Any cubers who play chess/shogi?

[abunickabhi]

I have made a team for Crazyhouse Blindfolded, where playing ZH BLD is focussed on.

Lichess ZH team discussions: https://lichess.org/team/crazyhouse-blindfold

 

[zslane]

I love chess, shogi, and go, although I am not very good at any of them.

I like the drop mechanic of shogi; it compensates for the lack of long range pieces and really adds another dimension to play. I found that it doesn't take long to learn the kanji, especially if you use 1-kanji pieces. But I also like the idea of specialized pieces, not just to make the game easier for us westerners, but also to add a different aesthetic to play.

To that end I designed and 3D printed a custom set of shogi pieces with a samurai theme.

 

[abunickabhi]

I love chess, shogi, and go, although I am not very good at any of them.

I like the drop mechanic of shogi; it compensates for the lack of long range pieces and really adds another dimension to play. I found that it doesn't take long to learn the kanji, especially if you use 1-kanji pieces. But I also like the idea of specialized pieces, not just to make the game easier for us westerners, but also to add a different aesthetic to play.

To that end I designed and 3D printed a custom set of shogi pieces with a samurai theme.

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Wow amazing, samurai themed 3D printed shogi pieces.

I have not played over the board shogi yet, I just play online on 81dojo and lishogi though.

I would love to play a couple of games with you on lishogi. I too like the drop rule in shogi, which makes the endgame very tactical.

 

[Ravagerous]

I've played chess since elementary but from what I've experienced, it looks to me that Shogi was a lot of times more complicated than chess, and I'm worried it would take me a lifetime to score a win against any decent player out there.

 

[zslane]

While shogi shares essentially the same game design as chess, the lack of long range pieces, plethora of strong short range pieces, and pawns that capture forward (i.e., they can't protect each other as in chess), means that shogi openings will be a completely different discipline than chess openings. Instead of "castling" as in chess--which is just a single move to either side of the board--you "construct castles", complex formations of pieces, around your king instead. This requires memorizing not only the layout of these castles, but also the optimal move sequences to building them. And then, the fact that there is only one bishop and one rook means that the game has evolved into defining the kind of game you're going to play based on where your first rook move goes, sort of the rough equivalent to deciding whether you want to play an open or closed game in chess.

So, yes, shogi mastery becomes an almost entirely new skill set, even if you are proficient in (western) chess. But it can be rewarding and fun, so just enjoy the learning process!

 

[Ravagerous]

I remember watching Hunter X Hunter Anime, and the blind little girl there was playing Shogi with the Ant King, watching them play had me realized how hard was Shogi given there's a lot of combinations and loopholes you can get in just to win.

 

[abunickabhi]

I've played chess since elementary but from what I've experienced, it looks to me that Shogi was a lot of times more complicated than chess, and I'm worried it would take me a lifetime to score a win against any decent player out there.

Yes shogi is complicated indeed because of the drop rule, and early promotion rule (6th rank), which leads to more creative endgame play. Shogi is tactical for the most parts similar to crazyhouse chess.

On a side note, here is an insane shogi game that I played:
https://lishogi.org/OpVL7Bw8iwnW

 

[Ravagerous]

Yes shogi is complicated indeed because of the drop rule, and early promotion rule (6th rank), which leads to more creative endgame play. Shogi is tactical for the most parts similar to crazyhouse chess.

On a side note, here is an insane shogi game that I played:
https://lishogi.org/OpVL7Bw8iwnW

New with the online shogi game, but as I can see on your vid, you lost right? My brain stopped functioning in the late game lol.

 

[abunickabhi]

New with the online shogi game, but as I can see on your vid, you lost right? My brain stopped functioning in the late game lol.

Yes I lost but it was a fighting game, I enjoyed the fight a lot.

On a side note, I had this crazy position in the correspondence game today,

 

[qwr]

I played chess in middle school and was never really good at it. My peak was like 1600 on chess.com but I'm pretty sure the ratings were inflated back then and I was really like 1250. Also my blitz ratings were under 1000 which is basically unranked.

Youtube recommended me some GM Hikaru videos which are pretty entertaining. I like to do the chess.com puzzles more than actual playing although you only get a few per day. This is also a good video

 

[qwr]

@abunickabhi I recently discovered lichess which I see you have an account on. It's amazing because chess.com (which I've had an account for like a decade now) is always so pushy about buying their stupid premium subscription.

 

[abunickabhi]

@abunickabhi I recently discovered lichess which I see you have an account on. It's amazing because chess.com (which I've had an account for like a decade now) is always so pushy about buying their stupid premium subscription.

Yes seeing the chess.com ad every morning made me insane at one point so I quit the site.

On lichess, I can wake up, make my coffee, go to lichess TV and watch top class games, play a few puzzle storm/racer, and get ready for the day, without ads.

My chess has also improved, since I see ads for few seconds less per day, and focus more on chess. Also the UI of lichess is fast, many times, my internet is good, but still chess.com page takes eternity to load because of the bad frontend code.

 

[qwr]

Yes seeing the chess.com ad every morning made me insane at one point so I quit the site.

