When "Chomping On Hanging Pieces" is a TERRIBLE Idea...

um no?

immigrants-

Also your censoring of the word shooting makes it sound like I'm saying pooping 😂

blud what-

also native americans

Ok we have immigrants too. So what?

we ain't the same?

America was created by Brits still though?

Watch out. Youre doing politics

blud, you're gonna cross the line

this ain't politics, ask Dantheclock

It's more history than politics. The convicted Brits were sent to be colonists and some of them went to America and became American over time and created USA. Something like that idk I took geography instead of history.

Still, you're diverting a chess topic bruh

Oh yeah sorry I'm really talkative. The hardest part about OTB is not being able to yap nonstop for 3 hours.

im a yapoholic too, but i dont have a problem with OTB

Chessblackbelt is correct. Why is it that he's getting treated differently because he agrees with HangingPiecesChomper? The same is true of me. Objectively, it seems that it's the lower rated players who disagree, and the higher rated players who agree. Are we just going to ignore that? It's not elo shaming to notice such a pattern.

You can count me as one of the "higher-rated players" who disagrees with the over-simplification that chess is just about hanging pieces.

(Although "higher-rated" is subjective. Magnus and Hikaru would consider all of us to be rather clueless at chess ...)

But as far as chess at our level goes, there's a lot more to know than just hanging pieces. Some things worth knowing: thematic ideas relating to different pawn structures ... comparing piece placements ... using or fighting against outposts ... understanding when and how to open or close files ... know how to play with or against backward or passed pawns ... knowing how to wield or defend against the minority attack ... and so much more.

The list really goes on and on ...

I think we're arguing about 2 different things.

@MaetsNori, I cannot thank you privately because you only accept friends so I'll do it here ... I have no pride when it comes to chess. You repeatedly provide incredible insight into the depths of chess which I dearly crave. Thank you soooooo much for all your input here on forums.

I don't care whether I always agree with you or not; that's not the point. When it comes to chess, we news aren't stupid and OF COURSE we take advice of those with higher ratings. I ALWAYS devour your information. It is this "the list really goes on and on ... " that I seek. I am convinced you are straight and your information can be fully trusted (same can't be said for many other higher-rated than myself).

I won't be posting on forums further except to ask questions about chess (I have hundreds) and am then desperate to get answers. This has been my first exposure to ANY social media and my psych doesn't handle it very well, I'm afraid. But I will support you, @DoYouLikeCurry and many others who take your time to feed us so well. Again, thank you.

You are in the minority here MaetsNori. I mean in the higher rated players. And I suppose Curry could be counted as one in the minority as well. But that's two out of many who have shared their thoughts. At the end of the day, it's a disagreement between opinions, but so far, it's pretty polarizing depending upon rating, and so it's not elo shaming to bring up that correlation. Furthermore, it seems that the higher rated players have been much more respectful than everyone else participating, which I find funny. Everyone makes fun of everyone and calls people trolls but it seems to me that many higher rated players are just agreeing with Chomper's advice.

Everyone disagrees that chess is about chomping on hanging pieces. It just is up until a certain level.

You're welcome, for sure!

And that's the tricky part - chess is difficult. Some players enjoy pretending that it's not.

And okay - in some ways, perhaps it does get easier. The more experience and knowledge you build up, the more answers you will automatically have in your pocket, whenever the position raises a question that's familiar to you.

You get better at responding to those questions, because you've seen them so many times before.

But it takes a journey to get to that point. And the journey isn't always easy ... I'd love for players like Chomper to share their knowledge with others. I'm sure he has a ton of useful tips and ideas (aside from the obvious catchphrase) that can help so many here improve.

But in the meantime, I will just watch Hikaru stream blitz and blink dumbly at his wizardly moves, while nodding as if I understand ...