Chess

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The other day I visited mychessblog and read their post on mma vs chess and the idea of mma pound for pound system and chess elo system stuck me. Do you guys think that chess has anything similar to that? I think the ELO system is way different.

The complexities of a computer system have always been a challenge to most, if not all human minds. Though only discovered and designed by humans, the intelligence of a computer is now a promising match to that of human’s. The extent of computer intelligence however is still the favorite subject of extensive discussions. The question of whether which among the human mind or the computer will reign supreme is a question that holds unanswered.

With the evolvement of chess into something way more advance than the actual board game the people’s respect to computer has undeniably increased. It was a whole new world waiting to enfold right under our fingertips. When computer chess became popular, the life of many chess enthusiasts became a lot easier. People of full schedules everyday were enabled to play during break times and wee hours without ever having to leave home or their workplaces. Also, they don’t have to look for a person to sit and play with them when no one is around or is willing to.  It was all fast and easy. The downside of this setting however is the issue of beating computer chess.

The current system that holds computer chess is every bit modern and up-to-date. It is developed meticulously and with complicated details. This allows the computer to do methodical moves based on certain computations. With it, the computer has become so powerful that many people are led to believe that it is almost impossible to beat.

On the contrary, beating computer chess is completely possible. The first key is to master the rules- from the basic to the most intricate. The rules on the arrangement of the pieces in a board, the way it should be moved and the way a capture should be done should be known by heart. Every progress in the game will basically go back to this requirement.

The computer is designed to do computations in every move it takes. This can however be countered by critical thinking and focus on the part of the human player. Also, by observing the moves being made by the computer the player gets to learns how to maneuver the game to his side. He gets to find a way on how to attack it and be in a better position to win the game.

The main objective of chess has always been letting down the opponent’s side first. It is very challenging to beat a human opponent who is thinking in real time as you are. It motivates the player to constantly unveil the weakness of the opponent. These weaknesses enable the player to devise a system and eventually win the game.

Beating the computer to some players however is more challenging. Truly, it is embarrassing to loose a game to a machine. With this, chess enthusiasts are always finding ways to discover the low points of the system that runs the computer in a chess game. It is not an easy task but with the correct way of thinking it may be done. What’s your take?

We’ve all heard of the normal chess game but did you know that there’s more than one style of chess? There is another version of chess that is quite fun to play and very quick. This version of chess is known as speed chess and can be played in person or as an online chess game. In this version of chess you not only have to be strategic but you also need to be quick thinking. A chess clock is used to keep track of how long a player has to make their move. These chess clocks have two clocks and each individual clock can be stopped at will as they are counting down. A player automatically forfeits the match if they do not make their move before the chess clock timer runs out. Speed chess can be played on a board or can be played in an online chess room. Many websites exist where you can play online chess for free but they may require that you become a registered user of their site.

Who should play?

Speed chess isn’t really for those who aren’t familiar with the game as it is a lot more difficult than regular chess. It is a form of chess which is better for those players who are quite advanced at the game and are well equipped with vital knowledge of the game such as rules and strategies. Speed chess still has the same basic rules as standard chess with only a few rules changed in order to facilitate the quick game play.

What’s the difference?

In order to play speed chess you need to be well aware of the movement limitations because the act of making an illegal move at any time during the match will result in automatic forfeiture by the player who made the move no matter what the chess clock timer is at. When playing speed chess it’s important to take notice on both your own and your opponents’ clock because you could miss an opportunity to win if your opponents’ clock runs out and you fail to call the victory. If a players clock runs out then the player left with the active clock will automatically win as long as they claim the victory otherwise the game continues until they notice that their opponent is out of time. A great twist in speed chess is that even if you would have been victorious in a standard chess match you will lose if you run out of time regardless of where your pieces are on the board.

And your time starts now

The chess clock is usually set at around three or five minutes but on rare occasions players may set other timings instead. Speed chess is a very fast inspirational game to watch and to play. The best way to learn chess in order to brush up on your skills to play this lightning speed version is by playing free online chess games against other human players and computerised opponents. Speed chess is also available at many online chess websites and it’s recommended that you first have some practice against the computer before going head to head with a real life opponent.

