Monday, January 31, 2011

The Chessmaster

There is a common misbelief, a cliché if you will, that smart people play chess. Well, I'm not a dumb person, and I play chess...



Coincidence? I think not.

...poorly. In fact, I'm probably pretty bad. I've owned one or two chess programs for various platforms, and I try to learn, but I consistantly lose to opponents who are supposed to be significantly below my station. My brother beats me nearly every time we play, which is not often, and the times I have played online at Yahoo.com I'm usually pretty soundly beat by my opponent.  And before Quietly Disgruntled says, "yes, but you always beat me," I assure you it's a fluke. I'm pretty sure I don't even know how the pieces are actually supposed to move.

I have a few books about chess, most of them by Grandmaster Yasser Seirawan. They are pretty good. Well organized, easy to understand. I don't know if I just don't retain the information or what.

Well, I just received a new program and a new platform, so I'm going to try again. Maybe this time I will actually learn a thing or two. So I guess I leave you with this thought: do you play chess? And if so, have you ever tried to learn about the game, and put that knowledge to use? I look forward to what you have to say in the comments.

PS - Congratulations to my Trivia Team. We played at the Firefighter's Lake Club on Saturday, scoring 87 points (out of 100) and coming in 6th place (out of 37 or so)! Well, it was a disappointment not to win it all, but we gave it our best shot, and a good time was had by all. Go get 'em next time!

3 comments:

  1. i play chess. in fact, i would play my college roommate via a program on facebook and he would almost always beat me. then i started to think through my moves a bit more, got some books, and it started to turn around. now i'd say there is some parity. i don't consider myself smart or anything, i just think chess is the best game ever and i enjoy playing

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  2. That's funny, I can't recall ever going up against you, Art. Maybe we should do something about that.

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  3. RR is you dust off the board I will find an excuse to come by the office. Maybe you would be better if you played that cool chess game they have in Star Wars. And you do always beat me.

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