Chess

Quote from nitro:

No I don't. I am glad that in such an expensive city, people still find a way to make chess work.


Then I would be the first. I have no problem with that.


Chess attracts all sorts of people. Thankfully, it has shown to be a sanctuary for people that have nothing, or have had a rough life, or even some mild form of mental illness. I know children whose life has been turned around by chess. Chess is extremely popular in prisons, where it has been shown to heal the criminal mind. On the other side of the spectrum, you have professional people that come down and play blitz during their lunch time. Chess has no bias or prejudice.



Yep. Washington square chess players, if they can make a buck here or there for their smokes, they are happy.


"Nosce te ipsum"


For me it has been a life long love affair. So few of us can make a really good living from the game, that we rationalize giving it up. I gave competitive chess up because competitive bridge suited my psychology better. But I hold chess in the highest esteem for the sheer pleasure and beauty that is the game. It asks nothing of me, and no matter where I go in the world, I know that I can walk into a chess club and have built in friends.


Chess is a friend, an art, a science, a sport, a social event, to me. Chess, like life, is what we make it.
More...

As I said, you like to romanticize. I'm not sure about the therapeutic claims you make about chess, but if I were imprisoned and had few choices regarding the use of time, I would find chess an attractive way to mentally escape from the situation. It is, however, just a game.

Responding to your post yesterday did inspire me to check out the scene at my old chess club last night. I chatted a bit with some old timers and felt no urge to play. Afterwards I felt a satisfaction that a recovered drug addict might feel after being offered a hit and realizing he no longer has a taste for it.
 
Chess prodigy "Mozart of Chess" Magnus Carlsen to appear on "60 Minutes"

<embed src="http://cnettv.cnet.com/av/video/cbsnews/atlantis2/cbsnews_player_embed.swf" scale="noscale" salign="lt" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" background="#333333" width="425" height="279" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" FlashVars="si=254&&contentValue=50120070&shareUrl=http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7398968n" />
 
Net prequel to the above:

<embed src="http://cnettv.cnet.com/av/video/cbsnews/atlantis2/cbsnews_player_embed.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" background="#333333" width="425" height="279" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" FlashVars="si=254&contentValue=50120026&shareUrl=http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504803_162-57379319-10391709/1972-chess-champ-bobby-fischer-on-60-minutes/?tag=cbsnewsMainColumnArea.1" />
 
This video is a riot. A top grandmaster playing a computer with real chess pieces, the computer making its moves using a robot arm! You can tell that Grischuck is a bit rattled by the whole contraption. It is really interesting to watch how accurate the robot arm is:

<object style="height: 390px; width: 640px"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9fXuREZu_BQ?version=3&feature=player_embedded"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/9fXuREZu_BQ?version=3&feature=player_embedded" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="360"></object>

At the end of the video, two computer/robotic arms go at it :D :D
 
Love this thread. Thanks Nitro.

I wondered if you play chess online, or can suggest good places to play?
I was also considering purchasing DeepFritz or Chessmaster or some other chess program. Do you hold any views on the relative merits of these? (I am broadly speaking a beginner, given that I haven't played for twenty odd years)
 
Quote from nitro:

Net prequel to the above:

<embed src="http://cnettv.cnet.com/av/video/cbsnews/atlantis2/cbsnews_player_embed.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" background="#333333" width="425" height="279" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" FlashVars="si=254&contentValue=50120026&shareUrl=http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504803_162-57379319-10391709/1972-chess-champ-bobby-fischer-on-60-minutes/?tag=cbsnewsMainColumnArea.1" />
More...
thanks for this video, Nitro. Indeed a nice thread on chess. I used to play chess in my student days, and really enjoyed Fischer's games. The book "My 60 memorable games" in which Fischer himself explains the games is really fantastic.
 
Kasparov speaking at the recent Alan Turing conference in Manchester,
"The Reconstruction of Turing's 'Paper Machine'":-

http://videolectures.net/turing100_kasparov_friedel_paper_machine/

At the end of the lecture Kasparov plays a short game against Turing's chess program, which although fairly primitive by today's chess program standards, was designed before computers were invented, itself a feat.

BTW, I ended up purchasing ChessMaster software...when I have mastered the basics I will move to Deep Fritz or a more advanced chess software.
 
Imagine a school where the cool kids are on the chess team. Welcome to IS 318

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/tFzUYRC3_H8?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top