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Hey Team Liquid! Here is a post I made on Reddit a little less than a month ago. I feel like it serves as a good introduction to who I am and what my goals are 
http://www.reddit.com/r/starcraft/comments/mv2dl/top_ranked_chess_player_getting_into_starcraft_i/
A little about myself... My name is Evan Ju. I am 20, in college, and I've been playing chess all my life. I have a huge passion for chess and I am a proud nerd-baller. I have represented the United States in international chess tournaments around the world and have been top ranked in the country for my age ever since I was 10. If you're curious about some of my other chess accomplishments..please follow this link : http://www.chess.com/members/view/Eilyisum
Anyways, and more importantly, I have recently really gotten into Starcraft II. I followed Stephano's tear at IPL Atlantic City (especially his loss in g2 against KiwiKaki gave me nerd chills) and Leenok's magical run at the recent MLG Providence. I remember being glued to my computer watching the live streams of those tournaments for nearly the entirety of those two weekends.
Until now, I have been simply happy and content watching the likes of Huk's top 3 control, the Day9 Daily, Destiny's Stream, reading sc2jokeexplainer, and etc. However, I now really want to try my own hand in playing SC2. There are obvious parallels between chess and Starcraft...strategy being the backbone of both games. However, chess is purely a strategical and psychological game, while Starcraft has the added element of keyboard speed and mechanics. Furthermore, chess is a game of perfect information, starcraft is not.
Basically, I am curious to see if my skills in chess can translate over to starcraft 2. Although SC2 is my first serious RTS game, I believe my ability to think strategically and my study habits/work discipline from playing international tournament chess are very applicable (professional chess training and Starcraft 2 Pro training methods are very similar).
I have been playing for about 2 weeks and am currently a platinum level zerg. From here on I plan on playing 2-4 hours a day to see if I can make the jump to diamond, masters, and then grandmasters!
One of the best parts of SC2 in my opinion is the community behind it. There is a sense of togetherness and support that frankly is not felt nearly as much among the chess community. I would greatly appreciate all of your guys' support as I continue my journey and plunge into the starcraft world . My stream is www.twitch.tv/evanju
TLDR: Top ranked chess player also trying to become a top SC2 player. If you are interested in following my progress, liking my page helps me tons and I would greatly appreciate it. Come check out my stream if you have the chance Thanks!
From this point on, I will be blogging about my whole SC2 transition/experience/journey here on team liquid whenever I have the chance. Thanks for your time and support. Happy holidays!
http://www.teamliquid.net/blog/EvanJu
Best,
Evan Ju (Jau)
[Edit]: My Account: http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/profile/3284380/1/Jau/
www.facebook.com/evanju1
www.twitch.tv/evanju
www.twitter.com/evan_ju
www.youtube.com/juevand
 
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Hi Evan, and welcome to tl I don't know much about chess, but since you're #1 on chess.com you must be pretty smart. I wonder how far you'd go if your mechanics were just as good as your strategic approach.
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Good luck dude. Will be keeping an eye out for your name in future tournaments.
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United States22154 Posts
This looks like a shameless plug of your twitter/fb/stream to me.
Rather than writing a blog about yourself,make it to GM and then write a reflection about how your chess experience parallels your sc2 experience or something, as is, this is a shameless plug of yourself, when you have yet to do anything to merit it. This has the potential to be fascinating, but you've yet to demonstrate that.
Rather than asking what the community can do for you, demonstrate that you can do something for the community, and then ask for people to subscribe to your twitter or whatever.
Best of luck.
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Welcome,
It's good that you're shooting high from the get-go, but try to keep a humble attitude because this game was never about talent, but about sick amounts of practice. (TLO, Tyler, Ret are examples) If you've practiced enough, then talent decides whether you're be able to win top tournaments or not.
Looking forward to tracking your progress, gl
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On December 30 2011 01:41 GMarshal wrote:
This looks like a shameless plug of your twitter/fb/stream to me.
Best of luck.
I'd agree with you if there was nothing for the community to gain, but I have to say I've had a lot of curiosity about chess players. this is sort of another chance for me to see a chess mind + starcraft, so i wouldn't mind following his progress.
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Good luck.
Just a heads up: your expertise in critical thinking will only help you once you reach a fairly high level, before that, it's mostly mechanics.
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You know what would be more interesting? If you would link your account so we could check where you're at. Platinum is a good start, a lot better than some quasi-going pro blogs. But it'd be nice to check back and see without having to watch your stream.
