so who's a newbie here?

just wanting to get in the spirit of the game and meet some players! :) just started playing chess a couple of days ago. lovin it!

Just a couple of days ago...which explains why it is still fun.

haha so chess isnt fun when youve been palying it for awhile?

He could mean a few things, if nothing else chess teaches humility, that's for sure.  There's always someone who can beat you, and your games always contain mistakes.

It's a great game though, welcome :)

Chess is a huge time drain. Even a prodigy have take take a few years just to be considered "good". I have been playing on and off for 9 years and my strength is only intermediate.

but there's nothing wrong with being casual, take everything in mediocrity.

haha that doesnt sound too good then does it i think ive still got a fair way to go before im intermediate ive only won one game so far and that was vs a cpu on my phone haha thanks for the intel though guys :)

 haha thanks :) judging by your points im guessing you're a pro so means alot thanks :)

Dear New Newbie,

I have been playing chess for 65 years and still regard myself as a NewBie.  I hate the idea of tournaments and clocks.  The idea of memorizing openings appalls me.  To me, chess is not a game of deception, speed, or memory.  It's not even a game about winning.  It is a leisurely conversation about power .... what power consists of, and what one can do with it.  To this end, I devised a way of playing that minimizes the effect of blunders on the progress of the game but still rewards accurate play.  It is called Schmess.   I play it with my non newbie friends, and even when they are crushing me, we are still playing interesting positions.  If you are curious, you can see the rules at

http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/id30.html . 

I am pretty sure that most of the players on this site will hate it, but I think a few of you might take the same childlike pleasure in it that I do.  It's a work in progress; the rules could be changed or added to.  The point value of a win started out as 40 (the total of the point values of the pieces ) but I reduced it to 16 (one  point per piece).  Some of the backgammon-like rules are new and might require some work.  I would love to hear what people think.  Perhaps, one day, chess.com could start a website for the online play of Schmess!

Take care,

Nick Thompson

I've known how to play for about 30 years, but owing to never having anyone to play or never having a mentor, I've just started learning how to really play the past year or two.  So I consider myself pretty much a newbie.