On lichess, I can wake up, make my coffee, go to lichess TV and watch top class games, play a few puzzle storm/racer, and get ready for the day, without ads.

My chess has also improved, since I see ads for few seconds less per day, and focus more on chess. Also the UI of lichess is fast, many times, my internet is good, but still chess.com page takes eternity to load because of the bad frontend code.

I'm rated like 1000, do you think I could ever make it to 1500 or 2000

also are the puzzles generated algorithmically? meaning the site analyzes played games and uses stockfish to find unique solutions to endings like mate in 2 and material gain plays

 

[abunickabhi]

I'm rated like 1000, do you think I could ever make it to 1500 or 2000

also are the puzzles generated algorithmically? meaning the site analyzes played games and uses stockfish to find unique solutions to endings like mate in 2 and material gain plays

You can even reach 3000 if your interests stays in chess for a long enough time.

The puzzle is generated automatically. They are generated from rapid games played on the site, and stockfish tries to see moments during those games where there is a huge spike in evaluation, with just one correct answer, hence making it into a puzzle. The puzzle is themed into various categories by patrons of lichess, and the puzzle rating is decided by a complex formula that I do not understand yet.

 

[qwr]

You can even reach 3000 if your interests stays in chess for a long enough time.

The puzzle is generated automatically. They are generated from rapid games played on the site, and stockfish tries to see moments during those games where there is a huge spike in evaluation, with just one correct answer, hence making it into a puzzle. The puzzle is themed into various categories by patrons of lichess, and the puzzle rating is decided by a complex formula that I do not understand yet.

I see; that's what I expected. But I should mention no human has ever reached 3000, maybe if Fischer kept playing or we brought back Morphy.

Can't the puzzle rating be generated using ELO the same way it is calculated for players? This is the most natural solution.

 

[abunickabhi]

I see; that's what I expected. But I should mention no human has ever reached 3000, maybe if Fischer kept playing or we brought back Morphy.

Can't the puzzle rating be generated using ELO the same way it is calculated for players? This is the most natural solution.

3000 in classical FIDE rating is hard, but I am talking about 3000 in online blitz which about 100ish strong people are. Also in over the board blitz, some people do have 3000+ performance sometimes.

Elo rating requires 2 people to play out and their ratings are considered, since puzzles is not a 2-player thing, we cannot use Elo directly to rate it.

 

[qwr]

3000 in classical FIDE rating is hard, but I am talking about 3000 in online blitz which about 100ish strong people are. Also in over the board blitz, some people do have 3000+ performance sometimes.

Elo rating requires 2 people to play out and their ratings are considered, since puzzles is not a 2-player thing, we cannot use Elo directly to rate it.

Oh I see about the rating. That's why I saw some people in lichess at 3000. But that depends just one the player pool right. If lichess is 99% noobs then doesn't that inflate the ratings? When I used chess.com back in the day, people always said the ratings were inflated.

For the puzzles: I'm like 95% certain chess.com considers a puzzle to be a two player game: the player vs the puzzle. Both have a "puzzle rating".

 

[abunickabhi]

Oh I see about the rating. That's why I saw some people in lichess at 3000. But that depends just one the player pool right. If lichess is 99% noobs then doesn't that inflate the ratings? When I used chess.com back in the day, people always said the ratings were inflated.

For the puzzles: I'm like 95% certain chess.com considers a puzzle to be a two player game: the player vs the puzzle. Both have a "puzzle rating".

I think chess com has more lower rated players, as more beginners join there. Not sure if ratings get inflated or deflated by this. Lichess at the very top has less good players, so lichess ratings are yet to inflate like crazy.

 

[qwr]

I think chess com has more lower rated players, as more beginners join there. Not sure if ratings get inflated or deflated by this. Lichess at the very top has less good players, so lichess ratings are yet to inflate like crazy.

Since official ratings only consider a small subset of the top chess players, I suppose if a top player plays online, he will appear to be better than more people, so the elo rating will be inflated compared to official rating?

Anyhow I'm awful at chess and I don't really want to put in the time to learn at the current point in my life. I'm more passionate about cubing, though I would like to someday practice and learn to become decent at chess. Who knows how long it'll take.

 

[abunickabhi]

Since official ratings only consider a small subset of the top chess players, I suppose if a top player plays online, he will appear to be better than more people, so the elo rating will be inflated compared to official rating?

Anyhow I'm awful at chess and I don't really want to put in the time to learn at the current point in my life. I'm more passionate about cubing, though I would like to someday practice and learn to become decent at chess. Who knows how long it'll take.

Yes there are lot of online talents who are relatively unknown in GM level FIDE tournaments. but they are super good online and even beat superGMs in faster time controls.

Some countries like Indonesia and Nigeria have good online chess players who are super talented. Sadly, they do not have support from their local federation, so they cannot play enough strong FIDE tournaments. Also, lot of kids like Arjun and Nihal, who are 15 year old GMs, play superb online, as they do not have any psychological pressure when they face someone older and more experienced online, as we generally do not see the person's face or actions.

I am more passionate about cubing as well. Chess improvement is much harder than cubing, thats why I prefer cubing.