ChessPub Forum - I Decide To Go To War

ChessIsWar Junior Member Offline Posts: 63 Location: New York State Joined: 12/10/14 Gender:	Re: I Decide To Go To War Reply #43 - 07/21/21 at 09:53:58	Post Tools	Print Post
	cathexis wrote on 07/18/21 at 23:16:55: For right now, the club I joined in June this year meets on-line only although it has been around almost 70 years. Like many clubs, they are dependent on others for a physical location for OTB play & meetings. So those places must fully open first. They hold weekly Ladders & Quads on Chess.com. I confine myself to a free membership on Chess.com since I need something to play. No surprise, I am both a novice and unrated. I couldn't care less about the ratings these sites offer: There's only one rating that will matter to me and I look forward to earning it. On this forum, besides help with openings, most of my help has come from the General board here. This includes several members who've given me personal help and advice that I value highly. It is hard for a newbie to understand they are asking the wrong kind of question, or assuming the wrong kind of answers, when they just don't know better. True in life, doubly so in chess. I mean myself, if no one else. Chess.com could boot me tomorrow and I promise you I have so much other material still to cover I would just soldier on until things opened back up. I would also continue to ask questions here on any chess topic, not just openings. As elsewhere in my life, I've often found it helpful to recall the old saying, "Save the drama for your mama." (Though I admit it has sometimes been a post-facto recall). Cathexis I appreciate you taking the time. Without drawing too much attention to the matter or going into great detail: Things are resolved. My USCF is linked to both my ICC account and a Chess.com account. I agree with you, however - there is just endless material available to us today, especially if we spend a few dollars here and there, and losing access to only one outlet wouldn't entirely derail anyone. As of now, I don't have to worry about that again. I'm getting much better. After my 1st round draw in T4545 play, I won the other day in round 2. I was black, got into the Richter-Rauzer in the Sicilian, and my opponent resigned on move 19 after a tactical exchange where he blundered early and things liquidated into a pretty lost endgame for him. I also ended the game with ~49 minutes and he was under 20. The fact that, for a second game in a row, I was way ahead on time is a massive improvement for me. This was another board 1 game and prior to it we were tied 1.5 - 1.5 for the match so it also gave us the match win. My team has a bye this week. Most of my study material right now is ChessTempo, ICC, and the International Chess School I subbed to. I'm also going to be starting to do more tactics and review of games OTB as directed by the study material. And, most importantly: No drama. Whatever occurs. It's simply not worth the wasted time and energy and I thank you for reminding me of that. I haven't posted anything anywhere lately other than on this forum and while on ICC. Well, I'm also commenting on CT tactics a bit again now, too. I think in depth discussion of individual tactics is actually a really underrated method of improvement.


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cathexis God Member Offline No matter where you go, there you are. Posts: 664 Location: Stafford, Virginia USA Joined: 03/03/20 Gender:	Re: I Decide To Go To War Reply #42 - 07/18/21 at 23:16:55	Post Tools	Print Post
	For right now, the club I joined in June this year meets on-line only although it has been around almost 70 years. Like many clubs, they are dependent on others for a physical location for OTB play & meetings. So those places must fully open first. They hold weekly Ladders & Quads on Chess.com. I confine myself to a free membership on Chess.com since I need something to play. No surprise, I am both a novice and unrated. I couldn't care less about the ratings these sites offer: There's only one rating that will matter to me and I look forward to earning it. On this forum, besides help with openings, most of my help has come from the General board here. This includes several members who've given me personal help and advice that I value highly. It is hard for a newbie to understand they are asking the wrong kind of question, or assuming the wrong kind of answers, when they just don't know better. True in life, doubly so in chess. I mean myself, if no one else. Chess.com could boot me tomorrow and I promise you I have so much other material still to cover I would just soldier on until things opened back up. I would also continue to ask questions here on any chess topic, not just openings. As elsewhere in my life, I've often found it helpful to recall the old saying, "Save the drama for your mama." (Though I admit it has sometimes been a post-facto recall). Cathexis


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ChessIsWar Junior Member Offline Posts: 63 Location: New York State Joined: 12/10/14 Gender:	Re: I Decide To Go To War Reply #41 - 07/17/21 at 15:04:40	Post Tools	Print Post
	Bibs wrote on 07/17/21 at 00:32:18: A few comments regarding appropriacy and content. This is an opening theory site. with a little other stuff appended. But clearly, overtly about chess openings. Perhaps the OP can contribute in the opening threads. This all seems to be about one person, his frustration, and his ranting about this and that. Personal rants offer little that helps others or that contributes toward community building. Might this be better on a personal blog? It would. Or Reddit or something. But not on an openings site. Chess sites ban users for breaching rules of use. Typically, that is a roundabout way of saying 'cheating' - engine use. There will be a few false positives, but not that many. Those false positives likely being from strong players with deep theoretical knowledge playing several days per move games. The OP can consider carefully and reflect why the ban was imposed for breaching rules of use. This site is owned and run by Tony Kosten. Perhaps posters can be circumspect in their criticism of other sites, noting that he is the one legally liable here. Fair enough to be critical, but don't go overboard with wild assertions. And, for goodness sake, we don't want comments about people from particular areas cheating. This seems wildly inappropriate, particularly coming from someone who admits to having been banned himself. I suggest to the OP: calm down. Take time away from online chess and from the internet. Don't rant here. Go for a walk in the park - smell flowers, feed ducks, do yoga. Mods and TonyK - keep a close eye here. Best wishes to OP and all with their chess games. So that we don't drag my derail on even further: I understand where you're coming from and I certainly don't want to detract from the quality of this site - which is quite high. Moving forward, I'll remain more on topic and do a bit more reading and less writing. That said: I swear on a stack that I didn't cheat or even say anything beyond what I told you I did. This was the fastest, most uncalled for ban that I've ever seen lol. I have no idea what the real reason behind this was as they refuse to communicate with me but I have seen other stories of the same thing happening to others at chess.com. Nobody understands it. The fact is that there are far better sites anyway. I'm spending my time on ICC, PlayChess, Chess24 and CT. All paid subs, never a problem of any kind, all great moderators that I've had communication with both in the past and recently. I definitely won't have any issues on these sites.


