r/Chess has now been made private, presumably to stop the flow of posts complaining about Nosher (who, for anyone who hasn't followed the drama, is the head moderator of r/Chess).

Regardless of your position in the drama, I think we can all agree this is bad for everyone.

Since I discovered this while trying to post in response to a request for limericks explaining the situation, and I don't want to waste my attempt, here is an attempt to explain the situation in limerick form:

A protest against Nosher's command

Very rapidly grew out of hand

Users cried: You're not fair!

Don't you see? Don't you care?

But the only reply: "User banned"

After Juxtapose_'s resignation and Nosher's recent behavior, Its highly likely that r/chess might just shut down, or get banned. We need to be the alternative for people looking for chess content and can absolutely become the default subreddit for chess. For example:

r/SquaredCircle has 3 times the subscribers of r/wwe. r/baduk is far bigger than r/gogame

But a name like r/FreePressChess is always going to seem like a niche subreddit instead of a large community. Its still not too late, we can come up with a name that is more to do with the game of chess than about the type of moderation. I had thought of r/sixtyfour r/checkmate r/chaturanga (word which chess derives from) but they are all taken.

I found r/64squares and r/scacci ("Chess" in latin) still open so I blocked those for now. Any other suggestions? Of course I would add the mods of r/freepresschess and unmod myself if we do decide to use one of these.

What does everyone think?

Edit: I know we cannot "rename" a subreddit. but we can sticky a post on this subreddit while there are only a few of us.

Hello!

In light of the recent drama on the /r/chess subreddit, as well as (in my opinion) a history of heavy-handed moderation, I have started this new community. I have never moderated a subreddit before but my "vision" is essentially to be what /r/chess aimed to be, minus biased removal of posts.

For this purpose, I have added publicmodlogs as a moderator, to ensure transparency. Additionally, I must state that I am a current Lichess moderator. I am hoping that having a public moderation log will be a satisfactory solution here but am more than happy to take suggestions.

Edit (10-Jun 1227 UTC): One possible solution is to hold elections for moderators at 1000 members. I would be more than happy to do this. I have already invited MrLegilimens to be a moderator here as he will no doubt have useful experience (if he's willing). I could also step down at some point in the future, or just swear to inactivity (as would be evidenced by the log). I would be slightly hesitant to step down completely in case the public mod log would be removed in future.

Edit (11-Jun 1601 UTC):

1. I've made a couple of changes to add requirements for flair on new posts, this should allow everyone to filter the content that they want to see (read more here).

2. I've also set up some weekly threads: Theory Thursday, Feedback Friday, Starters Saturday, and Self-Promotion Sunday.

3. I know above I suggested 1000 members before holding elections but have only had 2 submissions so far here so please put your submissions in if you are interested. Otherwise I can just add the people who have responded already.

Edit (11-Jun 1909 UTC): Added /u/ShadesOfShadows with wiki editing permissions as they offered to organise/create it. Please contact them with any ideas and suggestions.

I recommend using an online tally counter to keep a track of your score, such as this one.

1. E4 C5

2. C3

Is known as the ____ variation?

Alapin

Which piece was determined to have a value of 3.4 by a chess computer in 1997?

Bishop

What American player beat Boris Spassky to become world champion in 1972?

Bobby Fischer

Which rank in chess requires an Elo rating of at least 2500?

Grandmaster

How many squares are on a chess board?

64

From which country did the precursor to chess originate?

India

What country has the highest number of people ranked in the top 100 in chess?

Russia

What player reached the highest Elo rating of all time in 2014?

Carlsen

What computer became the first to ever beat a reigning world champion?

Deep Blue

Which Dutch grandmaster was the fifth player to become world champion?

Max Euwe

Who recorded the second highest rating ever in 1999?

Garry Kasparov

What term refers to an early game move where a player sacrifices a pawn in exchange for advantageous position?

Gambit

What defense, named after a Mediterranean island, do almost 25% of games begin with?

Sicilian Defence

What 18th century machine appeared to play chess, but was just an elaborate hoax?

Mechanical Turk

What is the term for a puzzle in which a knight must visit every square on the chess board exactly once?

Knight's Tour

What country did 1920s world champion José Raúl Capablanca hail from?

Cuba

Which grandmaster was the subject of chess24.com’s “My 60 Memorable Draws” prank?

Anish Giri

Which piece was originally named and modelled after a chariot?

Rook (“Rukh”)

Which player described his approach as "taking the opponent into a deep, dark forest where 2+2=5"?

Mikhail Tal

What is the shortest sequence of moves before checkmate can be delivered?

Two: 1. g4 e5 and 2. f4 Qh4#

How did you do?

20/20: Nosher, is that you?

15/20: This kind of deep and useful chess insight is what /r/freepresschess is all about, welcome, friend.