What really is the meaning of the table of chess invitations? And why does it exist? It is because of the fact that one of the things that you are going to find once you open the site on online chess is the chess invitation. Now this one centralizes on the invitations that one player has to create and the will be able to send all of those in the interested ones… those players who are being interested in being an opponent. There is what we call as the different kinds of invitations. Allow me to discuss one by one of the three of them. There are only few but more information that you have to know about this kind of online game called as chess played online.

The first one is the private chess games invitation. In this first kind of game invitation, it allows you to invite playing a certain online game which is chess. It is made by clicking on a particular challenge which is in the same place with that of the name of the player. In this instance, you are going to be invited by another player once the other side or private area of the same one is clicked into.

The second one is what we call as the public chess games invitations. Once you are going to send an invitation publicly, everyone is going to be invited by this one to play with the player or the initiator. And then once that player of them accepts this kind of game invitation, the same may already be cancelled and then the area may already be seen as public. In other words, the people browsing the internet can already see the game in public.

The third kind would be the way the said chess invitation may be accepted or then rejected. In this kind of game invitation, it will be possible for the system to cancel a particular chess invitation which is made to you. You can command the system to do that, either by clicking on the button specifying “reject”… On the other hand, if you would want to cancel the same, all you have to do is to click the button saying, “cancel”. If you already have one wish which is to accept the said invitation and the start to play the game, well all you have to do is nothing but press the button specifying “play” and as soon as you have done this, you are going to be immediately and the outright be brought to a new window in order that the fresh game may be opened.

Actually, there are also new features that may be given to you by the chess online game, and that would include the fact that if you are the inviter of the chess game, immediately after you have pressed the button specifying the word, “play” for the invitation that you have made, a new window will then be opened automatically in the same way as the new board does. And then, you as a player will still have to wait for the opposing player to press the button saying “Start!” and then the game may already begin!

For the beginner chess players, studying the wide variation of attacks, strategies, defenses, tactics, and the hundreds of chess openings seems to be a job for superman. When learning those many available lines for the opening, you must first create a strong understanding to those simple chess openings that can be beneficial in your first series of chess plays.

When learning chess opening, you do not need to memorize opening lines because you will just get confuse when you play against other chess player. What if your opponent did was different from what you have memorized? So, then you will get messed up and will result to an early lost of the game. First and foremost, what you should do is to understand the basic principles of the chess openings. In this way, you can vary your opening moves into a more effective way that is best suitable for the particular situation. The basic opening principles can even provide you with good general guidelines about the game play in the opening and can even help you to establish a more strategic advancement.

The first principle of chess opening is the maintaining control of the central squares of the chess board. The center squares are the actually most important part of the chess board so controlling it can give any chess piece more mobility and a lot easier access at any part of the chess board. Attacking in the center part is proven to be more effective also. In this way, the opening can be turned into a strong battle between the two contrasting players.

Then, another chess opening principle is to keep your King into safety at all cost. The objective of the game is to capture the opponent’s King, thus, the main target of your opponent is your King so you must keep your King safe at all times to be able not to lose the game immediately. It is simply the same with you, if you see that the contrasting King is open and vulnerable to attacks, you must grab that chance to create a very strong sequence of attacks to be able to capture his King and win the game. This kind of faults (King’s safety faults) often results to a quick checkmate. This is why, most chess players are using castling at the opening game so that they can keep their King safe and far from the center board because it is very hard to attack the King that has been castled.

Another chess opening principle is to develop all your chess pieces early and bring out those key pieces to create a strong positioning at the opening game. The chess player who can position his chess pieces early could have a great advantages of making the first attack and to battle first before the opposing player is ready, thus, their strategy may somehow shaken that can result to fierce battle. However, even though you are making your own positioning, you must be able to adapt your moves too into your opponent. In this way, you will not miss any of his plans and make your own counter attacks too.

One of the innovations in technology is the computer architecture that formulated a software and hardware capable to play chess independently without any human assistance. Playing computer chess has several advantages such as practicing ground enhances chess analysis, to join computer chess tournaments and the most significant is to improve the cognitive sense of an individual. This is one of the many learning tools used by top level players to help them study and practice without any other player. Computer chess is also useful for beginners because of the teaching devices that are available in the program. Likewise, the program has a wide selection of strong strategies that interest many chess enthusiasts. As mentioned earlier, playing chess in your computer has favourable benefits in your chess career.

The first benefit that you could experience is learning more the different moves of the pieces. You can fully enjoy it by installing software program about chess or simply by playing online. Even those who do not know the game were enticed to try because of the wonderful and challenging factor of playing it with no opponent around. Many people who have tried this computer chess were addicted on playing the game in the comfort of their computer or you can also ventured playing it online.