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MNb God Member Offline Rudolf Spielmann forever Posts: 10780 Location: Moengo Joined: 01/05/04 Gender:	Re: I Decide To Go To War Reply #40 - 07/17/21 at 05:32:03	Post Tools	Print Post
	FreeRepublic wrote on 07/16/21 at 19:09:25: I believe in free speech and that silencing people is wrong. I likewise believe in the use of persuasion rather than force. I would like to leave it at that, however I won't. Internet is not a democratic rechtsstaat. There is no free speech on fora and blogs. Like Bibs pointed out ultimately GM Kosten decides. So this forum is rather an enlightened monarchy a la 17th and 18th Century France. The big difference is that any participant can leave whenever he/she likes. Your views on free speech and political correctness hence are irrelevant, just like mine.

	The book had the effect good books usually have: it made the stupids more stupid, the intelligent more intelligent and the other thousands of readers remained unchanged. GC Lichtenberg
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Bibs God Member Offline Posts: 2343 Joined: 10/24/06	Re: I Decide To Go To War Reply #39 - 07/17/21 at 00:32:18	Post Tools	Print Post
	A few comments regarding appropriacy and content. This is an opening theory site. with a little other stuff appended. But clearly, overtly about chess openings. Perhaps the OP can contribute in the opening threads. This all seems to be about one person, his frustration, and his ranting about this and that. Personal rants offer little that helps others or that contributes toward community building. Might this be better on a personal blog? It would. Or Reddit or something. But not on an openings site. Chess sites ban users for breaching rules of use. Typically, that is a roundabout way of saying 'cheating' - engine use. There will be a few false positives, but not that many. Those false positives likely being from strong players with deep theoretical knowledge playing several days per move games. The OP can consider carefully and reflect why the ban was imposed for breaching rules of use. This site is owned and run by Tony Kosten. Perhaps posters can be circumspect in their criticism of other sites, noting that he is the one legally liable here. Fair enough to be critical, but don't go overboard with wild assertions. And, for goodness sake, we don't want comments about people from particular areas cheating. This seems wildly inappropriate, particularly coming from someone who admits to having been banned himself. I suggest to the OP: calm down. Take time away from online chess and from the internet. Don't rant here. Go for a walk in the park - smell flowers, feed ducks, do yoga. Mods and TonyK - keep a close eye here. Best wishes to OP and all with their chess games.


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FreeRepublic God Member Offline I Love ChessPublishing! Posts: 1018 Location: Georgia Joined: 06/08/17 Gender:	Re: I Decide To Go To War Reply #38 - 07/16/21 at 19:09:25	Post Tools	Print Post
	ChessIsWar wrote on 07/16/21 at 04:25:29: You have players who can barely read or write breaking 2000+ on Lichess. I can't attest to all you say. However in my opinion, 2000 on Lichess may be about equivalent to 1400 on ICC. One plus for Lichess is that I seldom have to wait long for a game. I have taken to playing speed games on my 8" Lenovo tablet, while my laptop recharges. I often review the games later on my laptop. As a result, I log into the same service and account on two devices. With those constraints in mind, I have considered several internet sites: Lichess, the internet chess club, chess.com and chess24. Sites offer other features, for example, videos, articles, puzzles. One gets certain benefits for free, then have the option to obtain additional benefits for pay. I appreciate an easy download of my speed games. With a download of my games, I am able to check my performance, or review games, by opening. I believe in free speech and that silencing people is wrong. I likewise believe in the use of persuasion rather than force. I would like to leave it at that, however I won't. A business might want to appeal to all customers. In fact I think they should. Certain comments, even if true, might reduce the number of customers. That is a valid concern for a business. Nonetheless, much of the political correctness in our society is just the application of force designed to silence diverging opinions and even stop the dissemination of true facts.


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ChessIsWar Junior Member Offline Posts: 63 Location: New York State Joined: 12/10/14 Gender:	Re: I Decide To Go To War Reply #37 - 07/16/21 at 17:11:03	Post Tools	Print Post
	RoleyPoley wrote on 07/16/21 at 13:57:20: ChessIsWar wrote on 07/16/21 at 04:25:29: I pointed out how the majority of cheaters caught every week are Asian (it's true) How do you know it is true, is this information published somewhere? Yes. They post a list monthly of all the accounts closed. Further, every time someone posts a game publicly where they suspect cheating - sure enough, it's an Asian on the other end. I didn't even make a big thing about it...I just stated it. That's certainly not a reason to close someone's paid, USCF linked account without saying one word to them (to this minute). They don't reply to emails, they don't respond to phone calls, and they have a history of this. They have a one star rating with the BBB with numerous complaints just like mine. Further, they're being sued for this behavior as we speak and that's a fact. There's clearly really something wrong with more than one personality over there. Of course, not being on Chess.com definitely removes some options for me to play. That said - It's a terrible site anyway when compared to ICC, Chess24, PlayChess, etc. Things are constantly bugged, everything is centered around speed chess, the site clearly caters toward children, and the forums are an absolute cesspool. I know none of the other sites operate in the way Chess.com does, though so I doubt I'll be being removed from any others. This was just totally outrageous. A company thinking it can just steal from customers and act vengeance upon them simply because they said something one of the employees didn't like? That's blatantly illegal.


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RoleyPoley YaBB Moderator Offline I Love ChessPublishing! Posts: 746 Location: London Joined: 12/29/13 Gender:	Re: I Decide To Go To War Reply #36 - 07/16/21 at 13:57:20	Post Tools	Print Post
	ChessIsWar wrote on 07/16/21 at 04:25:29: I pointed out how the majority of cheaters caught every week are Asian (it's true) How do you know it is true, is this information published somewhere?

