Only quibble I have is about totally throwing in the towel on trans women in sports because of how such a ban made by government plays out in practice: cis gender women who “look too masculine” get policed and humiliated (and they are often women of color) because intersex variation is REAL. And because facts don’t matter to the policers (supposed trans woman boxer after humiliating investigation was found to be cis, just nonwhite and shorthaired and good at her sport). And most of the bans apply to ALL school sports (most of which are noncompetitive and involve prepubertal kids). Even after puberty, noncompetitive sports teams for kids and adults are widespread in our communities (e.g. kids playing basketball not on varsity teams, adults in tennis leagues self sorted by level of competitive skill). Local knowledge and humane rules do not need to be sacrificed - just concede to sports regulators for competitive sports to make these calls where they conceivably matter which is what IOC does. So countermove in your chess game would be “follow the IOC” and empower school boards to make decisions that are less likely to humiliate kids with genetic variations. Sex/gender just isn’t binary and proclaiming it to be is a bad move be it by T or by UK court. They will get shown up by biological reality.
And as long as you repsonded I have to ask-- do you feel like it's better playing bots at various levels or against actual individuals online? I find I get better playing the bots online because playing against individuals, I always get the impression they are using computers behind the scenes, beating up opponents just to boost their scores/levels. Whereas picking out a bot just above your level gets you thinking more and learning counters and defenses, and lines of attack better, playing at the same level and then gradually growing from there. Then like you said, analyzing after the fact is key "What worked" or "where did I go wrong" goes a long way to correcting the action.
You are absolutely right, it does require a vast amount of intellect, practice, and repeated practice to get better. I'm very mediocre--about 1600. I've won games at the 1900 level and lost some at the 1200. It's frustrating. I recognize openings well but it usually falls apart in the middle game. I hold my own, even counter well, but when I lose a rook or a queen seemingly out of nowhere or by some fork or skewer--the obscenities start flying at the screen. I'm working on getting better, but sometimes... What can I say, Chess can be a humbling experience in coming to grips with finding out what you don't know.
I do love puzzles and play them often on chess.com and chesspuzzle.net. The problem is though I can look at it and understand what they want to solve the puzzle each time, but in a game, I can easily miss the same situation, or are tentative to play in the same way.
I have played a GM only once; he was like "Sure I got a minute to kill." I was checkmated in 10 moves. It was not pretty. I took like 3 minutes on every move, he took 3 seconds. Frankly, I was surprised I lasted that long.
Only quibble I have is about totally throwing in the towel on trans women in sports because of how such a ban made by government plays out in practice: cis gender women who “look too masculine” get policed and humiliated (and they are often women of color) because intersex variation is REAL. And because facts don’t matter to the policers (supposed trans woman boxer after humiliating investigation was found to be cis, just nonwhite and shorthaired and good at her sport). And most of the bans apply to ALL school sports (most of which are noncompetitive and involve prepubertal kids). Even after puberty, noncompetitive sports teams for kids and adults are widespread in our communities (e.g. kids playing basketball not on varsity teams, adults in tennis leagues self sorted by level of competitive skill). Local knowledge and humane rules do not need to be sacrificed - just concede to sports regulators for competitive sports to make these calls where they conceivably matter which is what IOC does. So countermove in your chess game would be “follow the IOC” and empower school boards to make decisions that are less likely to humiliate kids with genetic variations. Sex/gender just isn’t binary and proclaiming it to be is a bad move be it by T or by UK court. They will get shown up by biological reality.
And as long as you repsonded I have to ask-- do you feel like it's better playing bots at various levels or against actual individuals online? I find I get better playing the bots online because playing against individuals, I always get the impression they are using computers behind the scenes, beating up opponents just to boost their scores/levels. Whereas picking out a bot just above your level gets you thinking more and learning counters and defenses, and lines of attack better, playing at the same level and then gradually growing from there. Then like you said, analyzing after the fact is key "What worked" or "where did I go wrong" goes a long way to correcting the action.
What are your thoughts on it?
You are absolutely right, it does require a vast amount of intellect, practice, and repeated practice to get better. I'm very mediocre--about 1600. I've won games at the 1900 level and lost some at the 1200. It's frustrating. I recognize openings well but it usually falls apart in the middle game. I hold my own, even counter well, but when I lose a rook or a queen seemingly out of nowhere or by some fork or skewer--the obscenities start flying at the screen. I'm working on getting better, but sometimes... What can I say, Chess can be a humbling experience in coming to grips with finding out what you don't know.
I do love puzzles and play them often on chess.com and chesspuzzle.net. The problem is though I can look at it and understand what they want to solve the puzzle each time, but in a game, I can easily miss the same situation, or are tentative to play in the same way.
I have played a GM only once; he was like "Sure I got a minute to kill." I was checkmated in 10 moves. It was not pretty. I took like 3 minutes on every move, he took 3 seconds. Frankly, I was surprised I lasted that long.