Another benefit that you can achieve while playing chess in your computer or even online is that you can play the level that you want. There are varieties of levels that you can play depending on your skill. However, the levels do not restrict anyone to improve his or her skills in chess yet it is up to you if you want to restrict the level that you are playing so that your opponent will not overwhelm you and get you discouraged. Another good thing about playing chess online is that your game will not be stop all together once the level you are currently playing has ended because you can level it up.

When you are just starting to play chess in your computer you will realize that you learn quickly because you will be driven by its strategies. If you want to learn more and improve your skills, you should avail chess computer program that has a surpassing ability that even human experts in chess cannot defeat. In addition, you can practice yourself to play chess under time pressure. You can also find and learn new techniques that you can use in your future game. As much as possible search for chess online that features the game of chess grandmasters so that you can study the moves and strategies. This will help you improve your skill and level up. If you cannot play online, you can install software in your computer about computer chess tournaments played by famous chess grandmasters. Keep in mind to have constant practice while you are learning to play online chess and always look for updates in the online chess games. Indeed, technology advances does not spare anyone from learning the ever changing and competitive game of chess.

The unique feature of the game of chess, the King of Games, is that there is no involvement of luck or any other divine intervention in the game. Chess is a thinking game. The game between the two players starts with the premise that the logical conclusion for the game will be a draw. How a draw is turned either to victory or a loss depends on the players themselves. If you, as a player, make a mistake, then you are giving away the opportunity for the other player to say “checkmate” to you and vice versa.

It is clear that you lose the game when you make the mistakes. The ideal way to learn the game of chess is to learn from the mistakes and try to rectify the same. This approach will pave for success and help you gain expertise.

How to rectify one’s mistake? It is simple. Recollect the moves of the game that you lost now and try to find out where you went wrong. It is in this context the recording of the moves or notation, as it is called in chess parlance, becomes handy?

Recording the notation of the game and analyzing the same is essential for a person to gain expertise. As soon as you completed a game, where you unfortunately lost, you could do one thing immediately.

Just try to recollect the positions in the game and the important things that you learnt from the game. It should be done in less than an hour after the conclusion of the game, or else, you might forget the exact things.

When you could successfully recollect the position or the move that determined the fate of the game or the mistake you committed, put that in writing in your own words as you can understand, and review it frequently. In this way, what you can achieve is that the same mistake will not recur yet again, and if faced with the similar position in another game, your chess instinct will guide you to the correct move.

Compare your game and the position with similar games played by grandmasters or others by referring to the database of games available in the computer or in chess books. Using the prowess of the computer and the Internet is the best option available to the people now for improving their skills. It has been proved beyond doubt that a chess player, armored with the assistance of computer, Internet and the unique feature of Online Chess, can develop his skills in a relatively faster pace than the one who does not have these facilities.

Yet another useful way to improve the skill set is to play over your own game, with the help of notations, and try to highlight the important turning points in the game. Also, try to spell out your ideas, plans and the reasoning behind those ideas as part of your analysis of the game. While doing so, it is possible that you can find out the flaws in your line of thinking or can come up with some new ideas or possibilities. Make sure that you jot down those new ideas or possibilities and play them over. By analyzing your own games in this critical way, one can definitely improve his skill set and more importantly beware not to commit similar mistakes. The lesser the number of mistakes you make, the more the probability of saying checkmate to the opponent. As you start winning the games, your level of confidence will get a boost and you will evince more interest in the game. The interest and the joy of victory will result in increasing the love and passion the game, and you will find a marked improvement in your skill set as you develop the passion for the game.

One of the easiest games to learn but very difficult to master and gain expertise is the game of Chess.

What makes this game of chess more interesting one and also a tough one to master?

Well. Chess is a game that challenges your brain and stimulates your mind to the core. The basic rules of the game are very simple to learn and understand.

The real challenge lies in effective utilization of the given pieces and the empty squares to corner the opponent’s King and say, “checkmate”. Though there would be only 32 blank squares at the start of the game, the possibilities that open up for consideration at the end of each move is innumerable. For example, the player with white pieces who has the privilege to make the first move in the game has to decide between 20 alternative options.

No two games can be said to have the same set of moves and the same positions through out the game.

