Litnet chess club

[Clopin]

I'm thinking of starting a group on chess.com for forum members if anyone is interested in some casual play. Me and Lykren have been having a good back and forth and I know Neely plays chess, Nikolai expressed some interest.

Anyway post here if you want to play at all.

[NikolaiI]

Hey, very awesome that you posted this, glad to see it. . I haven't ever gotten into Chess.com, I usually play on FICS,

It's really great to see because, though I studied many years when I was younger, I haven't in a long time, because I just care about writing and stuff these days, and just relaxing and living in nature. . . peaceful life, basically, and occasionally writing something to get people to understand peace is possible - a small contribution, perhaps, but in line with what I learned is just - leave the world alone!!! lol - calmness and peace, are definitely the highest ideal . .

. . and I have rambled on, but I would enjoy very much playing with anyone if they like. .

though I got to expert strength a few times, and my best game was beating an IM once, (shoulda been twice, lol, shoulda coulda) and drawing. .

I am probably only around 1800 - and actually fairly less than that, 1700 maybe, or even less...

just my performance and skill is very fluctuating. . when I'm inspired, I'll delve into Garry Kasparov on My Great Predecessors (absolutely insane beautiful as a work of chess art, and instruction. . . simply, by far, the best work of chess elucidation ever written. . (I never cared for Kasparov growing up because I heard of his arrogance, hah, but as a writer, he is absolutely and completely objective, educational, entertaining, and pleasant)

Carlsen, asked about good books, said, "My Great Predecessors is pretty good."

Soo hilarious!!

Anyway, so yeah I vary a lot and often I'll simply study for a few months -- that one's the best, but it's largely only about the process for me. . .

one of my friends, a professor when I was a kid, shared the simple trilogy for chess prowess - one has to have three things; natural ability, studying, and killer instinct.

Anywho - I play on Baba's chess semi-regularly, and I mainly play computers because I enjoy playing someone with no-ego. . . like how every word contains vast amounts of information, so does every pause, etc., and it's just no fun playing against someone who's miserable!

I know I'm an oddball, but I love me. Game should be entirely relaxed, entirely happy, entirely pleasant. . . without emotion, I believe. . no sense being emotinoally attached to winning or losing -- although, it's possible to be as fascinated, as focused, as Fischer (well maybe almost as much as Fischer) without being worried about losses. . .

Like - it's possible to take chess, (or anything), as seriously as Fischer did, but without any attachment to gain or loss, win or loss. . .and, as a lot of poker researches and theorists (and is becoming the mainstream undrstanding and view of it) are understanding nowadays, this philosophy, found in the Hindu philosophy, "Karam karo, fal ki chinta mat karo," (Work without attachment to results), also found in Caro's poker theory, is the right way to approach it. . . and I would definitely go so far as to say that there are a few theorists alive today who took it further than Caro's understanding. . Not to mention found in stock theory, Ben Graham, Buffett's mentor, etc.

[NikolaiI]

insanely beautiful*

[Lykren]

This would be fun. I'm Lykren on chess.com as well, let's play!

[NikolaiI]

I would certainly enjoy playing very much, but I only play on FICS, if anyone would like to - I use Babaschess, although there are a lot of interface clients. . very easy to use.

What's your strength or thereabouts Lykren, if you don't mind my asking?

[Lykren]

I've been keeping mostly even in my match with Clopin, but my rating's lower, 1338 right now. Is there a reason you don't want to use chess.com? I used to use FICS but chess.com's interface is quite a bit nicer, it's all in-browser as opposed to FICS' use of third-party interfaces.

[Clopin]

My rating would be a lot fuggin higher if Lykren didn't insist on winning all the time.

[NikolaiI]

Well, I can't use it very well - old computer, also bandwidth issues. . Babaschess or others are somewhat more utilitarian, but require a lot less bandwidth, and since it's run from the computer, seem to lag less, at least for me. In truth I can't access chess.com hardly at all.

[NikolaiI]

My rating would be a lot fuggin higher if Lykren didn't insist on winning all the time.

hehe, well that's the best thing -- a good friend who's a challenging opponent.

Karpov said the way to get good at chess is to lose thousands of games. . my first year at club I won 4% of my games; my second year I got up to 37%. . I don't remember after that. Although once I did beat my coach 8 games in a row. .

[Lykren]

My rating would be a lot fuggin higher if Lykren didn't insist on winning all the time.

Pfffft, you just won your third in a row, stop whining.

[NikolaiI]

So, what do you think?

[NikolaiI]

Hey guys, I won the high school state championship of my state when I was 14, later at the Denker, I had a performance rating of 2070, or so, going 3-3 against 2 a-players and 4 experts. Just sharing. Then naturally I switched to poker, when I was 19 or so, studied for a few years, all the good books - (Gambling Theory and Other Topics has an incredible compendium of excellent titles in the Appendix, also just follow Brunson, Caro's advice on good authors, etc.). . once I went to a game with 3 bucks, when I was broke, I knew that I would win over 150 or so. . I just knew, and I did, I won 180... another time I played in a 70 player tourney for the first time. .. again I simply knew I would take first, and I did, for 770...

another time, I was working a tough job -- one I loved so much -- working at a bindery, just simple stuff -- stacking magazines that just came out of a machine with hot plastic around them. . . stacking onto pallets, etc., keeping machines going, etc. . . first night surprised me, after 8 hours, they said, oh no, it's a 12 hour shift. . . whew boy! lol. I caluclated once, how much we moved each night, it was between 15, and 18,000 pounds of magazines. . . such a job with 4 days on, and 3 days off or so, takes all your time-- and like anything, that mattered, I put 100% of myself into it, and then it was very easy in a sense. .. physical labor like this puts your mind and body in the very best condition, if you let it. . . hard work as spiritual exercise.

