My favourite quote: "I listen to music on the Internet, but don't download any songs. It's all totally legal. Many people may find that boring, but I think it is important."
Magnus Carlsen – “I am chaotic and lazy” (2010)
21–30 of 92 posts
Re: Magnus Carlsen – “I am chaotic and lazy” (2010)
#22Sometimes you wonder. I was not particularly interested; I was bad and soon stopped again. I don’t know why I learnt all the countries of the world off by heart, including their capitals and populations. Chess was probably just another pastime. I’m not a disciplined thinker. Organisation is not my thing; I am chaotic and tend to be lazy. My trainer recognised that and as a rule allowed me to practise whatever I felt…
What are you saying? That defining one's identity by the intensity, quantity and quality of the work that one does, might not the best way to live a life and be really good at something?
;)
Re: Magnus Carlsen – “I am chaotic and lazy” (2010)
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would guess that he'd feel like there is too much chance. The issue with a game like Magic is that you can play perfectly and still lose. And I say this as someone who loves the game. EDIT: I read further and it seems like he enjoys poker. So I guess it's possible that he'd enjoy MTG.
I suspect you're right. But for people who can't dedicate all their time to a game, the randomness in some games (like poker and MTG) can level the playing field. It allows a lesser player to win from time to time, but good players will win more often. To me, this is more "fun". With chess, it's just brutal. Unless both players are evenly matched, it's a steamrolling. No fun for either player. At the top tiers though…
Interesting coincidence - I bumped into a game design article earlier today about balancing luck and skill in games. http://gamedevelopment.tutsplus.com/articles/when-i-win-its-...
The article discusses how different players prefer different ratios of luck vs skill, so making the most "fun" game in this regard really depends on who your target audience is. Similar to your thoughts on randomness. :)
Re: Magnus Carlsen – “I am chaotic and lazy” (2010)
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
I suspect you're right. But for people who can't dedicate all their time to a game, the randomness in some games (like poker and MTG) can level the playing field. It allows a lesser player to win from time to time, but good players will win more often. To me, this is more "fun". With chess, it's just brutal. Unless both players are evenly matched, it's a steamrolling. No fun for either player. At the top tiers though…
Interesting coincidence - I bumped into a game design article earlier today about balancing luck and skill in games. http://gamedevelopment.tutsplus.com/articles/when-i-win-its-... The article discusses how different players prefer different ratios of luck vs skill, so making the most "fun" game in this regard really depends on who your target audience is. Similar to your thoughts on randomness. :)
Fascinating, thanks!
Re: Magnus Carlsen – “I am chaotic and lazy” (2010)
#25I think there might be a correlation between being lazy and being creative. I've seen this pattern in many other greats (and in my not so great self :) Aaron Sorkin talks about procrastinating a lot between writing sessions. Lots of painters and artists procrastinate as well. I think its a matter of digestion, your mind is focused on a "task" and churning in the background, but you don't actively work on it except wh…
I think it's actually more causal than you first give it credit for. I think creativity cultures a certain laziness for that person.
From observing my friends and I, my anecdata suggests that the most creative are on average more lazy because they can use their creativity as a clutch to make up for a relative lack of hard work. The other intelligent but less creative individuals must suppliment that with grinding away more time on the problems.
The creative lazy people also tend to be more 'hot and cold' than consistent, because if they rely on creativity but it doesn't fire then they end up falling short. Consistent hard work is more reliable, but takes more effort and doesn't necessarily produce as high peaks (though in doing so, avoids as low troughs)
Re: Magnus Carlsen – “I am chaotic and lazy” (2010)
#26He briefly talks about Kasparov here as they were training together at the time. They later broke up. I wonder if some of the conflict they felt was was really Magnus's more organic, natural approach clashing with Kasparov's more like systematic and rigid type of training, which he no doubt inherited from Botvinnik. This isn't to say Magnus doesn't work hard at his game but on a chess approach scale of, say, Capablan…
This past two weeks, I have been reading Kasparov's "Life Imitates Chess" and your comment certainly rings true. He spends a fair number of pages discussing about Botvinnik's rigid and systematic training system and how that helped instill a strong work ethic in him.
There is also a section on Casablanca and how his laziness cost him his crown to Alekhine, who was Botvinnik's predecessor.
If history serves right, I am predicting Carlsen will lose the throne to Caruana in 2016!
Re: Magnus Carlsen – “I am chaotic and lazy” (2010)
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would guess that he'd feel like there is too much chance. The issue with a game like Magic is that you can play perfectly and still lose. And I say this as someone who loves the game. EDIT: I read further and it seems like he enjoys poker. So I guess it's possible that he'd enjoy MTG.
I suspect you're right. But for people who can't dedicate all their time to a game, the randomness in some games (like poker and MTG) can level the playing field. It allows a lesser player to win from time to time, but good players will win more often. To me, this is more "fun". With chess, it's just brutal. Unless both players are evenly matched, it's a steamrolling. No fun for either player. At the top tiers though…
The ratings system in chess is what makes it easy to get a competitive game.
You just have to play a handful of games in order to get a rating (whether in real-life tournaments or online), and then you know that playing somebody with a rating within 100 points of your own rating will usually result in a good game where both sides have chances to win and neither will consistently steamroll the other.
Re: Magnus Carlsen – “I am chaotic and lazy” (2010)
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
I suspect you're right. But for people who can't dedicate all their time to a game, the randomness in some games (like poker and MTG) can level the playing field. It allows a lesser player to win from time to time, but good players will win more often. To me, this is more "fun". With chess, it's just brutal. Unless both players are evenly matched, it's a steamrolling. No fun for either player. At the top tiers though…
Interesting coincidence - I bumped into a game design article earlier today about balancing luck and skill in games. http://gamedevelopment.tutsplus.com/articles/when-i-win-its-... The article discusses how different players prefer different ratios of luck vs skill, so making the most "fun" game in this regard really depends on who your target audience is. Similar to your thoughts on randomness. :)
David Sirlin has a lot of great articles on designing competitive games: http://www.sirlin.net/article-archive/
Re: Magnus Carlsen – “I am chaotic and lazy” (2010)
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would guess that he'd feel like there is too much chance. The issue with a game like Magic is that you can play perfectly and still lose. And I say this as someone who loves the game. EDIT: I read further and it seems like he enjoys poker. So I guess it's possible that he'd enjoy MTG.
I suspect you're right. But for people who can't dedicate all their time to a game, the randomness in some games (like poker and MTG) can level the playing field. It allows a lesser player to win from time to time, but good players will win more often. To me, this is more "fun". With chess, it's just brutal. Unless both players are evenly matched, it's a steamrolling. No fun for either player. At the top tiers though…
> To me, this is more "fun".
I think that makes a game more fun to participate in but significantly less fun to watch at a competitive level.
Re: Magnus Carlsen – “I am chaotic and lazy” (2010)
#30I think there might be a correlation between being lazy and being creative. I've seen this pattern in many other greats (and in my not so great self :) Aaron Sorkin talks about procrastinating a lot between writing sessions. Lots of painters and artists procrastinate as well. I think its a matter of digestion, your mind is focused on a "task" and churning in the background, but you don't actively work on it except wh…
Paul Graham wrote about procrastination: http://www.paulgraham.com/procrastination.html
I think it's commonly assumed that people procrastinate because they are lazy. Even procrastinators will berate themselves for being undisciplined and lazy. But it's not that simple; I think there is value in being "lazy", or what is perceived as lazy.