	"As Mikhail Tal would say ' Let's have a bit of hooliganism! '" Victor Bologan.
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an ordinary chessplayer God Member Offline I used to be not bad. Posts: 1825 Location: Columbus, OH (USA) Joined: 01/02/15	Re: I Decide To Go To War Reply #35 - 07/16/21 at 12:46:42	Post Tools	Print Post
	Shame your account was banned. If they were wrong about that it wouldn't be the first time. But if you look at it from the server admin's point of view, they have countless complaints to deal with all day every day. They have a thankless job and I wouldn't want to do it. You wrote: "This has been a total waste of time and turned into constantly dealing with personalities and not just Chess.", and if you think about it for a minute, that describes their whole life. So at this point there's not much else to do than take some "lessons learned" and go back to the chess.


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Bibs God Member Offline Posts: 2343 Joined: 10/24/06	Re: I Decide To Go To War Reply #34 - 07/16/21 at 08:16:38	Post Tools	Print Post
	Quick note It’s non-standard behavior to keep replying to oneself in a forum. It is something that tends to be frowned upon.


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ChessIsWar Junior Member Offline Posts: 63 Location: New York State Joined: 12/10/14 Gender:	Re: I Decide To Go To War Reply #33 - 07/16/21 at 05:12:39	Post Tools	Print Post
	Just to recap: I had a paid, diamond sub with my USCF account linked to it on Chess.com and the account was closed suddenly with absolutely no reason supplied. They will not reply to my emails or support tickets and my Lichess account was simultaneously closed with no reason provided. Over something I said on a third party site? I called the bank about it and they filed a fraud claim against Chess.com. Considering that they never supplied a reason for the closure and refuse to communicate - it's basically stealing. They can't just take people's money and not say anything to them about it. Well, that's one more person who won't be a part of US Chess at all anymore. What a total waste of time and energy and in the end - everything ruined over little baby personalities and NOTHING to do with Chess. What a disgrace.


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ChessIsWar Junior Member Offline Posts: 63 Location: New York State Joined: 12/10/14 Gender:	Re: I Decide To Go To War Reply #32 - 07/16/21 at 04:50:36	Post Tools	Print Post
	Out of the crystal clear blue just now, while reviewing a game, my account was closed. I was muted so obviously I didn't say anything that caused this. Now we're having our accounts closed for things we say about Chess.com on third party sites? This was a USCF linked, diamond account. Obviously, I have to call the bank and report fraud and then call the USCF to get my money back and show them what Chess.com did to directly drive another US member out of the chess world. This has been a total waste of time and turned into constantly dealing with personalities and not just Chess. What a bunch of little babies in this game today.


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ChessIsWar Junior Member Offline Posts: 63 Location: New York State Joined: 12/10/14 Gender:	Re: I Decide To Go To War Reply #31 - 07/16/21 at 04:25:29	Post Tools	Print Post
	Quickly: One of the problems I'm seeing initially here is the personalities involved in this game. There are a ton of little babies who play Chess. Cheating, stalling, complaining, etc - it's rampant in online Chess. Further, there's no reason to play anything other than long time controls. Anything rapid or faster is just loaded with kids who have pet lines memorized 20 moves deep. It's just all about memorization. The other problem is the people who run the online sites Chess.com and Lichess. Everything on these sites is about protecting egos, woke nonsense, and banning people the second they say something the mods don't like. I pointed out how the majority of cheaters caught every week are Asian (it's true) and they muted me for a WEEK on Chess.com, without any warning. Further, they then went and deleted ALL of my content on the site for absolutely no reason other than spite. I might have to just stick to OTB because - as we know - these personality types only get away with this behavior online. There are consequences offline. ICC, PlayChess, Chess24, ChessTempo. These are the quality sites today. Chess.com and Lichess are just business models centered around children and casual housewives. You have players who can barely read or write breaking 2000+ on Lichess. It's just a nonsense server.


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ChessIsWar Junior Member Offline Posts: 63 Location: New York State Joined: 12/10/14 Gender:	Re: I Decide To Go To War Reply #30 - 07/14/21 at 04:30:06	Post Tools	Print Post
	Just to update this quickly - Everything has continued to go great. I reached a pretty big milestone for me in 1200+ blitz on chess.com, playing nothing but 5+5's. My rapid is 1503 there and I've improved quite a bit since I was playing my rapid games on chess.com. I also reached 2000+ in tactics on Chess.com, and my standard tactics on ChessTempo are over 1600 now. My Lichess rapid is 1674 after 11 games and my classical is 1810 after 8 games. Blitz = 1330 over 36 games. https://lichess.org/@/TitleHunter2021 https://www.chess.com/member/digitalwarfare I played game 1 of the 45+45 team league on ICC over the weekend and drew for half a point. Download game in pgn format I will be playing another game this week - now as black - and I have already begun prepping for my opponent. Overall, I'm completely immersed in the game and am enjoying it far more now than ever, considering that I understand so much more. I have been studying a ton. A lot of the material is linked to my profiles and threads. I have been pouring through the International Chess School material, courses on tactics and positional play on ICC, as well as courses on Chess24. I went through and got out all of my tournament chess equipment and I already have more than I could ever need. Multiple sets with multiple clocks, quivers, scorebooks, etc. I have books that I'm going through OTB here so the entirety of my training isn't centered around the computer. I'm already itching to play some longer games OTB and very well may look for either a USCF or - even better - a FIDE event down in NYC to attend. I'm working on my opening repertoires, expanding and refining them. I love both opening and endgame theory and look forward to digging into both even further. All in all - I couldn't really be much happier with the game, my progress, or my plan for the future. Personally, chess is having a great effect on me. I'm far more patient, balanced, sharp, focused. So...nothing will be changing and I'll only be spending more time on the game next month. I have Fritz 15 and the CB reader, along with a Komodo engine and SF Dev. I'm considering buying either Komodo Dragon 2 or the new CB database and software at some point. For now, I do have a CB/PlayChess sub and use the live db there often, as well as the one on ChessTempo. It's incredibly helpful for learning lines and finding relevant master games to go through, see what middlegames develop from what openings, and of course see what endgame comes about and how it was played by both sides. I see a ton of players have problems when the game begins to transition to and then is in the endgame and I've definitely already picked up many a point by simply playing better endgames in time trouble.


