Originally published at Writer's Blog. Please leave any comments there.

I've found a new toy - the Chess Tactics Server. It's basically a free website where you go to solve thousands of chess problems. You're presented with scenario where you have to choose the next best move (or set of moves) before the clock runs out and are rated based on whether or not you found the correct solution. The faster you solve it, the more points you get. Solvers start with a rating of 1500 (based on the popular Glicko system). Right now I'm hovering right around 1100, so I think I've hit my actual skill level at the moment. The goal is to improve my rating by doing more and more of these problems.

For chess enthusiasts rushing over there to check it, take notice that the site works best in Internet Explorer. Tell IE to never check for newer versions of stored pages (Tools --> Internet Options --> Temporary Internet Files --> Settings --> Check for newer versions of stored pages --> Never), or else the clock will start counting down before the board even finishes loading.

It's kind of fun, and you can solve as many or as few as you like and then go do something else for a while. So, if you like chess, go give it a look-see.

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Tags: chess

Originally published at Writer's Blog. Please leave any comments there.

Once upon a time, I was a registered member of the US Chess Federation. I competed on a fairly regular basis - half a dozen tournaments a year - and was a regular attender to the weekly practices. One of the perks of being a USCF member is an annual subscription to Chess Life, the monthly periodical. In addition to all the good articles and how-to’s, along with updating member rankings, this magazine carried ads for all sorts of cool chess merchandise, most of which a high school kid with no job could only drool over.

One issue, though, pushed me over the edge to beg for some money from my folks. What got my attention was an ad for a chess variant called Doubles Chess - an 8-sided board with four sets of pieces, set so 2-4 players could battle it out for each other’s kings on the same board at the same time.¹ It was an amazing concept, and I was eager to try it out.

I really don’t remember how I badgered the money out of my folks, but they were gracious enough to give me the money to order this novelty. From the moment I pulled it out of the box, I was in awe - I’d never seen anything so cool. It took me quite some time to figure out how the pieces moved. After all, having double the number of columns and rows that meet at a point in the middle of the board proved to be somewhat problematic. Plus, the armies across from each other actually had to work together to checkmate the other two kings. But in the end I found it to be relatively straightforward.

Of course, I took it to the very next chess meeting with me, showed it to the rest of my team. Everyone was interested, and a few even agreed to try playing it with me. In the end, though, a group of four playing Doubles Chess together inevitably fell off to just one - me. It was too difficult, they said, too hard to figure out and learn. The strangeness of it all made it less fun for them, I guess.

I tried a couple of times after to generate some interest in the game, and I even pulled it out a couple of times during my college years. The novelty of it always drew a small crowd initially, but something about those eight sides and four armies made everyone go cross-eyed and the interest was short-lived. I still love the idea; I still think it’s one of the coolest things to come out of the chess world. But it’s hard to play chess by oneself and harder still to play Doubles Chess alone. Perhaps one day I’ll find three brave compatriots who are willing to sit down and learn the game with me. In some ways, it’s taking chess to a whole new level and seeing it in a completely different way.

For now, though, that frontier is still empty and lonely. Few ‘old schoolers’ are willing to brave it, and few who are still fresh to the game are ready for the added complexity of Doubles.

I think I’ll pull that board out again tonight, dust it off, pull the pieces out of their little plastic bags, and set it up. If nothing else, it’s pretty to look at.

1. Though, the set I own has a more modern-looking board with a better color scheme. [↩]

Tags: chess

Originally published at Writer's Blog. Please leave any comments there.

It’s been a long time since I’ve had any formal tutelage in the game of chess, but what tips I can remember are relayed in the bullet points below. Most of these tips involve developing a strong opening game, and since there are almost as many different types of opening game as there are permutations of chess pieces, the following tips are just general guidelines for the beginning player. I don’t claim to be an expert; indeed, I would still consider myself an amateur player. But these are some of the things I was taught as a youngster learning the game and have found them to be sound advice.

• The key to a strong opening in chess is controlling the center four squares of the board. This means that early development of both bishops and both knights is a significant advantage.
• King-side castling is almost always stronger than the queen-side castle. Again, the sooner in your opening you castle, the stronger your position will be.
• Doubled pawns (two of your pawns in the same file¹) is almost always a disadvantage.
• Whenever possible use a rook to control an open or half-file.²
• Sitting back away from the board a little ways helps prevent the player from falling into tunnelvision. It is far too easy to miss seeing possible moves when sitting right over top of the board.
• There’s nothing wrong with walking around the table and viewing the board from your opponent’s perspective. This often results in seeing threats that weren’t immediately visible from one’s own side.

I’m sure there are others, and I’ll relay them as I remember. It’s just been a long time, and things come back to me the more I play. Right now I’ve been reading and working through a book I bought in high school on the Sicilian Dragon counterattack opening. I’d bought it with the best of intentions then but really had no clue how to work through it and learn it. I’m going to try my hand at it again, and then see if I can move through some more openings. It’s never too late to learn new things, and I’d like to expand my knowledge and enhance my chess skills. Might as well start now, right?

1. A file is a column of eight squares. [↩]
2. An open file is an 8-square column in which no pawns are present. A half-file has only one pawn (of either color). [↩]

Tags: chess

Originally published at Writer's Blog. Please leave any comments there.

Brilliant.

Tags: chess, humor

Originally published at Writer's Blog. Please leave any comments there.

Chess is the game of kings and champions. It is an elegant game, devoid of chance, dependent only on mental prowess and strategy. It is a complicated game, involving thousands of possible solutions to capture the opponent’s King. It is a game that I love.

One of the advantages of now having my brother living so close to me is that we have again taken up this wonderful pastime. I’d almost forgotten just how much I love playing chess. In high school we were both among those ‘geeks’ on the chess team - we met once a week as a group to play and learn and hone our strategies.¹ Several times a year we would travel around the state for various tournaments.² It was fun just to be able to see different schools, make new friends, and socialize along the way.

I haven’t really played much in recent years, though. Chess is a game that seems to have fallen out of favor. There aren’t many people who even know how to play, let alone understand and appreciate the nuances and intricacies of the game. It is the ultimate strategy game, one that I hope to now be able to improve on.

I have a feeling that chess is going to become a weekly ritual for my brother and me. Any other chess players out there?

1. By the way, all those stereotypes you hear about the chess team at your local high school? They simply aren’t true. [↩]
2. I think my best rating was somewhere around a 914, which isn’t great but isn’t horrible, either. [↩]

Tags: chess