How Many Photogs/Chessplayers?

[Peter]

Dear Friends,

Just out of curiosity. I have a few photography and painter friends here in Singapore who are also chess enthusiasts. I am wondering if there is a correlation between visual art forms and the love for mental fencing?

Regards,
Peter

[foon]

I like chess but no enthusiat. I enjoyed physical fencing too.

[DougK]

I used to play chess a fair bit, but I wasn't then and am not now a very good player. I also used to fence in college... again, not very good but I had a lot of fun.

[cp_ste.croix]

i enjoy chess, but don't play very often. A sadistic friend bought me a shot glass chess set for my birhtday the other day. We filled pawns with my grandfathers home made creme de menth and the back row with cheap rye.


I lost pretty badly.


please excuse the shots, they were taken with my gf's p&s.

[Biber]

I prefer go now, but I played chess a lot when I was younger.

[bobofish]

I'm a very avid chess player, but these days I don't have anybody to play with, so I mostly play on my cell phone, which is a very poor substitute indeed. Instead of mental fencing, I have to deal with the stupid computer's complete predictability and bloodthirstiness.

[bobofish]

By the way, Biber, are there any online tutorials for Go? I've wanted to learn for years, but I'm too lazy to go by a book. (pun?)

[hoot]

Same here; used to play chess more often, but prefer Go now; it's much cooler. I still play chess with my pupils.

[Biber]

Bobofish;
http://playgo.to/interactive/
http://gobase.org/
http://www.goproblems.com/
http://senseis.xmp.net/
http://www.telgo.com/

This site is great if you want to play with other people online:
http://www.pandanet.co.jp/English/

[bobofish]

Thanks Biber, I'll check it out. For some reason, I never was able to find anything via google or yahoo, etc.

[CleverName]

I used to play quite a bit. I had a USFC rating around 1400, with a speed chess rating just over 1600 (go figure). I played in a few tournaments and actually got a draw from a Master once, but I've also lost winning positions against 9 year old girls.
I'd kinda reached a plateau, and didn't have the time for study and practice.

[djon]

I don't like games. Easily bored.

I do traditional archery (wooden bows, wooden arrows) and hike, play gypsy jazz guitar (very badly).

[nomade]

I love chess, but rarely find someone to play with for more than once/year...Everyone seems tog et bored of it, and i hate online games..

But i love it still..

[pvdhaar]

No, I'm not a chessplayer. I do like to watch a game though. It's just that I'm so bad at it..

[hoot]

I do traditional archery (wooden bows, wooden arrows)
I heard somewhere that HCB read a book called "Zen in the Art of Archery" while he was getting into photography as a young man. I have since read it myself, and it's astounding how similar photography and archery are.

[djon]

Zen and the Art of Archery by Eugene Herringill is a very popular book among literate traditional bow hunters. Possibly even better for photographers is his Book of Tea, which has to do with quiet, care, precision, simplicity...

[Peter]

I personally think the intense concentration during a chess game helps in developing observation skills in photography. As for Zen, there is Zen in all human endeavours. The quiet contemplation in chess is applicable in photography. In fact, I play chess best when there is no thought of winning or losing and just concentrate on the centre of the board and develop the pieces quickly. It is with the same type of mindset that I adopt when I do street-photography. By the way, if you guys want a game, you could go to www.gameknot.com for correspondence chess. :)

[Peter]

I forgot to add. My nick is Voigtlander! :)

[bobofish]

As of about 5 minutes ago, I am a member of gameknot. Of course under the humble name of bobofish. At the moment I'm too tired to start a game, but soon!

[GeneW]

I played chess often when I was younger and still love the elegance of the game. I don't play often now, but still enjoy the occasional game. I'm a duffer.

Gene

[Finder]

Well, Western chess is fun. I like to play the suicide version from time to time. Chinese and Korean chess are interesting, but they never caught my imagination to really pusue them. My favorite chess is the Japanese variant, Shogi. The end game in particular is really interesting, much more so than in Western chess. There are books of end game puzzles that are very popular which require the player to continually check the king until mate. Since captured pieces can be brought back into play all 40 pieces are in play at all times (20 pieces per side). The pieces are the same color, but are pointed so they can indicate which side they belong to. It is also played on a 9x9 board.

[PeterL]

When mentioned in good company, the subject of chess quickly changes to go. RFF is not an exception, it seems. :)


Peter.

[Third]

Classical chess in various time controls for me. I am an avid correspondence player, and play in local clubs when I can.

I'm a less-than-terrific photog though.

I like both photography and chess, but am not very good at either.

[narsuitus]

Love chess and other games of military strategy

[PlantedTao]

It is the best board game ever created!
I use to play chess often, but know I have no one to play with and only pick up an occasional game (every blue moon) at a coffe shop or park. I love it...especially timed. I'm sure my skills have deteriorated :(
I will have to check out gameknot.com

Thanks ya'll
Jason

[rogue_designer]

I used to play chess - but switched over to Go a few years ago. :D

[Magus]

Post deleted by posters request

[AlanS]

I used to play many years ago with a club player I worked with. But you move on and I just drifted out of it....terrific game though.

[ampguy]

I'm not a good player or anything, but play with the kids. My son invented a variation that involves the use of playing cards to let you move more spaces at a time, making the game a little more exciting. We call it "Super Chess"

[SolaresLarrave]

I'm not good, but and I don't have anyone to play with but myself. At times, when I couldn't sleep, I used to play against myself. I picked the whites and the blacks won. If I picked the blacks, then the whites gave me a whipping.

I must be good... but then, I'm probably a pretty poor player.

[anandi]

Yup, love chess, not great, keep meaning to pick up a 'classic grandmaster games' book and read up on offence and defence strategies, but 2 kids get in the way. Bonus is that my 4 year old daughter really likes it and at least knows the player moves and can play more or less a whole short game. The cool thing is that she has started thinking ahead one move which I don't do in everyday life often. Like board games too - german type (Settlers of Catan, Tikal, Metro/Iron Horse etc.) even invented an entire game a couple of years ago including hundred of hours of playtesting. Long answer to a short question I guess.

[mauro scacco]

I am an expert chess player with FIDE elo rating about 2100 , and also a good bridge player ...
Mauro

[Richard Black]

I learned from my father when I was 10-11 and I don't think my game has improved much since. I love to play, I'm just not that good.:o

[ampguy]

we have evolved it into "super chess" adding the use of playing cards, as well as variants like super deluxe chess, and super chess 2.0.

[Keith]

As a child I was a pretty good chess player and played occasionally as an adult. I taught my ten year old son to play chess .... and six months later he wiped me off the board. I never won another game from then on! :D

[ICU]

I used to play quite a bit when I was growing up and with my girls when they were younger. Oer current game obsession is Settlers of Catan.

[Rico]

I wrote a chess program that played for awhile on the Net (mainly FICS). It was at least 400 points stronger than I - a bit frustrating. :)

[mjflory]

Go seems certainly more interesting visually (though the chess pieces can be great little works of art). For me the interesting difference bewteen chess and go was that in go I found I could stumble through a half-competent opening using a sense of visual composition, looking for balance but avoiding overly mechanical symmetry -- almost like composing a photograph.

-- Michael