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Konstriktor Full Member Offline I Love ChessPublishing! Posts: 172 Joined: 02/21/10 Gender:	Re: I Decide To Go To War Reply #29 - 07/02/21 at 22:02:10	Post Tools	Print Post
	ChessIsWar wrote on 07/02/21 at 17:22:24: Konstriktor wrote on 07/02/21 at 11:17:01: I am a bit reluctant to answer to this thread because I really, really dislike the title. ...Why? I think that war is never an answer or solution to any conflict whatsoever. Basically you ask for help in improvement in some sort of personal war? It is probably figure of speech, but I don't get it. I like to offer advice, but I just dislike the whole notion of war. It's probably me, so let's just stick to chess improvement in this thread But this was my last contribution to this thread with the current title FWIW There will be enough to help you out here, so good luck with your path to chess enlightenment!


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ChessIsWar Junior Member Offline Posts: 63 Location: New York State Joined: 12/10/14 Gender:	Re: I Decide To Go To War Reply #28 - 07/02/21 at 17:34:39	Post Tools	Print Post
	an ordinary chessplayer wrote on 07/02/21 at 14:36:25: I looked at chessmasterschool.com. Their offering seems fine, I would even say it's well worth the $24 per month, provided one does the work and sticks with the course. As to whether it's better or worse than some other online school, it's impossible to say without doing both, and who is going to do that? The chessmasterschool course is designed for 13 months. I don't have the details, but a ballpark guess from what I can see is it has to be less than 10 hours per week. Since ChessIsWar is doing 12 hours per day, it would all be over in a couple of months. Maybe, for a super-hard worker, a better idea would be a school that doesn't have a fixed curriculum, but instead has some kind of unlimited access to a strong coach. Another idea would be to spend 13 times $24 on the right chess books, and crucially actually study them intensively. One good $24 book, studied intensively, must offer far more than 40 hours of study time. If you are really on a budget, there are used books online, or even the library. The books aren't a bad idea. I have a few Seirawan books from a few years back and I have My System. Perhaps it's time to add a newer book or two so I have something to work with OTB. I'm not on any extreme budget or anything. I have enough for the essentials which I seem to have most of now, anyway. I have several really nice sets and clocks that I bought a few years back. That said - for only $24/mo. I went ahead and gave the ICS school a shot. I worked with it for a while already and immediately like it. I've also been studying a lot of Charlie Storey (FM) material over on ICC. He has a few very detailed and long courses on there. And, of course, T89 of Team4545 begins play next week there, as well.


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ChessIsWar Junior Member Offline Posts: 63 Location: New York State Joined: 12/10/14 Gender:	Re: I Decide To Go To War Reply #27 - 07/02/21 at 17:27:13	Post Tools	Print Post
	cathexis wrote on 07/02/21 at 12:34:55: There are OTB or in-person tournaments beginning this month. Few, but it is coming back. My advice would be to save your money and hold-out for the real thing. Specifically, I would join the USCF (your sig sez you're from NY) and join a local club affiliated with USCF. Chose the club with the largest membership, oldest founding date, and highest rated members that also offers weekly Ladders and Quads, as well as may put on smaller local tournaments and may connect you to in-person coaching. While you're waiting for things to open back up, many clubs offer on-line rated play - often on chess.com or similar. This gives you some experience and networks you with the real people you will eventually have to face to formalize your ratings climb. In the meanwhile, if you want to self-study, or have un-answered questions, or don't even know the questions to ask - this be da place for dat! I can't tell you how helpful people have been here. Thanks for your post. I did renew my USCF yesterday, as well as link it to my Chess.com and ICC accounts. There is a chess club pretty close by me that I think still has quads once a week and I got an invite to the West Orange NJ chess club, too. I'm definitely going to start playing OTB soon and interacting with other players face to face as you suggest.


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ChessIsWar Junior Member Offline Posts: 63 Location: New York State Joined: 12/10/14 Gender:	Re: I Decide To Go To War Reply #26 - 07/02/21 at 17:22:24	Post Tools	Print Post
	Konstriktor wrote on 07/02/21 at 11:17:01: I am a bit reluctant to answer to this thread because I really, really dislike the title. ...Why?


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an ordinary chessplayer God Member Offline I used to be not bad. Posts: 1825 Location: Columbus, OH (USA) Joined: 01/02/15	Re: I Decide To Go To War Reply #25 - 07/02/21 at 14:36:25	Post Tools	Print Post
	I looked at chessmasterschool.com. Their offering seems fine, I would even say it's well worth the $24 per month, provided one does the work and sticks with the course. As to whether it's better or worse than some other online school, it's impossible to say without doing both, and who is going to do that? The chessmasterschool course is designed for 13 months. I don't have the details, but a ballpark guess from what I can see is it has to be less than 10 hours per week. Since ChessIsWar is doing 12 hours per day, it would all be over in a couple of months. Maybe, for a super-hard worker, a better idea would be a school that doesn't have a fixed curriculum, but instead has some kind of unlimited access to a strong coach. Another idea would be to spend 13 times $24 on the right chess books, and crucially actually study them intensively. One good $24 book, studied intensively, must offer far more than 40 hours of study time. If you are really on a budget, there are used books online, or even the library.


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cathexis God Member Offline No matter where you go, there you are. Posts: 664 Location: Stafford, Virginia USA Joined: 03/03/20 Gender:	Re: I Decide To Go To War Reply #24 - 07/02/21 at 12:34:55	Post Tools	Print Post
	There are OTB or in-person tournaments beginning this month. Few, but it is coming back. My advice would be to save your money and hold-out for the real thing. Specifically, I would join the USCF (your sig sez you're from NY) and join a local club affiliated with USCF. Chose the club with the largest membership, oldest founding date, and highest rated members that also offers weekly Ladders and Quads, as well as may put on smaller local tournaments and may connect you to in-person coaching. While you're waiting for things to open back up, many clubs offer on-line rated play - often on chess.com or similar. This gives you some experience and networks you with the real people you will eventually have to face to formalize your ratings climb. In the meanwhile, if you want to self-study, or have un-answered questions, or don't even know the questions to ask - this be da place for dat! I can't tell you how helpful people have been here.


