All Questions
4,716 questions
2
votes
2answers
84 views
Not in stalemate, but why is this a draw?
I was practicing with stockfish level 8, having two rooks in the endgame whereas stockfish has only one. At the 78th move, it was declared as a draw. But, it was not a stalemate. Can anyone please ...
5
votes
1answer
79 views
What is the purpose of 12.a3 in the QGD Lasker Defence?
this is about queen gambit declined lasker defence :
[fen ""]
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Nf3 h6 7. Bh4 Ne4 8. Bxe7 Qxe7 9. Rc1 Nxc3 10. Rxc3 c6 11. Qc2 Nd7 12. a3
why or ...
0
votes
0answers
25 views
Chess Book/Source for Entertaining Puzzles [on hold]
I am looking for a chess book (or any type of source) for entertaining and beautiful chess puzzles. The type of puzzles I'm looking for is not aimed to improve tactical ability but aimed to entertain ...
1
vote
1answer
31 views
Bonus added at move zero
Is the bonus time added before the game starts, that is before the first move?
I play in a competition that has a time control of 1 hour 40 minutes +30 seconds per move. If I set the chess clock to ...
2
votes
1answer
23 views
Does 40/100, SD/30 d10 mean that the delay is applied to both time controls?
I am going to be going to my first tournament soon (the southern class championship), and am slightly confused about the time control. Most tournament listings have something along the lines of 40/...
0
votes
1answer
43 views
Any suggested check list for beginners? [on hold]
is there a simple / basic / quick checklist that beginners can use when in super easy games? I am not worried about questions like pawn structure, applying pressure, maintaining momentum, I am talking ...
-3
votes
0answers
37 views
Transforming chess trees [duplicate]
I'm master fide and I was Pan American champion and country champion in youth categories, I am currently semi-retired but I still have an elo close to 2400.
My problem is the following:
How can I ...
10
votes
1answer
829 views
Touch-move when move is illegal but opponent's piece can be capture by another piece
This is the scenario: I pick up my Knight to capture my opponent's Bishop (touching the Bishop). I then realise my Knight was pinned to my King in the first place, so moving it would be illegal. ...
9
votes
1answer
158 views
Why does NN + MCTS & AB + handwritten eval dominate engine chess?
As I understand it engines can be divided into four groups right now: those that use Alpha-beta (AB) + those that use Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS) for search, and those that use handwritten ...
19
votes
1answer
7k views
Is there a specific penalty for intentionally damaging chess pieces or the board?
If a player intentionally damages a chess set (e.g. breaks a piece in two, cracks the board, etc.), is there a specific penalty under FIDE rules? I'm not talking about moving pieces around ...
3
votes
1answer
34 views
Glicko 2- Calculating match-by-match or batch of matches?
I'm looking to implement a Glicko 2 library in my application, however the two libraries I'm considering are different. Firstly, they produce slightly different results for the same dataset (the ...
21
votes
3answers
6k views
Is it legal to play a move without hitting the clock?
In the game Andrey Esipenko - Nihal Sarin (2018 World Blitz Championship), after 7. Qb3 c4 8. Qc2 Sarin plays 8... Bf5, and before he hits the clock, Esipenko plays 9. Qc1, but since Nihal has not ...
4
votes
2answers
151 views
Rating system for 5000 players
we belong to a state in India with over 5000 active players. FIDE rating tournaments and FIDE rated players are here but we wish to start a new internal rating system like the USCF or ACF rating ...
0
votes
3answers
117 views
How should I play as White if Black Defends the Tartakover QGD without …h6?
This question is related to another I just posted, but it is actually a different question: if Black Defends the Tartakower QGD without an early ...h6, and I am an Anti-Tartakower–Makogonov–...
2
votes
1answer
54 views
Why 5…h6 in the Tartakower Queen's Gambit Declined and not in the Orthodox Variation?
Why is the Tartakower Variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined almost always predeced by 5...h6, while in the Orthodox defense an early ...h6 is almost never played by Black?
1
vote
1answer
44 views
Is it possible to configure SCID to use English descriptive notation? [closed]
I'm going through a classic book (Reti's Modern Ideas in Chess), which uses English descriptive notation rather than algebraic notation. I see there is an online resource which has converted the book ...
12
votes
2answers
1k views
Is it allowed to talk to your opponent in a tournament game?
