ChessConquest - official discussion thread

Wise words from tallfred

I agree and what you say makes 100% sense.
It is funny that some people don't chat at all during a game, i find it quite nice just to chat a few words. Ah

@Yotta can we add on the list if it is not there yet to have maybe some message system so we can communicate with other player while not playing a game against them?

I see there is a lot of new people from other countries joining but some of them are really strange.
 
Horlicks00 said:
I agree and what you say makes 100% sense.
@Yotta can we add on the list if it is not there yet to have maybe some message system so we can communicate with other player while not playing a game against them?
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TallFred also submitted this request and it is definitely on the development list. For those of you who haven't read our monthly newsletter, we decided make our next upgrade to ChessConquest a major upgrade, rather than having tiny incremental changes. This just helps us to get more done in less time. All outstanding feature requests will form part of the upcoming major upgrade.

With regards to restricting entrance to tournaments, we've decided based on the discussion in this forum to NOT change anything right now, and only make a minor adjustment, in that automatic timeouts is effective immediately (instead of having an additional 3 day grace period).
 
Sounds good yotta. Keep up the good work. :)

Lately I've been playing quite a lot of games at a time and I realize I'm more prone to make mistakes now. Going to cut down on the amount of games I'm playing.
 
I was tempted to challenge more players but I think 3 games going on at the same time is the limit for me right now. Maybe at a later stage i'l try more games at the same time
 
Congratulations to Jakkals, the new number 1

Jakkals beat me in our game, so he has taken over the top spot on the rankings. The game he played against me was superb. He is definitely the best human player that I have encountered since Mark Rubery handed me my ass on a plate.

Well done!
 
*googles Mark Rubery*

It was a good game but it would have been interesting if you tried to continue. Yes you were behind and in a tough position but I've got faith in you. :) Jakkals is an excellent player though and he had a sharp game.

I'm done with playing so many games at once. Lost my first game in a while last night because I wasn't paying enough attention. Caught me completely by surprise.

I hope you and Jakkals have a rematch!
 
Development list

Hi Yotta, can we add something in the game history to show how a game was won? I like to watch sometimes how other players play and then i don't know if they won by a time-out or if the opponent resigned.

On a different note, i also tried playing fewer games but that is not working as i still make mistakes, so i decided i won't mind how many games i play the more the marry. I think if i play more i might just get better and 20 games at a time is not that bad, you still have enough time to think on what you are doing. ;) , if Kasparov can play 30 at once and just with memory i should be ok with technology at hand. Check you later :)
 
Solitude said:
It was a good game but it would have been interesting if you tried to continue. Yes you were behind and in a tough position but I've got faith in you. :) Jakkals is an excellent player though and he had a sharp game.
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There is an art in resigning: the question to ask is: "Can my opponent still blow this?" In my position against Jakkals I had no threats, and no prospects of making any either. He, on the other hand, had pressure on all the major squares, and would soon get pieces into my position. Even grabbing the loose Pawn on e3 would do me no good as it would be indefensible even in the short term, resulting in a highway for white's pieces into the black position.

Against a weaker player I might try to go on, but against a player who had shown such mastery of the subtleties of breaking up the centre from the flanks, playing on would only be prolonging the pain.

Weaker players can learn a lot by studying this game. Notice how White does not occupy the centre with pieces: indeed after his second last move every single one of his pieces were on the edge of the board. What White has done is to identify Black's weak points, and subtly undermine them. Moreover, each of his pieces were placed in ways that were very difficult to remove. As a result, I buckled under this constant nagging pressure and made the decisive error.

This is an excellent example of the Hypermodern school of thought: let the opponent occupy the centre, I will remove the centre's supports and take my victory from the inherent weaknesses created by my opponent.
 
A question to all, what is the best way to improve one's chess? Clearly and obvious one is to play more, but I am interested to learn how others have gone about it.
 
Fivel said:
A question to all, what is the best way to improve one's chess? Clearly and obvious one is to play more, but I am interested to learn how others have gone about it.
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My advice: Work on the opening, middle game and end game.
Opening: Learn One or two openings as white, and a reply to both 1. d4 and 1. e4 as black. Make sure you understand opening principles.
Middle game:
- Study chess tactics using a simple book and practice using internet resources such as chess.com (Sunday to Tuesday) and chessgames.com puzzle of the day (Monday to Wednesday)
- Study chess strategy using a book like "Think like a Grandmaster" by Alexander Kotov, "Simple Chess" by Michael Stean, "Modern Chess Strategy" by Ludek Pachman are good examples.
End game: Learn the basic end game techniques with a basic end games book.

