The everything CHESS thread

[TheIronMaiden]

Originally Posted by mrkajz44

I think I just got hustled at chess last night at the bar. I saw some guys playing and figured it would be fun to play a game. One guy said his ELO was 700, so I figured my 950 Blitz rating would be good enough for a decent chance of winning. After about 10 moves it was clear his ELO was more like 1700. Got crushed and had to buy him a drink.

I probably should have known seeing a group of guys sitting around a chess board were likely pretty good. It does make me laugh though.

OTB is much much harder, a classic example is my 1600 ELO cousin got absolutely pimped by my 1200 dad. My old man, bragged later that it is easier to beat a person OTB because you can watch and see what they have noticed.

[troutman]

Songs that refer to chess:

Bangkok, Oriental setting
And the city don't know that the city is getting
The creme de la creme of the chess world in a
Show with everything but Yul Brynner

Time flies - doesn't seem a minute
Since the Tirolean spa had the chess boys in it
All change - don't you know that when you
Play at this level there's no ordinary venue

“One Night In Bangkok” - Tim Rice

Alone in the chain
It remains to be seen how
How well you can play
When the pawn takes a queen now

“The Laws Have Changed” - New Pornographers

13 Songs With Chess Lyrics
https://www.chess.com/article/view/1...h-chess-lyrics

[Superfraggle]

Originally Posted by TheIronMaiden

OTB is much much harder, a classic example is my 1600 ELO cousin got absolutely pimped by my 1200 dad. My old man, bragged later that it is easier to beat a person OTB because you can watch and see what they have noticed.

ELO numbers aren't all that useful without the context of where they are from. In general, Lichess ratings are much higher than Chess.com ratings, which are higher than CFC ratings, which are higher than FIDE ratings. Not to mention that time controls make a huge difference . Somebody who has only played rapid/blitz online will have a huge adjustment to make if they try classical OTB. It's a whole different style of thinking and depth of calculation.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Superfraggle

ELO numbers aren't all that useful without the context of where they are from.

Do you mean when I tell people my ELO is 1100 I should mention that's on Duolingo?

[Superfraggle]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

Do you mean when I tell people my ELO is 1100 I should mention that's on Duolingo?

Actually yes, if you want it to mean anything, haha. If you're just doing it for bragging rights, maybe better to leave it vague.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Superfraggle

Actually yes, if you want it to mean anything, haha. If you're just doing it for bragging rights, maybe better to leave it vague.

I didn't think the green text was required there...

Obviously ELO is only relevant when compared among like-kinds, as the endless debates people have about lichess vs chess.com demonstrate.

Even time controls vary it quite a bit - I can't think fast enough (and have only a few openings memorized) so I'm absolutely terrible at bullet chess. I'm slightly less terrible at longer time controls, but definitely still terrible enough that I would never brag about being good at chess.

[Superfraggle]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

I didn't think the green text was required there...

It wasn't...

When the "haha" is added, that is an acknowledgement of the sarcastic humour. It's like an old-timey way of saying "lol".