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Konstriktor Full Member Offline I Love ChessPublishing! Posts: 172 Joined: 02/21/10 Gender:	Re: I Decide To Go To War Reply #23 - 07/02/21 at 11:17:01	Post Tools	Print Post
	I am a bit reluctant to answer to this thread because I really, really dislike the title. So I bump this when I answer and I see it at the top. Then again you seem serious about your goals and maybe you really, really dislike silly spelling and snakes I don't know much about the Chessmasterschool except for the samples on the site, but it looks good. I seriously thought about enrolling in it, but I still have about 200 chess books to work through... Opening knowledge gets outdated, but chess concepts and skills rarely do, so you don't need to worry about that. The Yusupov Course from QualityChess is a good alternative. Nine books, 25 chapters in each book, covering all subjects of chess. Both have the advantage of providing structure to your improvement plans so you don't need to figure everything out.


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ChessIsWar Junior Member Offline Posts: 63 Location: New York State Joined: 12/10/14 Gender:	Re: I Decide To Go To War Reply #22 - 07/01/21 at 00:15:41	Post Tools	Print Post
	Just to check in quickly: Everything is well on track and all ratings on all sites are increasing quickly. I'm over 1700 rapid and classical on Lichess now, and over 1500 rapid on Chess.com. Team4545's T89 begins in the next couple of days and I'm board 1 for a u1300 team. The starting rating assigned to me is 1397. Question for you folks here on Chesspub = what's the general consensus on International Chess School? (https://www.chessmasterschool.com/) It's been around for a while and has great reviews but - as I asked about on Chess.com - I'm wondering if it's not outdated and if something similar but better is available today. Thanks!


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ChessIsWar Junior Member Offline Posts: 63 Location: New York State Joined: 12/10/14 Gender:	Re: I Decide To Go To War Reply #21 - 06/26/21 at 04:23:37	Post Tools	Print Post
	an ordinary chessplayer wrote on 06/26/21 at 04:07:57: ChessIsWar wrote on 06/25/21 at 20:00:36: .. I did start one correspondence game a few days back, as white, and black just played 15...Kh8. ... Of course you can't expect anybody to comment on a correspondence game still in progress. Of course not.


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an ordinary chessplayer God Member Offline I used to be not bad. Posts: 1825 Location: Columbus, OH (USA) Joined: 01/02/15	Re: I Decide To Go To War Reply #20 - 06/26/21 at 04:07:57	Post Tools	Print Post
	ChessIsWar wrote on 06/25/21 at 20:00:36: .. I did start one correspondence game a few days back, as white, and black just played 15...Kh8. ... Of course you can't expect anybody to comment on a correspondence game still in progress.


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ChessIsWar Junior Member Offline Posts: 63 Location: New York State Joined: 12/10/14 Gender:	Re: I Decide To Go To War Reply #19 - 06/25/21 at 20:06:44	Post Tools	Print Post
	Bibs wrote on 06/24/21 at 20:33:10: ChessIsWar wrote on 06/24/21 at 17:12:54: Bibs wrote on 06/24/21 at 09:42:07: I don’t understand. What is the relation between the title and the content? Which war? Which ongoing military conflict do you desire to participate in? The ongoing conflict of the minds that is waged over the chessboard. And myself. As cathexis wrote: I am my own biggest impediment. Then my first recommendation is to become more Stoic. With a big ‘S’ rather than small, as the regular usage of the word differs greatly from the actual envisaged approach, alas. And causes misunderstanding. Read Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius’ ‘Meditations’ etc. This is incredibly useful for learning how to better self-regulate. Managing one’s thoughts and reactions. Becoming calmer and more efficient. It's funny you mention Epictetus because in a poker mental game video I was watching a few weeks back, they had a whole segment devoted to him, mental clarity, and meditation. Balance, internal peace, and clarity is absolutely something I need to work on regularly so I will pay special attention to such as I move forward.


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ChessIsWar

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Re: I Decide To Go To War
Reply #18 - 06/25/21 at 20:00:36

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In addition to my live chess and study, I did start one correspondence game a few days back, as white, and black just played 15...Kh8. It's a 24 hr per move game and I think I should be able to convert this.

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ChessIsWar Junior Member Offline Posts: 63 Location: New York State Joined: 12/10/14 Gender:	Re: I Decide To Go To War Reply #17 - 06/25/21 at 19:56:49	Post Tools	Print Post
	TopNotch wrote on 06/25/21 at 19:31:05: ChessIsWar wrote on 06/24/21 at 06:02:17: I wanted to make this thread here for a few reasons. First - I can't find a more serious, in depth, and beneficial chess forum online. The Chess.com forums are a zoo and not something I can be wasting my time with at this point. That said, I do have a thread up there that explains where I'm coming from and what I've been doing over the past week plus. https://www.chess.com/forum/view/game-showcase/total-war-61208037 I have 2 USCF games played lifetime, both on the same day several years ago. I lost both and have a 980p rating. Since that time, I have very little true experience to talk about. I have spent the majority of my time playing online poker, socializing, reading about other topics on life, etc. Over the past week and half, however, I have been basically doing nothing but playing and studying the game. I can truly say I've never been more into chess or any other game before, which is actually saying a ton. I simply can't consume or play enough. I'm renewing my USCF sub on July 1st and will be playing in rated online USCF games on Chess.com, as well as in ICC's T89 of Team4545. Alongside this, I'm going to play a ton of "coffeehouse" games online and just keep pouring time and energy into improvement. At some point in the near future, I'll begin incorporating OTB rated play locally, as well as dipping into Manhattan and The Marshall now and then for more serious games. Goal = 2200 USCF standard rating. I'm 39 now and I see a ton of people in my shoes wondering how far they can progress, how fast, and how to best go about doing so. I want to set out on this path and see exactly what it entails and where it leads me. At the absolute least, playing competitive chess is something that is just all around beneficial for me and definitely the best thing for me to be putting my energy into at this point. I welcome *all/any* advice, discussion, suggestions, and comments and I look forward to participating in the community here, as well as growing as a player and person. Coming from someone who has walked the path my simple advice would be focus much less on the destination and concentrate much more on fully enjoying the journey. When you enjoy what you do, and put in the work, the rest usually takes care of itself. Have fun in your quest and good luck. Thank you for your post. If you don't mind my asking: What is your rating and how was your progression? What you're talking about is why I never did commit to the game fully like this prior. I had other things going on in life, was mentally in no shape to improve like this, and just had a lot of personal progress to make in figuring out my own individual path. I see the guys posting online about 2200 USCF/FIDE all the time and I know that if that's what they're playing for - that rating - they won't make it. Not just in Chess but in anything. I agree fully with you that unless what you're doing is a true passion and simply playing the game is what makes you happy...you just can never get great. I just wanted to state a clear goal that I think is realistic and commit to it at this point. That's the long term. In the short term, I'm just enjoying playing, studying, reading, improving, and allowing myself to grow as a player and person.


