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Armenia Makes Chess Compulsory In Schools
Hugh Pickens writes "AFP News reports that chess will become a required subject in primary schools in Armenia, where children from the age of six will learn chess as a separate subject on the curriculum for two hours a week. The lessons, which start later this year, will 'foster schoolchildren's intellectual development' and teach them to 'think flexibly and wisely', says Arman Aivazian, an official at the Ministry of Education. President Serzh Sarkisian, an enthusiastic supporter of the game, has committed around $1.5 million to the scheme in a move to turn the country of 3.2 million people into a global force in the games, says Aivazian. 'Teaching chess in schools will create a solid basis for the country to become a chess superpower.' Armenia's national team won gold at the biennial International Chess Olympiad in both 2006 and 2008, and the country's top player, Levon Aronian, is currently ranked number three in the world."
Seriously, though, this is an intriguing way of fostering logical/analytical/creative thinking. I wonder if there is any peer reviewed literature on the impact of chess on children?
Physicist, consultant, science communicator
How about a video game, like Black Ops?
Creationism is elevated to the status of scientific theory to be taught in schools.
Hmmmm, boy those Armenians sure have their education priorities wrong.
Either the instigator loves chess and is stupid or hates chess and is quite sly..
While I can guarantee that this move will cause a lot of hate towards chess and chess players, it will also most probably foster some quite interesting variants of chess..
I thought only American politicians fancied themselves wizened and experienced educators without ever teaching a group of children anything in their lives. I am relieved to see that this is an international phenomenon that knows no bounds of ignorance. Thank God Armenia doesn't have a gold medal winning Olympiad in Twister!
A little misunderstanding? Galileo and the Pope had a little misunderstanding...
At least it's benign stupidity.
For more reasons then one. First off it's roughly as valid if not more then say algebra and similar subjects when it comes to a career, algebra is specifically taught more or less as a subject that is useless in most lines of work on its own, but teaches the brain to think in ways it will need to. Secondly, it is a competitive activity. Why do Japanese students tend to do so much better then american students, simple they compete in mental subjects, the grades are posted on a giant board for everyone to see, and are ranked from smartest to dumbest. In america grades are confidential, we can't risk students self esteem getting hurt when they are made fun of for being dumb, so we have to hide that from them and allow only 1 subject where they will be mocked for being bad at Gym. Guess what subject our kids focus on and practice to avoid looking dumb in front of their friends, yup we pump out thousands of idiots who are hoping for the 1 in a billion shot at being a professional athlete. If we brought the same criticism to chess, I have a feeling we'd get many more future programmers etc due to their minds actually being trained. Worse case scenario, chess boxing would become the next big thing.
I studied 2 years of chess in Armenia, beginning from grade 4 in a 10 year secondary system. Of course, this was during Soviet times and you were allowed to choose from a range of subjects. It wasn't compulsory. My grades in other subjects improved dramatically as a result.
Really glad this is happening.
Plotting, scheming. Next it'll be mandatory reading of Sun Tzu's Art of War, Animal Farm and 1984. Apple stores burnt to the ground. Halted sales of converse to Hipsters. Mandatory prison sentences for anyone using a laptop at Tzarbucks. These are the children of the future...
Task Mangler
IBM's Deep Blue defeated Garry Kasparov at chess years ago. Teach the Armenian kids how to play Jeopardy!, and let them have a go at IBM's Watson Jeopardy! champ instead!
Um, "What is, a silly idea . . . ?"
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
I think this decision will increase creativity in the students.
"Chess is a foolish expedient for making idle people believe they are doing something very clever when they are only wasting their time." -- George Bernard Shaw.
Non-Linux Penguins ?
If you want to teach them how to think "flexibly and wisely," then just do that directly. Showering them with only slightly relevant subjects that should be optional (advanced math, chess, etc) is rather inefficient when it comes to the amount of time used. I guess it might be a fun way to teach the skills, but I'd say the skills should also be taught in a more direct manner with this being an exercise. I still completely disagree with the act of showering people with advanced math classes merely to "teach" them these skills (which, for many people, it doesn't appear to work, anyway).
