Comments on: MeFi on Red Hot Pawn?

MeFi on Red Hot Pawn?

felix betachat — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 03:28:58 -0800

Anybody want to play chess?

By: felix betachat

felix betachat — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 03:29:11 -0800

Inspired by this great post, I went back to try to dig up my old account on Red Hot Pawn. But of course, I can't find the information. So, I've registered a new player under my MeFi username. There are probably more than a few people who might be interested in playing, so look me up and add me as a buddy (community --> buddy list --> add people to my buddy list --> felix betachat). If we get at least 20 people, we could start a MeFi clan, which would make things a lot easier to manage.

By: Jimbob

Jimbob — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 03:38:23 -0800

Inspired by that post, I decided to give chess another go and downloaded a free Java chess game for my cellphone.

It beat me.

It has beaten me 3 times in a row now.

I've been beaten three times by a 30 kilobyte piece of software on a device the size of a chocolate bar.

Please advise: am I likely to have better luck playing against humans?

By: metaculpa

metaculpa — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 03:52:25 -0800

As long as you're playing against humans like me.

By: chuckdarwin

chuckdarwin — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 04:03:09 -0800

Don't feel bad, Jimbob. I've never beaten the chess game on my M3100, either. It beats the ever-loving shit out of me, often in a scant few moves.

I think I'll stick to guitar.

By: wtdoor

wtdoor — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 04:31:52 -0800

Later. For now, Global Thermonuclear War.

By: Plutor

Plutor — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 04:51:35 -0800

GREETINGS PROFESSOR FALKEN WOULD YOU LIKE TO PLAY A GAME? █

By: the quidnunc kid

the quidnunc kid — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 06:06:44 -0800

1. e4

By: meh

meh — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 06:08:19 -0800

Actually play Wargames.

By: jmd82

jmd82 — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 06:21:22 -0800

Though I'm still waiting for HP-style chess and I haven't played in years, I'll give it a shot. Will sign up in the next few days to relearn how to play.

By: felix betachat

felix betachat — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 06:30:00 -0800

jmd82: I think you have to play 20 games on their server before you get ranked, so the best way to relearn is to jump in and try it out. You have around 48 hrs or so per move, so there's plenty of time to think about strategy.

Once you sign up, go ahead and challenge me to a game. I'm not a terribly good player, so there's little chance that you'll get crushed right out of the gate.

By: MrMustard

MrMustard — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 06:30:41 -0800

Thanks for that meh. Good fun.

By: chlorus

chlorus — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 06:43:51 -0800

That chess game that comes free with OS X routinely kicks my ass, but I keep coming back, gratefully, because it's probably my fault anyways.

By: Inkoate

Inkoate — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 06:52:22 -0800

Or, Actually Play Wargames.

By: solipsophistocracy

solipsophistocracy — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 07:09:57 -0800

My mom's water broke during that movie, but I can't win a game to save my damn life.

By: carsonb

carsonb — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 07:22:05 -0800

The last game of mefi chess was fun to follow. I'm in for the redhotpawn action.

By: solotoro

solotoro — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 07:59:57 -0800

Well, I'll give it a go. Hope this turns out better than gameknot.
PS - I stink at chess.

By: klangklangston

klangklangston — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 08:13:53 -0800

I dunno. I used to like battle chess, back in the ol' CGA days, but I was never any good. And the last time I played, I got my ass kicked by a zooming coke head (though he's currently the subject of a manhunt for forging mortgage documents— no joke!).

Backgammon, though, that I'm a motherfucker at.

By: absalom

absalom — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 08:27:27 -0800

klang: I'll double.

By: bshort

bshort — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 08:49:33 -0800

Ok, I signed up as well.

By: thecaddy

thecaddy — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 09:05:58 -0800

I signed up too, as Ryabovsky. I haven't been a caddy for many, many years.

By: Arturus

Arturus — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 09:11:02 -0800

The last game of chess I played was several years ago, on my palm pilot. I accidentally played what I later learned was called the Fool's mate, the shortest possible loss in chess.

I am not cut out for chess.

Personally, I prefer Go. I'm not much better at it, but it makes more sense to me.

By: Squid Voltaire

Squid Voltaire — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 09:17:12 -0800

I signed up as "Squid Voltaire". Thanks for the suggestion, Felix!

By: cotterpin

cotterpin — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 10:04:38 -0800

my username on rhp is 'yabloko'. I'm going to revisit the site now

By: gyc

gyc — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 10:13:03 -0800

I'm also gyc on ICC if anybody wants to play there.

