ChessConquest - official discussion thread

yotta said:
While on the topic of the new version, could I perhaps get your opinions on something. We're thinking of switching to the Elo rating system (same one used by FIDE) when migrating to version 2. Any opinions on this?... Do you prefer the Glicko-2 or the Elo rating system?
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I don't really know much about the rating systems.... had to wiki the two up.
From what I read, the Glicko was designed to be an improvement over Elo and the Glicko-2 an improvement on that. Since I don't really know anything about rating sets, that doesn't mean much to me though. I've gotten used to the current rating system and I'm fine with it, however, if you want to switch over to something different, I don't have any objections.
 
My view is that the current rating system is fine. I would prefer you to target important changes: the rating system will not really improve anyone's experience of the site, and it won't gain any new players either. I actually like this one.
 
Oh no, it did not even occur to me that I could move the Rook to f2. See, what happened to me was that I was caught off guard by the check. I did not realize that d3 would be check and so when I saw that I was demoralized.

Man, I really should have seen Rf2. Thanks for showing it to me tallfred. It just shows that even if a situation looks dire it may not actually be so bad.
 
Solitude, if it is any comfort plenty of strong players have resigned in won positions because their opponents surprised them with a clever but unsound move that looked better than it actually was. Panic is your enemy.

My advice is that when you are surprised and it looks bad you do something like this:
1. Take a deep breath. Stay calm.
2. Now take another look at the board. What is the opponent threatening to do? Objectively list what he is threatening to do.
3. Ask: What can I do to prevent those threats?
4. Ask: Can I execute my own threats before my opponent can get his in?
5: Ask: Is there some way that I can minimize my opponents' gains?
If the answer to all these questions are negative, go do something else, have a good night's rest, and look at it the next day. After all you have at least 24 hours to play, and probably have a time bank too. Use them.

When you come back with a fresh perspective, then you can review your thinking and see if there really is reason for pessimism.

At this stage do NOT think about what might have been. Do NOT get into wondering what your mistake was: that is for the post mortem. Look at the board for opportunities. Do NOT create airy fairy hope where there is none either.

Only then, if you conclude that the game is truly lost do you throw in the towel.

Then study the game to learn from your mistakes. I spend far more time analyzing lost games (and games that I deserved to lose) than winning games because those games expose my weaknesses, and show me what I need to learn.

The term for this is resilience. It is a skill that carries over directly into real life, and from real life into chess. :)
 
Hey guys - have u seen this new dude ranex? he's the only one that hasn't lost a single game!

tallfred said:
We have had this discussion before on this forum, but I repeat: be very careful when playing the Romanians. They have absolutely no compunction....
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Like I've said before - it's almost like they are not here to enjoy a game of chess - but rather to see how quickly they can climb up the rankings

Fivel said:
Agree with Viper, just being able to play is enough, the rating is a secondary benefit!
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So do I :-)

In December, around the time the Romanians started joining, I saw these new accounts with high rankings. When looking at their history - you see that they get high ratings by playing a sh!t load of games, and playing mostly players in, what we like to call the B-team (hehe the A-team is the first page in the rankings, i.e. the first 25)

So that got me wondering - what would happen to my ranking if I only played against players that I believe I can beat?

And I was bored.

Enter user ranex..

I created myself a new account - user ranex. It stands for RANking EXperiment.

user ranex had the following criteria:

- only plays users that has never won against user vuade.
- never plays user vuade
- never chats in games (that was very hard in game 9070 - sorry for your loss of queen kortgat!)
- tries not to timeout opponents - allow ample time to move
- declines all challenges from users that have beaten user vuade - (sorry sticks et al)

The idea was to just complete the 10 games to lose the provisional P, and then compare rating to user vuade

The result:

Today user ranex completed his 10th game.

Now there are two users on chessconquest.com:

user vuade - ranking 1399
user ranex - ranking 1665

but it is the same person.

It is not a flaw in the glicko-2 system (or any other rating system for that matter), in fact the experiment was probably moot, since it could have been proven mathematically, but then this post would never have happened:-)

All that it shows is you can, to a certain, and seemingly large degree control your rating value by carefully screening your opponents.

