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

41–50 of 92 posts

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

#41

Post by ryan-allen »

Retra wrote: post #34
NamTaf wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I read the book end to end, reviewed in this post (which was on HN ages ago):

http://www.brainpickings.org/2013/04/23/daily-rituals-mason-...

It's about great people and how they structured their days. What seems to be fairly consistent was that they were often 'on and off' as well, but to try to ensure that they did actually get work done consistently was to work a) every day and b) not for too long. So each day wasn't a slog like the usual 9 to 5 treadmill, but each day gave them enough space to get some of their best work done and have enough rest to be able to do it every day of the week, every day of the year.

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

#42

Post by siglesias »

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…

How did this work out for him?

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

#43

Post by rithmoflife »

mmanfrin wrote: post #8
gargantian wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not a good analogy. For all I know after a day's training Jordan sat around admiring his build and height. I think reverse Dunning-Kruger is much more likely in Magnus's case.

Actually I think what you're referencing is still Dunning-Kruger: "Conversely, highly skilled individuals tend to underestimate their relative competence, erroneously assuming that tasks which are easy for them are also easy for others." (from wiki)

More specifically, it's the Downing effect: "One of the main effects of illusory superiority in IQ is the Downing effect. This describes the tendency of people with a below average IQ to overestimate their IQ, and of people with an above average IQ to underestimate their IQ." (also from wiki)

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

#44

Post by FatalLogic »

siglesias wrote: post #42
smacktoward wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

How did this work out for him?

He warned against the rise of Hitler, actively conspired against the Nazis at great personal risk, and helped Jews avoid deportation or arrest. He died of natural causes in 1943.

You could say that he tried to do the right thing.

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

#45

Post by [deleted] »

siglesias wrote: post #42
smacktoward wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

How did this work out for him?

[deleted]

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

#46

Post by baddox »

calvins wrote: post #27
jonny_eh wrote: post #10

Earlier 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…

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.

Is the ratings system really that useful even at lower levels? Is there not a lot of non-transitivity, where three players would consistently beat the next like A>B>C>A?

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

#48

Post by mcv »

sayemm wrote: post #5

Interesting how he says that extremely high IQ may even be a disadvantage: And that’s precisely what would be terrible. Of course it is important for a chess player to be able to concentrate well, but being too intelligent can also be a burden. It can get in your way. I am convinced that the reason the Englishman John Nunn never became world champion is that he is too clever for that. At the age of 15, Nunn started s…

I find it odd and funny that he considers a career in mathematics a distraction. He later says there's more in life than chess, but in this quote he doesn't seem to realize that.

I doubt I'd want to be world champion if it required giving up all those "distractions".

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

#49

Post by amelius »

adamnemecek wrote: post #9
jonny_eh wrote: post #6

I'd love to see Carlsen play a modern game like Hearthstone or Magic. Even just to hear his thoughts on them.

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.

> The issue with a game like Magic is that you can play perfectly and still lose.

This may also hold for chess.

Post reply on HN