The Beautiful Bad Move

[Andy Howie]

Hopefully, as increments become more widely adopted, there will be a return to finding the best move without worrying about the clock.

We have a convert! \O/

[amuir]

Overall computers are bad - they have destroyed postal chess - and have removed the skill of research by books.
All Scottish titled players are over 30 due to the Fischer/Walter Munn/John Glendinning/Leonard Barden/The Master Game boom in the 1970s.
No Glorney Cup wins since 1965 for similar reasons.

[Andrew McHarg]

Overall computers are bad - they have destroyed postal chess...

I prefer the term "made obsolete". The good things about postal Chess still exist with online correspondence Chess, and the bad (boring/expensive/time consuming/un-green) bits of having to post something to an opponent are gone.

[Geoff Chandler]

Hi Andrew.

Obviously you have never set a postal chess trap and waited for the whole week to pass
to see if he has fallen into it. I've set traps in online chess and got a result a few days later
but it's not the same. You have to get the postman popping it through your letter box.

Hi Alan.

"Nowadays, the 2100-2300 players know they can outplay us mere mortals in a quickplay finish..."

The simple solution being to get yourself up 2100-2300 and become a good player.

Of course that sounds too much like hard work.

Today's players don't want to do any studying that so let's give them computers to do their thinking
for them and a clock that adds on time everytime they move so they don't lose on time.

Handling your time during a game of Chess is an artform. (the clock is your 17th piece.)
Someone somewhere seems determine to undermine Chess and remove the skill from the game.

Adding extra seconds per move just because we have a clock that can do this is anti-chess.
It is catering for the dithering players and punishing the good chess players who have given their
time to actually studying the game.

I hope you have a special clock ready for me because I will refuse to play with an incremented clock,
my opponent can if he wants to but I will refuse to have extra time added to my clock.
I have never heard of anything so wimpish before in my life. PC gone daft.

Adding extra seconds will handicap players like me whose play is highly tuned and yet very simple.

First 10 minutes develop and castle.
Second 10 minutes find the mating attack.
Third 10 minutes carry out the mating attack.
(If you have not mated your opponent in 30 minutes then resign.)

If you lot start adding time to my clock I won't know whether to keep developing
or start planning my mating attack. You can only develop your pieces once so in the developing
10 minutes I'll still have 5 minutes left, I'll get all confused and start undeveloping.
I'll be uncastling by hand and pulling all my bits back to the first rank.

Anyday now you bunch of Mary's will bring in the 'Take Back' rule.

'If your last move was a blunder you can take it back.....just like you do when playing your computers.'

The good news is there are now some excellent chess books on Kindle so you lazy slobs no longer
have to through the actual physical and tiring act of turning a page.