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Acting Like Godot · 03-02-2008, 08:02 AM

I played chess competitively for about 12 years of my life. At my peak, I had a rating of about 2100. I've played international masters. I used to captain my varsity team. In simultaneous exhibitions, I've also played two world champions - Anatoly Karpov and Viswanathan Anand (where I naturally got trounced).

It was fun while it lasted, and I guess I gained from the game, but in the end, (as Steve has already suspected that chess might turn out for him), I concluded that it was really turning out to be a waste of time.

Steve, one of the things you'd miss if you only play against computers or faceless humans on the Internet, and which I think you'd enjoy if you played against real human beings ....

.... is observing how the individual's personality is reflected in the individual's playing style. If you had twelve good chessplaying friends and you knew them well, you'd see that once they have attained a certain level of basic skill & technique, they all start evolving a recognisable playing style in accordance with their own personalities. Even the kind of mistakes they make are different.

03-02-2008, 08:02 AM	#53 (permalink)
Acting Like Godot Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 4,786	I played chess competitively for about 12 years of my life. At my peak, I had a rating of about 2100. I've played international masters. I used to captain my varsity team. In simultaneous exhibitions, I've also played two world champions - Anatoly Karpov and Viswanathan Anand (where I naturally got trounced). It was fun while it lasted, and I guess I gained from the game, but in the end, (as Steve has already suspected that chess might turn out for him), I concluded that it was really turning out to be a waste of time. Steve, one of the things you'd miss if you only play against computers or faceless humans on the Internet, and which I think you'd enjoy if you played against real human beings .... .... is observing how the individual's personality is reflected in the individual's playing style. If you had twelve good chessplaying friends and you knew them well, you'd see that once they have attained a certain level of basic skill & technique, they all start evolving a recognisable playing style in accordance with their own personalities. Even the kind of mistakes they make are different. Last edited by Acting Like Godot; 03-02-2008 at 08:10 AM.