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tactical_abyss 27-Aug-13, 13:03 |
 New Member Introductions:Do not let the name..."elite"become intimidating to you!Elite stands for club quality and the services that the club members will be able to provide to your game and do its best to help improve your game play as time marches on.So you can be a complete beginner,intermediate or master and always return back to the club for questions and answers....and be given the same equal respect as a player that might be 2600 in rating.My handle name on GK is tactical_abyss and many of you know me from past/present GK forum posts.I have been playing chess since age 8,so its been approx 50 years that I have been involved in chess.Chess clubs in High School,College,USCF OTB and Corresp. tourneys,postal chess and many chess correp.websites and blitz sites over the years have honed my chess knowledge and skills.My experience playing and mingling with strong players up to real GM's at the Manhattan and Marshall Chess clubs in NYC have given me insight into the game that has improved my personal play over the decades immensely.While I am not here in this club to be a personal trainer/mentor to anyone,I do enjoy giving some of my "abyss"tips and bulldoze out a road for you,giving you perhaps a better direction for your insight and continuing study into the royal game.Not everything I mention will be some kind of "magic formula" that will suddenly improve your play by several hundred rating points,but may very well lay a foundation for your game improvements or renewed interests in the game.Not everything I mention as time moves on you may agree with or understand.Sometimes I may show you how to take advantage of and exploit your opponent's weakness's or bad habits and crush him without mercy!But then,all is fair in "love and war" as I always say! Good luck to all,and hope the members and myself can be of service to you in time! The club may be small in numbers for a while,but will hopefully grow in time. TA |
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baddeeds 30-Aug-13, 17:41 |
Deleted by tactical_abyss on 24-Nov-13, 11:34.
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tactical_abyss 31-Aug-13, 17:57 |
Deleted by tactical_abyss on 25-Nov-13, 07:22.
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Introductions My name is Ron, I play as redfox17, I first played without much understanding of the game. I used to play as a child with my father. He would always try to check mate me quickly. So I was taught to try that way to play chess. This had my Queen out too quickly. As I grew up and while in my 2nd year of college, My roommate John Pollock tried to teach me chess. We played OTB chess back then, eventually he married my wife's sister and he became my brother in law. We both lived in the Detroit area, We helped out with a group called the . Detroit Free net.org. This was pre-internet as we know it today. We actually were using BBS (bulletin board service). Back then we were using pre (IRC) internet relay chat. I think we were using 1200 baud modems, eventually 2400, then 19.2k and 56 k modems. We both continued upgrading equipment till we had DSL/Cable Broadband internet. John relocated out of state to Georgia where we each used our computers as servers and again were using BBS using telnet from our broadband ISP's. Any ways all during this period we played chess. John recently died from his 4th stage of cancer and I continue to play on in his memory. I started playing here on GK and invited him to come here. We played 4 games of correspondence chess and many faster blitz games here. Prior to those times we had played many different ways on different internet platforms. I played here on GK for free over a year, then took their special on a membership. I have one new friend who also joined up for membership here. He and a friend were playing at a warehouse Club during lunch. I now take my OTB stuff with me and use the same venue with friends. We also play at the city park where I live. I use my smart phone as a chess clock sometimes. Usually I will play with beginners with out time controls. I have watched hours of chess games from my you tube. It's so hard to learn how to play so many different openings. I understand Chess Masters have played their openings over and over before trying to counter different openings. I use to try different openings and realized I needed to play one until I could play my best. I look forward to reading the posts here in this new club. It's then up to me to get as much as I can using this format. |
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tactical_abyss 31-Aug-13, 22:59 |
Were you ever a member of the USCF and/or played postal chess? In any case,i'm sure you will be a great asset to the club.I look forward in chatting with you in the near future.Perhaps I may be able to improve your game play a bit over time. I have a bit of wit and gallows humor that may take a bit to get used to,but it is never directed at ongoing club members.Much of my "wit"like chat examples can be found in my Q sac blitz thread.Good luck in this club and on GK!Whenever I can be of assistance,just ask in the club! |
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baddeeds 01-Sep-13, 07:05 |
Deleted by tactical_abyss on 24-Nov-13, 11:34.
