Neb on 5/7/2013 at 22:57

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I might join up for a couple of games, but I'm not great and only like to play occasionally. Back in school, I was in the chess club but only to get an early lunch. I never played a game there. It was only when I was 17 and a girl nagged me to play her that I finally showed an interest. It was so fun over-analysing everything, but she got slightly pissed at me taking up to 30 minutes per move. I probably win half of my games, with all my losses consistently being against the highly intelligent/super competitive types. I never know how to start a game - it's only mid-game that I start to get a clear picture of what I should do. Anyone can win against me with those 3 move checkmate trick games, and I'll be like "oh yeah, now I remember that" for about a week. I have no interest in getting better.

The most insane game I played was against an autistic guy and I can't tell if he was any good or not as his pieces moved in this strange regimented way, making his motives completely invisible. I also had a lot of fun with chess when my favourite nightclub put a few sets down. A few whiskeys after midnight, I'd usually play a stranger.

Back in 2009, to take my mind off quitting smoking, I explored a bunch of different board games, including the Chinese and Japanese versions of chess.

I played a bunch of Xiangqi (Chinese chess), but never really took to it. It's crazy as hell, though, with cannons that can take pieces only by hopping over others (like long range checkers), elephants that move two diagonal but can't cross the central river, and palace guards that can't leave the king. There can be no direct line of sight between the kings, which makes for some very interesting checkmates. Because the pieces have all of these weird restrictions it makes the game feel cumbersome, to me at least.

Shogi. I went mad over shogi. The most notable thing about it is that pieces you capture can be put back into play almost anywhere on the board. Because they're mostly slow moving, lack flexibility, and your opponent is likely to 'teleport' them viciously, there's a lot amazing defensive play, with high level sacrifices becoming the norm as you feed pieces to your opponent to dissolve their defensive structures. Getting into it at the same time as biochemistry really hit the spot, as it reminded me of a complex chemical reaction.

Because there's so much importance in a close, solid defence the two most popular openings are Yagura castle and Mino castle, depending on which flank you plan to attack from.

http://81squareuniverse.com/shogi_old/rules/images/yagura.pnghttp://81squareuniverse.com/shogi_old/rules/images/mino.png

I found the learning curve pretty intense, but it was all worth it. Not that I'm a good player or anything.

Anyway, I'll sign up for some chess within the next few days. :D (I haven't played in many years)

spyhopping on 6/7/2013 at 12:50

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Ohh cool. Anyone fancy a bit of friendly competition? I'm on chess.com as(http://www.chess.com/members/view/Lucy-ljb#games) lucy-ljb.

I've lost a string of games recently and I think I might lose the ones I'm currently playing so feel free to come and kick my ass.

faetal on 7/7/2013 at 18:36

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My group?
Nah, it's our group :)

[EDIT] Also, anyone else fancy being an admin for the group? Shouldn't just be me.

SubJeff on 8/7/2013 at 15:49

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He hasn't even accepted mine.

The pussy.

faetal on 8/7/2013 at 15:54

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I think the only thing admins do is invite group members or accept / reject group membership requests.

If you can find a way to work some evil within those parameters, then by all means old boy.

[EDIT] Also, I'm using a Queen's gambit style opening against a player called Ja5kn at the moment which is working out nicely (for the moment).