The moral of the story I guess is this: If you are bothered a lot about your position on the ranking, don't be. You can change your rating value a lot if you want- probably even move up or down a couple of positions. And what do you prove then?

(hehe typical post from a now B-team player - you'll never hear jakals complain about being number 1 :D - congrats by the way)

I'm here to enjoy chess - and to hopefully learn some things to improve my game

(doesn't mean though that I never peek at the rankings :p see it as a "rough estimate")
 
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Vuade
Well done for getting a nice rating.

One property of the rating system is that you gain more rating for a win against a strong opponent than for a weaker opponent. Also, you lose less for a loss against a strong player than a weak player.

So suppose that you tackle only players with a lower rating. In the beginning you will gain a lot of rating because you seem to be doing well, but the rate at which you go up will slow down with time as you will be gaining less and less rating simply because the ratings difference between you and your opponents is so great.

The problem is that with each game that you play there is a chance, no matter how small, that you will draw or lose. Over one game or two games you can bully the opposition, but eventually probability will overcome you and you will fail to win the game. Because you are losing against a weaker player, this will cause you to take a big drop in rating.

The theory is therefore that in the long run (say thirty games or so) your rating will stabilize at exactly your real playing strength anyway.
 
Hi guys, i am showing i am around and been reading all the post but not getting time to take part in the conversations.

Firstly congrats to Solitude for that suckerpunch, did not see that coming and you got me in my off day, the day before i was pulling moves like that against the other players (you can ask Yotta, "whistling: sorry) Well played and we shall battle again.

Tallfred thanks for your insight it is always very useful, helpful and appreciated.

Fivel you can have a look at some of my games to see how i play and if you are up for it challenge me. I am going to sent Tallfred a challenge as to see where i stand with my progress so far.

Regarding the Romanians i don't play any games that is shorter than 2 days per move, at the moment i am so busy i almost don't get around playing as it is.

Have fun playing and see you around.
 
Tx Horlicks, I'll pretty much play anybody, so expect an invite soon :). I like you have limited time (between the corporate world and a family with 2 little beautiful boys) so I end playing really well on the odd occasion but also really poorly on others. I have made peace with the fact that I really don't have the time required to play consistently well.

So now I play purely for fun - every dumb move I make is hugely frustrating for me, but the overall enjoyment always outweighs the frustration.
 
Hey guys... a miracle has happened. This danyelmarius dude kept sending me invites (1 day to move, 0 timebank) and I kept rejecting them and then yesterday, suddenly out of nowhere, came an invitation with 2 days to move (still no timebank though).
I just shows you... these Romanians can be trained over time :)

Next up, timebank training :D
 
Man, way too many posts that I want to reply too. Will see if I can tonight. Life is just a bit crazy at the moment. So tireds!
 
tallfred said:
The term for this is resilience. It is a skill that carries over directly into real life, and from real life into chess. :)
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These words have come back to haunt me: I got a "voluntary" severance package yesterday. I have been working through this shock following pretty much the same thought patterns as the ones I described in the post, so I guess I stand by what I wrote.

To be honest, just getting to my moves is a bit of a chore at the moment. I am having to think deeply about my life game plan. It's a challenging and humbling thing to do.

So I march out into the world once more, mouth in throat, searching for new hope and new vision. Wish me luck.

Horlicks, I apologize that I couldn't accept your challenge: I hope you understand.
 
Sorry to hear about your redundancy tallfred, I work in the banking industry and we are implementing cuts all over the place, none of us feel that are jobs are 'safe'. I hope you find something soon!!!
 
I'm sorry to hear that tallfred. :( May opportunities open up for you and may things go well. The best of luck to you.
 
Horlicks00 said:
Firstly congrats to Solitude for that suckerpunch, did not see that coming and you got me in my off day, the day before i was pulling moves like that against the other players (you can ask Yotta, "whistling: sorry) Well played and we shall battle again.
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You gave me a good whipping... a good reminder to never let my guard down. Well played, and I will definitely defend my honor again in the near future. ;)
 
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