Screw career. Screw everything. Only chess matters.

I still haven't visited my local chess club. I feel like I need to improve my chess.com rating to 1700+ (currently 1500+) before I'm respectable enough to show up. I've never played a live rated game.

Just jump right in man. Really though, don't worry about not feeling good enough. Everyone has to start somewhere, and no one will think differently about it. Plus, how will your rating ever improve if you don't play? I mean it's the chess club anyway, it's not like there are going to be cool hot chicks that think you're a loser and you're wrecking your chances with them haha.

Random fact: with Adams' performance at Bilbao, he is currently ranked #10. Combined with Gelfand's strong results over the past year, half of the top ten players in the world are 38 (Kramnik, Topalov) or older (Anand, Gelfand, Adams). There is life after 30!

Also interestingly, only 2 of the 34 other super-GMs are 38+ (Ivanchuk, Kamsky).

living up to your username

Go to the club. If you want to get better, playing live games will help tremendously, and playing with/discussing chess with/getting advice from stronger players will help even more. I'd reverse your criteria. Don't say "I won't go to the club until my online rating hits 1700". Say "I will start going to the club IN ORDER TO IMPROVE ENOUGH TO GET MY ONLINE RATING TO 1700, AND BEYOND."

If 1500 online isn't enough to not embarrass yourself at the club, then you've got an unusually top-heavy club.

Really good article from IM Bryan Smith on chess.com. He shows an older game between Marshall and Tarrasch in which Tarrasch outplays Marshall in an equal, relatively simple rook endgame. The annotations to the game are fantastic, IMO. Very instructive and easy to understand.

http://www.chess.com/article/view/ho...ing-slips-away

Yes, I've been thinking about these facts for a while. I will go tonight if I'm not tired after work as I had a pretty early morning. I've looked into it and it's super close to my office and meets every Tuesday / Thursday. It has one GM who is the highest rated player in Canada, although who knows how often he is there.

On top of all that, if you are the worst player there by some fluke, how lucky are you? I'd love to have that kind of resource.

So, I went to the club last night for the first time. It was fun playing OTB rather than playing online (which is all I do right now). I guess the way this club works is that on Tuesday's they play long time control games, one per night, and they are rated and on Thursday's they play a "rapid" time control tournament which is unrated. This is what I played last night.

We had a lot of players, which I guess is unusual, and split it into two sections U1400 and O1400. Unrated went in the U1400. I was super tired, so I definitely didn't play my best. In the first game I went down a pawn in a Giuco Piano as white. I got it back and we got into an endgame that I won easily. I think she was 1100ish. The next player was 1100ish I think and I had white again and I tried a Ruy Lopez, but she made a bad mistake early and I basically crushed her. The next game was against a 1250 and I tried a Sicilian as black, but he played 3. c3 and I don't know how to respond to that so I think I played Nc6 and I was out of book at move 3. Again I went down a pawn early, fought back and I was up a pawn. I got into an endgame with time control and I think I played it badly and he was able to draw. The final game was against an 1150ish kid again and I tried a sicilian as black again. He played 3. Nc3 and 4 d3 and I was out of book but managed to gain space on the queenside before I moved my knight and hung it. After that I launched a desparado attack sacrificing a few pawns to open lines and he got overwhelmed and I gained equality but continued to press and managed a nice kingside attack pushing his king from g2 to a7 with a check mate (winning his queen in the process). This was in time trouble with like 6 people watching the game so that was interesting.

All in all, I had fun, tied for first in this section (3.5 / 4.0) and am very glad you guys convinced me to go. The tournament director said he might have to move me into the other section next time so that felt good, although I disagreed with him.

Awesome! Great results!

I don't know if drawing a 12xx and beating three 11xx opponents is enough to prove you should be in the other section (if 1400 is the dividing line), but it's certainly enough to suggest that as long as you stay in the U1400 section you'll be one of the stronger players there. How soon are you going back?

Edit: The results in a vacuum don't prove that you should be in the O1400 section (though they suggest that maybe you should). I just looked up your chess.com profile, though, and see that you are rated very similarly to me in both blitz and standard live chess, and rated higher than me in online correspondence play. So you're probably similar strength to marginally better than I am. I'm USCF 1400 right now, with an upward trajectory from recent tournaments, so I'm probably underrated. Which means adding that data in along with your tournament results, I would say that there's a strong chance you're >1400 yourself. The TD at the club may be correct

I played a number of blitz games against him. He let me have some take backs but I held my own in a couple of games and he destroyed me in the rest. He is 2200 I think so I think he was using that to help him assess.

That's awesome, Mark. I'm glad you had fun.

I wouldn't sweat too much which section you play in. It's always tricky when you are near the edge in ability, but either will be fine in the short run. Playing up is better for development as a player, but that's easy to say when it's not my four hours sitting there getting crushed if the pairings are unfavorable one night.

i beat an expert when i was like 1450. you can do it!

I had a dead won position against an 1833 just a week and a half ago (as a 1423 myself). Ignore the part where I mysteriously decided not to queen my pawn and let him draw it. Just take inspiration from the first part!

Anyone want to play a longer time control game on chess.com? I am just over 1500 on there. 30/30 or 60/30 or something like that?

I would love to do so at some point, but it's really hard to fit longer games into my schedule these days.

MarkD, a rule around here is when you go to OTB tournaments, you have to post some games when you're done Not really a rule, but it's a great chance to get feedback and advice if you're interested.

Yes, I would have loved to but I didn't write down the moves. The TD advised me since it was my first time that I probably should just worry about moving and the clock. Also, for the Thursday tournament writing down the moves is optional. Next time I will do it.

This thread is inspiring me to consider going to a chess club, I am super nervous to do so and have never played chess on a real board lol. I am worse than MarkD though, ~1350 online in 15/10 and the slower the time controls get, the worse I am (like 1180 at bullet and 1250 at blitz). TR to follow if I actually do it, I assume I can just google chess clubs near me?

Yep, googling will work. Also, if you go to the USCF website they have a clubs and tourneys link that will show you what is nearby.

Definitely go if you get a chance, it'll be a blast.

And post games

Make sure you do google and maybe even ask around or call the local newspaper. Some clubs aren't USCF affiliated. I know my town has a club that meets on Wednesdays at the local library that I don't go to (they meet at a bad time) that isn't USCF affiliated.

I have the oddest problem with the white side of this opening:

1. e4 c5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. d4 cxd4
4. Nxd4 e5
5. Nb5 a6
6. Nd6+ Bxd6
7. Qxd6

I'm somewhat sure this is all the nearly-100% recommended moves for white. It looks better for white to me (bishop pair, backward d-pawn to target, massive holes on d5 and d6 in black's position) and the computer says it's better for white.

But I lose this middlegame an absurd amount of the time to even and a bit lower-rated players. If I trade, I had him a development edge. If I retreat, somehow villain always seems a tempo ahead of me and the rook gets to the c-file quick enough to turn the position against me, or at least with my inaccuracies).

The diagrammed position (which happens after 7... Qe7) has an extra bishop at f8. As illustrated, I'm not a fan of White's chances after 7... Qxd6!!.



Black's kingside development is lagging, but he should be able to create weaknesses in White's queenside pawn formation--a rook on the c-file, a b5-b4–a5-a4 push--get rid of that extra queen, and transition into a favorable endgame.