Mini 686 - Chess Mafia (Done)

Indigo Heron · Post Post #700 (ISO) » Wed Jan 28, 2009 5:31 am

I have no idea what my playing strength is, and I don't dare self-gauge my own playing strength, but I have played on mafiascum.net before.

Goatrevolt · Post Post #701 (ISO) » Wed Jan 28, 2009 8:17 am

I haven't played in any OTB tournaments since I was in middle school. I played ICC, but it was a long time ago, and I can't remember what my ratings were. I played a lot of chess in high school, but have only played sporadically since then. I used to play a lot (in high school) on a site called gameknot, which was turn-based (not real time. Similar to the play here). My rating on that site was on average around 1700-1750, which was good enough to be above 90th percentile at the time. I have no idea as to the strength of that site compared to other online sites, though.

I've played a game here on mafiascum, if you want to look it up, and make a judgment call yourself.

SensFan · Post Post #702 (ISO) » Wed Jan 28, 2009 9:20 am

Goatrevolt wrote:I haven't played in any OTB tournaments since I was in middle school. I played ICC, but it was a long time ago, and I can't remember what my ratings were. I played a lot of chess in high school, but have only played sporadically since then. I used to play a lot (in high school) on a site called gameknot, which was turn-based (not real time. Similar to the play here). My rating on that site was on average around 1700-1750, which was good enough to be above 90th percentile at the time. I have no idea as to the strength of that site compared to other online sites, though.

Gameknot's a solid site. I have an account there, though don't use it.

veerus · Post Post #703 (ISO) » Wed Jan 28, 2009 2:01 pm

My current rating on gameknot is 1690 which is in the 85th percentile. It was as high as 1765 before I timed out on like 6 games in close succession a few months ago.

MafiaSSK · Post Post #704 (ISO) » Thu Jan 29, 2009 3:09 pm

Deadline changed to Feb. 1st

Goatrevolt · Post Post #705 (ISO) » Thu Jan 29, 2009 3:22 pm

Picking the player (or players) is not as simple as I had thought.

With the looming deadline, I think we should worry about making this move first, and push off the other discussion to tomorrow. I remember SSK saying that a move would be randomly chosen if we don't pick one, and with our queen being attacked by a pawn right now, that seems like it could be game over. We could get hosed by a random a3 or some other nonsense move.

I still believe Qd3 to be the best play here.

veerus · Post Post #706 (ISO) » Thu Jan 29, 2009 3:25 pm

wait.. what the hell.. we just made a move like a week ago.. what's w/ the sudden deadline??

MafiaSSK · Post Post #707 (ISO) » Thu Jan 29, 2009 3:28 pm

veerus wrote:wait.. what the hell.. we just made a move like a week ago.. what's w/ the sudden deadline??

Put wrong deadline on front page. Nevermind. Deadline reset.

SensFan · Post Post #708 (ISO) » Thu Jan 29, 2009 5:06 pm

SSK. What the hell do you mean by a random move?

MafiaSSK · Post Post #709 (ISO) » Thu Jan 29, 2009 5:37 pm

When'd I say this?

Goatrevolt · Post Post #710 (ISO) » Thu Jan 29, 2009 9:43 pm

MafiaSSK wrote:
When'd I say this?

Actually, I looked back and didn't find you actually saying this. For some reason I thought that was the case.

Here's the actual rule:

mod rules wrote:21. If there is a set deadline, and a majority of votes hasn’t been reached for a chess move, then the move with the highest votes will be chosen. If there is a tie a die will be rolled to pick.

sirdanilot · Post Post #711 (ISO) » Fri Jan 30, 2009 3:07 am

Mod did you get my v/la pm.

For the players, I'll be v/la 31-8, sorry

Indigo Heron · Post Post #712 (ISO) » Sat Jan 31, 2009 4:56 pm

Hey, guys. Can we please get back to voting for a move?

Moderator, please prod all inactives.

veerus · Post Post #713 (ISO) » Sun Feb 01, 2009 5:00 am

I think both moves provide a lot of variations within a fairly short span of moves so we need to decide which move is best *right now*. Positionally. From that point of view, I'm leaning toward Qd3 because it keeps our queen centralized and thus more active.

SensFan · Post Post #714 (ISO) » Sun Feb 01, 2009 6:12 am

No, veerus, the Queen is far better on b3, where it's not blocked by our Pawn, and doesn't block our Bishop.

Indigo Heron · Post Post #715 (ISO) » Sun Feb 01, 2009 6:36 am

I won't be convinced without any analysis. In any case, I've already done the analysis for Qb3 or Qd3, and suffice to say that I am fairly convinced that Qd3 is the way to go.

SensFan · Post Post #716 (ISO) » Sun Feb 01, 2009 6:39 am

Explain, then.

MafiaSSK · Post Post #717 (ISO) » Sun Feb 01, 2009 6:50 am

Indigo Heron wrote:Hey, guys. Can we please get back to voting for a move?

Moderator, please prod all inactives.

Done.

Lawrencelot · Post Post #718 (ISO) » Sun Feb 01, 2009 10:37 am

Lawrencelot wrote:Qb3 still prevents black from castling. Not that they'd castle the next move anyway, but if they want to castle again they need to move the d pawn, in which case we might be able to play Qa4. We also give our right bishop more mobility after Qb3. Qd3 just gets stopped by g6, and if they wouldn't play that they could castle, and it chokes our own right bishop.

Did anyone yet respond to this? Does g6 not ruin Gd3? (yes or no will suffice)

veerus · Post Post #719 (ISO) » Sun Feb 01, 2009 11:16 am

no.. because attacking that pawn is a secondary objective.. the primary objective is to move the queen out of the way into a position where it would be useful.. and technically g6 ruins the pawn structure on the kingside if black castles there

Goatrevolt · Post Post #720 (ISO) » Sun Feb 01, 2009 11:26 am

Not sure exactly why I was prodded...at any rate, I still believe Qd3 to be the better move. I don't get why the argument against Qd3 is blocking in the bishop. Black already accomplished that with b5.

veerus wrote:no.. because attacking that pawn is a secondary objective.. the primary objective is to move the queen out of the way into a position where it would be useful.. and technically g6 ruins the pawn structure on the kingside if black castles there

This pretty much sums it up.

The Central Scrutinizer · Post Post #721 (ISO) » Sun Feb 01, 2009 10:24 pm

veerus wrote:i think the people who have been the least vocal in the discussion should give up the vote...

those being sirdanilot, sensfan, pesco, tcs

then after today's move, we re-evaluate if those with more votes are leading us down the right path

speaking of which..
mod: we need a replacement for pesco.. during the last night, he posted in his other games that he had a death in the family and requested replacement

Obviously I'm not on board with that.

I'm going to move Qb3, as I don't see any reason to give up power in the center. I'm going to stick with my M.O. throughout this game, whether or not I never get listened to.

move: Qb3

SensFan · Post Post #722 (ISO) » Tue Feb 03, 2009 4:35 am

Yeah.

Move: Qb3

Lawrencelot · Post Post #723 (ISO) » Tue Feb 03, 2009 6:29 am

veerus wrote:no.. because attacking that pawn is a secondary objective.. the primary objective is to move the queen out of the way into a position where it would be useful.. and technically g6 ruins the pawn structure on the kingside if black castles there

Makes sense, but if g6 indeed ruins their pawn structure (which I'm not sure about but whatever), why not force them to play g6 by playing Qb3?

MafiaSSK · Post Post #724 (ISO) » Tue Feb 03, 2009 1:19 pm

This post will be updated with a votecount