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baddeeds 01-Sep-13, 07:10 |
Deleted by tactical_abyss on 01-Dec-13, 08:03.
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baddeeds 01-Sep-13, 07:12 |
Deleted by tactical_abyss on 24-Nov-13, 11:34.
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postal chess and usfc |
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tactical_abyss 01-Sep-13, 14:56 |
I had asked about the USCF or postal because you mentioned about the early days of internet chess,bulletin boards,ect and I was using postal long before the internet,so I though maybe we had some things in common.Your handle name sounds familiar,but I might be thinking of someone else.I played for years on UChess,ICC,RHP and my favorite...Instantchess.Perhaps we crossed swords on one of those sites?My handle name on those sites were NOT,however,tactical abyss. |
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handles for chess Stay with one you like! |
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Introduction |
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tactical_abyss 06-Sep-13, 14:56 |
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I played a little chess between ages 7 and 12 with my father, but nothing involving strategy or tactics, and probably only 50 to 100 games. That was in the 70s. In 2009, my boss told me he was playing on this site and that he thought I might enjoy it. So I signed up and have been having fun with it ever since. I usually have only 2 to 4 games going at a time. I try to set aside some of my overall chess time for learning and have benefit from a variety of things such as reading chess books, reviewing lost games, seeking input from better players, following some masters’ games, tactics sites, chess blogs, participating in a few gk clubs, etc. I’ve been a fan of tactical_abyss’s forum contributions ever since first coming to the site. Great to see him heading a club. Charlie, my mother’s father’s family was from Leeds and Bradford and I have a second cousin in Harrogate who I e-chat with from time to time, …mainly in connection with our genealogy hobby, chasing our Darnbrooks up to Pateley Bridge and our Pickerings out to Kilnwick. Oh, re handles, mine comes from a line in the very silly Monty Python spinoff, “Jabberwocky.” TA, thank you for accepting me into the club. And thank you for being so generous with your time and for sharing some of your wisdom and experience. Looking forward to it. All the Best Todd H. aka Hogfysshe in Massachusetts |
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Yorkshire Genealogy You have some great ancestry here in Yorkshire! You can consider that you have come from the landed gentry! Genealogy can be really addictive. We can go back to 1635 with father's family, to the time of the English Civil War. Great fun. Charlie |
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tactical_abyss 07-Sep-13, 05:34 |
I developed the club to enlighten some of you on the deeper parts of theory and more.I try to combine what I know,with examples and occasional links I can find on the net to exemplify the chess ideas.There are already a few excellent links combined with my input on a few chess subjects.In addition I probably developed the club to keep "me"out of trouble!This meaning that some of my heated little debates over the years get a bit out of hand and GK comes along and erases the posts.I deal with way too many players that consider themselves "know it all mentor types"( a legend in their own mind)who try and counter what I say,arguments follow and the threads end up getting locked by GK....ha ha!Well,in my club,that is not going to happen,since "I" am in control and I never start "fires"with any club members.I need you guys to help me out whenever you can!Whether it be an occasional annotation or perhaps helping other club members(in time)when i'm away on vacation,ect ect. Good luck to all! TA |
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small_potato 13-Sep-13, 00:03 |
Hello I've only really being playing chess seriously for just over a year - I originally took an interest in chess when I was 9 and Garry Kasparov played Nigel Short in 1993 - the only time in my lifetime chess has ever really made the news in the UK. I had a couple of 'how to play chess' books at the time, but with a lack of opponents to play I never really got beyond learning the rules and basic tactical ideas (ie pins, skewers etc). A friend from University directed me to this site back in 2007 and I joined up, beating him 8-1 in a series of games as I remember! So I started joining a few of the monthly GK tournaments in search of tougher opposition. I kept with it for a few months and eventually got my rating up to around 1500 before I timed out a few games accidently (GK tournament games only give you 2 days per move) and I got frustrated and quit. I tried a few times (unsuccessfully) to get started again but by joining the GK tournaments I still had the short move window problem and kept timing out (this is why I have 38 timeouts on my profile). Finally I restarted again last year and paid for a