3 ms·

I was a low-level recreational player as a kid, got freaked out when I beat a state-ranked player, and have never been able to finish a game since then. That's

I was a low-level recreational player as a kid, got freaked out when I beat a state-ranked player, and have never been able to finish a game since then. That's not chess per se, it was a reaction to perceived stress. Plus I know that if I really got in to it it'd take over. Chess scares me.

marktangotango 11y ago
>> champions are afraid of losing, everyone else is afraid of winning [1] I found this to be true of myself. Chess afficianatos probably know better than me, but wasn't Bobby Fischer a big proponent of alternative rules for chess that removed the advantage of "merely" memorizing strong opening games and mid game strategies, something the soviets of his era trained specifically for? please correct me if I've got that wrong. [1] billy jean king Edit spelling
- Nadya 11y ago
  Yes, Fischer wanted the back line to be drawn such that the order of the pieces was not set in stone but still imposed some limitations to retain castling and bishops being on alternate colors (instead of having two bishops on black) Typically called Chess960 or Shuffle Chess: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess960 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess960
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- harperlee 11y ago
  Aficionados :)
- schoen 11y ago
  The chess benefit from memorizing openings reminds me of two amazing articles reporting that many Scrabble champions are non-English speakers who've simply memorized the word list without having its contents in their vocabulary: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/dispatches/features/2004/word_up/you_dont_have_to_know_english_to_play_scrabble.html http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/dispatches/f... http://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2005/dec/11/features.review47 http://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2005/dec/11/features....

3 ms·

I was a low-level recreational player as a kid, got freaked out when I beat a state-ranked player, and have never been able to finish a game since then. That's

by davelnewton 11y ago

marktangotango 11y ago
>> champions are afraid of losing, everyone else is afraid of winning [1] I found this to be true of myself. Chess afficianatos probably know better than me, but wasn't Bobby Fischer a big proponent of alternative rules for chess that removed the advantage of "merely" memorizing strong opening games and mid game strategies, something the soviets of his era trained specifically for? please correct me if I've got that wrong. [1] billy jean king Edit spelling
- Nadya 11y ago
  Yes, Fischer wanted the back line to be drawn such that the order of the pieces was not set in stone but still imposed some limitations to retain castling and bishops being on alternate colors (instead of having two bishops on black) Typically called Chess960 or Shuffle Chess: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess960 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess960
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- harperlee 11y ago
  Aficionados :)
- schoen 11y ago
  The chess benefit from memorizing openings reminds me of two amazing articles reporting that many Scrabble champions are non-English speakers who've simply memorized the word list without having its contents in their vocabulary: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/dispatches/features/2004/word_up/you_dont_have_to_know_english_to_play_scrabble.html http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/dispatches/f... http://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2005/dec/11/features.review47 http://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2005/dec/11/features....