4 ms·

Chess

yesenadam 8y ago
Seconded. Extremely addictive. Very easy to find a game online anytime. Part of "why it's great" is the neverending amount you can learn about it, the way you can relive and learn from the games of great players back to the 1850s[0] and much earlier, and the chess community/chess world. But what I enjoy most these days is watching grandmaster-commented videos of games and tournaments. And banter blitz, where a GM plays the public while telling you what they're thinking. Just watching them makes you a better player, learning to think like a grandmaster. My favourites: Many GMs on chess24 (favs: Gustafsson, Svidler) https://www.youtube.com/user/chess24media/videos#top https://www.youtube.com/user/chess24media/videos#top Many GMs on St Louis chess (favs: Finegold, Seirawan) club https://www.youtube.com/user/STLChessClub/videos#top https://www.youtube.com/user/STLChessClub/videos#top Daniel King analyzes games https://www.youtube.com/user/PowerPlayChess/videos#top https://www.youtube.com/user/PowerPlayChess/videos#top Simon Williams (GingerGM) isn't a top GM, but his enthusiasm/joy in playing is wonderful. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClV9nqHHcsrm2krkFDPPr-g/videos#top https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClV9nqHHcsrm2krkFDPPr-g/vid... Chess24 en español features El Divis, maybe my favourite commentator/player of all. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTzRQxC3i7GOT4jtiTq4e0w/videos#top https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTzRQxC3i7GOT4jtiTq4e0w/vid... Chess + internet is a wonderful combination. At the moment is the Wijk an Zee (Tata Steel) tournament, with an incredible lineup. Being able to watch 5-6 hour commentary videos every day from Gustafsson/Svidler (plus their analysis of the best games) is amazing. Chess24's commentary team for the last world championship was even better: Svidler/Giri/Grischuk - all are/were top 10 players and unique characters. What got me into following tournaments years ago was how the commentary is often very funny, not the serious affair you might expect. (Finegold takes that to an extreme, and is often as packed with gags as chess.) [0] Paul Morphy, the world's best player in the late 1850s, is the earliest player whose games are considered an essential part of chess education.
ttonkytonk 8y ago
A bit off topic, but here's a chess variant: piece demotion. The rules are the same, except when any piece moves to one of that player's original pawn squares, and they have less than all of their pawns on the board, they have the option to "demote" that piece to a pawn.
- ttonkytonk 8y ago
  And in case it's not obvious, you can only demote your own pieces!
- yesenadam 8y ago
  I can't imagine when demoting a piece would be a good thing to do. Hmm except now king + 2 knights wins against king etc.
frabbit 8y ago
Speaking of Chess, does anyone know what happened to Chess Academy?¹ I wanted to point someone towards it over Xmas and discovered that it was down (still is). It looked very promising at the time (I only skimmed through it quickly, possibly about a year ago). 1. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6235450 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6235450

Chess

Seconded. Extremely addictive. Very easy to find a game online anytime. Part of "why it's great" is the neverending amount you can learn about it, the way you can relive and learn from the games of great players back to the 1850s[0] and much earlier, and the chess community/chess world. But what I enjoy most these days is watching grandmaster-commented videos of games and tournaments. And banter blitz, where a GM plays the public while telling you what they're thinking. Just watching them makes you a better player, learning to think like a grandmaster. My favourites: Many GMs on chess24 (favs: Gustafsson, Svidler) https://www.youtube.com/user/chess24media/videos#top https://www.youtube.com/user/chess24media/videos#top Many GMs on St Louis chess (favs: Finegold, Seirawan) club https://www.youtube.com/user/STLChessClub/videos#top https://www.youtube.com/user/STLChessClub/videos#top Daniel King analyzes games https://www.youtube.com/user/PowerPlayChess/videos#top https://www.youtube.com/user/PowerPlayChess/videos#top Simon Williams (GingerGM) isn't a top GM, but his enthusiasm/joy in playing is wonderful. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClV9nqHHcsrm2krkFDPPr-g/videos#top https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClV9nqHHcsrm2krkFDPPr-g/vid... Chess24 en español features El Divis, maybe my favourite commentator/player of all. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTzRQxC3i7GOT4jtiTq4e0w/videos#top https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTzRQxC3i7GOT4jtiTq4e0w/vid... Chess + internet is a wonderful combination. At the moment is the Wijk an Zee (Tata Steel) tournament, with an incredible lineup. Being able to watch 5-6 hour commentary videos every day from Gustafsson/Svidler (plus their analysis of the best games) is amazing. Chess24's commentary team for the last world championship was even better: Svidler/Giri/Grischuk - all are/were top 10 players and unique characters. What got me into following tournaments years ago was how the commentary is often very funny, not the serious affair you might expect. (Finegold takes that to an extreme, and is often as packed with gags as chess.) [0] Paul Morphy, the world's best player in the late 1850s, is the earliest player whose games are considered an essential part of chess education.

ttonkytonk 8y ago

A bit off topic, but here's a chess variant: piece demotion. The rules are the same, except when any piece moves to one of that player's original pawn squares, and they have less than all of their pawns on the board, they have the option to "demote" that piece to a pawn.

ttonkytonk 8y ago
And in case it's not obvious, you can only demote your own pieces!
yesenadam 8y ago
I can't imagine when demoting a piece would be a good thing to do. Hmm except now king + 2 knights wins against king etc.

frabbit 8y ago

Speaking of Chess, does anyone know what happened to Chess Academy?¹ I wanted to point someone towards it over Xmas and discovered that it was down (still is). It looked very promising at the time (I only skimmed through it quickly, possibly about a year ago). 1. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6235450 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6235450