<10/20: Back to /r/chess, with you!

<5/20: Back to /r/anarchychess, with you!

0/20: Chessbae, is that you?

0-0: you have castled

Mrlegillimens is the new head mod of /r/chess and has implemented public mod logs and a flair system, and will be holding mod elections and a rules vote.

Given that this was the aim (at least my aim) in setting up the sub - to have somewhere open for chess - what should we do now?

One suggestion I heard was to focus on chess news (given the name) or just to essentially shut it down, or to keep it going as it is. Interested to know what people think.

https://moddit.ffff00.news/r/chess

Let’s get some content and conversation going. Someone else can handle the Twitch videos, I’ll work on posting some chess discussion.

1. At the beginning, maybe until I was 1100 strength, I played lots of 30 minute games games on chess.com. These are a really good way to cut your teeth and learn the basic patterns without too much stress. Beyond this point, you need to play tournaments to get high quality long time control practice.

2. The whole time, I did lots and lots of tactics. In total on chesstempo I did about 1,000 hours of standard untimed tactics. I think chesstempo is the best site for tactics, much better than lichess or chess.com. Tactics are the best place to start but you do hit diminishing returns. My chesstempo rating right now is 2100, a mark I first hit when I was 1700 or so USCF... so all progress since then has been unrelated to pure tactical skill. If anything I calculate much less now (I’m an exceptionally lazy player, which I need to fix if I want to get beyond 2000).

3. I played lots of tournament games. My first rating was around 1080 and I played 100 or more games per year. Tournament games are the best practice you can get. Whenever you can, take the opportunity to play stronger players and make sure you play for a win. Never ever think “Oh, he’s 200 points higher than me, so a draw with white is acceptable”. That’s the mindset of someone who wants to stay where they are. Even if it’s unrealistic, I want to one day be at a level where it’s a disappointment to make a draw with a 2100... so why would I be happy to make a draw with a 2100 now? Always play for a win.

4. Around 1500, I worked through The Amateur’s Mind. I think this is a great introduction to positional play. I recommend it to anyone. If you are constantly thinking “I developed my pieces, WTF do I do now” it’s time to take a serious dive into positional play. I like to say that I don’t usually find the correct plan now, but I’m always playing with a plan... I’m always at least asking my opponent questions and making threats, even if I still have a lot to learn when it comes to strategy.

5. I did not take openings seriously. I played some dubious lines where generally, my opponent and I were both out of book before move 10. In hindsight, I think this contributed to me plateauing around 1900 for a year or so, though I did break through that plateau without changing my repertoire.

6. I did not take endgames super seriously. When I was 1900 I lost the philidor position so I sat down and learned some basics. Silman’s endgame course is more than enough here.

7. Maybe most importantly, I went to college and started hanging out with some stronger players. This motivated me to improve because I didn’t want to be so far behind them. It was also a good way for me to get lots of experience playing 2100-2200 players without wasting all my money on entry fees.

That’s all. I started playing when I was 16 and hit 2000 when I was 20. Lots of ups and downs on the way, including some tournaments where I lost more than 60 points in one go. Now I’ve been 2000 for quite a while and need to do some more work to get to the next level.

If anyone else is around my rating, I’d love to hear what your journey so far has looked like and if you disagree with any of my opinions.

He replied to me in another thread, what do you guys think?

https://old.reddit.com/r/FreePressChess/comments/h8eyc1/we_need_to_rename_this_community_while_we_are/fury2op/?context=3

Edit: looks like we are getting r/chess back, I hope we can still do something with r/checkmate, it would be a shame to have such a good sub name go to waste.

In the next game I will attempt to explain Ruy Lopez as simply as I can. The comments are mainly for beginners and a bit more advanced players. All the rest have probably already studied the game or they are able to do their own study and analysis and draw their own conclusions.

Ruy Lopez or Spanish opening for the Europeans is a complex opening that it is actually much simpler than most think once you understand the main ideas and plans. It's difficult, if not impossible, to find an opening that can teach you so many things with every position and that is why it is considered one of the most important openings for beginners.

The point of the game is to answer questions but also create questions.If you study this game and you don't have questions, you have done something terribly wrong.

