I am actually surprised that there has never been a thread dedicated to chess. We have had forum chess tournaments in Circus, a chess room on Pokemon Showdown, and a wide variety of different chess/pokemon fusions, but have never actually had a thread dedicated to chess fans. I think it's about time we started forming a bit of a chess based sub-community similar to what exists in the sports, anime, or workout threads.
I really want this thread to be an all inclusive discussion regarding chess. Telling personal chess stories, giving accounts of tournaments or clubs you are a part of, talking about professional chess tournaments and celebrities would be a cool way to start discussion. A little bit down the road, I think it would even be neat to put together a series of smogon chess tournaments
Just as kind of an ice breaker, I figured I could jump discussion by talking about myself. I played four years of high school chess and was a captain of my team for three of those years. My club did a whole lot of really wonderful things during my time there, from playing in an olympiad style chess league with other schools in my area to arranging transportation to a bunch of major high school tournaments all around the state of Ohio.
I am more or less a high-end reserve player with a USCF peak rating of 1675 and a peak Chess.com rating of 1772. I've won numerous reserve level individual tournaments and open level team tournaments as a result of being with my high school team, and also playing irregularly now.
Besides playing chess, my passion regarding it comes from running/organizing teams and tournaments. I also am a big fan of professional chess and follow a lot of the highest level tournaments and events really closely. (I am really looking forward to the FIDE World Cup coming up next week! Check out size of this bracket!) My favorite player is Magnus Carlsen, but I also am a really huge fan of the American Trio of Nakamura, Caurana, and So (as well as other guys like Kamsky and Robinson who are lesser known.) I really am encouraged and excited about the rebirth of US Chess that seems to have begun in recent years. Not since Fischer has the United States had any sort of impact whatsoever in professional chess or in producing any kind of serious chess player and as of right now, we have the #2, #6, and #12 players in the world. In comparison, and almost unthinkably, Russia holds the #5, #9, #10, #11, and #14 spots in the Top 20. There can be an argument that the best chess nation right now, for the first time in 40 years, is the United States! Check it out! There is a good chance we might have an American challenger for the World Chess Championship! Additionally, St. Louis has hosted a number of very notorious chess tournaments over the last handful of years and has become one of the top chess cities in the world right now!
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