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Magnus Carlsen is World Chess Champion

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Re: Magnus Carlsen is World Chess Champion

#21

Reading more about this match and Magnus in general, I learned of a measure termed "Nettlesomeness" which has been used to measure which players do the most to make their opponents to make mistakes. Magnus, with his highly creative style of play and unexpected moves, not surprisingly ranks the highest in this measure. He seems to have this remarkable gift of making moves which aren't just strong, they get inside his…

Thanks for the comment, the concept of nettlesomeness intrigues me.

"...Carlsen is demonstrating one of his most feared qualities, namely his “nettlesomeness,” to use a term coined for this purpose by Ken Regan. Using computer analysis, you can measure which players do the most to cause their opponents to make mistakes."

I was surprised to see that this isn't just some subjective measure but can me measured using computer analysis. In chess this can be a great tool against one's opponents but in collaborative endeavors it can be a detriment to team productivity. I wonder whether the same analysis can be used to pin-point nettlesome members of team e.g members of an open source team whose contributions sidetrack collaborators and cause them to make more trackable errors...

Re: Magnus Carlsen is World Chess Champion

#22
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was the best option in both cases. He was in check when he took the queen, so the queens had to swap or black would lose his queen. At the end Anand traded his knight for the pawn as a king and knight (black's material) can't win, but a king and pawn (white's material) can, so it is in blacks best interest to swap.

what rule is that? are you implying even if only white king, black king, and black knight would be left on board, it would be a draw/win for white by default? Instead of trying to isolate white king into a corner for checkmate? Never heard of a rule like that. Are you sure?

Combinations with insufficient material to checkmate are:

king versus king; king and bishop versus king; king and knight versus king; king and bishop versus king and bishop with the bishops on the same colour. - wikipedia

Re: Magnus Carlsen is World Chess Champion

#23
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was the best option in both cases. He was in check when he took the queen, so the queens had to swap or black would lose his queen. At the end Anand traded his knight for the pawn as a king and knight (black's material) can't win, but a king and pawn (white's material) can, so it is in blacks best interest to swap.

what rule is that? are you implying even if only white king, black king, and black knight would be left on board, it would be a draw/win for white by default? Instead of trying to isolate white king into a corner for checkmate? Never heard of a rule like that. Are you sure?

[deleted]

Re: Magnus Carlsen is World Chess Champion

#24
Does anyone know some good alternatives to chess, as a game that mixes deep thought and aesthetic variety? I tried Go, but found it somewhat boring compared to chess, because of its uniformity (which, on the other hand, has the advantage of beautiful simplicity and symmetry.) On another note: it is unfortunate, in my opinion, that chess has a special standing among board games. I would love to see some more variety in world-class intellectual matches, similar to what exists in physical sports. Something like a "board game Olympics".

Edit: Thank you for all the useful replies! In reply to some of you, I am a complete beginner at Go. Maybe the word 'boring' was not carefully chosen. As a programmer, I should have known better - that things may seem boring (tiresome?) until you become more fluent with them. I should certainly give Go another shot...

Re: Magnus Carlsen is World Chess Champion

#25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Anand gave up a knight advantage, purposedly for a clear cut draw. When you assume that a world-class GM played "purposedly" for a draw that would lose him the championship title, you're probably wrong. > He took queen with queen, clearly He was in check. Taking W's queen was the only way to avoid losing his own for nothing.

are you sure about that? the king could have moved back up, but in front.. moved from right side to left side between those two lines, without moving in front of the queen line.

And he would have lost his queen thus loosing the game.

Re: Magnus Carlsen is World Chess Champion

#26

Does anyone know some good alternatives to chess, as a game that mixes deep thought and aesthetic variety? I tried Go, but found it somewhat boring compared to chess, because of its uniformity (which, on the other hand, has the advantage of beautiful simplicity and symmetry.) On another note: it is unfortunate, in my opinion, that chess has a special standing among board games. I would love to see some more variety i…

There's already something very similar to a "board game Olympics", it's called the Mind Sports Olympiad: http://www.boardability.com/games.php

I'd give Go another try. If you're interested in watching anime, I found the series _Hikaru no Go_ pretty good motivation to keep learning.

Re: Magnus Carlsen is World Chess Champion

#27

Reading more about this match and Magnus in general, I learned of a measure termed "Nettlesomeness" which has been used to measure which players do the most to make their opponents to make mistakes. Magnus, with his highly creative style of play and unexpected moves, not surprisingly ranks the highest in this measure. He seems to have this remarkable gift of making moves which aren't just strong, they get inside his…

This reminds me of the sorry of Deep Blue's buggy randomness causing Kasperov to freak out: http://www.wired.com/playbook/2012/09/deep-blue-computer-bug...

Re: Magnus Carlsen is World Chess Champion

#28

Does anyone know some good alternatives to chess, as a game that mixes deep thought and aesthetic variety? I tried Go, but found it somewhat boring compared to chess, because of its uniformity (which, on the other hand, has the advantage of beautiful simplicity and symmetry.) On another note: it is unfortunate, in my opinion, that chess has a special standing among board games. I would love to see some more variety i…

Have you heard about Arimaa?

http://arimaa.com/arimaa/

Re: Magnus Carlsen is World Chess Champion

#29
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was the best option in both cases. He was in check when he took the queen, so the queens had to swap or black would lose his queen. At the end Anand traded his knight for the pawn as a king and knight (black's material) can't win, but a king and pawn (white's material) can, so it is in blacks best interest to swap.

what rule is that? are you implying even if only white king, black king, and black knight would be left on board, it would be a draw/win for white by default? Instead of trying to isolate white king into a corner for checkmate? Never heard of a rule like that. Are you sure?

You can't checkmate with just a king and knight. Isolating into a corner won't help, as the king can not get close enough to keep the opposing king "in place", and while the knight can try to keep the king cornered, there would be no positions where the knight can check where the checked king can't escape the check by safely moving towards the knight.

EDIT: There would be positions where you don't try position the king to try to hold the opposing king in a corner where the opposing king can't move towards the knight to escape a check, but in those positions it will be able to move away in other directions.

Re: Magnus Carlsen is World Chess Champion

#30

Does anyone know some good alternatives to chess, as a game that mixes deep thought and aesthetic variety? I tried Go, but found it somewhat boring compared to chess, because of its uniformity (which, on the other hand, has the advantage of beautiful simplicity and symmetry.) On another note: it is unfortunate, in my opinion, that chess has a special standing among board games. I would love to see some more variety i…

Not a board game, but Bridge.

Backgammon is also very rich also, although there is a random element there which, depending on your preferences, is either a good or bad thing.

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