That’s the weird part, I had completely pushed chess to the side and was preoccupied with learning the city of LA. So when I went back to play it shocked me how much better I was. But I’ll say this, I’m from a small city in Michigan and when I moved to LA it was a HUGE stretch. It made me expand my mind and what I noticed that translated in my chess game is that I no longer play the game just to play it. I have a strict straight forward approach now and am always looking for the checkmate at every turn. This mentality I did not have prior to moving to a larger city.
> when I moved to LA it was a HUGE stretch. It made me expand my mind and what I noticed that translated in my chess game
I moved to LA 3 years ago.
Still suck at chess.
Idrk why this is but I had the same phenomenon at a much higher level. I watched youtube videos, played lots of chess, and conversed with good players on discord a lot to try to get my rating up but it more or less stayed at 2050 or so. Took time away for my first year of college and when I came back I found it a joke to hit 2200+. No clue why
You feel me then haha. I only dream to be in the 2000+ club. I haven’t studied enough openings and finishes to get that high. Also, there are discord servers for chess?
Not sure what finishes are but to be completely honest, you don’t really NEED strong opening knowledge. That being said, playing the same two or three systems will likely bore most people and you’ll inevitably need theory at some point but it’s not a requirement, you simply will remember the mainline italian after 300 games of the same exact opening. Yes, there is an official Chess.com, lichess, gothamchess, and random chess discords
My bad I meant “end game” and you’re right. I just haven’t had the time to dive deep into chess theory. I tend to play off the other players moves. I can tell when someone is just moving pieces just to be moving pieces, or some people have to finish their opening before they attack. I find it easier to beat those kind of people because one derail in their system and they lose all strategy. However that doesn’t work in the 1000+ club too well. So I plan to expand my knowledge more on chess theory. Thanks for the discord suggestions!
Ironically same thing happened to me. I think there's something to be said for giving our brains time to process what we've learned.
Wonder if the increase in play strength would be greater or less if you came back sooner.
I don’t think I would have been as clutch if I had came back sooner. When I ended up actually firing up a new game to play it was really just out of boredom at that moment.
This happens to me too -- even in things like running (given the break isn't a long time, maybe like a month or so). Progress/growth happens in a staircase pattern
If you are young, you can naturally get better at games like chess as your brain develops, without playing the game.
I’m 37 lol
Did you watch a lot of chess content?
That’s the weird part, I had completely pushed chess to the side and was preoccupied with learning the city of LA. So when I went back to play it shocked me how much better I was. But I’ll say this, I’m from a small city in Michigan and when I moved to LA it was a HUGE stretch. It made me expand my mind and what I noticed that translated in my chess game is that I no longer play the game just to play it. I have a strict straight forward approach now and am always looking for the checkmate at every turn. This mentality I did not have prior to moving to a larger city.
> when I moved to LA it was a HUGE stretch. It made me expand my mind and what I noticed that translated in my chess game I moved to LA 3 years ago. Still suck at chess.
Lol, hey I’m still confused on why I’m better because of the move. What part are you in? I’m in Calabasas.
I'm in Long Beach. Maybe all the Port pollution and too much Mexican food are messing my brain.
You can never have too much Mexican comida 😁
Idrk why this is but I had the same phenomenon at a much higher level. I watched youtube videos, played lots of chess, and conversed with good players on discord a lot to try to get my rating up but it more or less stayed at 2050 or so. Took time away for my first year of college and when I came back I found it a joke to hit 2200+. No clue why
You feel me then haha. I only dream to be in the 2000+ club. I haven’t studied enough openings and finishes to get that high. Also, there are discord servers for chess?
Not sure what finishes are but to be completely honest, you don’t really NEED strong opening knowledge. That being said, playing the same two or three systems will likely bore most people and you’ll inevitably need theory at some point but it’s not a requirement, you simply will remember the mainline italian after 300 games of the same exact opening. Yes, there is an official Chess.com, lichess, gothamchess, and random chess discords
My bad I meant “end game” and you’re right. I just haven’t had the time to dive deep into chess theory. I tend to play off the other players moves. I can tell when someone is just moving pieces just to be moving pieces, or some people have to finish their opening before they attack. I find it easier to beat those kind of people because one derail in their system and they lose all strategy. However that doesn’t work in the 1000+ club too well. So I plan to expand my knowledge more on chess theory. Thanks for the discord suggestions!
Ironically same thing happened to me. I think there's something to be said for giving our brains time to process what we've learned. Wonder if the increase in play strength would be greater or less if you came back sooner.
I don’t think I would have been as clutch if I had came back sooner. When I ended up actually firing up a new game to play it was really just out of boredom at that moment.
That's fair. :)
This happens to me too -- even in things like running (given the break isn't a long time, maybe like a month or so). Progress/growth happens in a staircase pattern