*** Chess Low Content Thread ***

[evil_ronnie]

n00b question - are there any decent programs to play chess in windows against a computer that are free? not using win 7 can't use the built in one it has. ty

[Gorgonian]

get lucas chess

[bubsodian]

has anyone had any experience using chess king ? or does anyone have a link 2 a reliable review? http://chess-king.com/ here's the site for it I'm considering getting it Just because its so convenient 2 do the analysis on computer rather than getting out board and writing stuff down. Or what are the alternatives?

[Dorilla]

http://www.chessity.com/
Chessvibes just wrote about that website, so I made an account for fun. In the castle mode you compete with three other people solving puzzles. I won easily in easy and medium. But I only won one time out of seven in hard. Man those guys must be pretty good. Or maybe they are bots. Probably not though, but I gotta find excuses for my failures. At least it is easy for me to improve.

[Dorilla]

Hmm it seems some have solved over 30k problems. That is a lot considering the site was launched on december.

[smilingbill]

sounds great (except for the potential bots part), definitely trying that once i un-hangover

[smilingbill]

Ok tried it now. I think the opponents are bots - at least some of them. Beatable bots though. The problems still need work, I got burnt twice for making a wrong mate in 2 when multiple ones were possible

[smilingbill]

Chessbase is traditionally tricky with their April's Fools, this year as well:
http://www.chessbase.com/ Spot the fake news item(s)

[Ajezz]

There was also an extremely well devised April's Fools article on the German Chessbase site about FIDE's new rating method for the April elo list.

This is the article: Link and this is supposedly the new rating list: Link. Great idea!

[PounceBouncePounce]

Originally Posted by TexAg06

I'm a diamond member at chess.com too, and IMO it's worth it. The membership is something like $100/year, which only comes out to $8ish/month. The feature I use the most is without a doubt the video lessons. They post a huge amount of videos, nearly one new one per day. Great material on some really interesting topics. I'd probably pay the membership fee for the videos alone.

Which vids are good for a begginer? Like I know the rules and a few basic principles but not much more than that. I know there is a search filter for begginer vids but there's a lot of them!

thanks

[TexAg06]

Originally Posted by PounceBouncePounce

Which vids are good for a begginer? Like I know the rules and a few basic principles but not much more than that. I know there is a search filter for begginer vids but there's a lot of them!

thanks

You're right, their video library is pretty overwhelming. Here are a few that I'd recommend starting off with.

IM Daniel Rensch provides most of the content for the website and from what I can tell on his videos, he's a very good teacher. These two videos give you the basic tactical patterns which should be part of any beginner's foudation.

The third link I've provided shows IM Rensch breezing through nearly every opening and giving a brief overview of the pawn structures involved.

1) http://www.chess.com/video/player/pa...ic-tactics---1

2) http://www.chess.com/video/player/pa...ic-tactics---2

3) http://www.chess.com/video/player/pa...ning-explained

He also has a 4-part series called "Everything You Need to Know" and here are those links. These videos cover the opening, tactics and strategy, the endgame, and the final video called "bringing it all together".

1) http://www.chess.com/video/player/ev...ow-the-opening

2) http://www.chess.com/video/player/ev...tics--strategy

3) http://www.chess.com/video/player/ev...ow-the-endgame

4) http://www.chess.com/video/player/ev...ng-it-together

If that isn't what you're looking for or you think those are too basic, just let me know and I can try to point you in the right direction. Hope that helps.

[PounceBouncePounce]

^^ thanks that's very kind.

I actually did something really stupid though and asked that question before realizing you have to pay to access the vids I just thought they were all free and wanted to know which were good to start with.

Is Diamond membership the only option for those who want to view the vids?

thanks again

[Mayo]

I heartily second the Daniel Rensch suggestions. Both of those series helped me TREMENDOUSLY.

EDIT: I believe that some of the vids are free. If I recall correctly, you should be able to watch the "Everything You Need To Know" series without paying. I'm pretty sure that I watched it before getting a paid membership, though I could be remembering it wrong, or things might have changed.

[TexAg06]

Originally Posted by PounceBouncePounce

^^ thanks that's very kind.

I actually did something really stupid though and asked that question before realizing you have to pay to access the vids I just thought they were all free and wanted to know which were good to start with.

Is Diamond membership the only option for those who want to view the vids?

thanks again

Like Mayo said, they have some content which is free, but in general yes, you have to be a diamond member to watch videos. However, they do have a youtube channel which has tons of free content, something like over 600 videos. There should be some really good stuff in there. Here's the link to it.

http://www.youtube.com/user/wwwChesscom

To get you off the ground there are some good educational videos, but for learning and just pure enjoyment I'd HIGHLY recommend one of the "Live Sessions" videos by IM Rensch. He has a knack for verbalizing his thoughts as he's playing.

[PounceBouncePounce]

Great information thanks a lot. I guess I'll get started on the youtube vids they look really appropriate for me atm. I just want to get up to a level where I can beat my friends and family and be competitive vs a half decent player.