I believe my ability to think strategically and my study habits/work discipline
I believe you'll find the latter vastly more useful than the former. Analogies to chess are always drawn about starcraft but what will really be a boon is diligent practice and learning habits.
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Actually I'd love to watch him learn. I don't think it's fair to say "get to GM then I'll care" in this situation. This here is a good study on how chess skills translate to SC2 and in what way.
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@GMarshal
I can see why you think it is a shameless plug, it really isn't though. I hadn't originally planned to stream until I was at least master's strength. However, people requested that I stream the journey to grandmaster (if I could even ever get there). In many respects, they said the journey from bronze to GM (from the point of view of a strong chess player) is more interesting to watch than actually getting GM itself.
I also realize that I may never get masters or GM, but it doesn't hurt to set myself high standards/goals. I've been doing that my whole life
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United States22154 Posts
On December 30 2011 01:50 Jau wrote:@GMarshal I can see why you think it is a shameless plug, it really isn't though. I hadn't originally planned to stream until I was at least master's strength. However, people requested that I stream the journey to grandmaster (if I could even ever get there). In many respects, they said the journey from bronze to GM (from the point of view of a strong chess player) is more interesting to watch than actually getting GM itself. I also realize that I may never get masters or GM, but it doesn't hurt to set myself high standards/goals. I've been doing that my whole life
I don't particularly mind that you link your stream, or that you choose to chronicle your journey, and if anyone on TL supports lofty goals, its me, it just irked me that you decided to also include your twitter and your facebook. I don't know, maybe its the cynic in me, but whenever I see a blog that includes a bunch of plugs I get the feeling that the person cares more about their own advancement than about enjoying the game or helping the community, and I've always felt like that kind of personality has an overall negative effect, which is why I always call people out on it. If the intent is to keep your viewership up to date (and clearly there are people interested) then I suppose its ok.
Either way, its not a huge deal, but I felt the need to comment on it.
As I said, good luck on your attempts to climb the ladder.
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On December 30 2011 01:57 GMarshal wrote:Show nested quote +On December 30 2011 01:50 Jau wrote:@GMarshal I can see why you think it is a shameless plug, it really isn't though. I hadn't originally planned to stream until I was at least master's strength. However, people requested that I stream the journey to grandmaster (if I could even ever get there). In many respects, they said the journey from bronze to GM (from the point of view of a strong chess player) is more interesting to watch than actually getting GM itself. I also realize that I may never get masters or GM, but it doesn't hurt to set myself high standards/goals. I've been doing that my whole life I don't particularly mind that you link your stream, or that you choose to chronicle your journey, and if anyone on TL supports lofty goals, its me, it just irked me that you decided to also include your twitter and your facebook. I don't know, maybe its the cynic in me, but whenever I see a blog that includes a bunch of plugs I get the feeling that the person cares more about their own advancement than about enjoying the game or helping the community, and I've always felt like that kind of personality has an overall negative effect, which is why I always call people out on it. If the intent is to keep your viewership up to date (and clearly there are people interested) then I suppose its ok. Either way, its not a huge deal, but I felt the need to comment on it. As I said, good luck on your attempts to climb the ladder.
Why does someone caring about their own advancement irk you so much?
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I have made some edits to the blog with your guys' comments in mind. Thanks for the feedback so far
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Good luck Jau. Thank you for linking your account. That tells me a lot about how serious you are at the moment and when I check back in 3 days to see if you've laddered since now.
On December 30 2011 02:09 ZERG_RUSSIAN wrote:Show nested quote +On December 30 2011 01:57 GMarshal wrote:On December 30 2011 01:50 Jau wrote:@GMarshal I can see why you think it is a shameless plug, it really isn't though. I hadn't originally planned to stream until I was at least master's strength. However, people requested that I stream the journey to grandmaster (if I could even ever get there). In many respects, they said the journey from bronze to GM (from the point of view of a strong chess player) is more interesting to watch than actually getting GM itself. I also realize that I may never get masters or GM, but it doesn't hurt to set myself high standards/goals. I've been doing that my whole life I don't particularly mind that you link your stream, or that you choose to chronicle your journey, and if anyone on TL supports lofty goals, its me, it just irked me that you decided to also include your twitter and your facebook. I don't know, maybe its the cynic in me, but whenever I see a blog that includes a bunch of plugs I get the feeling that the person cares more about their own advancement than about enjoying the game or helping the community, and I've always felt like that kind of personality has an overall negative effect, which is why I always call people out on it. If the intent is to keep your viewership up to date (and clearly there are people interested) then I suppose its ok. Either way, its not a huge deal, but I felt the need to comment on it. As I said, good luck on your attempts to climb the ladder. Why does someone caring about their own advancement irk you so much?
