Virtual Chess

A few places exist where you can practice chess without getting out of home and not even having to stop being behind your computer. The best one is probably Games Colony. There, you can easily and quickly register and you will see the best interface as possible: colors, easiness of movements, change of screens, and all else seems to be perfectly harmonious and optimized. It is all very interesting and attractive. Real-time for real and we can play with real people. You can play for ranking and you can also make money playing if you are really good or if you have the time. 

Games Colony

You can also choose correspondence or real-time chess match with no fancy element, the traditional squashed sight of the board and moving pieces with a bit more difficulty. One good suggestion, in this case, where they have championship and all, is

Chess Here

And, if you like playing with the machine, I think they have not yet invented anything better than Chess 2001, which used to come with Windows: This must be a new version of the same product. I could not find any reference on the Internet for it.

Microsoft Chess

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Some Level of Advantage

Strategies that could get you some level of advantage:

• Try to delay the enemy's progress by making them go backward with pieces that have already advanced, so say they have a horse coming to your end. You then advance your army by kicking it back to the line it came from. You should try to always advance and to always get them to go backward in whatever you do. Each move that counts as an actual progression for you and as an actual regression for them, puts you in advantage;
• Rhythm matters in love, in dance, and also in chess: Chess is probably like a waltz, since you should never vary your rhythm. If it takes you longer on a move than on all previous moves, the adversary will know that, first of all, you must be in trouble. Only that fact will make them create confidence. The most successful players are the quickest in all their moves because the other person feels upset if taking longer and that makes them lose confidence;
• Good matches are clocked, so that time IS an issue. If you want to be really quick, you'd better study chess theory. That will take a lot of your time, but it will also pay a lot. The really good players must all have simulated a fair number of Gasparov's matches; and
• Black is usually associated with negative things and white is usually associated with positive things, so that a chess board that does not use these colors and I myself have already had one (made of marble, brown and white), should be fairer to all involved and we here probably talk more about Psychology. 

Bonus Token: Some people, like me, get distracted with fancy pieces and annoyed with plain ones. My marble pieces were way too heavy and way too ugly for me to get interested. The board was also way too heavy and I saw it as a weapon more than a game element. I also find those travel boards too small to allow us to have fun. I guess they haven't invented the ideal chess board yet, and that would probably be my creation were I not spending now fantastic 14 ys plus in full slavery in first world democracy, condemned without a court or accusation by the own authorities for law and order to a penalty that they are absolutely forbidden from imposing on anyone from Australia or Brazil. I imagine a board that can be both portable and static and adapts in a similar way the King Arthur's table was told to adapt (in my head that is a King Arthur's table, but I cannot tell for sure): We press buttons these days instead of going to funny places with our hands, but the consequences would be similar. The pieces should probably contain electronic chips so that we can both register the match (to control cheating and others) and put the pieces in place with less difficulty. They can also contain a chip to prove ownership and be personalized to an extreme, so say be made of precious stones, designed by a really good designer. We may also opt for Carbon fiber in the popular model, so that we have lightness and reasonable beauty allied to easiness of movements. We could still make board and pieces bind in a special way using electronics so that we do not split them. All could be controlled by a set of buttons that is even remotely operated. The board could come with a digital clock that beeps, say one located in the remote control.

The elements I would be considering then, when buying a chess set would be: heaviness of the material, aspect (would not get black on white if having a choice, would escape both if possible and choose neutral colors for the board but contrast), durability, safety, modernity, and personalization levels at least. 

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Points and Length of Castling do Mattert

Because I am a Logician/Mathematician, I actually look for rules that we can follow always, in any situation:

• If it is not possible to destroy their castling, force them to the long one, since the short one protects the king better;
• If the difference in points between you and your adversary is against you, you are probably going to lose, so try to keep it at most even if you cannot have more (the most valuable piece is the queen, 10 points, bishops and horses are worth three, castle is worth five, and pawns are worth one);
• The value of the pieces is not all that matters. The game value of the piece is a function of both its position in relation to the enemy's army and its value, so that even if you are decided to swap pieces, sometimes it is worth it having the adversary taking yours instead of taking theirs, as we probably said before; and
• It is said that whoever has the whites has a strategic advantage because they command the game or tell how it will go. It suffices, however, that the whites do not play their role of aggressor and you can dominate the game yourself. One stupid move is enough in those regards, so say they advance to the third instead of the fourth square with the king's pawn on the first move: They are now one move behind and who commands the game is you.

