Holy crap Kyle, what an outrageously complicated game. Wins like that are so beautiful.

Thoughts on rating that a solid poker player who has very little chess background can achieve in 2 years spending maybe 5 hours/week studying/playing?

Try it and find out!

Off the top of my head? 1800, but that could be off by hundreds of points in either direction.

I would guess 1600, 5 hours a week isnt that much, it also depends on what you study and what you play.

Is the ICC rating the most respected of the online ones? Does it hold any weight or are the only meaningful ones really the USCF and FIDE?

Nothing online compares meaningfully to OTB. It's fun to speculate, but it's almost impossible to nail down because there are so many different variables.

But yes, ICC generally has one of the toughest playing pools, although I haven't tried playchess to compare.

Online ratings are worth crap imo. The most meaningful are 1. national and 2. international (FIDE Elo) OTB ratings.

On second thought, crap is maybe a bit harsh. The ratings are probably consistent in themselves but comparing an online rating to a real one is like comparing apples and oranges. Ceterum censeo that online play is not taken seriously by most guys. It's quick and fun, but it doesn't hold up to "real" OTB chess.

some of the GOTD puns at chessgames.com are just fantastic. I wonder who is creating them..

Don't cha wish your Gelfand..

Is achieving IM/GM status in your 40s unheard of? I want to put together a 20 year chess plan and earning a title would be something that I'd like to strive for.

It's certainly possible and can be done if you're willing to work for it. The reason it doesn't happen more, in my opinion, is that most people in their 30s and 40s have responsibilities like jobs and families that young children obviously don't have. Children can devote so much more time to improving and striving for that as an adult takes real dedication. Definitely possible though

GM Jesse Kraai achieved GM at the age of 35.
At that time (2007), he was the first American-born player to achieve the title since Tal Shaked in 1997.

GM Ben Finegold was born into a chess family and became a USCF Master at the age of 14. He became a Life Master at 15, Senior Master at 16, and International Master at 20. He didn't make GM until 2009 though, when he was 40.

I say it can be done if you have enough talent and work hard enough (more emphasis on the hard work). I imagine the reason talented chess players in their late 30s/early 40s don't even attempt the feat is because of career/family commitments.

there are some people like Larry Kaufman or Janis Klovans who got their title very late. But that's because the World Seniors Champion gets it automatically

Nice replies guys, very much appreciated.

I probably shouldn't have asked this question immediately before getting to the Sicilian chapter in Mastering Chess Openings. I'm working through example after example of exactly what you just said. On the other hand, having this three-sentence explanation of what's going on is extremely enlightening, and I might not have understood it as well without it.

Thanks!

Months later, this has still perfectly mindwormed itself into my mental vocabulary. I always think of it as "triple castles" now.

If you were genuinely curious, some of them come from the staff there and others come from suggestions by the site's members. Some time ago (years? year?) they opened up a 'pun contest' to formalize the user pun submission process, and I believe they've now left it open in order to get even more submissions. But I've been mostly absent from that site for some time

I don't know if this belongs here or not. I'm not sure it is an instructive position.

Basically, I've been playing the pirc defense vs everything as black. I like that I can cut down on the time I'm spending w/ theory and I get the same structures pretty much regardless of what white plays.

I'm happy with how this is going so far but I do have a question.

There is an expert at my club who I played against in a quick casual game that seems to be willing to play a bad variation (according to chessbase).

1. d4 d6
2. c4 e5



He played here exd5 which has pretty terrible score for white. I got out played in the middle game and he won.

After the game he was sorta picking on me for playing a queen exchange variation. Blah blah afraid of his rating or whatever.

My question is after:

1. d4 d6
2. c4 e5
3. dxe dxe
4. QxQ KxQ
5. Nf3 f6

What makes this so bad (or not great?) for white?


Can somebody help me w/ the ideas since he seems likely to play it again in the future?

you shouldn't assume that you are automatically better here, but what makes the position unattractive for white is having his pawn already on c4. Would the pawn be on c3, white could set up with e4 and the whole position looks so much better. Compare the Ulf Anderssen Anti-Grünfeld Massage (1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. dxc3. White has just slightly the better pawn structure. The K is cosy on c2.)

1.d4 d6 2.c4 e5 3.de5 de5 4.Qd8 Kd8

Houdini_20_Standard_w32:

22/48 08:47 +0,08 Nb1-c3 Ng8-f6 a2-a3 Bc8-e6 Ng1-f3 Nb8-d7 e2-e3 Be6-f5 Bf1-e2 c7-c6 b2-b4 a7-a5 b4-b5 Kd8-c7 O-O h7-h6 b5xc6 b7xc6 Nf3-h4 Bf5-h7 Rf1-d1 Ra8-d8 Be2-f3 g7-g5




1.e4 d6 2.d4 e5 3.de5 de5 4.Qd8 Kd8

Houdini_20_Standard_w32:

24/50 18:20 +0,31 Bf1-c4 Bc8-e6 Bc4xe6 f7xe6 Bc1-e3 Ng8-f6 Nb1-d2 Bf8-d6 f2-f3 Nb8-c6 O-O-O Kd8-e7 Ng1-e2 Ra8-d8 Kc1-b1 Ke7-f7 Ne2-c1 Rd8-d7 Nc1-d3 Rh8-d8 a2-a3 b7-b6 h2-h4 Nc6-d4 Nd2-c4

I didn't realize engines were so good at opening analysis.

My observations were just whites score of 33% in chessbase seemed very low compared to most openings on the 5th move.

There should be a black pawn on e5 in the second diagram. It's just very simple to play - c6 --> Kc7, develop the pieces wherever you want them and then play chess from AT LEAST an equal position (sometimes already better) as black after move 10

To answer your main question:

"What makes this so bad (or not great?) for white?"

He has not created any problems for black in the opening, black has no weaknesses, black has no weak squares, white has absolutely nothing at all at that point of the game.

Hey, how do guys set up Houdini? Do you use it through chessbase? Is there a place to get it for free? I saw a site to buy the 'pro' version for $40.

Huh, looks like they just released version 2 of Houdini, and it is no longer free. If you scroll down this page a bit, you can find a link to download Houdini 1.5, which is still freeware. As for how to set it up, there's a "user's guide" link on that page as well, which should guide you through the process.

I just tried and it doesn't work for me, downloads a zip file with a couple .exe files (for 32 and 64bit) but when I click on them nothing at all happens