I'm surprised you can't answer that for yourself since you've been here so long. How many blogs have you seen come and go; how many new users have you seen claim they're going pro/grandmaster B+ A going to korea being picked up by a korean team et cetera.
It's tiring and numbing. Anyone that claims to be heading to GM is put under much more scrutiny than someone that just does it. I don't remember Ver ever making a post about it but he made GM last season. Fuck, I play team games with him and he never mentioned it until I noticed one day.
People that achieve results rarely chronicle them before they happen.
That being said, good luck Jau. You have quite a way to go and a lot of practice.
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United States22154 Posts
On December 30 2011 02:09 ZERG_RUSSIAN wrote:Show nested quote +On December 30 2011 01:57 GMarshal wrote:On December 30 2011 01:50 Jau wrote:@GMarshal I can see why you think it is a shameless plug, it really isn't though. I hadn't originally planned to stream until I was at least master's strength. However, people requested that I stream the journey to grandmaster (if I could even ever get there). In many respects, they said the journey from bronze to GM (from the point of view of a strong chess player) is more interesting to watch than actually getting GM itself. I also realize that I may never get masters or GM, but it doesn't hurt to set myself high standards/goals. I've been doing that my whole life I don't particularly mind that you link your stream, or that you choose to chronicle your journey, and if anyone on TL supports lofty goals, its me, it just irked me that you decided to also include your twitter and your facebook. I don't know, maybe its the cynic in me, but whenever I see a blog that includes a bunch of plugs I get the feeling that the person cares more about their own advancement than about enjoying the game or helping the community, and I've always felt like that kind of personality has an overall negative effect, which is why I always call people out on it. If the intent is to keep your viewership up to date (and clearly there are people interested) then I suppose its ok. Either way, its not a huge deal, but I felt the need to comment on it. As I said, good luck on your attempts to climb the ladder. Why does someone caring about their own advancement irk you so much?
Teamliquid was built on basically selfless people contributing for the sake of contributing towards a game and community they love. People like Zatic who uploaded thousands of VODs because someone had to do it, or R1CH coding the site so we would have somewhere to hang out. People who are in it for themselves never end up contributing, or do so only tangentially, when it benefits them. Those kinds of people are not good for us as a community, because they almost always leach on the efforts of those who do give up selflessly, and then do whatever benefits them most.
Caring for your own advancement is fine, its unnatural not to, but TL is a powerful thing, and only those who have earned it should be able to reap the benefits of using it as a personal army of sorts. As a rule of thumb I do my best to help anyone from TL who asks for it, but when someone who has done nothing and has nothing to show comes in asking for things, which he has not earned, I get annoyed. Not saying that this is necessarily the case here, but that is why people who care only for their own advancement irk me. If someone like, say Incontrol who has busted his chops for us, comes and says "hey guys, vote for me in this contest!" or "subscribe to my twitter!" you can bet I will, if XxxXRaNdOmNooBXxxX who has 3 posts and are all about his stream shows up and says "hey guys, vote for me in this contest plz!" you can bet I'm going to call him out.
That said, it doesn't totally apply here, since it seems like this is a stream that is of general interest to the community and people want to follow it.
I don't want to keep derailing this thread, so if you want to ask anything else, or rebuff my arguments, feel free to shoot me a PM.
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This seems so silly to me. No matter how dumbed down sc2 is to sc1, mechanical skills always comes before strategy.
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Well I for one am interested in seeing how the chess discipline/training skills transfer over to starcraft. You don't run across master level chess players every day, that's pretty high skill level. I notice the guy is streaming blitz chess too, which could be fun. Good luck.
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I'll follow your way - this looks pretty interesting to me
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I'm genuinely interested if you manage to become any good.
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On December 30 2011 02:34 Itsmedudeman wrote:
This seems so silly to me. No matter how dumbed down sc2 is to sc1, mechanical skills always comes before strategy.
That's why I said the practice at practice: the experience in studying and practicing will be more useful than what exact background you came from. If you have the determination to study and practice until you become the best, you can do it in other things as well.
But yeah, I doubt if it was chess or any other activity that is mentally oriented there would be much difference.
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EPT