Bonus Token: I once lost a game because the female who was playing against me, and her name was Andreia, was with headphones in her ears and was singing and moving to the sound of the music as she played. I got distracted and irritated and I then could not play to my best. If it is allowed, therefore, you can use psychological factors to destabilize the enemy. It is filthy and unethical, but it may be that you are, for instance, playing for fun. I played with Andreia in a championship, an internal championship at the college, and that is when she did that. Nobody caught her and I lost. 

If it is a championship and you are caught, you can lose on the spot. 

A few wars have been won through very dirty means, such as spies, and, if this game is supposed to teach us something about real life, then we should obviously consider these things as part of the game and learn how to deal with them.



Men do a lot of resistance training, so that they get it all automated in their heads: From being pushed to an extreme, several times, we dissociate from the pain that usually comes to us during those moments and we can then remain totally cold and still play at our best. Several movies may serve as inspiration here, including Rocky Balboa with Sylvester Stallone (Rocky). 

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Shake that Pawn! (Some winning strategies)

These are strategies that have not been tested to exhaustion by me, but that may be winning ones in all sorts of context, like this is just a possibility:

• Always try to deter the enemy pawns by moving your own pawns to block the progress of those;
• Try not to lose any pawn (protective function, only piece that can be changed from lowest to highest in strategic value, and etc.);
• Try to mess up with the castling of the opponent. If possible, make it impossible. This is because the castling is the best strategy to protect the enemy's king and all we want is killing their king, so that the last thing we should wish for is that they actually do that; and
• The worst thing that can happen to you in a chess board if you are not a total beginner is the queen aligned with the king to your side of the board. The reason for that is quite simple: It suffices that the opponent puts a piece that can take the queen in front of it and you will have to sacrifice it. If you ever have this situation, make sure it is something really quick, and put a priority in taking them out of the same line. That is why the best protection to the king is actually the pieces up to three points of value. 

Bonus Token: Castling is based on what the king would actually be doing to protect himself in a situation of war. It all starts with running to inside of the castle, so that the castle comes out and the king gets in. We also put the soldiers to observe, to guard the castle and the king, so that the pawns are all doing surveillance. It is assumed that they would be able to see if someone came towards the king or the castle from where they are. 

We could obviously criticize this choice by saying that the king is cornering himself, since he is at the end of the board, but we would have more ways of being attacked, more directions, if the king were in the middle of the board, so that that would be a more critical situation for those who are doing surveillance, for instance. Many wars have been lost because people were stuck in valleys, for instance, and they could then be attacked from every possible side, including the top part. The more directions the enemy can use, the more fragile we are.

A good suggestion, of a new game, would be a modified chess, perhaps with a bigger board, where the castling is done wherever we want and the pieces involved in the castling can advance together sometimes. 

Chess is a poor strategy game for these days, but it was an excellent game to train for wars in the past, when the wars were quite simple.

These days, games such as Civilization or Monopoly or Flight with Invasions, simulators, obviously do a much better job.

It is still better than nothing for us to practice concentration, focus, and logical reasoning. It also helps with discipline and learning because it is based on repetition and memory on top of unexpected situations from a certain height of the game onward. 