Filthy, filthy copyrapists!
I studied 2 years of chess in Armenia, beginning from grade 4 in a 10 year secondary system. Of course, this was during Soviet times and you were allowed to choose from a range of subjects. It wasn't compulsory. My grades in other subjects improved dramatically as a result.
Really glad this is happening.
In Soviet Armenia Chess Move You
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I wonder if the Armenian Government is afraid of producing more Kardashians.
Two reasons;
1. cost / benefit tradeoff
2. restriction of individal freedom
You spend a certain amount of money and a certain amount of time, teaching everyone chess. Would they have done better, say, learning straightforward maths? Armenia is a desperately poor country. There are higher priorities than chess. I'd also say Armenia is desperately poor for a *reason*, and that reason is having a corrupt, non-elected ruling party who go around making arbitrary decisions and enforcing them on everyone else, which makes things like investment and ownership risky propositions.
Secondly, what if I don't WANT to learn chess? what business has anyone else FORCING me to do so? so what if it's 'for my own good'. I can think of a zillion reasons for forcing other people to do things - it's good for your mind, your body, your future, you name it. But what it comes down to is *me* forcing *you* to do what *I* say you should do. What difference does the reason make? if I agree with the reason, maybe I'd do it for myself anyway. Or maybe I'd spend that time and money on other things, because in my individual case, those other choices make more sense. And if I disagree with the reason, then you, matey, are sticking your bloody oar in where it's not wanted.
You know in China, it used to be (don't know if it still is) compulsory to learn Communism, to get your Uni degree?
In Armenia, it's compulsory to learn chess. Ah, but that's okay, right, *because we approve of chess*.
Freedom means no one else forces you to do things. If anyone else can force you for any reason, you're not free. You are their subject. Chess isn't worth that - nothing is.
I for one welcome our chess playing overlords.
I want a list of atrocities done in your name - Recoil
My dad taught me chess when I was around 10 and we played regularly until I was out of high school. In 11th-12th grade we played 2-3-4 hour games almost nightly. I eventually won more than I lost before I moved out.
Of all the things, I think it taught me how to think many steps ahead on projects and tasks and improved my analytical thinking immeasurably.
Kudos for Armenia on this..there is nothing bad about it.
American schools in the south have mandated that schools shall now teach Tiddlywinks in an effort to increase manual dexterity so as to reduce the likelihood of burger flipping injuries for future generations.
The class shall follow directly after the new science curriculum, "7 days, the making of Earth".
The reason there are studies showing playing chess linked with all sorts of critical thinking, mathematical skill and other good traits is because the population they are pulling from would be playing video games or watching tv if not playing chess. By making chess mandatory in school, you're just taking time away from more traditional subjects of study.
They would be better off with 1 hour of critical thinking (adapted to age and level) and 1 hour of chess...
I've often thought that chess should be taught in schools, as I think it's a game everyone should know (and I'm not even close to a chess fanatic), for the following reasons:
1. It teaches people to think about the greater consequences of their actions. Young people in particular can use all the help they can get learning that what may seem like a great idea in the moment could turn out very bad for them in the future.
2. It's probably the most well-known game in the world. When sitting down with a foreigner at some cafe, if there's one game you both know and can be found on the nearby shelves, it's probably chess. You don't even need to speak the same language to play the game.
It doesn't surprise me that this is happening in Armenia, which has a reputation for having some of the most business-savvy people in Europe if I'm not mistaken.
www.gaiageek.com
Im an American public school graduate, so i cannot comment on how chess might be taught in other places around the world. I'd imagine that the most popular strategies for opening, mid and endgames would be rattled off like history facts or formulas out of a math textbook. The student would then be expected to regurgitate answers on a test. This certainly wouldnt provoke analytical thinking in people who are uninterested in the topic.
If their plan is to create the next generation of chess grandmasters, this probably isnt the way to go about it.
whether i prefer a school where my child learns chess or a school where any teacher may indoctrinate my child with fucked up fairytales under the false flag of "we dont know for sure", i prefer the chess school.