By: bshort

bshort — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 10:18:06 -0800

Are you on RHP?

By: MtDewd

MtDewd — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 10:20:19 -0800

hmmm... I've never been much for online chess. I prefer FTF.

However, I might play blitz. It might keep me off MeFi so much.

By: Ambrosia Voyeur

Ambrosia Voyeur — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 11:16:05 -0800

I'll sign up, but I don't usually have the focused online time I need for chess. I'm a slow player.

klang and absalom: I have a magic backgammon set found leaning against a trash can. It caught my eye, looking like an abandoned briefcase as it was. The trash can was at Target, where I had arrived to spend a birthday gift card, on a birthday for which all I really wanted was a backgammon set. Just like this one. Vintage, corduroy, enchanted. I can never lose as long as I play on this board. As for online, I dunno, maybe if I use it as a mousepad.

By: Ambrosia Voyeur

Ambrosia Voyeur — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 11:20:16 -0800

Oh, rad that you can set your move frequency. It's a brave new world of online chess for me, then.

By: jason's_planet

jason's_planet — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 11:45:44 -0800

Neat idea.

I'll sign up at some point in the next day or so.

Thanks, felix.

By: klangklangston

klangklangston — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 12:11:29 -0800

I have a similar backgammon briefcase (mine's rich, orangish '70s leather), which I thought about bringing with me to my office job and pretending it was full of important things.

By: ducksauce

ducksauce — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 12:19:04 -0800

If anyone here ever goes on FICS my handle there is ducksauce, too. Send me a "tell" if you log on.

By: ND¢

ND¢ — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 14:28:10 -0800

I just signed up as NDcent. I was in the chess club in middle school, so watch out.

By: juv3nal

juv3nal — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 14:49:09 -0800

I'm in. Username same as here. I max out at an average of about a move a day though, so avoid me if you want quick games. I am also not very good. I don't mind playing you if you happen to be good, but just don't be expecting much.

BTW in case anyone was wondering about the outcome of my game with flabdablet, he won.

By: felix betachat

felix betachat — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 15:27:04 -0800

Okay, so I count nine registered at the moment:

yablonko
bshort
juv3nal
NDcent
solotoro
carsonb
Ryabovsky
Squid Voltaire
felix betachat

If I've missed you, or you sign up later, fire me off an email and I'll add you to the list. When I get a minute tomorrow, I'll look into setting up a MeFi clan so we have a list of members. I can't tell how to see who's listed you as a buddy, so that will help with challenges and such.

For now...bedtime.

By: simcd

simcd — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 15:49:54 -0800

1. e4 c5

By: Ambrosia Voyeur

Ambrosia Voyeur — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 15:53:34 -0800

felix: Ambrosia Voyeur. 10.

By: juv3nal

juv3nal — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 15:58:13 -0800

I see MtDewd as also.

By: juv3nal

juv3nal — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 15:58:55 -0800

~~as well/also~~ bleagh.

By: felix betachat

felix betachat — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 01:54:57 -0800

Weird. It looks like the player search feature on RHP doesn't hit everyone. But you can make buddy requests if you know the name. So, add to the above list:

Ambrosia Voyeur
MtDewd
johnjoe

That brings us up to 12.

By: felix betachat

felix betachat — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 02:10:26 -0800

Aw crap. To start a clan, you have to be a subscriber to the site. I'm not sure I want to throw in $30/year just so MeFi members can find each other to play chess.

I'll try to keep a running tally of signups in this thread, you can update your buddy lists accordingly. Also, it might be a good idea to follow bshort's lead and put "MetaFilter member" in your profile.

In 30 days, this thread will close, so my suggestion is that, if this gets off the ground, we should mess around on the site for a month, and then schedule a MeFi chess tournament. We can work out the details in a new MeTa thread then.

By: sveskemus

sveskemus — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 02:57:30 -0800

I just registered as sveskemus. I know how the different pieces move but that is the extent of my chess knowledge. Be gentle.

*off to read the chess tactics post*

By: Jimbob

Jimbob — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 03:39:30 -0800

I registered as ozjimbob - I did add myself to your buddy list.

By: whir

whir — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 11:42:11 -0800

I just signed up as whir and will be adding folks to my buddy list. I'd guess I'm just a tiny little notch into the intermediate player category. Currently I'm way too busy to play, but my time should open up in a week or so.

By: ND¢

ND¢ — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 12:19:50 -0800

Metafilter: Ha! Castling. They'll never see that coming!