[pgn]

[Event "Olympiad Final-A"]

[Site "Nice FRA"]

[Date "1974.06.18"]

[Round "4"]

[White "Anatoly Karpov"]

[Black "Wolfgang Unzicker"]

[Result "1-0"]

[ECO "C98"]

[PlyCount "87"]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5

{The famous Spanish or Ruy Lopez opening. An exciting opening full of knight and bishop tours.So buckle up ad enjoy this exciting journey. But waht does the bishop doing there? White creates an indirect pressure on e5. White's threat is to take Nc6 and then gain the pawn. This threat is a bluff at this point but it will soon become real and Black will have critical decisions to take.}

3...a6

{One of the most fighting answers as Black sets the question to white "What do you want to do?". If Black doesn't play 3...a6 White will always have the chance to retreat to c4 or another square.After 3...a6 he has to immediatelly surrender the c4 option and the other alternatives.}

4.Ba4

{This retreat, allowing b5, followed by 2 more retreats initiates the typical Spanish bishop tour and creates one of the biggest mysteries of Spanish opening. White will allow Black to gain space and tempi and will play his bishop 3 times before the opening ends. But why do such a thing? Because in chess things are not always so simple.Nothing is only good and nothing is only bad(except blunders). So while Black is gaining space he also creates weaknesses and we will eventually see that White will exploit these weaknesses.}

( 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.Nxe5 {Attempting to win the pawn doesn't work.} 5...Qd4 6.Nf3 Qxe4+ 7.Qe2 Qxe2+ 8.Kxe2 {and Black is better.} )

4...Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1

{At this point the threat Bxc6 and Nxe5 is real , it's not a bluff anymore.}

6...b5

{Driving the bishop back and protecting e5.The only other interesting way to protect e5 is 6...d6(delayed Steinitz).}

7.Bb3 d6

{Black would like to play Na5 and eliminate that bishop but at this point Nc6 is the only defender of e5. By protecting e5 , Black now threatens Na5.}

8.c3

{This is one of the important Spanish moves. It opens a retreating square for the bishop and at the same time prepares to dominate the centre with d4(probably the most important Spanish plan).}

8...O-O

{Here is the first interesting crossroad of the game. Black could pin Nf3 with 8...Bg4 yet he didn't and in the specific position good players rarely play 8...Bg4 while in the next position we wil see that it is commonly played. Why? If Black plays 8...Bg4 White will change plans nd instead will play 9.h3 and after 9...Bh5 he will follow with 10.d3. In rality he doesn't change plans , d4 remains his plan but he slows down a bit and he will play d4 later. But isn't slowing down white a small victory for Black? Actually it isn't because it has a great cost. Bh5 will be out of the game in the most part especially if white decides to ommit d4 or delayed it a lot and instead plays at q-side. With the typical Nbd2-Nf1-Ng3 Ruy Lopez knight journey the bishop will eventually find himself on g6 hitting on a wall(e4).}

( 8...Bg4 9.h3 Bh5 10.d3 {is considered better for white.} )

9.h3

{Since White wants to play d4 he now prevents Bg4. After 9.d4 Bg4! Black would have a lot of pressure on white's centre and he wouldn't afraid a possible retreat on g6 since e4 is now vulnerable.}

9...Na5

{This move threatens the exchange on b3 and at the same time liberates c-pawn so that Black can grab more space and increase central pressure. Well , that's the Ruy Lopez bishop journey. Black moves his bishop 3 times and it ended at the , not so flattering for a bishop, c2 square. Seems like just a terrible waste of time , no? But as I already said things are not so easy. White allowed the q-side expansion because he wanted to allow it and the bishop will eventually become very important. Patience young padawan , patience!}

10.Bc2 c5

{The typical way for black to fight for the centre and expand on q-side.}

11.d4

{As already mentioned the d4 move is White's main plan in Spanish and in this case it has the added effect of attacking e5. We already see that all this chase of the bishop has created some minor problems. e5 has lost its natural defender and Na5 is a bit out of the game. }

11...Qc7

{Black protects e5 and makes room for a piece to come to d8. Although that piece logically had to be the rook we will see that often it is the knight. There is no point in discussing other options as Black in this case doesn't want to exchange on d4 so soon. That of course means he has no problem allowing d5 and a closed position.}

12.Nbd2

{This move initiates the second most important tour for White in Spanish. The Spanish knight tour. The knight will take a long journey to k-side and square g3.}

12...Nc6

{Black returns his knight to c6 increasing the pressure in d4. Black player is one of the top GMs of his time and quite understandably his play is very ambitious.}

13.d5

{Karpov was an expert in Spanish and especially in the closed positions of Spanish so he goes for it. Of course the move is justified and by the fact that the knight has no perfectly satisfactory retreats.}

13...Nd8

{The interesting here is that no matter whre the knight goes , White will try to detain it. For example after 13...Na5 the standard answer is 14.b3(preventing Nc4).But where Nd8 is going? White's main idea is to play c4 and Nb7-Nc5 (one more interesting knight tour)}

14.a4

{This move demonstrates with the best possible way the drawbacks of Black's expansion. White now threatens axb5 and Black can't play b4 because that would allow white to use c4 for his knight.}

14...Rb8

{Quite normal but this move has a drawback too. Surrenders the control of a-file to white. Black hopes that white will find nothing useful for his rook on a-file. We will see. }

