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Chess

A brief explanation and my journey with chess.

Chess is one of the world's most popular games, and it is played by millions worldwide every day, myself included. It originated in Southern Europe in the 15th century, but it was adapted from an Indian game called chaturanga which is much older in origin. The first recorded game of chaturanga was in the 6th century, so it really gives you an idea of how long chess has been around for. Even the modern version of chess has been around for almost 600 years. There have been hundreds of new openings and strategies that have been developed over time, and new ways to play are popping up almost every year. It has become a dynamic game, and it is always fun to see how each new World Champion develops their own unique spin on the game

Modern Day Chess

Today, chess is a very different game than when it first began. It is governed by an international chess federation called FIDE. They determine the World Champion and all the rules that they must follow in order to win, including the time limits enforced on each game. For example, classical chess is considered to be an hour and a half time control, meaning each player has 90 minutes to think and play. The current World Champion is Magnus Carlsen, who is known for his extremely creative and non-orthodox play style. One of the reasons he is such a strong player is the emergence of chess-playing machines. These AI can determine the best move to play in any position in an instant, and have far more skill and computing power than any grand master, including the world champion Magnus Carlsen. However, the top players can use AI to their advantage. For example, Carlsen knows he has an upcoming match, so he will upload all of his opponents' games into one of these high level AI machines, and it will analyze the opponent's playing style. Basically, he can practice against his opponent as many times as he wants before the match, and then memorize the lines that he thinks work best. Come game time, if everything goes according to plan, the entire match has been memorized already. Of course, the opponent is doing this strategy as well. This is where Carlsen's creative play style comes in handy. Since the way he plays is so unexpected, the prep work done by his opponent does not even help, and Carlsen's own creative style triumphs.

My Journey with Chess

I first started playing Chess as a kid, when my father taught me how to play. I was never very good, and he routinely beat me which made it considerably less fun. I still enjoyed the game, and continued to play here and there. Then Queen's Gambit came out, timed right when everyone had all the time in the world due to the pandemic. A lot of my friends got really into it so I did as well, and played so much that now I can routinely beat my father and I don't even have to pay attention. However, the more I played, the more I realized I am not even that good, just barely above average. I still thought it was really fun to play against actually good players, and even though I lose all the time, the experience is one of the best. Nowadays, I still play for fun but less competitive and often under the influence (highly recommend). 

Comments

  1. UnknownFebruary 27, 2022 at 10:43 PM

    Hi Dante,

    Thank you for sharing about your experience and knowledge of chess. I couldn't believe that a game thousands of years old has survived to modern times. However, I think the AI chess practice is cheating because you get unlimited attempts to beat your opponent. Chess is all about having the strongest player outthink the other, now a robot is doing it for them. Also, I saw that this kid in India beat Magnus during a chess match, which was pretty cool.

    - Ellie

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousFebruary 28, 2022 at 12:28 AM

    Hi Dante,

    Your post was very insightful on chess. I myself have never played. My younger brother got into playing chess after watching "The Queens Gambit". My brother tried to teach me how to play, but I think I am more of a checkers type of player. It's cool that you started playing chess at such a young age. After reading your post I think I might give chess another go!

    -Angel Perez

    ReplyDelete

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