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My short answer: no, computers are not destroying chess. And now here comes a really long version ...
Your first question:
It is true the engines have level up the game, but can we also conclude that engines at a certain level are destroying the human cognitive process of figuring out moves by themselves over the board (mainly at opening phase)?
As ...
18
Unless you have gotten much stronger than your 1542 FIDE rating, you have to realize that your odds of winning are not very good. It is fine to be realistic, but just do not let that overwhelm your emotions.
You want to keep calm, and do not be afraid. I would not be afraid at all if I were playing Magnus Carlsen. Oh sure, I know what the result is likely ...
16
Objectively speaking there is nothing special you can do.
Just do the regular preparation:
refresh your opening repertoires or specifically the opening you expect to have on the board
analyze your opponent's playing style and if possible play so as to avoid their strengths (e.g. play open tactical position if you see that your opponent prefers closed ...
14
There can be no one-size-fits-all as to how to prepare for an opponent, as this will depend greatly on the playing strengths of both the one preparing and the opponent, and what works for one person won't necessarily work for another. So I'm somewhat hesitant to answer at all, but I'm hoping that the following three vignettes of chess preparation will shed a ...
12
Bobby Fischer:
Radio Interview, June 27 1999
I love chess, and I didn't invent Fischerandom chess to destroy chess.
I invented Fischerandom chess to keep chess going. Because I consider
the old chess is dying, it really is dead. A lot of people come up
with other rules of chess-type games, with 10x8 boards, new pieces,
and all kinds of things....
11
The only difference would be that the players would be playing a mirror image of a normal game. In fact, if you think about it, the play would be exactly like allowing Black to go first on a normal board.
I don't think this would seriously phase any level of player, simply because good players are able to calculate well enough to cope with the slight ...
11
In some ways, computers have been taking the "fun" out of chess, in the sense of creating an arms race of opening preparation in fashionable opening lines.
However, if you look at any current games in top-level play, you will still constantly see fresh new positions, and even opening play that would once have been considered completely bizarre just twenty ...
11
In his book "Chess for Tigers", Simon Webb says that the best thing to do is to drag the elephant into the swamp. In other words, aim for complications, where the stronger player has a chance to make a mistake.
In a similar vein, a local player wrote an article about his rise in rating, and his advice was to make the stronger player beat you.
Both of these ...
9
Professional chess is hard.
Yes. Professional elite players prepare as many opening lines as they can. They have seconds who are dedicated to opening preparation (generally on a computer). The most well paid players such as Magnus Carlsen has a team of seconds. Read more about chess seconds here.
The seconds are paid for improving the master's opening ...
8
At my level (B player) I would not bother too much preparing for an opponent. Sure, if you know your opponent only plays the Colle, you can book up some on that opening, or book up on an anti-Colle opening.
Games at my level are won or lost on tactics; little else matters.
I'd agree with point #3 in Ed's post.
8
So far, following seconds have been revealed (NRK, ChessBase):
GM Peter Heine Nielsen (no surprise as he was part of team Carlsen in WCC 2014)
GM Laurent Fressinet (also no surprise as he was part of team Carlsen in WCC 2013 and WCC 2014)
GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (quite a surprise as he is the current world's nr. 4)
GM Nils Grandelius
GM Jan Gustafsson (...
7
Mate, please... What do you want to learn in 10 minutes? Be serious... People spend years on learning openings. The French is complicated.
But well, to the question: if you have no idea about french and your opponent is familiar with it, you have 2 choices:
a) Play the exchange variation:
[FEN ""]
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 exd5 4. Bd3 Bd6 5. Qf3 Nf6 6. h3 ...
7
For club players with 1/2 - 1 hour:
Find out what colour you are likely to have and try to find out what your prospective opponent's favourite opening(s) is/are with that colour (ask friends, lookup online). If they play several, just have a guess.
Decide if you have an opportunity to avoid this opening with something you prefer - e.g. if he likes to play ...
7
1.I am a chess enthusiast. I am unaware of my rating (FIDE/USCF). I play at about 1700 on FreeChess.org.
Enthusiasm and strong discipline are the only thing required-forget FIDE ELO.
2.I have three years at hand to play my first serious tournament. In other words, I can refrain from playing online/real tournament for three years.
