CHESS

Anyone want another W?

Yes.

A decider...

GG, Thanks kenbo...

Well played. You nearly messed it up!

Time isn't my friend.. I do have a tendency to panic..

I should have had more than 3 losses by now, players not punishing dubious gambits that I play, only a matter of time, I would imagine it's the 1600/1700s where I'll plateau and from there it'll be more win/loss/win/loss/win/loss sort of territory, or maybe before.

It's why I prefer blitz, you can get away with a lot more as time goes a lot quicker.

You’re on a cracking run, Mes.

You seem to get match against more than a few over rated newbies, not sure how you're managing that..

TBH, IMO... Doubt you'll see 1600/1700.. Time will tell.

No offence.

Last thing I want is to play against brand new accounts, I can  see the irony being one myself, I eventually got to 1400 after a fashion but one of the players I lost to called usefullness huh, told me he was using a training account and he was over 2000 on his main account, he joined 5 mins before we played and definitely played like a 2000, looking over it I never had a chance, reported but of course nothing will happen.

There was this really annoying women who was in completely lost position but then kept offering me draws and I lost, lesson learned, click disable draw offer straight away.

Lost another game in a completely winning end game v lokayouself, nearly 5pts up on the engine, but with the clock ticking didn't have enough to time to calculate properly, ended up in a completely drawn  end game, then lost on time.

away next week, may cram in some more games before I go, but pretty sure I'll reach at least 1600.

Kind Regards.

Well looks like I wasn't paranoid, that usefulness guy was banned, https://www.chess.com/member/usefulness_huh

Rating 1459

Won 58, lost 6, drawn 2.......Seven losses if you include the engine cheat

Leave you with a rare knight checkmate

https://www.chess.com/game/live/172124403328


Kind Regards

Just looked at your game versus Usefullness. That was a lovely queen sacrifice he played to mate you.

The guy was cheating and has since had his account closed.. These sad people must get something out of it!

Pathetic..

No offence Darren..

Anyone want a quick one?

I will.

Give me 10 minutes please...

Ok.

I'm here...

GG... Thanks kenbo.

Well played. Damned forks!

I do congratulate you on there. Better than coming on here post match!

I just never switch chat on there..

It’s very simple to do!

TBH, My brain is easily pushed of kilter...

Anyone about for a quick one?

https://link.chess.com/play/lAvpKW

I'm here.. for any challenge.

I’ve sent you one.

Your links just send you to using the app.

That was painful.. wp.

I know what stupid move cost me...

We were both poor!

I was on a 10 game winning run too...

I hate you pushing that pawn each time I’ve castled.

I hate you pushing that pawn once I’ve castled.

Pawn.

Shocking. They’ve only censored p a w n. Ridiculous.

Puzzles, Puzzle Rush is good fun also...

I hate you pushing that p a w n once I’ve castled.

Pawn...

Does become predictable...

I’m hopeless at puzzles. I’m still not keen on the format on there yet. Need more games to get used to it. Plus I think my iPad may be on the blink. Some moves are a bit juddery for me.

Thats how I play poker.. Trying to do things that might make you uncomfortable...

But when it becomes predictable, I'm in trouble...

Back to that game, I should have just re-took your Knight with my pa wn..

Uncomfortable and unpredictable is what I like. Baffled me not taking that pa win.

Knight I mean.

My brain was becoming frazzled, only saw it after I made whatever stupid move I actually made..

I don’t mind losing at all but it’s frustrating when you lose by being really stupid!

True.. That Knight will probably gnaw at me for a little time.

Anyone about for a rapid?

It's 3-2 kenbo...

Crossed over 1500, next step 1600

https://www.chess.com/game/172487293410

How do you keep getting matched against newbies?

I'm here to give you a free W... We both know I'm due for a reversal though..

Interesting fact, Harry Kane is a top 1% player...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIPt2pUH8oY&t=1033s

forgot how addictive the game was
new players generally get paired against new players, makes sense.
lots of them are old accounts, one was 10 years old
I don't like playing against them, joined '1 minute ago' is a red flag when they've started their account at the highest setting.
Also forgot that if you abort too many of these accounts that have 0 games played, you get put in a player pool with all the other aborters, so their forum says

Can't take liberties anymore, the 1500's are where the more players with some tactical nous start, will have to start playing properly rather than gambits, lost a few games thinking 70% concentration will do, will still get well past 1600 though.

Kind Regards.

Just watching you, Mes. You’ve pinned their queen and instead of resigning they’re letting the clock run out.  Pathetic.

Yeah, that happened a few games later to me again as well, just gives me an opportunity to stretch me legs

Reached 1600's

Games: 114
Wins: 92  (80.0%)
Losses 19 (17.4%)
Draws: 3  (2.6%)

(excluding the banned player who 'won')

most people have roughly 50/50 win ratio over time, so that 80% will be coming down some time soon once I have a much bigger sample size of games, 1800 is apparently the beginning of advanced level which is reachable, 2300 is apparently 'expert level', i.e. your Titled players, chess nerds who study books, have coaches and play over the board where the real ratings are.

Wouldn't fancy reaching expert level however, as someone once said, a good chess player is the sign of a Gentlemen, a great chess player is a sign of a wasted life.

Kind Regards.

Last night I noticed kenbo has over taken me in ratings...

https://www.chess.com/puzzles/rush

5 minute puzzle rush! My record is 26.. Only taken me 1k attempts

I’ve managed to get a few games in. Think I’m at 1200 now. Not sure how much higher I can get.

The puzzles flummox me!

