Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Magnus Carlsen – “I am chaotic and lazy” (2010)

en.chessbase.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 92 posts

Re: Magnus Carlsen – “I am chaotic and lazy” (2010)

#31

Post by eddotman »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #19
eddotman wrote: post #7

The brevity and bluntness in his responses is pretty amusing. I'm surprised he so candidly rates his own abilities and the abilities of his peers - I feel like many people would dodge those questions in public interviews.

> I'm surprised he so candidly rates his own abilities and the abilities of his peers // In chess though you have a ranking, you have past games to compare. It would be silly for him to say "oh, I'm not that good" as there's a measured value which [possibly incorrectly] says he's the world number one. Similarly he spends a lot of his time assessing his opponents, their games, their characters. I found it interesting…

Yeah, I guess he can say a lot based on replays and Elo. Still, I feel like many people would feel awkward saying that they are better than their peers - even if it's true. Well, maybe that's partly a cultural thing; I'm sure it varies in terms of how uncomfortable people are about that sort of thing.

Re: Magnus Carlsen – “I am chaotic and lazy” (2010)

#32

Post by _red »

NamTaf wrote: post #25
mhomde wrote: post #13

I 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 awa…

I was going to say that: More often than not in life we find our greatest strengths are enablers for our greatest weaknesses.

Re: Magnus Carlsen – “I am chaotic and lazy” (2010)

#33

Post by smacktoward »

mhomde wrote: post #13

I 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…

There's a good quote from one of the German generals involved in the plot to kill Hitler, Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_von_Hammerstein-Equord), on that subject:

I divide my officers into four groups. There are clever, diligent, stupid, and lazy officers. Usually two characteristics are combined. Some are clever and diligent -- their place is the General Staff. The next lot are stupid and lazy -- they make up 90 percent of every army and are suited to routine duties. Anyone who is both clever and lazy is qualified for the highest leadership duties, because he possesses the intellectual clarity and the composure necessary for difficult decisions. One must beware of anyone who is stupid and diligent -- he must not be entrusted with any responsibility because he will always cause only mischief.

Re: Magnus Carlsen – “I am chaotic and lazy” (2010)

#34

Post by Retra »

NamTaf wrote: post #25
mhomde wrote: post #13

I 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 awa…

Hard work can also just be mentally exhausting, and it's much easier to just wait for a proper creative mood than to struggle for who-knows-how-long trying to do something you know you can easily do with far less effort at a later time.

Re: Magnus Carlsen – “I am chaotic and lazy” (2010)

#35

Post by alejoriveralara »

mhomde wrote: post #13

I 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…

Well, it's like that Bill Gates quote: "“I choose a lazy person to do a hard job. Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.”

Re: Magnus Carlsen – “I am chaotic and lazy” (2010)

#36

Post by lightyrs »

smacktoward wrote: post #33
mhomde wrote: post #13

I 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…

There's a good quote from one of the German generals involved in the plot to kill Hitler, Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_von_Hammerstein-Equord ), on that subject: I divide my officers into four groups. There are clever, diligent, stupid, and lazy officers. Usually two characteristics are combined. Some are clever and diligent -- their place is the General Staff. The next lot are stup…

I enjoyed this quote. Thank you for exposing me to this man.

Re: Magnus Carlsen – “I am chaotic and lazy” (2010)

#37

Post by CurtMonash »

eddotman wrote: post #31
pbhjpbhj wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm surprised he so candidly rates his own abilities and the abilities of his peers // In chess though you have a ranking, you have past games to compare. It would be silly for him to say "oh, I'm not that good" as there's a measured value which [possibly incorrectly] says he's the world number one. Similarly he spends a lot of his time assessing his opponents, their games, their characters. I found it interesting…

Yeah, I guess he can say a lot based on replays and Elo. Still, I feel like many people would feel awkward saying that they are better than their peers - even if it's true. Well, maybe that's partly a cultural thing; I'm sure it varies in terms of how uncomfortable people are about that sort of thing.

I agree with all sides of this so far. :)

It's empirically checkable how close Carlsen is to Kasparov in skill. If Kasparov was significantly better than Carlsen in some ways, then Carlsen had to be his superior in others.

I'm reminded of a quote by one New England Patriots linebacker about another, when early in his career Jerod Mayo said (and this is approximate, although I'm sure the first three words are precise) "I'm pretty sure I can run faster than Tedy Bruschi, but he's still faster getting to a ball carrier than I am." That was a pretty big complement to Bruschi, about his quick instincts in judging a play.

Re: Magnus Carlsen – “I am chaotic and lazy” (2010)

#38

Post by CurtMonash »

I don't find his disclaimers about his intelligence persuasive. He's obviously a pretty smart guy; at least, he was quite the smart kid.

That said, I had monumentally high IQ scores as a little kid, and they are surely vastly lower in adulthood. So I'm not very eager to be retested either. ;)

Re: Magnus Carlsen – “I am chaotic and lazy” (2010)

#40

Post by jc123 »

netvarun wrote: post #26
tbrake wrote: post #15

He 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 a…

At this point in time, it is probably more for Carlsen to lose than to Caruana winning. If Carlsen feels good, he will train a lot; hopefully it will be an exciting match.
Post reply on HN