If you fall into a pool of water ?

[perseus]

Has anybody else not played a game of chess for 25 years and then decided to start playing again?

It takes a long time to get into the swing of things, to get up to the the average sort of standard on Stan's Chess!

Or would it likely to be, I had not really played enough, probably only 250 games before I was too busy to play chess, or my opponents were?

Question: do chess players forget? Or is it like swimming, if you fall into a pool of water, you can splash around enough and save yourself?

[Johnny5]

Hi Perseus

I hadn't played chess for about 10 years prior to joining Stan's over a year ago and I think it's only in the last month or so that I've started to find my feet again.

I will be a better player than I was, due to being able to remember some old strategies and combining them with new ones that I have learnt since being at Stan's.

[bellesbabe]

Hey Johnnie5. How about a game. Im online now.

[nightmare]

Who really cares? Its like a Horse, once you ride it you never forget. A long layoff should have no effect on ones play.

[reyn]

Nonsense! Of course not playing for many years has an effect on one's playing abilities. No one could remember all the various nuances to moving /counter-moving in all circumstances.

Sure one can remember how to play reasonably well, but you can't tell me one does not get a little rusty. Otherwise, why do top players practise so heavily before tournaments?

[Johnny5]

nightmare said:

Who really cares? Its like a Horse, once you ride it you never forget. A long layoff should have no effect on ones play.

You never forget the moves a piece can make but I think you forget how to play against different styles and sacrifice moves that you can do to your opponent or that they can do to you.

[beck15]

i think one can keep the feel of strategy and one's style. however, remembering tactics and sharp play is entirely different matter..

[torphichen]

It looks like I buck the trend.

I had a long break a few years back and found I came back much stronger. I had been just a slightly above average club player around 140 BCF but on return my play was sharper and a lot stronger with several seasons above the 175 mark.

Perhaps I had just matured as a person, though my wife would disagree. I was certainly more mentally relaxed at the board.

[Blockhead]

reyn said:

Nonsense! Of course not playing for many years has an effect on one's playing abilities. No one could remember all the various nuances to moving /counter-moving in all circumstances ...

Perhaps for some, not all!

How would you explain the Bobby Fischer v Boris Spassky 1992 rematch?

Fischer out of the game for 20 years and then came back and decisively beat Spassky. The Final score, Fischer: 17.5, Spassky 12.5.

Have a peek at www.mark-weeks.com/chess/92fs$$.htm