I’ve sent you an invite, Emit.

I'm here...

Shocking!... Might need some time to evaluate that.. GG WP.. 3-3

Easy mistake to make. We do it regularly. Good game.

Sheep to the slaughter here!....

I'll look in @ 9pm.... 3-3

Refunded another 8 points, 19 losses becomes 18, ironically I sacced a piece needlessly so deserve to lose that anyway, that was a new account 3 days old but was playing over 50 games a day, easy to do if you're stockfish,

Just mouse slipped mate in 1 but managed to win anyway.

Sent you one, Emit.

No point playing Mes. He’s far too good for us. He’s smashing it.

That was a very Lucky me...

another?

Pay back for me getting lucky against you!

I'm so Lucky again.... until tomorrow.. GG

Well played. I didn’t know what to do there.

My blunders are too bad to be true!...

Gonna blame my meds!

You have improved past me... truth be told.

Why did I gift you my 1st Castle @ the end game?

You were running out of time. That’s why you blundered that castle. Did well not to lose after that.

Mes put forward a theory as to why he gets paired against newbies, "because he's a newbie"... But Kenbo's a newbie and is rarely paired against fellow newbies...

Just saying...

his account is over 6 years old

Spoiler: Show

OK, I accept you're not cherry picking your opponents..

last few players I played

Oct 27, 2024 - 6,313 games
15 hours ago - 22 games
Feb 21, 2026 - 722 games
19 days ago - 337 games - lost
Apr 1, 2025 - 4,526 games
Jun 23, 2021 - 8,819 games
3 days ago - 187
Sep 20, 2023 - 1731
Dec 20, 2024 - 4,206
Dec 6, 2016 - 12,971
Jul 13 2022 - 5,831
Apr 12, 2022 - 13,000

they're not even that new and 8 of those 12 have several thousand games played, you cannot possible pick opponents unless you deliberately farm someone for rating, i.e if I invited someone to play rated around 1200, I'd get 1 pt per win as I did against Kenbo earlier today, if I played him several dozen times to keep getting 1 point, that's a bannable offence as it'd be manipulating the rating system.

I opened my account during covid but only played twice. I wondered why I’d never come across someone who didn’t know what they were doing. They were all fairly decent for our lowly rating.

I’ve pretty much played on Chess By Post since Covid. It’s could be very dull as moves had a maximum of four days. Poor sports could string a losing game out for months if they wanted so I’d end up resigning them. It was ok playing against mates but they could take an hour. Often 10 minutes for my moves and 50 minutes for theirs. My rating reached 2400 on there. I was aware they were significantly higher than other chess sites but had no idea it was roughly double. You could gain fifty points for a win against a higher rated player. I thought I’d rise up the ratings a bit quicker on this site but I think I’m probably at my level. Pretty low!

that kinda long form chess isn't good, involves too much trust.

Reach 1700 but had to suffer a good few defeats to get there.

the worst thing about this site is when you have a quick look at someones account to see if their dodgy, i.e. 90% accuracy in nearly match, winning constantly in less than 20 moves etc, and they just joined 1 minute ago, then you abort the game as you don't want to play against a chess engine, but then YOU get punished for that, if you abort a certain number of games you get put into the same pool as even more new dodgy accounts, as chess.com deems you abortinh as wasting someone's time, even though they're clearly suspect. So I no longer even bother looking to their join date.

next stop 1800, advanced level, at least online.

I'm just not suited to Rapid, much prefer speed chess like Blitz or Bullet, more fun, Rapid is so slow, get so bored waiting for my opponent to make a move, might just switch to Blitz once I'm at 1800. Only have to look at my last game, a trick in the Ponziani won the game and even that was lucky as he didn't fall for it at first, you should never play like that in long time controls, goes against all basic chess principles, teaches bad habits and is only really suitable for speed chess.

I even was so bored waiting for one of them to make a move I amused myself by asking him in the chat what colour knickers his wife was wearing, and he started ranting at me in Spanish

Kind Regards.

Few years ago Rapid on here was a 30 minute game (format changed) players would send me yawns! for thinking...

Kenbo, your rating equals top 10%.. I think that's fairly respectable.. Shame there isn't a few more forumites willing to have a go.. Fragile Egos

Think I played 4 games last night, deserved to lose all of them.. won 2, drew 2...

I'm gonna make myself available between 8-9... to break the deadlock Kenbo.. If you're up for it?

That rating was on Chess By Post. They obviously do their ratings completely different to ‘proper’ chess ratings. I was just using that as a comparison. I’m definitely nearer the bottom 10% than the top!

You could win or lose 80 points in a game on there.

I will see you on there at 8pm.

I’ve won a few games that I would’ve lost on here purely because they ran out of time while ahead. I don’t think I will ever run out of time. I move first and think later!

I think I was well on top in the first game (timed out)..

I'm Making too many blunders though..

4 / 3 / 3  to you!... we're well matched...

Just looked back at that game. I was a huge favourite for the first half of the game. I thought I was gonna win quickly but you weathered the storm well. Once you had a minute left and I had six I knew I could sacrifice a piece or two and still probably win through timeout even though you were the favourite.
Just noticed you missed a free knight when my pawn threatened your queen. Would’ve been a different game if you saw it.

Just wrote a big reply. Had the word pa wn in it and wasn’t allowed. Not writing it again!

I'm here and looking for a equaliser...

Thanks Kenbo... I'm Back!

until tomorrow... GG's

It never really looked in doubt for either game there. Well played.

1700's are tough cookies but I'll plough through them eventually.