Any recommendations on books on how to learn to play chess? Haven’t played since Bobby Fischer won it all back in the day. It was the rage for a bit cause of Fischer. Working the farm, girls, motorcycles, and fast cars distracted me from taking it serious back then. Other distractions followed. My daughter and her friends really got into it during the pandemic lockdowns. They are coming to town for the Christmas holidays and want me to play with them. How about apps for the iPad or Mac Book?

Chess.com app for the iPad.

Take the money you would put towards a book and buy a membership, free lessons that are excellent. Can play games with people from around the world 24/7.

I read "Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess" a long time ago. I remember getting quite a bit out of it. I haven't played for some time now.

I haven't played chess since I was 18. I found it too slow for me and moved to other things.

Now if there was a 10 second maximum time between moves, I could get interested.

+1 on chess.com. Play often. The website will match you with comparably rated players no matter your level. Consider a paid membership which offers lessons and advanced analysis. Go back and analyze your games and let the engine show you where you made mistakes and missed opportunities. Have fun and don't get discouraged by losing.

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:
I found it too slow for me and moved to other things.

Now if there was a 10 second maximum time between moves, I could get interested.

The default on Chess.com is 10 minutes ("rapid"), meaning each player has 10 minutes total, meaning the most the game could take is 20 minutes. Blitz games are 1 minute for each player (I think). You can tweak game parameters to give you a certain amount of seconds back after you make a move, called "increment."

macOS has a Chess application included in the default install. It is strong enough give most casual players a good game.

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:
I haven't played chess since I was 18. I found it too slow for me and moved to other things.

Now if there was a 10 second maximum time between moves, I could get interested.

Then you never really explored chess… but now is the time to change that.

I’d advise getting a free membership to Chess.com, on your computer, phone or tablet.

Bullet games are 1 minute per player
Blitz games are 3 minutes per player
Rapid games are 10 minutes per player

All times are TOTAL, so assuming an average 30+ move game, bullet is 2s per move, blitz is 6s, and rapid is 20s per move.

I guarantee you will run out of time in both blitz and bullet (you lose at that point, btw), but good luck!

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:
I haven't played chess since I was 18. I found it too slow for me and moved to other things.

Now if there was a 10 second maximum time between moves, I could get interested.

When I worked in downtown DC there were guys that played chess at lunch time in Lafayette Park (in front of White House) with (I think) 10 or 15 second timers for each move.

I used to play with my buddy all the time, but he passed away 18 months ago.

Each of us had a couple portable sets, which was a roll up vinyl board and a zipper bag to hold the pieces and also the roll up board.

I'd like to get a new set, of the roll up vinyl board and bag combo, I just looked online and can't seem to find an exact or close enough copy.

If you buy a set soon, make sure the pieces are weighted, they don't fall over so easily.

It's a good game, great mental exercise, enjoy your learning experience.
.

I'm on chess.com. Same user name.

quote:

Originally posted by mikeyspizza:

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:
I haven't played chess since I was 18. I found it too slow for me and moved to other things.

Now if there was a 10 second maximum time between moves, I could get interested.

When I worked in downtown DC there were guys that played chess at lunch time in Lafayette Park (in front of White House) with (I think) 10 or 15 second timers for each move.

Dupont Circle has long been the center of this sort of activity in DC, realize that these guys are playing for money, and some of them are among the best players in the country. There is an apocryphal story I once heard that Bobby Fischer (or maybe it was Boris Spassky, or some other notable) once got his lunch handed to him by a chess bandit on Dupont Circle.

Went to chess.com and started the lessons. Thanks to all for the recommendations. Now to browse Amazon for a chess set. Hopefully the Siamese gato wont scatter the pieces.

quote:

Originally posted by k5blazer:
Went to chess.com and started the lessons. Thanks to all for the recommendations. Now to browse Amazon for a chess set. Hopefully the Siamese gato wont scatter the pieces.

You are welcome! Ignore Amazon for chess sets, one of the few situations where they don’t really carry the good/affordable sets.

chesshouse.com

houseofchess.com

Ignore the very similar sounding names, but the first is my favorite chess store!

I didn't realize there were so many members here who play. I started when I was about 8 years old.

I taught my wife to play before we were married and now, for the past more than 35 years, we play at every meal. Got a board set up on the table and we play during the meal, or mostly after we've finished. Had two games this morning.

She's gotten pretty good or, perhaps, I've gotten worse. It's a lot of fun and, obviously, we enjoy it very much.

Bob

quote:

Originally posted by k5blazer:
Went to chess.com and started the lessons. Thanks to all for the recommendations. Now to browse Amazon for a chess set. Hopefully the Siamese gato wont scatter the pieces.

With patience you can find a good quality Lardy set on eBay. I've bought two 3.5" King sets for under $100. You can also find good old Drueke boards on eBay.

My mother gave me my initial training in chess when I was probably 6 or 7 years old, and showed me how the pieces move, Check & Mate etc...but never any strategy. Unfortunately, she never taught me Castling or en Passant, so I embarrassed myself a couple times the first times I faced an opponent that executed these moves. To this day, I still frequently forget en Passant.

As I grew older, other distractions took my attention and I got away from chess, but never lost my interest.

Here and there, I'd get into a social game, but I've only played a human opponent twice in recent years. Besides the social element, I do see distinctions between playing a computer and playing a human, and human unpredictability is a thing...I often feel like a new player out of my element, when facing a human opponent.

Schedules don't always allow for it but, to the extent possible, I play anywhere from 1 to 5 games of computer chess a day (Microsoft Chess Titans) and I've played somewhere around 7K to 8K games over the last 10 years or so.

I've set a couple performance goals for myself, and out of the 10 difficulty levels I've been stuck in Level 6 for several years now, but I'm on the hairy edge of hitting my goal and finally moving into Level 7.

Based on the recommendations in this thread, I just played my first game on chess. com, against a bot.

As far as chess books go, I was given a copy of Modern Chess Openings 13th edition (MCO-13), by Nick DeFirmian..but I haven't made the time to read it in several years now. Thumbing threw it a few times it is fairly comprehensive, with diagrams, notes, and variations.

There are still large gaps in my game knowledge and I hope to eventually read and learn more about it, and while learning the game has been a real grind for me, I tend to pick up on patterns, so even just playing a computer opponent, I've slowly learned and improved my game.

I'll give it some thought, but might spend a little more time on chess.com, to see if I can hone my game.

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:
I haven't played chess since I was 18. I found it too slow for me and moved to other things.

Now if there was a 10 second maximum time between moves, I could get interested.

Either that or allow bodychecking to liven things up.

quote:

Originally posted by Modern Day Savage:
Based on the recommendations in this thread, I just played my first game on chess. com, against a bot.

Play real people and then review the games after for the best "engine" moves and missed lines.