How can one gain expertise in this noble game at a relatively quicker pace?

The age-old saying – “Practice makes Perfect” suits to this game. The more number of games you play at frequent intervals, the more you get acquainted with the game. Playing with opponents who match your skills or slightly experienced than you in the game will be a good idea, as you will get exposed to new ideas and creativity. It is here the contribution of technology and the Internet comes to the rescue. Now, as a chess player, you need not go out looking for a partner to play the game.

You can play chess with the computer or with other players, separated by distance, through the means of online chess. A number of software is available in the market that not only teaches you the game in a very interesting manner with animation and other latest techniques but also allows you to test your proficiency against the computer through computer chess.

Playing chess online is the best means to gain proficiency in the game where you can choose an ideal partner who matches your skill set. The notional points that the online chess site awards depending upon your level of proficiency would be the barometer for choosing the partner.

If you are really serious about gaining expertise in the game, not only should you play more games, either with a partner or through the computer, but you should also shed the fear of losing the gaming and cultivate the fighting spirit.

Many players, especially in their early days, tend to avoid taking up a fight and offer draw to the opponent or accept an offer for draw, just to avoid the humiliation. This should not be the case, and will be detrimental to your progress.

You should never accept an offer for draw, even when your position is relatively weak. If you are a novice and aspiring to learn the game, do not settle for a single point or accept an offer for draw. Try to exploit the positional advantages and the strength of your pieces to find a winning way. By trying to do so, you are not only trying to take the game to its logical end, but also stoking your imagination and creativity to come up with new ideas.

Secondly, by not accepting a draw in the game, you will learn invaluable skills related to the approach to the end game. By pursuing any or all of the above-mentioned suggestions, one can gain mastery over the game in a relatively quicker time.

One of the ancient games that still exists and will exist for a much longer period in the future is the game of Chess.

What is there in the game of chess that makes it so unique?

Chess is often referred to as a miniature of life. It is not a game that depends on chance or luck. There is no room for any outside influences in this game. Is this a game of knowledge? No. Chess is not a game of knowledge. In other words, you just cannot memorize the innumerable variations and play the game using the knowledge.

The game of chess involves the development and effective implementation of strategies and tactics. In order to play the game of chess, one needs to think and think deeply. One needs to practice a lot and cannot claim to have mastery over the game after having learnt the basic rules and principles of the game. In other words, chess is a very easy game to learn, but very difficult to gain expertise and become a master.

Chess is a board game played between two players across a square board comprising of 64 squares distributed across eight rows and eight columns and filled with alternate colors – preferably black and white. Each player is provided with a set of 16 pieces that include – the King, a pair of rooks, a pair of knights, a pair of bishops, the queen and eight pawns. Now, thanks to the technology, one can learn and play the game of chess exploiting the power of the Internet or the World Wide Web. Online chess has taken the world by storm. It provides opportunities for a person to relax, have fun and at the same time learn invaluable traits to lead an organized life.

Chess is a turn-based game and one can make only one move at a time and has to wait for the opponent to complete the move before he can make his next move. The objective of the game is to corner the opponent’s King and say, “checkmate”.

The pieces are so arranged in the chessboard that no player can straight away corner the opponent’s King in a single move and say, “checkmate”. The game is cruel in a way in that it will punish you for making a wrong move. The only possibility for victory over the opponent is when he makes a mistake and you seize the opportunity. In order to be successful, one has to think before making a move, analyze the position, visualize the next 2-3moves, and then finally decide on a move. The game is transparent and there is no question of hiding the pieces such as in poker or in other board games. What you see is what the opponent also sees in the board.

The game is a challenge between two minds and there is every possibility that most of the plans you devise before making a move might be foiled or countered by the opponent. So, one has to be very careful in planning the moves, but also be prepared to chalk out an alternate plan if the earlier strategy is nullified or is foiled by the opponent.

In order to stay on top of the opponent, one needs to be creative and innovative, putting his imagination skills to the test. It requires “out-of-the-box-thinking” at times to confuse the opponent or misdirect his attention in the pursuit to gain advantage.

“Out-of-the-box-thinking” refers to the idea of openness and a willingness to not only do different things, but also do the things differently. The more you understand the game and the position on hand, the more will be the willingness to deploy new strategies.

As one gains expertise in the game through practice, one would cultivate the habit of thinking differently or doing different things aimed at achieving the objective in pursuit.