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TopNotch God Member Offline I only look 1 move ahead, but its always the best Posts: 2211 Joined: 01/04/03 Gender:	Re: I Decide To Go To War Reply #16 - 06/25/21 at 19:31:05	Post Tools	Print Post
	ChessIsWar wrote on 06/24/21 at 06:02:17: I wanted to make this thread here for a few reasons. First - I can't find a more serious, in depth, and beneficial chess forum online. The Chess.com forums are a zoo and not something I can be wasting my time with at this point. That said, I do have a thread up there that explains where I'm coming from and what I've been doing over the past week plus. https://www.chess.com/forum/view/game-showcase/total-war-61208037 I have 2 USCF games played lifetime, both on the same day several years ago. I lost both and have a 980p rating. Since that time, I have very little true experience to talk about. I have spent the majority of my time playing online poker, socializing, reading about other topics on life, etc. Over the past week and half, however, I have been basically doing nothing but playing and studying the game. I can truly say I've never been more into chess or any other game before, which is actually saying a ton. I simply can't consume or play enough. I'm renewing my USCF sub on July 1st and will be playing in rated online USCF games on Chess.com, as well as in ICC's T89 of Team4545. Alongside this, I'm going to play a ton of "coffeehouse" games online and just keep pouring time and energy into improvement. At some point in the near future, I'll begin incorporating OTB rated play locally, as well as dipping into Manhattan and The Marshall now and then for more serious games. Goal = 2200 USCF standard rating. I'm 39 now and I see a ton of people in my shoes wondering how far they can progress, how fast, and how to best go about doing so. I want to set out on this path and see exactly what it entails and where it leads me. At the absolute least, playing competitive chess is something that is just all around beneficial for me and definitely the best thing for me to be putting my energy into at this point. I welcome *all/any* advice, discussion, suggestions, and comments and I look forward to participating in the community here, as well as growing as a player and person. Coming from someone who has walked the path my simple advice would be focus much less on the destination and concentrate much more on fully enjoying the journey. When you enjoy what you do, and put in the work, the rest usually takes care of itself. Have fun in your quest and good luck.

	The man who tries to do something and fails is infinitely better than he who tries to do nothing and succeeds - Lloyd Jones
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ChessIsWar Junior Member Offline Posts: 63 Location: New York State Joined: 12/10/14 Gender:	Re: I Decide To Go To War Reply #15 - 06/25/21 at 19:05:16	Post Tools	Print Post
	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZtqIXMrdlQ Very interesting game. I've been studying some of Tal's attacking ideas and then came across this game where he instead displays an excellent defense vs Botvinnik to secure a draw with black, while already up three points in the WC match.


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ChessIsWar Junior Member Offline Posts: 63 Location: New York State Joined: 12/10/14 Gender:	Re: I Decide To Go To War Reply #14 - 06/25/21 at 18:38:33	Post Tools	Print Post
	ReneDescartes wrote on 06/25/21 at 00:48:28: an ordinary chessplayer wrote on 06/24/21 at 18:21:35: ChessIsWar wrote on 06/24/21 at 17:16:29: I'm definitely already putting in 12+ hours a day and intend to keep it that way I can't recall anybody making that claim before. I guess it puts you at 6-sigma on the effort scale. Several sigma on some scale. No one can do 12 hours a day of productive work for 800 days straight. Even a hypomanic state ends before that. I mean...I'm not alone. There are guys I know who play three 90+30's a day. That's a lot of time right there. There are professions that require this kind of work ethic. Obviously, there are surgeons who perform 16 hour procedures. Hopefully they're still focused 75% of the way through. Everybody is different. What the average person considers extreme is just a typical day for someone else. I did manage to break from Chess yesterday. Showered, ate, caught up with some friends, slept. Back at it this afternoon, though.


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ReneDescartes God Member Offline Qu'est-ce donc que je suis? Une chose qui pense. Posts: 1240 Joined: 05/17/10 Gender:	Re: I Decide To Go To War Reply #13 - 06/25/21 at 00:48:28	Post Tools	Print Post
	an ordinary chessplayer wrote on 06/24/21 at 18:21:35: ChessIsWar wrote on 06/24/21 at 17:16:29: I'm definitely already putting in 12+ hours a day and intend to keep it that way I can't recall anybody making that claim before. I guess it puts you at 6-sigma on the effort scale. Several sigma on some scale. No one can do 12 hours a day of productive work for 800 days straight. Even a hypomanic state ends before that.


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cathexis God Member Offline No matter where you go, there you are. Posts: 664 Location: Stafford, Virginia USA Joined: 03/03/20 Gender:	Re: I Decide To Go To War Reply #12 - 06/24/21 at 23:45:41	Post Tools	Print Post
	Quote: Honestly: I think this is a far, far too basic and casual approach to this. He's saying to hopefully play 1-2 30+5's a week lol. I can play multiple 30+30's or 45+45's a day already. And as far as study...I don't see how someone can expect to go from where I'm at to the upper 1% of the USCF by working on the game a few hours a day. Not when there are guys with 10-20+ years of experience on me who already spend more than that on the game daily and have for years. I know from past endeavors how important rest, nutrition, and balance are but I'm definitely already putting in 12+ hours a day and intend to keep it that way, barring a day or two break now and then. I know how long this is going to take and I'm in no rush. I'm also not looking to just waste time. I want to push myself. Then good luck in chasing your goals.