membership, which has probably helped keep me focussed enough to not time out (I haven't timed out since I've been a member), plus I discovered mini-tournaments with longer move windows which suited me better! Although I made the mistake of joining one tournament, making all my moves, then when my opponents logged out, joining a new mini tournament, repeating this proves until I'd joined 8 tournaments. Of course logging in the next day I had 40 games to move in! I've finally got my game count down below 10 again and intend to keep it there. I've been pleasantly surprised that since playing over the last year, I've improved my initial GK rating of 1300+ to 1800 today, and regret not sticking with chess when I was younger as I think I could have been a pretty good player if I had done. My next goal is to reach 1900 by this time next year - I've joined a couple of clubs here to share ideas, I've joined my local chess club and I'm steadily reading through a small collection of chess books I have at home in order to try to achieve this, so let's see how it goes |
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tactical_abyss 13-Sep-13, 05:42 |
Welcome to the club!Seems like your doing the right things.... books,tournaments and best yet...a chess club.That is one of my secrets of success!I hope this club can help you out a bit.Its not a "club tournament" theme in this club or constant game play against other club members like some clubs are doing,but club members here are free to do that if they want,I just won't get involved in club tourney play personally.I think that in the long run,however,the chess theory in my club will supersede many of the other clubs who think that simply a club tournament and a few good annotations is the key to getting much better in the game.I disagree.There's much more to it than that! Again welcome SP and good luck in reaching 1900! Best, TA |
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darknite13 14-Oct-13, 09:32 |
Forgive me for not doing this sooner... My name is Ken and I've been playing chess for many many years. After a major car crash gave me a severe TBI (traumatic brain injury), I stopped playing for awhile. I am slowly working my way back into it. When I last played in a USCF tournament, I was 1870. I am qualified to coach players, though most of what I do over the board currently is analysis. Getting back into chess really helped me in terms of staying positive about my situation. Guess it goes to show, when life throws you lemons, take them and make lemonade. My goal on the site is to share and expand my knowledge about the game and hopefully make a few new friends along the way. I love playing the Ruy Lopez and Queens Indian openings (white and black respectively), but I do like to mix a few new things in every once in awhile. So if you want to learn more about me, or perhaps play a game or 2, feel free to send a message. Though please understand that due to my busy schedule my move time has significantly declined due to various appointments, therapy (still recovering from the TBI and a broken leg I got this year), and real life events that come up. Sometimes I even go to an over the board tournament to watch some of the up and coming people play. (Been awhile since I have been active in USCF, so I mainly stick to analysis and coaching). Regards, Ken |
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tactical_abyss 14-Oct-13, 12:46 |
Deleted by tactical_abyss on 14-Oct-13, 12:55.
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tactical_abyss 14-Oct-13, 12:55 |
Deleted by tactical_abyss on 14-Oct-13, 12:56.
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tactical_abyss 14-Oct-13, 12:56 |
Either way,good luck on GK and in this club! Joe(USCF Life Member) |
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Hello Elite Chess Club! Thank you for allowing me to be a part of a progressive (not a political note!) chess club. I noticed posts about encouraging participation and know first hand how a lack of participation leads a club's environment towards complacency. I look forward to doing my part. I made a decision to take chess seriously in 2006. I joined USCF and Gameknot. I knew of chess, I thought I "knew" chess, but how little I found I knew! Early in chess (2006), I became enamored with openings. I found a club on Gameknot called, "The Chess Openings Club" and joined. What I didn't know was the founder had little to do with the club and it eventually folded. I wanted to carry on the club, so in 2007, I founded, "The Club for Chess Openings". That club and I have had a love/hate relationship! I sure made a lot of mistakes and even tried a name change to help, to no avail. Last year I was prepared to give up the club and Gameknot. I had already found another site that I thought would be my new "home" for my chess experience. Well, my love for openings and the club won my heart over again and I recommitted myself to make it work. In these short 7 years, I have amassed quite a library. I have adopted many master's recommendations to keep an opening for a year or two before "trying" a new one. Explore all the variations, learn