I submit Chess as a new off topic subject.

[mountainman]

Originally Posted by ElKabong

If your son is fit & that big, plz remind me not to anger him... That's a big boy

JMO, online classes are a rip off. Nothing takes the place of over the board instruction

A better alternative for those who already know how to move pieces is to go to lichess.org, learn by diving into puzzles. They aren't as strong as ours (we use Think Like A King software) but they're very good. Also you'll find some master level players there that will humble you. Some do, me. But like tennis, when you play better players it raises your game if the desire is there

Notate your games, see where you won / or lost. Lichess notates for you

In our classes we sometimes replay games from books we have. The greatest 500 games, etc. We go over mistakes, winning moves etc.

But the best chess players from our classes that went on to be highly competitive absolutely dived into puzzles, and were never afraid to lose games to lower level players in class. It was practice. They learned more than 2 openings. Some studied harder than I'd like. Chess to me is like playing a musical instrument. Do it for pleasure and recreation, something you can enjoy until the day you die. Our classes are fun and educational, one without the other & our business model goes down the drain (coronavirus did that already tho)

Tx for the thoughtful advice.

Also, as a very high functioning aspie, Shane never angers. He does get perturbed, but tries mightily to hide even that.

[ElKabong]

Your son has a great deal of self control, then.

Our "kid" had a terrible temper when he lost months ago. 3rd grader, his dad told us to not be easy on him, losing is a part of life etc... But he didn't take it well

His best therapy has come with an adult that also is a student, a big kid himself (aged in 40s, chiropractor) . They basically go at it for 90 minutes of the 2 hr class and have a ball. The kid wins maybe 40% of the time, but when he loses he keeps his composure now. Lot of friendly trash talking between them (I'm about to depose your queen! etc) which we don't allow, but for those 2 we give a pass, It's entertainment

His parents love having the kid in class, the kid eats it up. He's tournament ready but has no appetite to get his USCF license. Maybe, for the best

As an aside, I went 1 for 3 playing on lichess tonight. Humbling. Some really solid players on there

[Actor]

I've had the idea for some time now of using the Elo rating system for handicapping. The idea is to come up with a list of all horses that race in a given circuit and then treat each race as an all-play-all tournament. Each horse would be given a rating of 1000 to start (or whatever). Of course shippers would present a problem. And of course the resultant ratings might not be very useful, sort of like BRIS's Prime Power rating. However, I understand that the Elo ratings generate a rather accurate probability of winning and could be used to generate an odds line. I have never found time to develop this idea but maybe some day...