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Bibs God Member Offline Posts: 2343 Joined: 10/24/06	Re: I Decide To Go To War Reply #11 - 06/24/21 at 20:33:10	Post Tools	Print Post
	ChessIsWar wrote on 06/24/21 at 17:12:54: Bibs wrote on 06/24/21 at 09:42:07: I don’t understand. What is the relation between the title and the content? Which war? Which ongoing military conflict do you desire to participate in? The ongoing conflict of the minds that is waged over the chessboard. And myself. As cathexis wrote: I am my own biggest impediment. Then my first recommendation is to become more Stoic. With a big ‘S’ rather than small, as the regular usage of the word differs greatly from the actual envisaged approach, alas. And causes misunderstanding. Read Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius’ ‘Meditations’ etc. This is incredibly useful for learning how to better self-regulate. Managing one’s thoughts and reactions. Becoming calmer and more efficient.


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ChessIsWar Junior Member Offline Posts: 63 Location: New York State Joined: 12/10/14 Gender:	Re: I Decide To Go To War Reply #10 - 06/24/21 at 18:39:18	Post Tools	Print Post
	an ordinary chessplayer wrote on 06/24/21 at 18:21:35: ChessIsWar wrote on 06/24/21 at 17:16:29: I'm definitely already putting in 12+ hours a day and intend to keep it that way I can't recall anybody making that claim before. I guess it puts you at 6-sigma on the effort scale. It's been a pleasure thus far. I'm surprised that I developed this strong of an interest in the game again at this point but I'm really glad that I did. It's just a part of my everyday now and I enjoy studying just as much as playing. Spending some time on ChessTempo right now and then going to play a bit.


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an ordinary chessplayer God Member Offline I used to be not bad. Posts: 1825 Location: Columbus, OH (USA) Joined: 01/02/15	Re: I Decide To Go To War Reply #9 - 06/24/21 at 18:21:35	Post Tools	Print Post
	ChessIsWar wrote on 06/24/21 at 17:16:29: I'm definitely already putting in 12+ hours a day and intend to keep it that way I can't recall anybody making that claim before. I guess it puts you at 6-sigma on the effort scale.


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ChessIsWar Junior Member Offline Posts: 63 Location: New York State Joined: 12/10/14 Gender:	Re: I Decide To Go To War Reply #8 - 06/24/21 at 17:16:29	Post Tools	Print Post
	cathexis wrote on 06/24/21 at 11:04:26: The path to chess improvement is pretty well laid out. But not knowing the right questions to ask as a beginner can be a stumbling block. As you've already seen, this forum can be a huge help but you can't expect members to set aside their beliefs, nor hesitate to challenge yours, just to be helpful in the way you want. Yesterday, taking a break from chess study I watched a video, "How to Create a Training Plan" on You-Tube from ChessDojo over a cup of yummy Sumatran fresh-ground. I think the video was well laid out although I expect members here would say you should play much more often than IM Kostya Kavutskiy suggests. There are many, many options. The link is here if you're curious: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SXCbsFpG5Y&t=80s As a novice myself my advice would be: 1. Before you can get good, you first must get better. Focus on getting better and when you do you'll probably know your best path to getting good. 2. You are your own biggest impediment. Hope this Helps, Cathexis Honestly: I think this is a far, far too basic and casual approach to this. He's saying to hopefully play 1-2 30+5's a week lol. I can play multiple 30+30's or 45+45's a day already. And as far as study...I don't see how someone can expect to go from where I'm at to the upper 1% of the USCF by working on the game a few hours a day. Not when there are guys with 10-20+ years of experience on me who already spend more than that on the game daily and have for years. I know from past endeavors how important rest, nutrition, and balance are but I'm definitely already putting in 12+ hours a day and intend to keep it that way, barring a day or two break now and then. I know how long this is going to take and I'm in no rush. I'm also not looking to just waste time. I want to push myself.


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ChessIsWar Junior Member Offline Posts: 63 Location: New York State Joined: 12/10/14 Gender:	Re: I Decide To Go To War Reply #7 - 06/24/21 at 17:12:54	Post Tools	Print Post
	Bibs wrote on 06/24/21 at 09:42:07: I don’t understand. What is the relation between the title and the content? Which war? Which ongoing military conflict do you desire to participate in? The ongoing conflict of the minds that is waged over the chessboard. And myself. As cathexis wrote: I am my own biggest impediment.


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ChessIsWar Junior Member Offline Posts: 63 Location: New York State Joined: 12/10/14 Gender:	Re: I Decide To Go To War Reply #6 - 06/24/21 at 16:37:14	Post Tools	Print Post
	Jupp53 wrote on 06/24/21 at 08:36:21: Hi, welcome to a really good chess forum. Pardon, if you talk about going to war you should read a basic book about buddhism philosophy. Khmelnitzki - Chess Exam tells you everything about chess training, you need on your level. Study it and follow the advice there. There are uncountable threats on chess.com and lichess with your question and background. Most of them don't stay to their intentions. There's a reason for that in the architecture of human beings. Patience you must have, young padawan. Thank you for your post and the advice. I appreciate it!


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ChessIsWar Junior Member Offline Posts: 63 Location: New York State Joined: 12/10/14 Gender:	Re: I Decide To Go To War Reply #5 - 06/24/21 at 16:36:42	Post Tools	Print Post
	an ordinary chessplayer wrote on 06/24/21 at 13:30:37: ChessIsWar wrote on 06/24/21 at 06:02:17: Goal = 2200 USCF standard rating. I'm 39 now and I see a ton of people in my shoes wondering how far they can progress, how fast, and how to best go about doing so. In reverse order. How best to go about doing so * Play lots of slow serious games * Carefully annotate all your slow serious games * Study lots of master games How fast * Ten years if ever. The 10,000 hours is not far off the mark, that's 20 hours per week of the right sort of work (see above). How far * 2200 is a performance level, not a knowledge level. You will need to be able to win 75% of your games against 2000 players. Find some 2000 players, talk to them, see what they know and more importantly what they can do, and how long they have been working at the game to get there. Know that you will have to work longer and harder and smarter than them in order to beat them three out of four. 2200 is at the 99th percentile, by definition 99% of rated chessplayers will never make it. Many of the ones that don't make it are very smart and have worked very hard. ChessIsWar wrote on 06/24/21 at 06:02:17: I'm going to play a ton of "coffeehouse" games online and just keep pouring time and energy into improvement. Every hour you spend playing coffeehouse games online is another hour you are not improving. Twenty hours per week is what you need to invest, can you really even spare one hour for fooling around? I have a lot more time to invest than 20 hours per week. What's wrong with playing long games online? Isn't that what I'm supposed to be doing? Are you saying that this time should be spent playing serious games and not "coffeehouse" games?


