So I know its less exciting, but if you want to play unrated daily games, I know you can set it up so that you both start play from a certain position. Im open to playing a couple with you if you like.
Finding opponents who want to play main lines
So I know its less exciting, but if you want to play unrated daily games, I know you can set it up so that you both start play from a certain position. Im open to playing a couple with you if you like.
Well, perhaps I should go back to doing more of that. I've been enjoying live chess, which is a different sort of approach to chess (importantly, we're forced to rely on memory rather than actually checking books and databases, which I'm religious about doing when I play daily games).
I learned a lot of theory in the days when I played a lot of daily games, but I like live games too, and it would be nice to get more with people who take openings seriously...
Is there good way (other than getting stronger and finding your way into a higher rating pool) to get yourself paired against opponents who gravitate to main lines? For instance, is there a club for people who take opening preparation seriously, that holds regular arenas (ideally slower than blitz, e.g, 10-minute)? I know you couldn't legislate true rules for what people can play, but it would be nice to find a self-selecting group of folks who will actually challenge each other in the main lines.
Two reasons I'm looking for this.
1. When I play over the board, I face more rigorous prep than I do here, and it would be good to get more practice handling, say, and English Attack than yet another person playing 2. Bc4 against the Sicilian.
2. These cruddy sidelines just aren't much fun. Yes, I'm going to have a harder time in a proper Open Sicilian than I will against the various unambitious antisicilians I see, but I'll enjoy it more. And as White, while it's true I can usually get a good position in the Ruy Lopez against the ubiquitous Steinitz Defense, but I'd rather spend that time trying to navigate and understand the intricacies of the real lines of the Closed (or even Open) Spanish.