ICB Where did you learn to play chess mate?

[Kev]

I may be late in this reply. I'm not defending ICB here coz I have noticed it before that he was telling lies about his fights. I can clearly remember when he said he lost one of his fights and then later telling people that he is undefeated. REgarding the chess openings, I've started playing chess when I was 7. I've read a lot of books, mastered the d4 (in reaction to Bilbo's post about d4) when I was in college, constantly played with chessmaster and have beaten Kasparov (in chessmaster7) way back when I was younger. After not playing chess for almost 2 years now, I could hardly remember the names of the openings which I have mastered before. It's probable that ICB and I are having the same experience. Regarding boxing knowledge, ICB has improved a lot after being here for how many years already. I guess that's what matters. He might have cheated in chess and have lied about his boxing life but I guess his knowledge in boxing is solid.

I don't know mate your experience simply makes no sense to me. So you mean you studied a lot of books (I guess by a lot this means more than two at least and most likely 4 or 5 even more). You then played enough chess to be able to defeat Kasparov in Chessmaster 7 which is basically its highest level.

I just have problems with this, firstly becuase there has never been to my knowledge such a product as Chessmaster 7, so I presume you mean Chessmaster 7000 which came out in 2002.

Secondly I believe Chessmaster 7000 had an elo rating of around 2600 which means that if you were able to beat it at its highest level consistently you would easily be among the world's top 200 or so players.

A quick look at the official Fide ratings shows only 6 players from the Phillipines are rated above 2500 so certainly you are one of the best two or three players in your country and should have been playing the Olympiads a couple months ago for your nation certainly.

Then just like Ice you claim to have forgotten all the openings since your time out of college.

I don't like to suggest people talk absolute nonsense but it is the boxing equivalent of saying you used to spar in your back garden and got really good and then knocked out Floyd Mayweather in a closed door sparring session that nobody can recall but never turned pro or had even one documented amatuer fight.

I think people are simply delusional when they talk about their chess ability. Legion last year claimed an Elo of 2800 which would have made him the world's strongest player right now and only about half a dozen or so points away from Kasparov's all time high rating. In the actual event he was about as good as I was back then in April which was probably around the 1100-1200 mark.