How is this news? Magnus Carlsen is good at chess. Bill Gates is bad at chess. How does this story add value to anyone's life? What was learned here? (sincerely curious)
Bill Gates loses to Magnus Carlsen in 9 moves
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Re: Bill Gates loses to Magnus Carlsen in 9 moves
#12Magnus Carlsen didn't start a billion dollar company, and Bill Gates isn't a chess god. Why is this article on HN? Who cares?
Because it's fun to watch and I must say I was surprised to see that a genius like Gates played rather badly.
Yeah because chess is an INCREDIBLY hard game to get good at regardless of how smart you are. I've been playing for years and going to my local chess club and I'm still trash ahaha.
Re: Bill Gates loses to Magnus Carlsen in 9 moves
#13Respect for Bill. That was impressive. I'm not an avid Chess player but to play at that speed with his obviously gifted opponent and last that long is respectable.
There's nothing super special about an amazing chess player that would let them check mate you in 9 movies unless you play horrendously. Grand Masters are not super heros of chess. They are 'comprehensive.' Lets be real rather than gaudy. I should mention that I am a chess master and have played GMs online.
This. Bill is a smart guy but that doesn't mean he played impressively well at all.
Re: Bill Gates loses to Magnus Carlsen in 9 moves
#14Magnus Carlsen didn't start a billion dollar company, and Bill Gates isn't a chess god. Why is this article on HN? Who cares?
Because it's fun to watch and I must say I was surprised to see that a genius like Gates played rather badly.
Skill in chess requires (at Carlsen's level) a great deal of intuition and knowledge and practice. Bill Gates is a talented programmer and businessman. Unless chess was a personal passion or interest, there would be no reason to expect him to be any better than the average person under pressure, faced with a 2-minute clock and a world champion.
Re: Bill Gates loses to Magnus Carlsen in 9 moves
#15"Bill Gates loses to LeBron James 232 - 0" Not sure what outcome was expected...
It's Friday - News can be fun sometimes you know.
Re: Bill Gates loses to Magnus Carlsen in 9 moves
#16Respect for Bill. That was impressive. I'm not an avid Chess player but to play at that speed with his obviously gifted opponent and last that long is respectable.
There's nothing super special about an amazing chess player that would let them check mate you in 9 movies unless you play horrendously. Grand Masters are not super heros of chess. They are 'comprehensive.' Lets be real rather than gaudy. I should mention that I am a chess master and have played GMs online.
Having only two minutes on the clock and an opponent who plays really quickly would unnerve any inexperienced player and turn them quite easily into a horrendous player, IMHO.
Re: Bill Gates loses to Magnus Carlsen in 9 moves
#17Magnus Carlsen didn't start a billion dollar company, and Bill Gates isn't a chess god. Why is this article on HN? Who cares?
Because it's fun to watch and I must say I was surprised to see that a genius like Gates played rather badly.
Yeah I'd say being smart doesn't necessarily help you play good chess - being dumb hurts, though.
I wonder when the last time Gates even played chess? And even though he had way more time than Magnus did, 2 minutes is not a lot of time... Most blitz games are 3 or 5 minutes and if you're not an avid player (or at least used to it) then it's really hard to play fast like that. Magnus probably didn't have to think at all since he already knew the opening, whereas Gates was probably on his own from the third move on.
Kudos to Gates for being a good sport.
Re: Bill Gates loses to Magnus Carlsen in 9 moves
#18Surprisingly this has brought some memories, I remember my father beating me in a chess game exactly the same way in just a few moves, back when I was a kid, my chess knowledge to this day sums up to knowing how the pieces move, and my father I think knew some more chess theory regarding strategy, but wasn't even a competitive player, so my laymen impression is that this was a really unremarkable game.
Would someone competent at chess be so kind and explain what did Bill do wrong? Does this class of mistakes (castling "locking" the king in the corner) have a name?
Re: Bill Gates loses to Magnus Carlsen in 9 moves
#19"Bill Gates loses to LeBron James 232 - 0" Not sure what outcome was expected...
The part that makes it news is that Bill Gates and Magnus Carlsen sat down and played chess, not that Gates lost.
Re: Bill Gates loses to Magnus Carlsen in 9 moves
#20 1. e4 Nc6
2. Nf3 d5
3. Bd3 Nf6
4. exd5 Qxd5
5. Nc3 Qh5
6. 0-0 Bg4
7. h3 Ne5
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8. hxg4 Nfxg4
9. Nxe5 Qh2#
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