Can online chess ever beat the face-to-face over the board experience?

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JustinHorton
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Re: Can online chess ever beat the face-to-face over the board experience?

Post by JustinHorton » Thu Apr 30, 2020 8:10 am

Kevin Thurlow wrote:
Wed Apr 29, 2020 10:46 pm
"Well, at least with an online event you don't have to dress up."

or at all...?

I have encountered players at tournaments who don't seem to have taken much care over appearance etc.
Yes, that's the joke
"Do you play chess?"
"Yes, but I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating."

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Kevin Thurlow
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Re: Can online chess ever beat the face-to-face over the board experience?

Post by Kevin Thurlow » Thu Apr 30, 2020 9:06 am

"Yes, that's the joke"

Sorry, I didn't expect deliberate humour on this forum.

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Joey Stewart
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Re: Can online chess ever beat the face-to-face over the board experience?

Post by Joey Stewart » Thu Apr 30, 2020 4:00 pm

Actually the other big difference is the amount of abuse you get online - I doubt many players would dare talk that way to anyone face but they get very brave when they think themselves anonymous
Lose one queen and it is a disaster, Lose 1000 queens and it is just a statistic.

Jonathan Bryant
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Re: Can online chess ever beat the face-to-face over the board experience?

Post by Jonathan Bryant » Thu Apr 30, 2020 4:41 pm

Can online chess beat the face to face experience?

Well it does at the moment. But leaving aside the cheating issue that will inevitably ruin serious online tournaments sooner or later - probably sooner - like Roger I find it difficult to concentrate online for anything other than blitz. Even 30 minute games are a struggle. I can’t imagine playing long play online.

That said, I’ve enjoyed the twitter chess tournament - just for fun but they’ve already had to eject some cheats - and our club runs events which have also been good.

But serious online tournaments replacing the face to face events? I’d love to be proved wrong, but I’m afraid I just don’t see it.

Simon Rogers
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Re: Can online chess ever beat the face-to-face over the board experience?

Post by Simon Rogers » Wed May 06, 2020 7:55 pm

The only online chess I am playing is against the computer on chess.com. Each day, I try to read a chess puzzle book or a look at a chess puzzle in the newspaper or do a bit of chess admin.

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MJMcCready
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Re: Can online chess ever beat the face-to-face over the board experience?

Post by MJMcCready » Mon May 11, 2020 5:41 am

In opting for a form of communication that is vastly inferior to human contact it's hard to imagine how it could be better. In many respects chess is, culturally speaking, in regression. Yes okay you have more chances to play on line but its not the same, not by a long shot. If it is already the case that on-line chess is the predominant form of how chess is played, then its I have nothing but pity for the generations ahead.

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MJMcCready
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Re: Can online chess ever beat the face-to-face over the board experience?

Post by MJMcCready » Mon May 11, 2020 5:46 am

Ah sincere apologies, it can remove annoying elements we've all had to suffer with like grumpy club members and long drives in bad weather to places not easy to find which have little or no heating even in the winter.

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Re: Can online chess ever beat the face-to-face over the board experience?

Post by NickFaulks » Mon May 11, 2020 9:15 am

Simon Rogers wrote:
Wed May 06, 2020 7:55 pm
The only online chess I am playing is against the computer on chess.com. Each day, I try to read a chess puzzle book or a look at a chess puzzle in the newspaper
That is excellent for practice, but what are we practicing for?
If you want a picture of the future, imagine a QR code stamped on a human face — forever.

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Re: Can online chess ever beat the face-to-face over the board experience?

Post by Simon Rogers » Mon May 11, 2020 9:29 am

The day we return, whenever that will be. It is important not to become too rusty and to try to keep match fit.

Tim Spanton
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Re: Can online chess ever beat the face-to-face over the board experience?

Post by Tim Spanton » Mon May 11, 2020 9:47 am

NickFaulks wrote:
Mon May 11, 2020 9:15 am
Simon Rogers wrote:
Wed May 06, 2020 7:55 pm
The only online chess I am playing is against the computer on chess.com. Each day, I try to read a chess puzzle book or a look at a chess puzzle in the newspaper
That is excellent for practice, but what are we practicing for?
This?

CZECH OPEN 2020
Due to the coronavirus epidemic, the date of the CZECH OPEN Pardubice 2020 festival is being moved from July to 17th - 28th September 2020.

Detailed regulations will be published on this site by the end of May 2020.

Preliminary regulations

https://beauchess.blogspot.com/

Simon Rogers
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Re: Can online chess ever beat the face-to-face over the board experience?

Post by Simon Rogers » Mon May 11, 2020 9:59 am

I'm not sure I am strong enough for that tournament but I am hoping the Scarborough Chess Congress in October will still be on as I booked a week off work back in January for it.
I'm am praying that OTB chess starts again in the autumn and I can reopen my junior chess club.
At the end of the day there is still plenty of chess jobs to do at home in the meantime.

Matt Bridgeman
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Re: Can online chess ever beat the face-to-face over the board experience?

Post by Matt Bridgeman » Mon May 11, 2020 10:12 am

Hi Simon. I hope Scarborough gets to run as well. It might take some major re-jigging of the playing hall though, as you can see from the website picture it looks pretty crowded in there;

http://www.scarboroughchesscongress.org.uk/

The layout might need re-imagining to get it off the ground, but my guess would be events like probably wouldn't be able to run until there is a working vaccine in place, or a much better course to treatment to aid recovery.

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Re: Can online chess ever beat the face-to-face over the board experience?

Post by Mick Norris » Mon May 11, 2020 10:47 am

Interesting photo; as has been discussed, there's not sufficient distance between opponents over the board at normal chess tables

What's the distance between a blind player and his opponent? At least in that case, only one player is handling the clock and the pieces, which might be a potential way forward
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Roger de Coverly
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Re: Can online chess ever beat the face-to-face over the board experience?

Post by Roger de Coverly » Mon May 11, 2020 10:58 am

Mick Norris wrote:
Mon May 11, 2020 10:47 am
What's the distance between a blind player and his opponent? At least in that case, only one player is handling the clock and the pieces, which might be a potential way forward
Depends how it's set up. Some tournaments have it arranged so that in time pressure an arbiter can sit directly opposite the sighted opponent, so it's a diagonal arrangement between the players.

If sighted opponents are arranged diagonally each with their own board, you might be able to squeeze a distance of a metre and a half between them across the diagonal. They would still have to share a clock, which one of them wouldn't be able to see and shout moves at each other.

Players could both turn up with laptops, tablets or phones, sit two metres apart and relay moves using a server. That runs into many of the disadvantages of using online servers for serious chess.

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Re: Can online chess ever beat the face-to-face over the board experience?

Post by Simon Rogers » Mon May 11, 2020 11:14 am

Hi Matt. You can see why I like Scarborough so much. Everyone in one big room at the Spa Complex with improved lighting. Certainly better than Blackpool. Scarborough has a record entry for a Congress with 350.
As some people say " if you haven't been to Scarborough, you've not lived."