By: juv3nal

juv3nal — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 12:33:56 -0800

Metafilter: Ha! Castling. They'll never see that coming!

You talkin' to me?

By: juv3nal

juv3nal — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 12:36:59 -0800

Oh crap. Stupendous blunder on my part. I should give up on trash talking.

By: ND¢

ND¢ — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 12:40:57 -0800

You were like the third in a row. It just seemed like such a Metafilter-type move. If Metafilter had an official chess move, it would be castling.

By: ND¢

ND¢ — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 12:49:06 -0800

Also, if that stupendous blunder was in your game with me then you are in the clear because I didn't see it.

By: juv3nal

juv3nal — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 14:02:38 -0800

Yeah it was in the game with you. Not a stupendous blunder in that it didn't leave you anything egregious to exploit (knock wood), but just in that my whole internal rationale for the move was based on flawed premises.

By: johnjoe

johnjoe — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 14:29:26 -0800

Heh, I'm thinking the archetypical MeFi move would be capturing en passant.

"Hey, wait a second...."

By: ND¢

ND¢ — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 14:57:55 -0800

Whoa! I totally didn't know about that. Okay, that is the archetypal move for smart Mefites. For the rest of us, castling is as tricky as we can get.

By: jaronson

jaronson — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 19:15:32 -0800

I'm in as jaronson11

I've played a handful of games on Red Hot Pawn..."Last moved 858 days 2 hours and 42 minutes ago"

Mostly I play on Net-Chess as jaronson

Thanks, felix betachat

By: ND¢

ND¢ — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 19:39:10 -0800

I feel like Bart when he had that montage when he was trying to be smart and he was at the park playing five chess games at once and then you just hear everyone that he is playing against going "Checkmate," "Checkmate," "Checkmate," "Checkmate," "Checkmate." Damn you Metafilter!

By: ND¢

ND¢ — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 19:41:47 -0800

Oh it was three games and it doesn't look like it was part of a montage. Dang.

By: juv3nal

juv3nal — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 02:46:27 -0800

Heh. I know I was surprised my knights caught you in 3 forks in the space of 7 turns or so.

By: carsonb

carsonb — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 09:31:12 -0800

We're only on the 3rd turn but I already like ND¢'s style.

By: carsonb

carsonb — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 11:26:39 -0800

...Mainly 'cause he beat me in 4. *sigh*

By: BrotherCaine

BrotherCaine — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 04:10:23 -0800

I joined RHP as BrotherCaine, although I was tempted to sign up as une pissant for a laugh.

By: the quidnunc kid

the quidnunc kid — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 09:41:02 -0800

1. e4 c5
2. f4

By: bshort

bshort — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 09:50:42 -0800

not 2. Nf3 ???

By: Ambrosia Voyeur

Ambrosia Voyeur — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 13:15:04 -0800

how am I holding up? :x

By: Squid Voltaire

Squid Voltaire — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 13:47:09 -0800

Felix--
Thanks for setting this up this is great!

By: juv3nal

juv3nal — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 16:54:15 -0800

This is great, but it's stopping me from getting work done even more than mefi is. I got suckered in like ND¢ and I'm trying to juggle a bunch of games now.

By: felix betachat

felix betachat — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 09:55:57 -0800

Here's an updated list:

yabloko
Ryabovsky
juv3nal
bshort
jaronson11
solotoro
NDcent
zealeus
johnjoe
whir
MtDewd
BrotherCaine
Squid Voltaire
OzJimbob
carsonb
Ambrosia Voyeur
sveskemus
felix betachat

Once again, if I've missed anybody, let me know. Since this thread is getting old, I'll also message the list to each of you individually on RHP.

I'm having lots of fun, even though you all seem to be kicking my ass pretty soundly. Let's keep playing and then talk about whether or not we want to have a tournament in early August some time.

By: jasonspaceman

jasonspaceman — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 18:31:41 -0800

Felix -

Just sent you an e-mail about the mefi clan on rhp.

By: EastCoastBias

EastCoastBias — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 18:08:58 -0800

You can find me @ tssparky on RHP. I'll be looking to play against someone other than my coworker, who is far better than me right now.

By: pompomtom

pompomtom — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 18:50:05 -0800

Oh... and me.

(same name, because I have no imagination...)

By: unSane

unSane — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 20:13:27 -0800

I'm unSane on RHP and chess.com and chesspark and 64squar.es and... well, you get it! Challenge me! I'm shit!

By: hayeled

hayeled — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 01:23:40 -0800

and I

By: flabdablet

flabdablet — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 00:41:26 -0800

I'm in.