is always good to throw some highly sophisticated sounding foreign words into the heat.
if you feel like intimidating your opponent, try saying "schach!" while standing up and bellowing the syllables and slamming the piece on the board. instead of whispering "check" while sliding the piece carefully across and putting the tea-cup with a trembling hand on the table...
what a difference a simple word can make 😉
(by the way, germans have no special word for 'check', it is schach, as the game. as if you would say 'chess' when checking the king...)
Originally posted by greenpawn34I like this. In Dutch 'luck' is 'geluk' and 'lucky' thus 'gelukkig'.
Hi Diophantus
It's not luck you saw the win of the piece, that was abiity.
It was not luck he left it hanging, that was bad play.
I think the luck bit comes in when you have gone wrong
and your opponent missed it. You were lucky.
We need a better word for luck in chess.
Scachglueck (is that right?) - to have good luck in chess.
'Gelukkig' also means 'happy'.
Isn't that nice?
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Originally posted by tomtom232By that standard, you might as well say that Kasparov was nothing but lucky to be world champion for all those years. After all, if it hadn't been for his amazing luck, someone would have beaten him at some point.
Yes, you were lucky he was playing lazy.. you can't control what he is going to do just like you can't control what number the dice will land on.
Richard
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Originally posted by tharkeshThose two are not related, though. Pech as in bad luck is cognate (indeed, equal) to Dutch pech; Pech as in tar is cognate with both Dutch pek and English pitch. (Although one rumour is that the word for bad luck originates in German slang and is, in fact, a metaphorical application of the original "pitch" meaning. But I can't confirm that one.)
there are two cute words: glueck meaning good luck and pech meaning bad luck. 'pech' also has a double meaning, it also is used for 'tar', as in tared and feathered. it is the black greazy stuff, not the fluffy white stuff.
Richard
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Originally posted by greenpawn34[ Shach ], not [ Shak ]. You've been in Caledonia long enough that you should be able to pronounce a ch by now! And yes, the German (and Dutch) ch is pronounced roughly the same as the Scots one. (Except, in German but not in Dutch, after an s. German Sch is pronounced English Sh.)
That's it then Schachglueck - Shakglu_ek = Chess Luck.
Richard
Originally posted by Shallow BlueTrue, and he was talking about the chance interpretation. I don't view luck as anything to do with chance - there is no sense in wishing a person good luck if the outcome is pure chance.
Well, yeah - but Donner would say that the sky is green if it would get a decent argument going.
Richard
Originally posted by Diophantusbut isnt that what luck is about? if you pull out a lottery win of one in a million - it is only chance, no skill involved. you've just been lucky, that you pulled the correct number from the pot. somebody always getting the full house is considered a 'lucky bastard' - or at some point an engine user 😉
True, and he was talking about the chance interpretation. I don't view luck as anything to do with chance - there is no sense in wishing a person good luck if the outcome is pure chance.
some confusion to put on top: in english 'i feel lucky' doesnt mean exactly 'i feel happy', no? in german (language thread...) 'gluecklich' can mean both: to be lucky (or a lucky outcome) or to be happy. thats also why i probably understood the thread opener differently: he was feeling lucky, not only because of circumstances that involved small foresight and thereby 'good luck' later on, but he certainly also felt happy, because of his misery just before he found (luckily) his revenge move.
anyway. not feeling very happy right now. second cold in a row. what are the chances, three years no cold and then two in a row...
Interesting game, but that wasn't luck. Just that some of the moves weren't as good.
Luck in chess is:
1. My opponent had a heart attack during an OTB game, and I got the win
2. an earthquake rattled the tournament room and we all had to settle for draws. Good thing as you were to suffer a mate in 3.
Originally posted by Shallow BlueNa he still talks like a true pomm, its his poor wife and mother i worry about. The shame of it! 😛
[ Shach ], not [ Shak ]. You've been in Caledonia long enough that you should be able to pronounce a ch by now! And yes, the German (and Dutch) ch is pronounced roughly the same as the Scots one. (Except, in German but not in Dutch, after an s. German Sch is pronounced English Sh.)
Richard
Hi Shallow Blue.
My error.
'Shak' was a spelling mistake first time around.
I lived in Germany for 6 years and spent a fair while in a Dortmund Chess Club.
(although every bar I went into in Germany had a set behind the bar).
Most Sundays I would be playing on the giant sets in Westfarland Park.
(where I once saw Deep Purle live and they were crap....30 minutes of
'Smoke on the Water'...dire stuff).
How about introducing a Scot's term into Chess....my opponent was 'Jammy'.
Donner wrote there is no luck in chess and is often quoted when this subject
comes up. But you will find the phrase being used by every writer and player
when noting up a game.
It's the word 'Luck' that is at fault. We need a chess word.
Originally posted by greenpawn34Donner actually said chess was all about luck, but it is evident from what he said that he meant chance. Chance plays very little part in chess but luck (as in spotting and taking advantage of opportunities) is huge part of chess. I don't think it matters what you call it, dress it up as ability if you will, or call it luck, it amounts to the same thing.
Donner wrote there is no luck in chess and is often quoted when this subject
comes up. But you will find the phrase being used by every writer and player
when noting up a game.
Ironically, it is failure to spot an opportunity (bad luck if you like) that Donner was commenting on. Korchnoi failed to spot a mating combination that kibitzers all around the world had spotted. Of course, Karpov had failed to spot that he was giving Korchnoi the opportunity so he too suffered from bad luck and then good luck because Korchnoi let him off the hook! Did the two Ks miss that opportunity by random chance? I doubt it, both were knackered by then and probably wouldn't have spotted a fiver left lying in the middle of the board.