Chess is actually fun – Bird Half-Baked

Long ago I used to think of chess as this mythical game where you had to have a 200 IQ to play it and enjoy it. I think it all started when my dad tried to get me into it, but I am not sure he had much success, and I am pretty sure I was just as likely to eat the chess pieces as I was to play a valid move back then. I can appreciate the attempt, however.

As a programmer I should be happy at seeing an arrangement of a perfect power of 2, but this only filled me with sadness because I did not geeeeet iiiit.

Well since the pandemic I started to try getting better after reading up on the scandals within the chess communities. It has been a heck of a ride, and now I know the names of the current greats, like Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura. And some of the earlier greats such as Mikail Tal, Bobby Fischer, and the romantic era with Paul Morphy. The history itself is fascinating enough, but it was the way that Hikaru and Magnus sold Chess for me.

So I was hooked. Great. FINE. Yet another hobby to only enjoy until I get bored, right? Well so I thought. I attribute chess’s longevity in my repertoire to a youtuber that is known as Gotham Chess (Levy Rozman)! Seriously, the wit and charm he has is unmatched in my opinion. It made it a FUN game; seeing how it was a game where the aim is to both progress, and also make fun of your terrible moves in a light manner. To me this is what helped make it longer term. Maybe the below helps you also find some interest in the game, and I will share what I think demystified things. Note that I will not mention the rules because I think the rules are well known, and if not, it’s easy to look up.

Chess.com

I play mostly on Chess.com. It’s probably the most bandwagoned chess site in history, but it’s the one I stuck with for better or for worse. The interface makes sense, and to be honest there was a lot of free goodies to help you learn.

I’m not sponsored or anything, but I’d recommend this site over the competitor lichess.org for two reasons:

I have a distaste for any website that used .org in the modern age and expects to be taken seriously
Social content matters and helps keep the game relevant. I feel this is lacking in lichess.org

Example game review screen. I have hidden my opponent’s name for reasons.

With that said, I did quickly run into problems with the UI being a free user. One issue was that you could not use more than one game review per day. Game reviews are a feature that helps you walk through the moves and understand your mistakes better. I will say, that as an early player, this helps tremendously absent any coach that can do similar with you.

Chess puzzles. Where the goal is to find the BEST move in the situation presented.

The other problem was puzzles. Chess.com limited you to only a handful of puzzles per day. This was more of the sales pitch for me since to be honest, as you progress and learn how to self-analyze, the game review feature is not as helpful. Puzzles however, are DEFINITELY helpful and cement an image to memory that you can use in your games to make your opponent feel shame at their defeat (don’t worry, you’ll lose 2 games for every win at least, so take this statement lightly)!

So needless to say I quickly purchased their subscription tier. Hey, no one said I wasn’t shameless.

You will lose a lot. Accept this

I think the metric many mentioned to me was something like 2 out of 3 matches you play will be losses. Well they couldn’t have been wrong as I proved with my initial jump into the water. I think I lost about every 9 of 10 at least.

I should have taken a break, but I’m not that smart.

Breaking this down, most of this was just me being too quick to play moves just because I saw that I could attack the opponent’s piece.

I CAN take this pawn, therefore I MUST take this pawn
me

However, there were some common patterns. I won’t bore with the details, but there are certain “traps” as they are called. Learning these through playing was frustrating since mostly I was on the losing side. At the end of the journey though I became prepared for them and learned how to combat such shenanigans.

Still, if you go in expecting to lose, you enjoy things a LOT more.

Checkmates feel amazing

If you love to be right, and you also like to win at games, chess is perfect for you. There is a special feeling you get as you realize there is a way to beat your opponent through a clever checkmate, then executing. The fact that you can often see these types of plays a few moves ahead is I think what makes it special. If your opponent is also blind to your idea, it can be the best “AHA! SURPRISE!” moment to just unleash a furious attack that ends in you winning with every step pre-calculated.

There is a dark caveat… the thing I call false-checkmates. This is what I call attacking an opponent with some amazing idea only for the game not to end. Perhaps you try to checkmate with the queen in an epic move, but nothing happens… you are left panicking… “Oh no…” you will say as your heart sinks and the opponent takes your most valuable of little virtual combatants. Never will you feel so low. I think that’s a great summary of the ranges of emotion in the game too: The highs are Mount Everestian in size, but the lows are akin to the pits of hell.

Progress is slow!

Be patient in your foray into the game should you dare to venture forth into that mystical world of 64 squares. Progress takes a LOT of time and play.

That’s a lot of games! an average of about 5 per day AT LEAST. But the reality is you will go on binges. Puzzles are kind of “mindless” at a certain point, so the number being high doesn’t mean much

What the images show is a story of many games played, with a doubling in skill (measured in something called Elo [ee-low] rating) happening after a year. That’s how long this game takes to build momentum and elevate your ability to play. It is a chug…. but I promise that if you decide to give it a try, and you can stick with it, you will definitely come to appreciate it. Chess is a fun game when you get it.