Suppose my opponent in a tournament was running very low on time, and after move 40, presses the clock and leaves the board for a while, falsely believing they will get extra time on their clock. ...
-1
votes
1answer
59 views
Confusing question about the “Pawn” [duplicate]
I enjoy playing chess and thought that I knew all of the "rules"??? However, I just found out now something interesting, though very confused regarding what exactly the "Pawn" is able to perform??? ...
0
votes
3answers
242 views
What is this opening, can't remember name, driving me crazy
Image attached. May not be exactly right but looks something similar to this! Thanks]1
6
votes
2answers
235 views
Is there a reason AlphaZero hasn't been allowed to learn for longer?
Why don't the developers of AlphaZero let it learn for days, or even months on end? Wouldn't its neural network become much stronger, at the cost of just occupying some computational resources for a ...
15
votes
5answers
2k views
Assessing an early c4 against white's Stonewall structure
I made a horrible decision as black in a game, and I do not understand why it's incorrect.
[fen "rn2kb1r/pp2pppp/1q3n2/2pp4/3P1P2/2PQPN2/PP4PP/RNB1K2R b - - 0 1"]
I played c4, Stockfish considers ...
7
votes
3answers
225 views
Punishing player for indicating moves to other team players
I am arbiter myself, but I don't know how to treat player in team matches who try to indicate other players of their team what move to play in position they are in. If they won their game I might ...
9
votes
3answers
186 views
Examples of forced stalemate
The usual case one often sees specially in blitz play is when one side (usually the winning) mis-plays and then stalemate occurs with the losing side dodging a loss. But are there positions where ...
3
votes
3answers
130 views
In the English Opening, where should the d-pawn go?
Whenever I play the English Opening, I usually try to achieve a c4, d4, e3 pawn structure. However, in this video by STL chess club, the instructor recommends playing d3 (and possibly e4 later) to ...
2
votes
1answer
80 views
Master blindfold chess in 6 months [duplicate]
I want to be able to play entire games blindfolded, atleast at the strength that I can win against beginner players. My current ELO is around 1800. I usually manage to play ok moves up to move 20, ...
1
vote
1answer
100 views
Why might this supervised engine make mistakes based on an example game?
I am developing in my free time a python-based supervised chess engine. It is trained on past games to detect who wins (only games without draw), then it proceeds as follows:
1) find the top 4 moves ...
-1
votes
0answers
63 views
Where does the myth of the '16 moves else stalemate' rule come from? [duplicate]
As a child, I grew up being taught that, in the event any player has only a king left, checkmate must occur in sixteen moves, otherwise the game results in a stalemate.
I am far from the only one ...
9
votes
2answers
3k views
What was the first chess engine that could beat the world champion on a standard desktop?
What was the first chess engine that could beat the world chess champion when running on a standard desktop playing at standard speeds (i.e. not blitz chess)? For concreteness, say a $1000 PC.
-3
votes
2answers
122 views
Which is the most popular and crowded chess server?
Which is the most popular and crowded chess server? I'm new at computer chess, and want to start playing at servers, but I do not understand where I have to play.
I am hearing about freechess, ...
3
votes
2answers
173 views
Can anyone recommend a Chess platform that, well, you better read further
I thought I might take a minute to share a project I started about 20 years ago.
Essentially, I used my ChessMaster program to make a "Chess Explorer".
In 1998, I noticed I could add notes into ...
0
votes
1answer
68 views
Chess GUI recommendation for linux [closed]
Which chess GUI will be good for Linux. I have tried a lot of GUI's, but as I am new at computer chess, I have no idea about pros and cons of chess GUI's.
Which is chess GUI will you recommend? Is ...
-1
votes
4answers
83 views
In the middlegame, can one avoid compromising the balance one's opening has achieved? [closed]
A polite duplicate asked last week by @57Jimmy mentions an incidental matter I find interesting:
But when all the pieces are out, well placed, and I have castled, I have no idea about what I should ...
7
votes
2answers
452 views
Why do top GM's “retire” from chess? [closed]
After Kramnik's recent announcement, Nakamura also said in a chess.com interview that he will retire from chess at age 40.
I am curious why a super GM feels the need to "officially retire" from chess ...
4
votes
2answers
106 views
What are the similarities and differences in pawn Structure from the Scandinavian and the Caro-Kann?
