r/chess Weekly Discussion Thread

This squad looks like killer WTF

I don't really know about other teams but this one should be easily best team in competition by far gap ( Team Avr. Elo is 2712!! )

By Gatti

I'm a 700-800 Elo scrub, as casual as it gets. I looked at what it takes to reach 1500 and it's honestly a bit concerning.

It got me thinking: the only people who can sink that much time into chess starting from zero are kids, the unemployed, or people with no other hobbies and nothing else going for them. Every time a beginner asks for help, the level of study people recommend is mind-blowing, and that's for a mere 1500.

To be clear, there's nothing wrong with staying right where you are. I'm perfectly happy at my rating. I'm just saying this sub has a warped sense of what "casual" means and it just blows my mind.

Edit: 15+10 1-2 times a week I’d consider casual. That’s what I’m saying, the perception is so warped here for most of folks.

Somewhat interesting news from the Dutch tournament scene. It's reminiscent of the incident that took place in Spain last year which FIDE condemned: https://www.fide.com/fide-responds-to-reports-of-flag-restrictions-at-tournament-in-spain/ .

Just saw this headline and immediately thought: that is not a good idea.

What to do about this? There isn't even a report button on taktaketake or atleast I can't find one, I keep facing people playing stockfish moves in 0.1 seconds.. they're not even hiding it

( I can show y'all the game but his account literally says the terms of services were violated on their account.. )

I'm wondering if there exists a time control like tug of War where each player has like a min on the clock to start, and when it's your turn your clock goes down and your opponents clock goes up at an equal rate, and vice vera? So the total time on the clock would be constant, but each players time on any given move would depend on how long they have been taking relative to their opponent. It sounds like it would be a fun way to try to press a time advantage.

Sorry if this is a repeat, but I've looked around online and can't find what I'm looking for.

It's 1997 and IBM Deep Blue is ready for the rematch against Kasparov.

But instead up steps a 2026 top 10 player. Maybe it's Fabi or Sindarov or Nordibeck or Pragg.

They retain all they know including what they already knew about Deep blue but they didn't specially prepare. Deep blue team has nothing on the 2026 player

Would the 2026 player be favourites to win the match? If so by how much.

What would be expected score?

Scenario B : Deep Blue team is given a file of the most recent 3 year classical games by the 2026 player 3 months in advance.

As we know, that FIDE is launching a new World Championship tour next year in collaboration with Norway chess which would employ fast Classical alongside rapid and blitz for a 24 player multi event tour that will now give 2 candidate spots.

Do you like this change compared to the previous qualifiers?

If not, where would you have shifted those 2 spots?

When I think about football, players like Dybala, Coutinho, or Özil may not have been the absolute best players in the world ,they were never top 10 in the Ballon d’Or or whatever but their playing styles were absolutely incredible to watch. Even defensive players like Busquets had a beautiful style of play.

Does something like that exist in chess? If so, is it based on their openings, or is it more about the way they attack, defend or what exactly ? And which chess players are like that?

During the Russian Superfinal, GM Vadim Zvjaginsev lost in the second round to GM Dmitry Kokarev, which means his 148 games unbeaten run comes to an end. His last loss was two years ago in the Higher League against David Zakaryan.

​

Manny Pacquiao has organized the National United Chess Federation of the Philippines (NUCFP), a new chess organization aimed at developing young Filipino talent and producing more grandmasters.

During an online meeting with fellow organizers, Pacquiao outlined his vision of giving promising young players greater opportunities to develop their abilities and compete in major tournaments in the Philippines and abroad.

He also shared that he had already assisted talented young players before forming the organization.

The discussion highlighted the potential of aspiring chess players across Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao. Participants cited regular tournaments in General Santos as an example of activities supporting emerging talent.

The NUCFP board is expected to create a grassroots development program. Participants also proposed sponsored training with grandmasters and masters for registered chess clubs, including online sessions to reach more players and keep costs manageable.

The meeting emphasized cooperation, sound leadership, and building a lasting legacy for Philippine chess. Participants expressed optimism that Pacquiao’s involvement would strengthen the organization’s credibility and help it make an impact internationally.

Although no launch timetable, budget, or detailed training schedule was announced in the recorded discussion, the NUCFP’s stated mission sets an ambitious direction: expanding opportunities for young Filipino players and helping develop the country’s next generation of chess grandmasters.

It actually happened. Now the question is whether TDs will adapt to the times or not.

FIDE article

We had seen fabiano lose his form back in 2022 since he didnt touch chess for nearly a year, but this time its not like he's having a bad year, he went +2 on recent olympiad, beat pragg in classical portion in gct final, nearly won romania, finish 3rd in candidates. Its a mediocre year for his standard.

He played 76 classical games for the past 12 month which is 3x more than hikaru and 4x more than magnus and still retain 2784 performance rating which is the 6th highest for the past 12 month.

And now he is again borderline losing his ranking to 2 uzbek players despite being very active in top level chess.

Is playing actively punish player because we know at top elo pool, draws are bleeding you tons of elo and why does not playing somehow protect your ranking?. I felt like there are room that can and must be fixed.

Is that the legendary smothered mate?

I’m currently going through the Yusupov books right now, and this is one of the exercises in one of the books. I wasn’t able to solve it myself, but I thought the winning idea was super beautiful! Black’s position looks very good, their pieces are well placed and White’s King is somewhat exposed. How does Black further increase pressure upon White’s shaky position?

Hey guys, I’ve recently reached 1700 elo in rapid but I kinda brute forced my way through it. Basically every area of my chess needs improvement, so I wonder if any of you guys have a learning system for chess or use certain learning techniques.

Maybe dedicating a certain amount of time to one aspect of chess, improving time management, or practicing specific puzzles or positions on a website, or reviewing specific errors with an objective system, etc.

Or maybe using spaced repetition to learn openings or review mistakes? Has anyone tried Anki, or is there a specific chess space repetition system?

For the people who reached 2000 elo, what did you do to improve along the way?

Any tip is welcome!