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Bill Gates loses to Magnus Carlsen in 9 moves

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Re: Bill Gates loses to Magnus Carlsen in 9 moves

#21

Post by birken »

avenger123 wrote: post #5

Respect 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.

Just to put this in context, any game in which you checkmate your opponent in under 20 moves is considered to be an incredibly quick game, where your opponent must have helped you by playing a really horrible move. The game is over before it has even started to develop. To be checkmated in 9 moves means you basically were making the worst possible move many times.

It would be easy for any marginally skilled chess player [1] to survive 20 moves against even the world champion. If Magnus was specifically playing to checkmate you quickly, 30 moves would be difficult and 40 moves would probably be impossible.

1: ~1500 UCSF strength

Re: Bill Gates loses to Magnus Carlsen in 9 moves

#22

Post by elorant »

The amazing part for someone like me who knows just basic chess is how aggressive Carlsen was. It’s scary seeing him coming on you with all those pieces and instantaneous moves. It also gives you a measure of his grandeur. It seems BillG got panicked given the little time he had to think his moves; at least I’d do.

Re: Bill Gates loses to Magnus Carlsen in 9 moves

#23

Post by prawks »

tedsanders wrote: post #11

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)

Fun.

If people are more interested in either Bill Gates or Magnus Carlsen, then here's a starting point. Many people likely don't know who Magnus is, now they do. Bill Gates' involvement makes it more likely that people would have watched the video.

Also, fun.

Re: Bill Gates loses to Magnus Carlsen in 9 moves

#24

Post by mikehearn »

tedsanders wrote: post #11

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)

Most of the time when people achieve world-class ability in something, they end up exclusively competing against others that have a similar talent level. It's worthwhile (and fun) to be occasionally reminded just how much of a talent gap there is between them and the average person.

Re: Bill Gates loses to Magnus Carlsen in 9 moves

#26

Post by georgeecollins »

avenger123 wrote: post #5

Respect 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.

I have read that bridge is his passion. Probably that is what he is better at.

I agree that it is cool that he did this.

Re: Bill Gates loses to Magnus Carlsen in 9 moves

#27

Post by avenger123 »

birken wrote: post #21
avenger123 wrote: post #5

Respect 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.

Just to put this in context, any game in which you checkmate your opponent in under 20 moves is considered to be an incredibly quick game, where your opponent must have helped you by playing a really horrible move. The game is over before it has even started to develop. To be checkmated in 9 moves means you basically were making the worst possible move many times. It would be easy for any marginally skilled chess pla…

I just find the amount of time he lasted respectable. He could have lost based on the time running out. 9 moves is still better than losing out on 4-7 moves.

I don't play chess competitively or under a time clock so seeing that was impressive (I would have likely just frozen). Your point taken though.

Re: Bill Gates loses to Magnus Carlsen in 9 moves

#28

Post by levosmetalo »

dagw wrote: post #19
jljljl wrote: post #3

"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.

Next time they should try doing a quick sort in Basic ;)
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