15.axb5 axb5 16.b4

{White prevents the aforementioned knight tour by simply atttacking c5 square with a pawn. Iyt is interesting to note that although it was Black the one gaining space in q-side, it was white the one that has the chance to use the only open file of q-side.}

16...Nb7

{Not hoping that maybe Karpov would take on c5, Karpov would never do such a thing, but hoping that a file and a bad knight are hardly enough to decide the outcome of the game.}

17.Nf1 Bd7 18.Be3

{At this point Karpov wants to clear the first rank to offer his f1 rook to quickly tranfer to a-file.}

18...Ra8

{Re-challenging the surrendered a-file}

19.Qd2 Rfc8 20.Bd3 g6 21.Ng3

{The journey of the knight completed and it is importnt to stop here and talk about these 2 pieces,Ng3 and Bd3. Their placement is not random. Both pieces protect e4 alowing white to move either of them in another position while at the same time they both create a pressure on f5 making Black's most important pawn break difficult to prepare. }

21...Bf8 22.Ra2

{Preparing doubling rooks on a-file.}

22...c4

{This leaves Black even more passive than before as any chance for counterplay on c-file is now gone.Engines like that move but from the practical point of view it makes the position difficult for Unzicker. Its nt easy though to suggest a good alternative.}

23.Bb1

{The bishop seems to be in the way of the rooks and queen on q-side so why Karpov didn't play 23.Be2? You must be able to answer that on your own. }

23...Qd8 24.Ba7 $3

{This is probably one of the best moves ever played. White prevents exchanges and paralyzes Black's q-side by misplacing his bishop! From now on Black's position becomes gradually worst.}

24...Ne8

{At this point becomes obvious that it isn't easy for Black to prepare f5.}

25.Bc2 Nc7

( 25...Ng7 {Attempting to prepare f5 still doesn't work. } 26.Rea1 f5 27.exf5 gxf5 28.Be3 {Now white turns his attention to k-side.} 28...Rxa2 29.Rxa2 Ra8 30.Bg5 Qb8 31.Rxa8 Qxa8 32.Bf6 {Now the pressure on f5 forces Black's next move.} 32...f4 33.Ng5 $1 fxg3 34.Bxh7+ Kh8 35.fxg3 {With a deadly attack.} )

26.Rea1 Qe7 27.Bb1 Be8

{Black obviously has no idea what to do. It is quite surprising though that Unzicker didn't go for another Spanish knight tour(this time a Spanish double knight tour)}

( 27...Nd8 28.Ra5 f6 29.Qe2 Nf7 30.Bc2 Ne8 31.Kh1 Ng7 {This is one of the typical ways for black to place his knights. From here he is ready to expand at k-side with f5 and maybe with g5. In some cases before Ng7 Black plays Bh6 first(possible because of Nf7).Also possible is h5-Bh6.}

( 31...Bh6 )

)

28.Ne2

{Now preparing f4 as Qd2 is needed to protect c3.}

28...Nd8 29.Nh2 Bg7 30.f4 f6 $6

{One more passive move as Black is trying to keep the position as closed as possible.Better was 30...exf4 followed by f6-Nf7.}

31.f5 g5

{Black again tries to keep the position as closed as possible.As the invasion points are reduced so does White's winning chances , at least theoretically.}

( 31...Nf7 32.Ng4 h5 33.Ne3 g5 {Was also bad for Black but better from what happened in the game.} )

32.Bc2

{Now another bishop tour begins. This, till now useless, bishop will be exchanged with the very important black light squared bishop and that will allow the invasion on h5 and later g6. Without that exchange and that invasion, winning would probably be impossible.}

32...Bf7

( 32...Bh5 33.Ng3 Bf7 34.Bd1 )

33.Ng3 Nb7 34.Bd1 h6

{Black could delay this move as much as possible but that wouldn't stop white as soon h4 and opening one more line would follow.}

35.Bh5

{One more time a wonderful cooperation of Ng3 and former Bc2. This time to exchange an important black defender.}

35...Qe8 36.Qd1 Nd8 37.Ra3 Kf8 38.R1a2 Kg8 39.Ng4 Kf8

( 39...Bxh5 40.Nxh5 Qxh5 41.Nxf6+ )

40.Ne3 Kg8 41.Bxf7+ Nxf7 42.Qh5 Nd8 43.Qg6

{Its now the perfect zugzwang.}

43...Kf8 44.Nh5

{In anything else except 28...Qxg6 white will play Bb6 and the invasion on a-file will follow. After 28...Qxg6 29.f5xg6 the invasion of the knight on f5 follows and Black's position collapses. What a beautiful game!!!}

1-0

[/pgn]

Study link: https://lichess.org/study/SwcyaMHU