I'm on Chess with Friends (iOS) and Chess.com. Same username as hn on both.
I'm not super good, but I've been getting better since I started playing online a month ago. I used to play a lot more when I was a kid.
Ask HN: Who plays chess?
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Re: Ask HN: Who plays chess?
#2I used to use the chess.com facebook app a lot to play. But at some point I stopped. I forget when or why. I think I got fed up with the app engine and just turned it off for a while. I've since turned it back on, and might start playing again. I've played since I was a kid and always enjoyed it, but haven't had a whole lot of time recently.
Re: Ask HN: Who plays chess?
#3I used to use the chess.com facebook app a lot to play. But at some point I stopped. I forget when or why. I think I got fed up with the app engine and just turned it off for a while. I've since turned it back on, and might start playing again. I've played since I was a kid and always enjoyed it, but haven't had a whole lot of time recently.
The great thing about these formats is that the time commitment is minimal, though chess.com does ask you to supply a 2-3 day time limit between moves.
This also explains the great success of Words with Friends. I had been playing that game consistently since I was introduced to it back in March when I discovered chess. I never played scrabble before, I guess that phase is over now. I like chess much better!
Hit me up if you can!
Re: Ask HN: Who plays chess?
#4I play on Yahoo Games. Not any good at it though, despite having read a basic chess book and gone through the surprisingly thorough Yahoo Chess Strategy Guide http://games.yahoo.com/help/strategy/ch&ss=1. It's a fun game if you're more of a spatial thinker (hello designers) or get bored by more quantitative games like poker.
Re: Ask HN: Who plays chess?
#5I was never good enough to surpass the simple reactionary one-move-deep analysis of a beginner player (e.g. if I move here he'll capture my piece, or if I do this he'll have to respond like this or that), so the strategy in my games is very limited making it not-so-exciting.
Re: Ask HN: Who plays chess?
#6I used to play competitive A LOT when I was younger, my best was 3rd place for an all Ontario (Canada) competition and I won some county competitions. But it got to the point of being too time consuming and too boring, all you're doing is memorizing openings and certain strategies for middle play and end game situations rather than playing.
Having said that I really enjoy going through the old Master's games. If you're into Chess then I suggest getting 'The Most Instructive Games of Ches Ever Played' by Chernev (http://www.amazon.com/Most-Instructive-Games-Chess-Played/dp...). He goes through each game explaining the strategy and contexts of the games and moves, really enjoyable if you're into Chess.
chessgames.com is a cool site for going through their archive of games. My favorite is 'The Game of the Century' with Fischer who was my favorite: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1008361
Re: Ask HN: Who plays chess?
#7If you're really interested in getting into chess, check out ICC and FICS.
Re: Ask HN: Who plays chess?
#8I play regularly on http://www.freechess.org/
Re: Ask HN: Who plays chess?
#9I play casually and wrote a simple HTML jquery chess board:
http://joelparkerhenderson.com/chess/
The board is just pieces you can drag and drop anywhere. For me, this is more flexible than Chess.com, Yahoo Games, and other sites with sign in, membership, Java, Flash, and the like. Feel free to use it. Feedback appreciated.
Re: Ask HN: Who plays chess?
#10i used to play all the time. now i only play maybe one or two games a year. never been much good at it though :(