Hi,

how do you cope with 'mirror' players,

players that copy every move you make and mirror it....

If you learn to play chess, then you will learn that you can set easy traps for people that mirror moves.  Simply think about a move that you can make, that if they mirror, they will be toast.  It just involves using your own mind, instead of following another person's analysis.

Another idea is to play an opening that is a quick killer, like the King's Gambit.  If they copy moves, play something quick that throws them off.  They will lose quickly, because they copy since they don't think for themselves.

I think that some players (novices), will mirror moves in a futile attempt to create grid-lock on the board.  I think that others do it only in the opening games to feel out his/her opponent to see what manner of player they're dealing with.  In either case, it is unwise to mirror moves for that simple fact that traps can be easily laid out by the crafty player as BB states.

Surely no one thinks that mirrored moves can be played throughout much of any game...because of the simple fact that what works on one side of the board does not necessarily create the same results on the opposite side of the board.

Cheers!!!

Two notes on this: First, when I was a scholastic player, this is one of the first things you have to learn to beat. For me, I chose 1: d4, and the Queen's Gambit, since 2: ... c5 is not a good move for black. Secondly, I wanted to choose a defense to 1: e4 which was a little less well known, and ended up deciding between the Caro-Kann and the French. Of course at that level, almost everybody plays the French exchange variation, which according to my friend is just a bit annoying to play for a win as black every time. So, I chose the Caro-Kann.