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Fundamental Insights

• Pawns look like nothing, are worth only one point in the game, yet can actually win the game for us if we can move them wisely. Basically, we can get all pawns advancing in the beginning of the game and, if the opponent is not a big deal, get all their pieces locked in. Without being able to advance, they will have to be our pet, basically: It is whatever we want. In doubt, always keep the pawns in their original position, since that is the safest. Try to always cover one pawn with another and never leave them unattended, that is, unprotected, since they are like little kids in swimming pools: If we are not looking, regardless of how long we do that for, they may actually kill themselves and, in the case of the pawns, kill the game for us. One piece does make all the difference on earth in chess and that is the reason why it became so functional after its automation: The numbers do mean a lot in terms of power in the game. Even though the assignment of numbers is not perfect, since the horse has some level of power that is higher than the bishop, as said before (Bishop and Horse), it still gives you a fair idea on how things go.
• The best progression with the pawn is, with no doubts, that made when it is backed by a castle or the queen. This way, it is unlikely that the opponent can stop you. 
• Several times it is worth losing a piece that is valuable, say a castle, in the name of stopping the progression of a pawn: Once they are in your territory, and are only a few squares away from crowning/promotion, it is very likely that they end up becoming a queen and, therefore, the most powerful piece of the game. Chess is a very feminist game: Who commands all is the queen, who does all is the queen, and, if we lose the queen, we will probably lose the game. It is perhaps one of the only games on earth where the woman is practically all that matters. Of course it all depends on the skills of the players and I have just won a match, on my preferred chess site, Games Colony, after I lost my queen. The other player had poor skills compared to me and it all worked nicely. 
• You must always advance with the pawns first, just like in a war, since that is just wise: They are worth less and will allow you to probe the opponent. Starting the game by moving any other piece is a lot risky: The opponent will usually systematically advance with their pawns and you will be in trouble sooner than what you think. The thing is about dominating the board, especially the core area, as my wise father said (Dad's), and this should be done as quickly as possible.
• Always advance at most two squares with the initial pawns because more than that will make you lose control over those pieces. Only if the adversary is really eating flies do you advance more than that. Once more, the pawns are there to protect the other pieces. That is their main function. 

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My Own Hints

Some things I learned from so much playing. 

Here they are:

• Whenever a queen is offered to you, take it: I always regretted when I did not do it, not when I did it;
• When you are starting the match, and you are moving pieces to get it all prepared for the short castling, put the bishop in diagonal with the king's pawn in a lock because that is the best situation for you: The one that will allow you to have less amount of loss;
• When people get you on a lock with the queen and the bishop, both pointing at your king, and you have not yet done the castling, the best thing to do is moving the horse to the extreme left of the board in case you have not yet moved it (this only works if their bishop is still blocked by the pawn, the bishop that can take this horse in one move). That will protect the king's vicinity to best because you can then take the bishop if they dare advancing, and they then will not advance with the queen;
• When you are left with a king and a castle, you can still easily win the game: Just get the other king locked on the last or the initial row and move your king wisely so that you just have to move your castle to the row where the king of the enemy is to win (your king will block three squares in this situation, in which you win, and their king will be in mate because of the castle); and
• Swap pieces in a wise manner: Sometimes it pays more getting them taken than taking. For instance, if you take a piece with your pawn, it may be that another piece of yours becomes unprotected, say the castle, and, when they take that piece, another piece of yours is threatened, say the bishop, but, if they take your pawn instead, those pieces are always protected. 

There might be more hints. I will, from now onward, pay more attention to what I do and take note.

Cheers!



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Dad's Advice

I play a lot of chess: It helps me focus, relax, and abstract.  

I will start with some really basic hints, which my father, who played chess very well, and taught me the art, passed to me.

He read quite a few books on the topic and was extraordinary in terms of learning and teaching.

These are basic, but not trivial, hints:

• If you have a situation in which you may take a horse with a bishop, take it. In 99% of the cases, that will be the best thing to do because the horse has this extra capability, of tricking our eyes and going more places in terms of check than the bishop, which goes more in a linear and easy-to-quickly-foresee way;
• Try to always get the most powerful pieces to communicate with each other (my father's expression): The castles and the queen would ideally have no pieces in-between them (your pieces, of course); 
• Pay enormous attention to the middle area, for it is the most important area and, if you dominate it, you will probably win the game; and
• Do the castling as soon as possible.

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