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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

#31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Yeah, this looks like it was filmed live during a talk show. I highly doubt there was any interest from anyone involved, especially the audience, for a lengthy game.

Re: Bill Gates loses to Magnus Carlsen in 9 moves

#33
post #21

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…

What is the fewest number of moves than one can lose a game of chess assuming the losing side is trying to the worst possible.

Re: Bill Gates loses to Magnus Carlsen in 9 moves

#34

Make me appreciate Go that much more - to me, Go seems a much more enjoyable game when the opponents are mismatched. Even though I'm pretty good at Go, it's enjoyable to play with a beginner. You don't have to trounce them to find satisfaction.

Magnus had a 30 second clock, so he basically had to trounce him.

Re: Bill Gates loses to Magnus Carlsen in 9 moves

#36
post #22

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.

Carlsen had a 30 second clock. Even an average player should've been able to put Carlsen into time pressure at that point, assuming you didn't fall into any silly traps like Gates did.

Re: Bill Gates loses to Magnus Carlsen in 9 moves

#37
post #33
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

What is the fewest number of moves than one can lose a game of chess assuming the losing side is trying to the worst possible.

The game can be over after each player makes two moves. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fool's_mate

Re: Bill Gates loses to Magnus Carlsen in 9 moves

#38
post #18

Surprisingly 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…

Gate's first mistake wasn't castling, but taking Carlsen's pawn without having a sufficient a sufficient buildup for the exchange. He lost the center of the board as a result.

That's just my two cents as I haven't played competitively since middle school.

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