On December 23 2009 13:43 Athos wrote:
Thanks for all the responses. I should have clarified a few things. Thing is, he does play chess but he has no formal training, he's never been coached and he's completely self taught. He used to play on yahoo chess for a while, and he's admitted to playing roughly a thousand games on zone.com so I guess he's had his fair share of practice. However, there's no doubt in my mind he is talented. It just always came of as weird to me that he never bothered to learn formal openings or chess terminology, I guess everything he learned just came from playing the game.

As for him beating the chessmaster, I don't think he cheated because he's played the same we he's played in every game. It was definitely not set to full power on my old crappy computer and I was just using the instant recommended move. I think I could show you guys some games I've played against him, and maybe from that you can figure out how strong he is.

yeah show us games between you two

eshlow

United States5210 Posts

December 23 2009 14:28 GMT

#65

Basically, if you want to be world class at something you have to not only have talent but you ALSO have to start at a pretty young age.

Of course, talent doesn't mean you'll be elite in the end because hard work is also needed. But those with talent and hard work there's no way for people with hard work to match them.

My brother recently won $7500 at a chess tourney, and has some college scholarships to UMBC and texas for chess... but he doesn't really care that much about playing chess professionally. If you don't have the hard work to go along with your talent then it's a moot point.

citi.zen

2509 Posts

December 23 2009 15:07 GMT

#66

Good old nature vs. nurture.

leejas

United States440 Posts

December 23 2009 15:15 GMT

#67

Haha this reminds me so much of Initial D, but chess instead of cars.

Athos

United States2484 Posts

January 04 2010 07:45 GMT

#68

Figured I'd bump this because I recently played some more games with him and remembered to save the move data this time. One of the games he accidentally sac'd a piece yet he still won with superior play. There's no doubt in my mind I played like shit during these games, but I would appreciate any feedback I can get. We don't really play with time controls since we're friends, but roughly each game took about 30 minutes.

Anyways, I can post the move notations here I guess.

Game 1:

;White: Athos
;Black: dthhck
;Date: Sun Jan 03 21:54:22 PST 2010
+ Show Spoiler +

1. e2-e4 c7-c5
2. g1-f3 b8-c6
3. d2-d4 c5xd4
4. f3xd4 g8-f6
5. b1-c3 e7-e6
6. d4xc6 b7xc6
7. e4-e5 f6-d5
8. c3xd5 e6xd5
9. c2-c4 d5xc4
10. f1xc4 d8-a5+
11. c1-d2 a5xe5+
12. d1-e2 e5xe2+
13. e1xe2 d7-d5
14. c4-d3 c8-g4+
15. f2-f3 g4-e6
16. a1-c1 c6-c5
17. d3-b5+ e6-d7
18. b5xd7+ e8xd7
19. e2-f2 f8-d6
20. h1-e1 a8-b8
21. f2-g1 b8xb2
22. d2-c3 b2xa2
23. c3xg7 h8-g8
24. g7-h6 g8xg2+
25. g1-h1 g2xh2+
26. h1-g1 h2xh6
27. e1-e7+ d6xe7
28. c1xc5 e7xc5+
29. g1-f1 h6-h1++

Game 2:
;White: Athos
;Black: dthhck
;Date: Sun Jan 03 22:06:39 PST 2010
+ Show Spoiler +

1. e2-e4 f7-f5
2. b1-c3 e7-e6
3. d2-d4 d7-d5
4. e4xd5 e6xd5
5. g1-f3 f8-b4
6. d1-e2+ g8-e7
7. c1-g5 o-o
8. o-o-o c7-c6
9. a2-a3 b4-d6
10. g5xe7 d6xe7
11. d1-e1 f8-e8
12. e2-d2 b7-b5
13. f1-d3 a7-a5
14. c1-b1 b5-b4
15. c3xd5 c6xd5
16. d3-b5 c8-d7
17. e1xe7 e8xe7
18. b5xd7 b8xd7
19. f3-g5 b4xa3
20. d2-f4 d8-b6
21. b2-b3 a5-a4
22. g5xh7 a4xb3
23. f4xf5 b3xc2+
24. b1xc2 a8-c8+
25. c2-d2 b6-b2+
26. d2-d1 c8-c1++