the theory and practice, practice, practice. Today, and for the last year, I am studying the Modern Defense as Black and the London System as White. For the last seven years I have focused on 1.d4 as White and a Kingside fianchetto as Black. I have a USCF rating of 1540. Not to long ago I made a decision to change how I play on-line chess. You see, I would use the allowable Gameknot database during my games. This is allowed in correspondence chess and mirrored in the internet community. However, after years of doing this I found that my OTB skills did not match my on-line presence. Even today, my on-line rating a whopping 1700, almost 200 points higher than my OTB rating. I felt like I was a cheater and deceiving myself and my chess skills. I wrote wrote several columns calling myself a "cheater". While many others offered support and praise, I still wanted my online games to mirror my OTB play, or vice-versa. If interested, the thread is found at gameknot.com Around 2007, I also became Captain of a team. Again, enlisting participation and day-to-day management took away from my playing experience. After a year, I stepped down so I could study more. Recently, I joined another site an play "slow chess", exclusively. Games are typically 45/45 but can be as a long a 90/30. We schedule in advance with each other. In fact, I have a scheduled 45/45 game tonight (Nov. 13th) at 21:00 ET. For me, this is the future of chess for me! BTW, the time controls are 45 minutes with 45 second delay and could last a couple of hours. I actually set up a board and play my board, just like in OTB tourneys! I still have so much to learn. I see a subject or book and get it, put it on my reading list that I think today is about 30 books deep! My current challenge is developing my late opening's play right before the middlegame, usually 10-15 moves deep and learning the theory and best play. My goal is to get into the middlegame unscathed where I often excel. My next quest is to study endagmes! Thanks again for allowing me to be a member. I hope to help...both myself and you! joe |
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tactical_abyss 13-Nov-13, 15:26 |
Hello Joe, Well good luck in the club Joe and I look forward to any input you can assist me on.I have a very busy work schedule and work the graveyard shift(11pm to 7:30 am)M-fri,so I do not have much energy during the week to write much concerning chess theory,but try to get back during the weekends when I can.There is already a fairly big selection of posts on some of my chess theory and other theories I have relayed into the club from other sites,so that may keep you busy for a while reading some of them.Any questions,i'm here to help best I can! By the way,I am a life member of the USCF. TA |
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baddeeds 13-Nov-13, 15:34 |
Deleted by tactical_abyss on 24-Nov-13, 11:35.
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tactical_abyss 13-Nov-13, 15:50 |
But again,I neither agree or disagree that endgames should come first,but many do indeed believe in endgame study before even mentioning the word..."Sicilian"!Me?Again as I said,its not my opinion and I was one of them that went the way of openings first.But constant practice with my Mach3 or Phantom Chesster Eyeball helped my endgame along the way! |
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darknite13 13-Nov-13, 16:05 |
Personal experience Though honestly, most of my early games never made it to a true endgame scenario, not until my 3rd tournament over the board when I truly encountered my 1st endgame challenge. Through determination, and sloppy play by my opponent, I forced a situation where he resigned as I was setting up a mating net ([2 knights, a rook, and a bishop to his 4 pawns and 1 bishop] though at the time, I'm sure I didn't see the mating net as I reviewed the game with my mentor and she said, "Well, let's play from this position." To which I have to say it took way longer of a workaround and she ended up getting a draw out of the position. This is when I started to teach myself endgame scenarios). This goes to show, if you keep building up your knowledge bank as you go along, it often isn't as overwhelming to pick up a new concept. This has greatly influenced how I have coached younger students of the game nowadays. Rather than overwhelm them with a bunch of different things, I see what they already know, then build on that. I keep their interest better that way. |
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End-Game study? Also, I started a thread titled, hmm...What's first? Chicken or egg? End-Game or Opening study? at: gameknot.com to delve into this great discussion. I thought that Joe might want to keep the Welcome thread for introductions mostly. Hope I am not out of line, but also hope you all might add to the thread! joe |
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tactical_abyss 14-Nov-13, 09:43 |
Deleted by tactical_abyss on 14-Nov-13, 16:12.
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tactical_abyss 14-Nov-13, 16:13 |
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