I just watched a few of those videos and beat someone who was rated 1602!! so stoked!

That's awesome man, keep it up.

Quick question: Getting back into chess, rated ~1700. I can study either How to reassess your chess (read it once ~5 years ago) or start a new book, My system. Opinions?

definitely reassess your chess, though admittedly i'm a my system hater

How to reassess your chess >>> My System

Also do a lot of tactical training to get fresh. The biggest thing that will be rusty is your tactics right now.

Nimzo's writing style makes me seem humble and tactful by comparison. But I enjoyed My System. I'm not sure it really improved my chess much since it generalized many of the concepts to the point of abstractness but it was very interesting and has a nice selection of well annotated games.

Reassess, on the other hand, is great for actually improving and would likely be a near ideal book for a ~1700 rating assuming that's 1700 USCF and not 1700 ICC standard. I'd keep My System on the toilet and How to Reassess Your Chess in the office.

I'd keep a toilet in the office, but that's just me.

If I just want to dabble with some game5 again, what's a good site where I won't be playing bots or denigrated for sucking?

Check out the FAQ for a full answer:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/14...2011-a-515725/

Either FICS, www.freechess.org or www.chess.com is what you are looking for.

i like chess.com, i have the free membership and havent had any problems so far, they recently made changes to their site so things are running very smooth

Okay I've watched these vids a few times now and I'm keen to see what you guys think would be a good progression? I'm still very basic and I seem to get ripped apart when I start as black but I have a chance when I'm white.

Are there more free vids that would be good to follow these?

Thanks again

I'm a casual player, just on FICS these days. I often play no games for months at a time. And after a recent such gap, it seems like FICS has suddenly lost most of its games/players. Anyone know what gives over there? (I rarely see more than 1, if even 1, game offered for 15 min plus, and I dont think I've seen a single 5 to 15 min game offered in a week. Maybe I have some server settings messed up??)

There are lots of free, great videos out there, like those on the chess.com youtube channel. However, as a beginner I would caution against studying books and videos too much. Chess is the ultimate activity of knowledge application, not absorption, and what's included in the videos you already watched is more than enough to get you started. I'd recommend playing a lot at this point and trying to apply the tactical patterns and game principles you learned in those videos. I'm a firm believer that one needs to play profusely at first to get a feel for the game. Otherwise, studying won't help much.

This is directed at the Euros of this forum, unless Tex or Kyle or someone else from US plan on coming to Europe to play some tourneys?

Does anyone have any chess-related plans for the rest of the 2012 (and particularly the summer?)? I am 99% sure about going to Pardubice this year, but I am looking for something else. There are two very strong open tournaments in Bulgaria (Albena & Golden Sands) , but getting there is kinda expensive and problematic. Strong opens in Spain like Benasque are also kinda expensive, it's entirely possible to get 2 good tournaments for the same/similar price. So I am kind of out of ideas Mainly interested in big/strong opens, but also interested in closed round-robin tournaments for an IM norm if yall know any? Just not the ones of Nagyi in Budapest, not a fan

I'm going to move to LA next month, so won't be subsidising the euro chess circuit for a year at least

I would absolutely LOVE to play a tournament in Europe, just one time would be incredible. A pipe dream of mine would be to play in an IM norm event in Europe before I give up competitive chess. Still a long way to go to get there, though.

I don't have plans for the summer yet and - depending on work - will probably not play a tournament. From the top of my head I can think of three tournaments that might be interesting for you:

1) Olomouc Chess Summer, August 1st-9th, 9 rounds. They also have closed GM and IM tournaments (though kind of expensive...). Beautiful small town. Link
2) Husek Vienna Open, August 13th-19th, 7 rounds. This is not the "Vienna Open" which is only held every two years. But Vienna is a great city, and the prize fund is 15k €, so it should be a strong tournament. Link
3) Sants Open Barcelona, August 17th-26th, 10 rounds. But you probably already know about that one. Link

I'd look around on the FIDE site (Link) to find something suitable, most of the big tournaments are listed there.

Thank you Ajezz, will check those links out!

Congrats on the move, have a safe travel, and enjoy the sunshine!

There's this song called Chessplayers Are Good Blokes, by 80s Dutch punk band Eton Crop, which I've never heard, but only heard of. Somebody who knows how to do such things needs to get it off itunes and put it on youtube.

Found it:

http://www.myspace.com/music/player?sid=87414764&ac=now

And so it begins.

http://live.chessfed.lt/lcc2012final/r1/tfd.htm

http://www.chess-results.com/tnr7102...n=1&turdet=YES

Some strong players declined their invitations so I guess tournament got a bit weaker, but still I expect to get pummeled

All round start 8am Central time I think.

Good luck and have fun!

Good luck man, we're all pulling for you. GM/IM norm opportunities possible?

I'm still fuzzy on my non-chess d4 openings, but I think that's a Benko declined and black looks pretty nice to me.