Online play can be very ...
answered Jan 12 '14 at 14:59
AlwaysLearningNewStuff
11k2 gold badges23 silver badges52 bronze badges
7
It really depends on what your end goal is. Themed games in a specific opening are good to get familiar with a specific opening, and get a "feel" for the positions arising in the resulting middlegames. So, if you want to learn a new opening, or are having trouble in a certain line, it could be a great way to learn an opening, coupled with studying some ...
7
Not a GM myself, but my understanding is that there is more than one way.
First of all any decent GM would have notes (nowadays on computer) with all the opening lines they play. These notes might include some new ideas, but would at least give an assessment of the known lines such as "drawish, unclear, big advantage..." Before a game they would consult ...
7
Learning good chess principles and playing against clearly dubious openings like 1. a4 or 1. h4 are not mutually exclusive. In fact, following solid opening principles is the best way to counter weak openings like this.
The moves 1. a4 and 1. h4 are both poor because they do not follow any of the opening principles. Namely, they do not help control the ...
7
Are there any openings with rook pawns that are more effective than
others?
There are few recognized openings which start with a rook pawn move on move one, except in circumstances where the opponent starts with a double knight pawn move, because those are generally inferior moves on move one.
One example where it is good is if white plays the Sokolski ...
7
First, from a pure chess standpoint, you are probably as close to prepared as you will be since there is only so much you can learn between now and Friday.
The most important things will be to get a good night's sleep, and the cardinal rule in a team tournament is "don't lose". I know that sounds funny, since it seem obvious, but if you have a four-board ...
7
Forget the engines. We are humans (hopefully) and are only interested in how human's play.
The King's Indian Defence (KID), a favorite opening of Tal, Fischer and Kasparov (and now played by Nakamura), has a reputation of being unsound by the engines (some positions are +1 and even +1.5) however for white playing precisely is very difficult.
For instance, ...
6
Yes, definitely. Try to feel 0 through 10 in the air, like you're doing grocery list calculations. For most people, across all cultures, we have a number line that starts small on the left and gets bigger to the right. Synaesthetes actually see numbers in this way.
I definitely have a kinesthetic sense for chess. I'd like to think I'm not very unique in ...
6
A great practice routine if you have a willing partner is to take a position from an opening you wish to study and play a series of blitz games from both sides. For example, when I was younger me and my chess buds would play a bunch of blitz games from B63, Sicilian Richter-Rauzer position:
e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2
...
6
This question is too broad, everyone is training differently. There is also much more motivation on the side of strong young IMs than on side of weak GMs. A lot of colleagues just play, rarely train something, teach children, write articles, books, makes videos and try not to go much under 2500. They made a lot of hard training to get there, but are not ...
6
Your kid did not lose the game because he did not know how to respond to that opening. He lost the game because he played worse! (by the way you're telling the story, probably because of a tactical blunder) I don't really think there is any human being on the planet who has prepared a line against 1.a4
I wouldn't really have a clear preference for any "rook ...
6
As Brian noted, theory can move on quickly, but that does not remotely mean that everything that was prepared is lost in a short period of time. I think that the biggest issue was just that prepping for the world championship was much more intense, and rigorous, so Ju is going to be that much more prepared, and thus, a much more dangerous opponent than usual ...
6
A lichess study would be a good way to do this.
5
Chess "thinking" is first and foremost a skill. As such it has to be practiced actively. Passively acquired knowledge will only flesh out what you already can do, it will not improve your chess all that much.
Of course if you try to follow all the variations of the commentators and constantly come up with variations on your own, you will benefit from ...
5
From the seventies to the nineties, there was a development in chess, that more and more, a chess professional was someone, who tried to outprepare his opponent or make a draw if this didn't work out. Or in many cases, try to outprepare weaker opponents and make a draw right away with his stronger opponents.
This is one of the reasons, why Karpov and ...
5
Computers (engines) have changed chess on the professional level. There is no doubt about that. In some ways, it was inevitable that chess engines would become unbeatable machines. Personally, I sometimes wish they didn't exist. But change is here and one has to adapt!
When it comes to professional play, everyone has an engine at home, ready to help during ...
5
Let's see what FIDE says, Team Captain’s Role in Team Tournaments:
(a) The role of a team captain is basically an administrative one
during play. Depending on the regulations of the specific competition,
the captain shall be required to deliver at a specific time a written
list naming the players in his team participating in each round, to
...
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