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an ordinary chessplayer God Member Offline I used to be not bad. Posts: 1825 Location: Columbus, OH (USA) Joined: 01/02/15	Re: I Decide To Go To War Reply #4 - 06/24/21 at 13:30:37	Post Tools	Print Post
	ChessIsWar wrote on 06/24/21 at 06:02:17: Goal = 2200 USCF standard rating. I'm 39 now and I see a ton of people in my shoes wondering how far they can progress, how fast, and how to best go about doing so. In reverse order. How best to go about doing so * Play lots of slow serious games * Carefully annotate all your slow serious games * Study lots of master games How fast * Ten years if ever. The 10,000 hours is not far off the mark, that's 20 hours per week of the right sort of work (see above). How far * 2200 is a performance level, not a knowledge level. You will need to be able to win 75% of your games against 2000 players. Find some 2000 players, talk to them, see what they know and more importantly what they can do, and how long they have been working at the game to get there. Know that you will have to work longer and harder and smarter than them in order to beat them three out of four. 2200 is at the 99th percentile, by definition 99% of rated chessplayers will never make it. Many of the ones that don't make it are very smart and have worked very hard. ChessIsWar wrote on 06/24/21 at 06:02:17: I'm going to play a ton of "coffeehouse" games online and just keep pouring time and energy into improvement. Every hour you spend playing coffeehouse games online is another hour you are not improving. Twenty hours per week is what you need to invest, can you really even spare one hour for fooling around?


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cathexis God Member Offline No matter where you go, there you are. Posts: 664 Location: Stafford, Virginia USA Joined: 03/03/20 Gender:	Re: I Decide To Go To War Reply #3 - 06/24/21 at 11:04:26	Post Tools	Print Post
	The path to chess improvement is pretty well laid out. But not knowing the right questions to ask as a beginner can be a stumbling block. As you've already seen, this forum can be a huge help but you can't expect members to set aside their beliefs, nor hesitate to challenge yours, just to be helpful in the way you want. Yesterday, taking a break from chess study I watched a video, "How to Create a Training Plan" on You-Tube from ChessDojo over a cup of yummy Sumatran fresh-ground. I think the video was well laid out although I expect members here would say you should play much more often than IM Kostya Kavutskiy suggests. There are many, many options. The link is here if you're curious: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SXCbsFpG5Y&t=80s As a novice myself my advice would be: 1. Before you can get good, you first must get better. Focus on getting better and when you do you'll probably know your best path to getting good. 2. You are your own biggest impediment. Hope this Helps, Cathexis


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Bibs God Member Offline Posts: 2343 Joined: 10/24/06	Re: I Decide To Go To War Reply #2 - 06/24/21 at 09:42:07	Post Tools	Print Post
	I don’t understand. What is the relation between the title and the content? Which war? Which ongoing military conflict do you desire to participate in?


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Jupp53 God Member Offline be Posts: 988 Location: Frankfurt/Main Joined: 01/04/09 Gender:	Re: I Decide To Go To War Reply #1 - 06/24/21 at 08:36:21	Post Tools	Print Post
	Hi, welcome to a really good chess forum. Pardon, if you talk about going to war you should read a basic book about buddhism philosophy. Khmelnitzki - Chess Exam tells you everything about chess training, you need on your level. Study it and follow the advice there. There are uncountable threats on chess.com and lichess with your question and background. Most of them don't stay to their intentions. There's a reason for that in the architecture of human beings. Patience you must have, young padawan.

	Medical textbooks say I should be dead since April 2002. Dum spiro spero. Narcissm is the humans primary disease.
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ChessIsWar Junior Member Offline Posts: 63 Location: New York State Joined: 12/10/14 Gender:	I Decide To Go To War 06/24/21 at 06:02:17	Post Tools	Print Post
	I wanted to make this thread here for a few reasons. First - I can't find a more serious, in depth, and beneficial chess forum online. The Chess.com forums are a zoo and not something I can be wasting my time with at this point. That said, I do have a thread up there that explains where I'm coming from and what I've been doing over the past week plus. https://www.chess.com/forum/view/game-showcase/total-war-61208037 I have 2 USCF games played lifetime, both on the same day several years ago. I lost both and have a 980p rating. Since that time, I have very little true experience to talk about. I have spent the majority of my time playing online poker, socializing, reading about other topics on life, etc. Over the past week and half, however, I have been basically doing nothing but playing and studying the game. I can truly say I've never been more into chess or any other game before, which is actually saying a ton. I simply can't consume or play enough. I'm renewing my USCF sub on July 1st and will be playing in rated online USCF games on Chess.com, as well as in ICC's T89 of Team4545. Alongside this, I'm going to play a ton of "coffeehouse" games online and just keep pouring time and energy into improvement. At some point in the near future, I'll begin incorporating OTB rated play locally, as well as dipping into Manhattan and The Marshall now and then for more serious games. Goal = 2200 USCF standard rating. I'm 39 now and I see a ton of people in my shoes wondering how far they can progress, how fast, and how to best go about doing so. I want to set out on this path and see exactly what it entails and where it leads me. At the absolute least, playing competitive chess is something that is just all around beneficial for me and definitely the best thing for me to be putting my energy into at this point. I welcome *all/any* advice, discussion, suggestions, and comments and I look forward to participating in the community here, as well as growing as a player and person.


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