflated ratings?) and I felt like refusing to study openings was holding me back a lot. That's the upper end of mediocre I think?
Like at the absolute beginner level to maybe sub 100 games played I agree I guess. Good tactics will destroy people, I feel like when studying end games though you learn good tactics because you often have to capture a couple of pieces on the way.
Once you start playing against people into chess though everyone has done the same tactic puzzles and it's no longer enough to bounce back from a shitty board position.
But as noted I was never amazing so I'm probably talking out my arse :)
Eh I don't know what my actual rating is on chess.com I only have the courage to play when I'm drunk really, I don't like losing lol. But I think my tactics rating is like 2000-2100( I'm aware this is meaningless) so when I play someone in the 1400 range I don't give up no matter how hard I blunder and usually win. But that's anecdotal.
-
Reject the coded and striated space of chess (knights and kings, institutionalization), and embrace the smooth space of go (a louse or an elephant, deterritorialization).
You learn Mahjong instead, the true hobby of the proletariat.
(I just fooled around on lichess until I got a bit better)
What's your level of knowledge?
-
learn how the pieces move. Castling, pins, pawn moves, knight moves.
-
learn basic opening principles, fight for the center, develop pieces, castle.
-
focus on tactics. Beginner players can lose significant material in the early game and win consistently if they are better at tactics. I like chess tempo for tactics training
-
learn some opening theory. Find lines that give you positions you enjoy and practice them.
I assume you're a finegold fan based on that response.
What's his stance on Palestine? He's a super lib so I assume not good
-
i don't know why anybody hasn't told you but you can just steal a chess player's skills by eating their heart. i'd recommend one of those niche celebrity 'champions' or whatever
https://www.chesskid.com/
I really like this for learning versus bots. It took me from the basics to being fairly competent.
Play the game and get a feel for it, and then watch videos of the best players playing, with commentary if possible. Before they make their move, decide in your head what your move would've been. You could even pause the video. Then see how it differs. If you can mimic the pros, you'll beat a lot of players.
The bonus of that is you don't have to get locked into a game, so you can do it whenever and not feel bad.
When you play, justify every single move by explaining it to yourself - it's a precise game so every decision should be justified, even the most simple. Explore every possibility (within reason). Use the time given to make the optimal play.
I can only speak for this working in Hearthstone Battlegrounds (a form of auto chess, which chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov has had a go at playing and saw similarities).
I watch DogDog's daily hearthstone highlight VODS every day before I go to bed. I skip through the 20 minute videos to the parts where he's making plays. Despite being an otherwise casual Battlegrounds player, I once reached the top 1% of player rankings. Most seasons I make a good global rank without even really thinking about it.
You get a game you you can play on a phone. When your opponent movies secretly put their moves and copy what the computer says to do
god I hate chess. I can’t stop playing and I’ve played thousands of games but just cannot get any better at it. I’m so slow and blunder so often, it’s the most frustrating game.
Honestly, just sign up for chess.com or Lichess and jump in. It'll take a while to get comfortable with the pieces and win but the best way to learn is by doing. Both sites have training and puzzles too. Once you start getting a feel for how the pieces move and if you're enjoying it you can look up openings for beginners online and practice those.
I've been playing since 2019 pretty much constantly. I had no experience when I started and while I'm not great by any stretch I love playing and I'm really glad I picked it up.
If you ever want a game DM me.
