Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

8-Year-Old Refugee Wins New York State Championship

chess.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 192 posts

Re: 8-Year-Old Refugee Wins New York State Championship

#91

Post by WillPostForFood »

yathern wrote: post #64
jonahx wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Talent is nowhere near evenly distributed. As this boy shows.

Evenly distributed not in the sense that everyone has an equal amount, but that every way you can cut up demographics (age, race, sex, nationality) will have the same bell curve of talent. But that is not necessarily so with opportunity.

No offense, but it seems preposterous to suggest the talent distribution within any demographic category is uneven, but if you compare two demographic categories, they are the same. Take a look at the top marathon runners, and tell me that the long distance running talent is distributed equally in Bolivia and Kenya.

Re: 8-Year-Old Refugee Wins New York State Championship

#92

Post by lazyasciiart »

mbrameld wrote: post #40
wwweston wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At a state level or above, distinction in any age category is a distinction. I think I was about 11 when I learned the game, and before long with no particular study I could beat most of my neighborhood peer group and some adults. Then I actually went to my local middle school competition, was handed a series of decisive defeats, and learned there's a world of people who begin to make a serious study of it in childho…

> At a state level or above, distinction in any age category is a distinction. But to the casual reader who isn't familiar with age brackets in chess tournaments, the implication is that the 8-year-old was competing in a singular competition open to everyone and won. So while it is very impressive that this 8-year-old won the state championship in his age bracket, it is far less impressive than if he had competed aga…

The casual reader could always read the article, which is pretty explicit about the age bracket. This clarification is only needed for people who want to jump in and discuss the headline, and they don't need encouragement.

Re: 8-Year-Old Refugee Wins New York State Championship

#93

Post by fernandopj »

bufferoverflow wrote: post #7

In his age category.

He's currently at the same level of Praggnanandhaa[1], world's youngest Grandmaster, one year after he started his FIDE rating [2].

It's truly impressive being able to progress as fast as this, from what seems to be still a very basic and informal training.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rameshbabu_Praggnanandhaa

[2] https://ratings.fide.com/id.phtml?event=25059530

Re: 8-Year-Old Refugee Wins New York State Championship

#94

Post by collyw »

Are girls chess tournaments generally of a lower standard that mens?

For physical sports it's clear that men have an advantage in most sports. Chess is all mental ability.

Can a guy decide to be transgender and compete in women's chess?

(expecting down votes for questioning this).

Re: 8-Year-Old Refugee Wins New York State Championship

#95

Post by billiam »

Dangeranger wrote: post #5

A year after learning to play chess he has a USCF rating of 1473 and is #27 in America for eight-year-olds. Tani participated in the New York State Championship. He won the category for children of his age, kindergarten to third grade, with five wins and one draw[0]. "I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and…

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses...." And they are sending us their best too.

Re: 8-Year-Old Refugee Wins New York State Championship

#97

Post by devmunchies »

billiam wrote: post #95
Dangeranger wrote: post #5

A year after learning to play chess he has a USCF rating of 1473 and is #27 in America for eight-year-olds. Tani participated in the New York State Championship. He won the category for children of his age, kindergarten to third grade, with five wins and one draw[0]. "I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and…

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses...." And they are sending us their best too.

yeah think of what he could have done for Nigeria. actually kind of sad.

You need these sharp kids to grow up and help their own people so that there are less people wanting to escape.

Re: 8-Year-Old Refugee Wins New York State Championship

#98

Post by MiddleEndian »

spenczar5 wrote: post #88
mooseburger wrote: post #80

Stephen Jay Gould was an ideologically driven liar ( https://quillette.com/2019/03/19/the-mismeasurements-of-step... ). He should not be regarded as someone worth quoting.

There is some beautiful irony in citing Quillette to say that Gould should never even be quoted , given Quillette's stated mission of protecting free expression and ideas, "even dangerous ones:" > Quillette is a platform for free thought. We respect ideas, even dangerous ones. We also believe that free expression and the free exchange of ideas help human societies flourish and progress.

A lot of groups claiming to be for free speech just want to promote their own ideologies. At least YouTube is obvious about the content they take down.

Re: 8-Year-Old Refugee Wins New York State Championship

#99

Post by Quarrelsome »

devmunchies wrote: post #97
billiam wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses...." And they are sending us their best too.

yeah think of what he could have done for Nigeria. actually kind of sad. You need these sharp kids to grow up and help their own people so that there are less people wanting to escape.

why'd ya wanna shake it that way? There's nothing stopping him from giving back at a later stage. Refugees are refugees for a reason, people leave countries for a reason. When the conditions are right again I'm sure they'll visit or their children will, giving an opportunity to contribute. Sometimes you've gotta leave, would you be annoyed for a Russian leaving Putin's autocratic Russia? For some (depending on career and background) it becomes the only safe option.

Whenever people express this principle you did in that fashion it can't help but sound like a dog whistle of rationalisation for isolationalist and nationalist principles.

I'm sorry if it isn't.

Re: 8-Year-Old Refugee Wins New York State Championship

#100

Post by narrator »

rosser wrote: post #83
narrator wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My definition of "wrongthink" is suggesting that facts support confirmation of a narrative, regardless of what the facts are, when that narrative has become socially unacceptable. For example, in Chinese society, to suggest that religious minorities are being mistreated by the government is "wrongthink" regardless of what the facts are. If this kid had been from a Uyghur family in China and his father had been killed…

That's fine. I even agree with that definition. The thing is, literally none of the words you used in your pseudocode are "wrongthink" here . This was straight-up, "person says awful thing, catches flak, and cries oppression." EDIT: That's not oppression. It's disapproval.

An awful thing can be a socially unacceptable narrative regardless of what the facts are.
Post reply on HN