Only for 6 months though; good money but I wouldn't have gone further. . excess strain on the body. . learn new work. . So during this time, I also studied to keep my brain sharp (as we love to do). . . at every possible break for a while, I would grab a book, usually Poker Essays or something like that. . . and read-- then one weekend over break went and made around 1050 over 3 days. . .each day over 300. . the point is-- after study, then practice, then self-evaluation and continual growth -- you can get to the top of your game in a short period of time. . .

Anyway I won't tell you my failures -- when your family can say one dismissive thing, it can be crushing, so my advice to all is confide in yourself. . . You and the truth know what you've done and how good it was. . People don't like to see Miracles, they don't like to see Wonder, they don't often like to believe you can do something only the greatest geniuses in the world (are said) to be able to do. . . that is -- make a million dollars, or three billion. . .

Because if you can learn the value of money (3 dollars, is worth how much? a half hour of your time? No, a half hour of your time is worth HUNDREDS.)

Hard work pays off and in poker, then your actions are rewarded or punished instantly. So if you know what you're doing -- all of your senses come alive and nothing in the universe is the same. . .not hunting, not universal martial arts (you lose brain cells there, lol)

Anyway - you can do anything, cheers. go to it.

I have an IQ off the charts, I had lessons from grandmasters, learned much from many mentors. .

if you want free lessons or friendship. . it's always here. I dislike the elitism of some of the community where I got my training, so I left it. .

anyway, studying blackjack and practicing for dozens of hours is good too -- Arnold Snyder, Standford Wong, Peter Griffin (especially essays), but especially Wong and Snyder-- and then Snyder can point out all the other best names, too. . .

and the more you practice, the easier it becomes, so practice for like, dozens and dozens of hours on the computer (What is special about this, is it's like practicing physical training on a mountain, or with weights on. . . you go through every hand in a 6-deck shoe, which requires much more mental capacity than skipping over some (with a few other players at the table) so then, it is far, far easier, mental capacity to do it at a real table.

Just saying.

I loved studying all these, the highest of psychology and probablity really. . if just for the process of it... improves prediction power. . When I was 15, I had a flash of insight, of what the next 11 or 12 years would be. . at least in one sphere of the system, and I was very correct. . . just two words I saw, that showed me exactly what would happen. .

now I got a little better at it. . here I am anyway.

So, after I succeeded at everything, I gave the rest up, and focused all on spiritual life -- on writing for peace -- first reducing my consumption of resources by 90-95%, and then writing for peace to share this. . . for our Earth's Resources are our True and only Real Wealth. . . to deplete them is to make us all poorer, as a whole. . . no other wealth is anything but a reflection of this, the earth's bounty, as a whole.

And the species life - protection of all species, that is the highest goal of any human being.

Anyway - I do encourage you to avoid those riddled with fear, or weakening memes. . . Fear breeds all bad conscience, and all bad deeds; and weakening memes. . .

Don't live in Biff's world. . . live in Barry's world, it's a much better world.

Barry is a player who makes over a million a year (very steadily) and because he doesn't need more, donates all of his tournament winnings to charity -- his cash game earnings are more than enough, so he gives the rest to charities. A lot.

And Buffett, of course --
Clearly, intelligence and sensitivity are more worthwhile skills in today's world than bullying and intimidation. . . Spread the word!

only 2 breaks of 20 minutes, enough to eat healthy lunch etc. :-)
per 12 hour shift, most I worked ever was 8 days in a row.




A huge part of my success, intelligence and health in life is just that I grew up in the country, with love, stability -- peace -- and without a TV; allowed to grow and develop naturally. . This last was so important I readily share it. . it's good to let kids grow up naturally, without TV screens. . although with computers. . well, naturally our evolution is taking a speedy turn toward the mecanic bionic. But TV, without those until 15 or so, is a good thing. .

Don't worry, they'll catch up (on sitcoms and stuff), it won't hurt their social development to wait on that aspect of culture, meanwhile they'll learn it all anyway.

The second thing was that we were poor - this is a great blessing, or can be, if you still have all the love, stability, peace, etc. because -- it lets you know you have to do well in life. . and that's a wonderful trait.

The third thing is that I had so many good mentors. . and this is least important because if the right ingredients are there, you will always find the truth - and not be satisfied with any deceptions. .

Anyway- the grandmasters are there, all the best ideas are there - they'll teach you if you walk right in, for free, if your friendship is valuable to them.

Above all avoid those who would cheat you and deceive you - those who say they can guide, but actually have a lot of fear -- the fearless should always be leaders to those in fear.


The reason I share all this is because - we may only get one chance; so it's best to do it right from the start. .

As Jung said, the reason for all ill in the world is because people's stories don't get told.


Also, to share some strength and true information, so that all may have boundless faith in themselves, and regain all power and sovereignty in themselves, and so they may never be deceived by those who are teaching or spreading fear


The one thing I can say, besides find true and good teachers, is the Principle of Selectivity is the guiding light of humanity - has been guiding us for centuries, for millennia, and it has brought us to where we are -- on the brink of infinite peace, and divine life forever, countless millennia, once we restore balance and paradise -- which may come overnight, indeed is expected to be here soon by all saints..

Prescription for peace: overcome the material, then learn the goal is to preserve species, so reduce consumption and seek the peace -- do not try to share peace until it's in your heart for good; indeed there is infinite peace possible (even in this lifetime, it only comes from strength), and it's visible in every culture, every ancient wisdom from across the globe.


Never spend time in useless argumentation or pay one cent of your time to those who try to create divison.

Those who would try to create division within a family help create the conditions for that family to fail.

We are, all of us, one family.