This is for all of you chess/visual effects lovers

[ecookman]

upon the vast pit of the internet i found a cool chess game that shows you the computer is thinking. It does this by lines


Yes I know, sounds retarted, but if you like chess and cool visual effects,

http://turbulence.org/spotlight/thinking/chess.html

(hint: the computers next move and a good next move for you is represented by the biggest/brightest line)[/url]

[A.J]

wow....this is pretty cool.....I didn't think about adding the thinking to my chess game...thanks

[Insectoid]

Wow, That IS cool. It shows just how the computer decides which move to make. That is excellent!

[ecookman]

and addictive... my friend won't shutup about it lol

[andrew.]

I suck at chess, but that is really cool. Maybe watching the computer will help me develop my strategies...

[ecookman]

lol i have been playing chess since i was like 6.
(and for all lof you wondering i have a life)

if you are intrested in learning i am sure there is a "For Dummies" book out there. Also there is tonnes of stuff on how to play chess on the internet. (surprisingly there is a www.chess.com from there this looks like a good teacher http://www.chess.com/chessmentor/)

[Insectoid]

Actually, I own 'Chess for Dummies'. I figure I'm too dummy for even that book though, 'cause I still suck at it.

[ecookman]

well, once you get the basics, the rest is trying to figure out other people's moves.

[andrew.]

I understand the game and everything, it's just I'm so bad at planning ahead and predicting moves.

[[Gandalf]]

That program is pretty darn old, but still pretty interesting.

ecookman @ 2009-02-18, 3:31 pm wrote:

well, once you get the basics, the rest is trying to figure out other people's moves.

Not really, what you're talking about is 'tactics', while there's the flip side, strategy and position that also requires learning and experience.

[A.J]

Well, you must first be sound in tactics to move on to strategy....if you are a beginner, try becoming good with tactics first (play, play and more playing should do the trick!). Strategy comes after tactics...so don't try jumping ahead too much, as most people who say :"Oh, you must look at the position, and come up with a strategy.." are all probably experts, or wannabe experts (in the bad way:D)

[[Gandalf]]

Well, not quite. If you have good positional knowledge, your tactics will be more accurate and you'll come up with beneficial tactics easier (better opportunities come from better positions). Though I agree that you must first try to avoid making any huge blunders.

[A.J]

[quote="[Gandalf]"]
Well, not quite. If you have good positional knowledge, your tactics will be more accurate and you'll come up with beneficial tactics easier (better opportunities come from better positions). Though I agree that you must first try to avoid making any huge blunders.
[/quote]

well, I believe that is it key to have good tactics first (i.e. like you said, avoid blunders, notice good moves, etc...).

so, I take it that you are either an expert or a wannabe

[[Gandalf]]

A.J @ 2009-02-18, 7:02 pm wrote:

so, I take it that you are either an expert or a wannabe

Didn't you read what I said? Tactics and positional elements are very correlated. If your tactics are horrible you'll never get into a winning position, and if you're positional play is terrible you won't get any helpful tactics.

Strategy might be a bit different from positional play, however it is also closely connected to tactics.

[A.J]

I don't argue with you there...in fact, I agree with you wholeheartedly

maybe we have different understandings of the word 'tactics', but I feel that (although tactics is correlated with positional elements), that tactics are essential to the making of a good chess player at the initial stages...

by tactics, I mean basic concepts like discovered attacks, defending a piece, pins, forks, etc.....I believe so not only because that a player requires these skills, but also more importantly so that a player can prevent the opponent from using them against him..

and sorry about the 'expert or wannabe' thing...it was meant to be a joke, sry