Good to see some responses in this thread. I thought it would fall on deaf ears.
RE: Fordy20 and gUt, I will definitely try to have a game with you guys when I get more free time. Been a bit busy in recent times helping my parents.
RE: jargan83, online chess definitely helped me get through some very stressful times during my last semester of my masters degree last year. I definitely find it more intellectually stimulating than watching the myriad of tv clips from Asia that most of the students in my class used to watch in the computer lab during breaks (although some of them are funny if you can understand the language, in my case, Chinese).
But yeah, I have got back into playing chess in a big way this year after sporadically playing it since I finished high school. As I said, I used to play at tournament level circa 1998-2003, but have pretty much been in competitive oblivion since 2003 (maybe that teacher's strike in 2004 which curtailed the annual school challenge we had with Orange High was the bad omen:lol:, as my chess team prepared bloody hard for that event only for it to be called off due to the stupid labor unions).
Oh, and finally regarding tactics (openings moreso, as those who have played regularly will be accustomed to the names of openings), what are your favourites? I generally have an aggressive style, like to take risks and hence am a big fan of gambits. King's Gambit is my favourite and have a good % win rate with it as white. Blackmar-Diemer gambit, Smith-Morra gambit and Danish gambits are also great for white if black accepts. Regarding black, Englund Gambit, Elephant Gambit and Latvian Gambits, although effective, can lead to extremely complicated set-ups if you don't play them correctly.
And if you have absolutely no idea what the hell I was talking about in that previous paragraph with those opening names, just
google it and you'll get your answer (providing you understand how to read algebraic notation).
