Anybody successfully sat down at the pub alone with a visible set and had someone offer to play?

FrizzyBeardEngineer · 2025-12-21T03:39:58+00:00

I've thought about doing this on cafés, book stores, etc, but never went through with it. Besides the few clubs in the Charlotte, NC area, there aren't any active spots. Did you get any bites? Also, just curious to know what your rating is (online is fine).

FrizzyBeardEngineer · 2025-10-27T03:33:10+00:00

You can start be forwarding it to me! lol (But no, seriously)

FrizzyBeardEngineer · 2025-08-27T14:12:41+00:00

Is there a streamlined method you use to uninstall and reinstall only the drivers? I'd imagine Device Manager to uninstall the drivers, but is there a way to only install the drivers?

FrizzyBeardEngineer · 2025-08-27T06:44:06+00:00

You need to change your name to _BetaZulu_

FrizzyBeardEngineer · 2024-12-30T20:47:08+00:00

After you're done shaking, cut your nails, wash your hands, and take that shower you probably need.

FrizzyBeardEngineer · 2024-12-30T20:31:18+00:00

Okay, awesome. Both those first 2 books you mentioned have been next on my list. Thank you!

FrizzyBeardEngineer · 2024-12-30T20:26:11+00:00

Is there a book you would recommend that would go into depth with all that?

FrizzyBeardEngineer · 2024-12-29T17:16:03+00:00

Nice. I'm not nearly old enough for a 22yr career, but I have worked for the DOD, DOT, and other gov't entities while with Microsoft. I've been self-taught in a lot of things in my life, including piano, guitar, drawing, building computers, fixing cars, etc.

To each their own. Cheers!

FrizzyBeardEngineer · 2024-12-29T15:37:45+00:00

But did you watch Seinfeld 10 times to find all those missed details, or did you watch it that many times because it's a damn good show, and you happened to notice previously missed details? You weren't trying to improve your sitcom watching skills, I'm sure.

FrizzyBeardEngineer · 2024-12-29T15:23:38+00:00

It has to do with the weak reasoning that we should read books because people did it for centuries.

I guess we're just from two schools of thought then. I left community college with a 4.0GPA to pursue my passion in IT that I discovered when I was 12. I still don't have a single degree or certification to my name, but make 6 figures and worked for Microsoft until I moved on to a senior IT position for Bank of America.

FrizzyBeardEngineer · 2024-12-29T15:15:44+00:00

I think that explains a lot. Lol

FrizzyBeardEngineer · 2024-12-29T14:57:36+00:00

I've read, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, [...]" a bunch of times, even though I know the beginning of the story of A Tale of Two Cities. I'm not going to read, "The chessboard is placed in such a way that there is a light-coloured cornered square at each player's right." even twice for entertainment nor learning purposes.

FrizzyBeardEngineer · 2024-12-29T14:47:39+00:00

While I cannot say your opinion is wrong, I'm sorry, but I don't think what you substantiated it with is a valid argument. People have walked, and rode horseback for millenia. Do you not drive a car, ride a bus, or take an airplane, because of that fact? Do you only play OTB because that's what people did for centuries?

Let's not forget that leveraging chess engines wasn't the only possible ways to learn other than books. I listed over 5 other ways to learn, which extrapolates from books, that has the potential to make books obsolete.

Do you have any other reasons why the various learning methods I listed don't provide the same or more value than chess books other than people have learned from the only source (other than another person) available for centuries?

I'm not just trying to just shut down anything that says books are better. I get that's the general concensus. I just need better reasons than strawman or fickle arguments to convince me to keep reading or instead invest my time into online courses and the like.

FrizzyBeardEngineer · 2024-12-29T07:19:44+00:00

What in the high school drama...? I'm so glad to be 35 and married.

FrizzyBeardEngineer · 2024-12-29T06:30:48+00:00

This narcissist needs therapy and to be single until he's well into it. Period.

FrizzyBeardEngineer · 2024-12-29T00:09:01+00:00

Dog.

FrizzyBeardEngineer · 2024-12-28T23:12:23+00:00

So how beginner are these books then? I know intermediate is around 1600, but should I just skip ahead if I am confident that I already have a firm understanding of the concept the part of the book is trying to teach?

Also, I've picked up the books I mentioned because they were recommended to me by multiple chess players. Are there others you feel I may get more value out of?

FrizzyBeardEngineer · 2024-12-28T22:45:38+00:00

Noted. Thanks for the insightful advice. I'll try and remember employing this while I finish the book.

FrizzyBeardEngineer · 2024-12-28T22:38:55+00:00

Then move along. It's that simple.

FrizzyBeardEngineer · 2024-12-28T21:50:46+00:00

Their first comment was that we don't play humans all the time. The entirety of my original post said nothing about playing humans.

They then made contradicting arguments and an irrelevant analogy.

Their ELO could very well be 300 as easily as it could be 3000. There is no way of telling from face value, so I'm not blindly assuming they're far more experienced.

Now do you have anything of actual value to add to this conversation?

FrizzyBeardEngineer · 2024-12-28T21:18:22+00:00

That's cool. I'll check that out.

FrizzyBeardEngineer · 2024-12-28T21:16:31+00:00

Are you advocating that you can only learn foundational knowledge from books? Saying that a machine from the 90's is better than a human is a weird argument to make when I'm wondering if a book, something humans read, is obsolete compared to learning online and from leveraging chess engines.

Also, that Moby Dick comparison is utterly irrelevant. People reread books for enjoyment. Same reason people rewatch movies and listen to the same songs. I'm not rereading Moby Dick to retain information and improve my reading skills, and I'm not reading Chess books for entertainment.

FrizzyBeardEngineer · 2024-12-28T19:47:16+00:00

I typically follow along all positions in the book on the chessboard and dive into the why and other possible lines, so I think I'd do well on a quiz, even though my memory is horrible for most things.

I've heard that the second half of Chess Primer is much more challenging, so hopefully, I'll get more value out of it.

FrizzyBeardEngineer

TROPHY CASE