Combine all three: play games at slow time controls. Chessconquest is good. Blitz games are bad for your game.
Analyze your games with a computer. Analyze other peoples' games.

Also read grandmaster games. It will take a bit of work

It's that simple at lower levels. Do this, and you will definitely get better. At higher levels you will have to adjust your strategy, but this should work for now.

Just about anyone can become a top level player in South Africa: it just takes a little carefully directed work. Many moons ago one of my friends who was slightly weaker that me set it as his ambition to become a chess master. He worked vary hard at it, and his chess improved radically. In the end he did not become a master , but he did represent South Africa at a Chess Olympiad, and that is something that few people can say. He has also won several chess tournaments.
 
tallfred said:
My advice: Work on the opening, middle game and end game.
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Thanks tallfred for explaining it in a proper way, this sure is helpful.

I like the game Chessmaster very much and i feel it helps exactly with all the points that was said one should focus on. It is suitable for all types from beginners to pros, they got a great academy with tools to help you learn more about chess, got a great opening book database and also a lot of famous chess games played over time till as recently as 2007. I got a few editions with the last being the Grandmaster Edition which is the best one in the series so far, the AI opponents are almost lifelike with strengths and weaknesses, although it is still better to play against humans it is a good way to practice.
You can buy it in the bargain bin of most computer shops or online. It is released by Ubisoft and falls under the Exclusive label. As earlier noted in the thread it is also available on Steam if you don't mind getting games from them (there website was hacked a few weeks ago).
 
Horlicks00 said:
Thanks tallfred for explaining it in a proper way, this sure is helpful.

I like the game Chessmaster very much and i feel it helps exactly with all the points that was said one should focus on. It is suitable for all types from beginners to pros, they got a great academy with tools to help you learn more about chess, got a great opening book database and also a lot of famous chess games played over time till as recently as 2007. I got a few editions with the last being the Grandmaster Edition which is the best one in the series so far, the AI opponents are almost lifelike with strengths and weaknesses, although it is still better to play against humans it is a good way to practice.
You can buy it in the bargain bin of most computer shops or online. It is released by Ubisoft and falls under the Exclusive label. As earlier noted in the thread it is also available on Steam if you don't mind getting games from them (there website was hacked a few weeks ago).
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The problem with the Steam version of Chessmaster is that it's not the proper game. It does have a few tutorials and games to play but most of the Chessmaster functionality is missing unfortunately. I'm surprised how difficult it is to get hold of these games. I pre-ordered Fritz 13 but no one knows when it will reach South African shores. It's been out overseas for a while now.
 
Fivel, Solitude: All the best. Let me know how it's going. I'd be glad to help in any way.

Horlicks00, Just like Solitude I burnt my fingers on a downloaded version of Chessmaster Grandmaster. I was very upset, but then bought the version in a bargain bin at CNA. I'm a fan of the program. There are far stronger programs available, but none are as friendly in terms of providing learns tools for improvement at so many levels. I have not really looked at Fritz yet, so it might be in the same league.

Sadly, the program is beginning to show its age.

Random Rant: Computer Chess
Just one clarification to my earlier post on improving your play. I recommended analyzing a game using the computer. I meant "Analyze it with the computer once the game is over." In my view it is in very poor taste to use a computer as a tool in a game against a human. You have proven nothing if you win, and you have definitely not improved your play. If I wanted to play against a computer I'd fire it up myself, thank you.

Bottom line: if you want to play with a computer, play against it yourself.

</RANT>
 
Yotta... Just one thing (don't know if mentioned already), but perhaps you can add email notifications for when tournament matches start. A tournament match started for me over the weekend and the other guy's time is already up, but I doubt he even knows the games have started. Just an email similar to when someone challenges you will do.
 
Horlicks00 said:
Hi Yotta, can we add something in the game history to show how a game was won? I like to watch sometimes how other players play and then i don't know if they won by a time-out or if the opponent resigned.
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Hey Horlicks00, we've added this feature. When you view a game or the history page, you'll notice that there is now a victory description that indicates how the game ended (e.g. check mate, draw by agreement, timeout etc).
 
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