What's your favourite chess opening?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around participants sharing their favorite chess openings, exploring various strategies and experiences related to playing chess. The scope includes personal preferences, technical explanations of moves, and some humorous anecdotes related to chess and counting.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant expresses a preference for the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit and Ruy Lopez as White, and the Sicilian Defense (Dragon Variation) and Slav Defense as Black, questioning the quality of these openings.
  • Another participant admits to not knowing how to play chess and references another thread that might be helpful.
  • A participant reminisces about playing the King's Pawn opening and mentions a quick checkmate strategy, suggesting it was commonly used.
  • There is confusion about chess notation, with one participant questioning the meaning of the numbers used in chess moves.
  • A participant clarifies that the numbers refer to a coordinate system used in chess, explaining how pawns move and the notation for moves.
  • One participant shares a personal story about teaching their son chess and poker, highlighting a humorous moment in a kindergarten class.
  • Another participant mentions the Queen's Gambit and the fianchetto as their standard opening, alongside the Sicilian and Slav defenses when playing Black.
  • One participant critiques the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit as risky, while finding the Ruy Lopez to be a safer option.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a variety of personal preferences for chess openings, with some agreeing on the effectiveness of certain strategies while others critique them. The discussion remains unresolved regarding the overall quality and effectiveness of the openings mentioned.

Contextual Notes

There are limitations in understanding chess notation and strategies, as some participants express confusion or lack of experience with the game. The discussion includes anecdotal experiences that may not reflect broader chess strategies.

AdityaDev
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I love playing chess. I like playing blackmar diemer gambit and the ruy Lopez as white. As black,against white's e4 I play the Sicilian defense (dragon variation) and against 1.d4 I use Slav defense.
What's your favorite chess opening?
(are my openings good?)
 
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I haven't played in ages, but back in the day, me and Bobby Fischer liked the Kings Pawn opening (king pawn to king 4). I thought everyone did. Can win in 4 moves with an unsuspecting Defender, you know, moving out that Queen and Bishop, check and checkmate, Matey!
 
PhanthomJay said:
(king pawn to king 4).
I never figured out what all of those numbers mean. Is it how many points you get for a move or something? For a while, I though that it was part of a coordinate system, but that didn't seem to work out.
 
Danger said:
I never figured out what all of those numbers mean. Is it how many points you get for a move or something? For a while, I though that it was part of a coordinate system, but that didn't seem to work out.
You're thinking like a mathematician, but yes, it is a coordinate system , rows 1 thru 8 and columns a thru h I think I recall. The pawn in front of the king on e2 moves 2 spaces forward to e4. I think it's written 1.KP: e4(!) where the exclamation point means "great move, Phanthom" ! Over 50 percent of the time you'll win this way, unless you're playing someone a lot better than you. Pawn can just move one space forward after that , and captures diagonally one space, except for the famous 'pawn captures pawn en passant' rule, which you should look up (if you care to that is).
 
Okay, thanks. I do actually know which way the pieces can move (except that I've never quite figured out "castling"). The coordinates that you mention are what I was thinking of, as opposed to whatever you thought I meant regarding math, but I figured it must be wrong because I had a chess program that happened to come with my old computer and it wouldn't accept if I entered something like b7 as a destination even though that was how the instructions told me to control it. Maybe it was just a defective program. I didn't bother trying to learn more about it because I really don't care for the game. (I always lose because I'm not willing to sacrifice anyone including pawns. It would make me a lousy General in war, but it won us a lot of trophies because the guys and gals that I brought onto my baseball, darts, and pool teams were loyal to the last drop due to knowing that I'd never give up on them even if they sucked once in a while. For over 25 years the name Danger was inextricably bound to the term "rag-tag" and sent shivers down the spines of "jocks". :devil: :biggrin:)
 
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When my son was five my wife went out of town for several weeks. While she was gone I taught the boy how to play chess and I also taught him how to play poker. After my wife was back in town she visited my son's kindergarten class. The teacher ask if anyone could count to 10. My son raised his hand and when the teach told him to go ahead and count he said: "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Jack, Queen, King, Ace". My wife was mortified.
 
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Queen's gambit with or without a fianchetto when white Sicilian or Slav defense when black.
 
edward said:
"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Jack, Queen, King, Ace". My wife was mortified.
:oldlaugh:
Was he considered redundant for saying "1" and "Ace" in the same string, or was it taken to be an indication of the high/low ambiguity unique to that card value?
 
  • #10
Danger said:
:oldlaugh:
Was he considered redundant for saying "1" and "Ace" in the same string, or was it taken to be an indication of the high/low ambiguity unique to that card value?

At that point he only knew that ace was the high card in five card stud.
 
  • #11
edI've ard said:
When my son was five my wife went out of town for several weeks. While she was gone I taught the boy how to play chess and I also taught him how to play poker. After my wife was back in town she visited my son's kindergarten class. The teacher ask if anyone could count to 10. My son raised his hand and when the teach told him to go ahead and count he said: "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Jack, Queen, King, Ace". My wife was mortified.
Best joke I heard this week. But 1 and ace are same. Its ace 2 3 ...
 
  • #12
my standard opening is to move the pawn in front of the king 1 space
 
  • #13
AdityaDev said:
(are my openings good?)
That depends on how well you can use them, in my limited experience the blackmar diemar gambit can go south VERY easily and frankly I don't see the appeal of sacrifice of two pawns that might give me a greater control of the center, Ruy lopez on the other hand is considerably safer.
 
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