It seems both openings have the Capablanca Pawn Structure with c6 and e6
I'm curious about where the similarities stop and what are the optimal pawn breaks.
-3
votes
0answers
42 views
Import to Chessbase from tree Aquarium [duplicate]
How can I import to CTG tree Chessbase from AQT tree Chess Aquarium?.
1
vote
2answers
184 views
Why does lichess ban players? [closed]
Few days ago I was watching a game review on lichess and found out one of the player's account was banned. Any idea why lichess does that?
2
votes
2answers
212 views
Making the giuoco piano interesting as white [closed]
Does anyone have advice to give against the giuoco piano ? I find this opening boring for white after 3... Bc5 and I'd like to find a way to keep playing the italian without risking to play a boring ...
17
votes
2answers
3k views
What does “TPR” mean in chess tournament reports?
I usually find in reports like this (and many others) something like:
... with a TPR of 2551 ...
I would like to know its meaning, and also what it stands for.
3
votes
1answer
132 views
How does Stockfish ensure an incremental change made is beneficial?
Does Stockfish's testing framework get the new engine to play the old engine many times in a match? Since Stockfish thinks on each move according to a time limit (and not a depth limit, which gives a ...
10
votes
3answers
209 views
LiChess puzzle 87510: How much calculation would a strong player do before playing Bg4+ when white has a range of (all losing) responses?
LiChess puzzle 87510 has the following position:
[FEN "r1b1k3/pp4R1/2q3RQ/4p3/5P2/bP2P3/2P1K2P/8 b - - 0 1"]
The solution is 1...Bg4+, after which white has 6 legal moves:
1...Bg4+ 2. Rxg4 Qxh6, ...
2
votes
1answer
129 views
Can you claim a draw, after the position has changed, if threefold repetition occurred earlier?
I understand that when the same board position occurs three times in a game, with the same player to move, and having all the same possible moves, the game may be claimed as a draw by threefold ...
4
votes
3answers
166 views
Isolani pawn question
After reading Chess structures of Mauricio Flores Rios, I have some initial questions on the Isolani (or isolated queen pawn).
The author shows this diagram:
Latee, he proceeds to giving White and ...
0
votes
1answer
73 views
In what way is it allowed to alter tournament pairings in favor of a player?
The FIDE Rules for Swiss Systems state:
C.04.2 A It is not allowed to alter the correct pairings in favour of any player.
and then further state:
Where it can be shown that modifications of ...
6
votes
3answers
93 views
Capture the c-pawn, so the opponent has an IQP but improved development, or let them push the c-pawn and form a queenside majority?
This dilemma occurs in a variety of positions.
[FEN "r1bq1rk1/pp1nbpp1/5n1p/2pp4/3P3B/2NBPN2/PP3PPP/R2QK2R w KQ - 0 10"]
Here, it's white to move, and white has to choose between:
capturing black's ...
1
vote
0answers
70 views
Scotch 4 Knights with 4… d5
If black 'mirrors' whites 4. d4 in the Scotch 4 Knights and white wants to play sharp, aggressive moves. what would be the best move? I know that chess engines like stockfish, GNU Chess etc. would ...
1
vote
1answer
68 views
General advice for middlegame [duplicate]
This is a very basic and general question (and my first on this website), so feel free to tell me if this is inappropriate.
Besides specific strategies and opening sequences, there are some fairly ...
2
votes
1answer
114 views
Pawn tension in the Caro-Kann
Very often, I find myself playing the Caro-Kann and encountering positions like this below (especially note the pawns on the columns c and d):
I do have read that knowing what to do (capturing or ...
1
vote
2answers
76 views
In online chess with long time controls, does having a title encourage opponents to cheat against you? [closed]
I was looking through the top classical players list on LiChess, and I'm gradually improving. I noticed I'm catching up with IM Eric Rosen, which I found surprising (I'm nowhere near that strong).
...
1
vote
1answer
114 views
App Mis-calculated Checkmate?
How is this checkmate? The King isn't even in check! Am I missing something, or did the chess app goof up?
2
votes
3answers
182 views
What can I learn from my “80 average centipawn loss” game, which I thought I played well?
In a LiChess game (Vakeesh vs. becky82), during the game I thought I played well, and won as black without and real complications. Here's the game:
[fen ""]
[Event "Rated Classical game"]
[Date "...