Game 3:
;White: Athos
;Black: dthhck
;Date: Sun Jan 03 22:33:00 PST 2010
+ Show Spoiler +

1. e2-e4 g8-f6
2. e4-e5 f6-e4
3. d2-d3 e4-c5
4. b2-b4 c5-a4
5. c2-c4 a4-b2
6. c1xb2 e7-e6
7. a2-a3 f8-e7
8. g1-f3 o-o
9. d3-d4 d7-d5
10. c4-c5 a7-a5
11. b4-b5 c7-c6
12. b5-b6 b8-d7
13. f1-d3 f7-f6
14. o-o f6xe5
15. f3xe5 d7xe5
16. d4xe5 e7xc5
17. d1-c2 c5xb6
18. d3xh7+ g8-h8
19. h7-d3 d8-h4
20. g2-g3 h4-g5
21. b2-c1 g5xe5
22. c1-b2 e5-g5
23. b2-c1 g5-f6
24. c1-b2 e6-e5
25. b1-d2 c8-h3
26. c2-b3 b6xf2+
27. g1-h1 h3xf1
28. a1xf1 f6-e6
29. d2-e4 f2-a7
30. f1xf8+ a8xf8
31. e4-g5 e6-g4
32. b3xb7 g4-d1+
33. h1-g2 f8-f2+
34. g2-h3 d1-h5++

Game 4: (probably my best effort)
;White: Athos
;Black: dthhck
;Date: Sun Jan 03 23:21:13 PST 2010
+ Show Spoiler +

1. e2-e4 e7-e5
2. g1-f3 b8-c6
3. c2-c3 g8-f6
4. d2-d4 f6xe4
5. d4-d5 c6-e7
6. f3xe5 e7-g6
7. e5xg6 h7xg6
8. f1-d3 e4-c5
9. d3-c2 f8-d6
10. d1-d4 d8-f6
11. c1-e3 f6xd4
12. e3xd4 e8-f8
13. b1-d2 h8-h5
14. c3-c4 b7-b5
15. b2-b3 c8-a6
16. o-o-o a8-e8
17. g2-g3 b5xc4
18. b3xc4 c7-c6
19. d2-b3 c5xb3+
20. a2xb3 c6xd5
21. d4xa7 d6-a3+
22. c1-b1 d5xc4
23. b3xc4 a6xc4
24. b1-a1 h5-b5
25. d1-b1 b5-a5
26. b1-b8 a3-d6+
27. a1-b2 d6xb8

nebffa

Australia776 Posts

January 04 2010 08:37 GMT

#69

im kind of like your friend, in that people think im really talented. i definately excel at maths/science subjects. honestly, i think that people who say i, and others like me (please ignore any tone of arrogance that you might read in the post, im not trying to sound uppity, just hopefully insightful), are naturally talented dont fully understand our mindset.

our minds are extremely logical, and because of this it allows to think through problems, or new concepts ourselves, rather than needing a teacher to show us (seriously, youve been through high school, youll know how easily a teacher's skill can make or break the average student's mark - that just shows the dependence of the student on the teacher).

the fact that i can understand some sciency things so well seems mystical to some of my friends. but im not some kind of prodigy. i have just cultured a very good mindset in myself. ANYONE can do this, but most people don't believe it because of years of being cultured to their own mindset that people are smarter than them, theres nothing they can do about it, and at the end of the day it makes them feel better.

do you think your friend is smart just by *completely* natural aptitude? let me tell you that this is a load of crap. i totally get how this misconception arises though. these 'smart' people dont tend to admit just how much work they do, instead saying something like o yeah i dont really do that much work. something along those lines.

maybe they do not do as much writing, or something like that. but i will bet my bottom dollar, time and time again, that they are doing more thinking than you. they will think why the differentiation from first principles work as theyre catching the tram home, or why the R U R' U R U U R' algorithm works the way it does on a rubiks cube.

i dont think ill spend more time trying to quantify the gist of what im saying, because i dont think its useful past this point. hopefully you get what im saying. people CAN become smart if they want. its all about what mentality you foster: the can-do attitude, or the can't-do.

Zurles

United Kingdom1659 Posts

January 04 2010 18:15 GMT

#70

I bet he's terrible.

Prev 1 2 3 4 All

Please or register to reply.

Live Events Refresh