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Other Any chess players here?

Snafu in the Void

Moderator: NMI Bukowski Jr.
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May 27, 2020
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I was somewhat of a prodigy chess player when I was young. Got 2nd place at the big US national scholastic chess championship back in the day with my team. Was personally ranked 48th in the nation. I guess I was decent.

Just curious if anyone else here plays or played chess in the past.

Trying to get back into it, but it's hard to find the time to play as seriously as I did back then.

Recent study came out which stated that professional chess players can burn up to 6000 calories per day playing professional chess... and you're just sitting there using your brain... it's definitely a sport!

Great game... in fact I'd say it's more than just a game... it's two people sitting down trying to crush the ego of eachother without moving or speaking... it's art... it's sport...

I may be the only serious chess player in history who left a tournament half way through, forfeiting, to go get high on heroin...

Funny where life takes you.
 
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Quite impressive but I don't think my queens gambit will make it 15.. though it made it seventeen against a Russian apprentice to a GM,

also their is another BL gal looking.. ill track her down
 
1950 on lichess rn, love playing.. at times. I have this weird tendency to win win win lose lose lose and then not play for 2 months.

I think I have good feel for the game but I miss too much tactics, which doesn’t go well with my sharp playing style with both players being low on time by move 20 and adrenalin surging on every move =D

Amazing game indeed, you were 48th in the USA? Damn, what was your peak elo?
 
Amazing game indeed, you were 48th in the USA? Damn, what was your peak elo?

Lol in 8th grade? My USCF was 1650 at the time. Not very impressive, 3 of the guys on my team were 1800-2200 IN 8th grade. Our main rivals were those damn inner city New York teams, and the biggest kid was Alex Lederman, who is now a GM. I was kinda just along for the ride at that point.

I think I went 3/5 that tournament which was good enough for 48th out of.... 500? Can't remember.

The thing is I learned the game from scratch and 9 months later I was 1650 and at a national tournament. Impressive to me I guess, the problem is right after that tournament I turned to hard drugs and quickly became a derelict.

I try to imagine how good I would have been had it not been for drugs.

Recently reconnected with my old chess coach, awesome guy.
 
Yeah I was tripping when I wrote that. I was over here thinking you were a master or something.

Nice though, 1650 at 8th grade, you were probably a stronger player than I am now
 
Yeah I was tripping when I wrote that. I was over here thinking you were a master or something.

Nice though, 1650 at 8th grade, you were probably a stronger player than I am now


Could have been. I've had strong desires to get back into chess and see where it takes me, but for someone as old as me there is just no money in it - and to get better than where I am now requires too much time and effort.

Honestly man I've done too many drugs and at this point I definitely have some level of brain damage.

Chess is no joke, a study came out saying professional chess players burn up to 6000 calories per day playing professional chess. I don't doubt it, after tournaments even at a young age I'd always be drained physically and mentally and have back aches.

The last tournament I went to maybe 7-8 years ago I had been up all night on drugs. I was in the U1800 section (just trying to win some money). I was literally falling asleep at the board I was so high. I shared 1st place, won the tiebreakers and got $400 in prize money. Call me the former Northern California C-class champion, haha.


Chess is like trying to crush someones ego without moving or speaking. It's draining.

I'm down to play some games if you want. Used to play on ICC but now just chess.com. For fun.
 
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I have a chess.com account. I don't really use it anymore,...I never practiced too much because I play too quik.

You can challenge me " Jonah999x999 " but I will probably lose.....I've kinda set my mind on Playstation nowadays.
 
I play a few times a year. I'd play more often but it's hard to find the time to get together with the friends I have that play. I should probably look into playing online or something.
 
USCF way back when (I was nothing special), but ultimately lost interest due to two things:

1. Memorizing opening libraries is important but boring.
2. Remember Searching for Bobby Fischer -- that scene where he walks in and his opponent's face falls when he sees who he's playing? -- that kind of stuff took all the fun out. Crushing people even in a game never made me feel good.
 
USCF way back when (I was nothing special), but ultimately lost interest due to two things:

1. Memorizing opening libraries is important but boring.
2. Remember Searching for Bobby Fischer -- that scene where he walks in and his opponent's face falls when he sees who he's playing? -- that kind of stuff took all the fun out. Crushing people even in a game never made me feel good.

I get you man.

Personally I loved studying opening theory, I hated endgames. I guess everyone has their strengths and the way they play.

Love that movie. Resonated with me so much, came out around the time I was an active tournament player. I'll never forget the time I was playing (non-rated) vs this guy who was rated several hundred points below me. I got frustrated at this stupid opening (forgot the name, but its a trick/gimmick opening). I got so frustrated I couldn't focus and lost that game. I took it REALLY hard. I think that was the turning point where I started to lose my love of playing chess to a high degree. Was in rehab about a year later.
 
Well shit lets play.. seem to have decent crew.. allot of people that know the game but with some time off.. what platform do we want to play on?
 
Well shit lets play.. seem to have decent crew.. allot of people that know the game but with some time off.. what platform do we want to play on?


I just made a bluelight chess club on Chess.com. It's free to signup and play on that platform, probably the best platform right now.

Sign up for the bluelight chess club on Chess.com!

https://www.chess.com/club/bluelight
 
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