Big WTF!?!??! as I read "Armenia Makes Cheese Compulsory In Schools"
*sigh*
"If I have been able to see so far, It is because I went out and bought a damn binoculars" - Ze da Esquina
And getting good grades does not mean dumb. I would say chess is more accurate for determining who is smart and dumb because I'm good at chess.
What have you to say about that?
the strongest possible language that could be used, was used, & reused, & refused, as the sheep continue to flock into the bottomless pit of self-adulation & false gaud prosperity, as their self-chosen rulers direct them to do so using heathen fear based torture etc.... the disappointment can be felt across the universe on this day of disconnection. they still disclaim ANY involvement in all the current fire & brimstone happening in our neighborhood, claiming it's the work of some big headed self-chosen 'science' freaks, whose eternal reward has already been revoked.
disarm?
Many educated people still don't have a job. Why? Because there is no shortage of educated people in the world. There is more a shortage of athletes than of educated people. This is why athletes are more valuable to the world and make more money.
They should learn Advanced Squad Leader. They'd learn how to think critically and gain a little bit of history. :)
Am I the only one that kept reading it as Cheese not chess?
pain & suffering before dying is our trademark. no way of knowing who the resident ama rep. then was, so it must be forensic evidence. not 3rd party? not about virginity? honestly. to reiterate about the p&s, imagine the fulfillment of popping out another one of us with our monkey making portal all plugged, with?? ouch? the official text book claims it never ends for some, but now there's even compelling rebuttal to that?
If there's any game I would want required for students it would be: Poker. (I say this, having been weaned on chess as a kid, and having won a competition in high school.) The problem with chess is at least twofold, in that it has both (a) full information, and (b) no randomness, a bad model for real-world applications, which will not present themselves that way. I'd rather have people playing poker and dealing with (a) probability, (b) partial information, (c) logic and deduction, (d) psychology and reading people, (e) betting and expected values, etc.
The last test I gave in a community college stats class had this question: "True or false: If I roll a fair die 36 times, a one will come up 6 times." Almost everyone in the class said "true". Afterward, I had one of my better students remark with surprise, "So it's not certain?" I'd love to not have to introduce the very idea of probability to students for the first time when they're sophomores in college.
We know where leadership by an anti-intellectual "strongman" who scapegoats minorities and likes boisterous rallies goes
They should add Go (Baduk/Weiqi) to the list and let children choose (if they have any Go playing teachers).
But if it's for (inter)national pride and honor, they'll stick with chess.
Chess, and Go is 10x more important than 'jock' sports to education,
Should be emulated in US and UK!
Chess might be the game with the biggest body of "homework" though. In that case, studying chess would produce results not normally seen in other games without that study element. Also, it might be one of the top 10 board games with the longest shelf life in that at least people don't look at you funny like if you say you're a Chutes & Ladders champion. (Counter example for "mere intervetion and attention etc).
Go could have worked, if say China wanted to do something, because it's about a country's heritage. We all know what Russian-territories did for chess, so it makes perfect sense culturally.
Chess got me through my 20's, and only about age 30 I traded chess for some ten other interests.
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I believe you are sorely mistaken.
Chess is an example of microcosm knowledge much closer to science than most games. You get a growing body of established theory, some of which is occasionally overturned, you get the study of tactical vs strategic styles and the weaknesses and strengths of both, you get logic trees as well as what happens when a terrible first move in the tree leads to "castles of absurdity" and more.
Check out the process we needed to go to for teaching computers chess.
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Oh, this is about the game of chess?
When I read the headline, I thought maybe Armenia was forcing all students to study the records of Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Willie Dixon, Little Walter and Chuck Berry.
Personally, as someone with a USCF rating of 1640, I think Armenia missed an opportunity.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Honestly, I think they should be teaching Math. Unlike Chess or Go (which I play) Math can be directly used in real life, and honestly most adults are incapable of using math in its most basic form (see Innumeracy)
If you need to make students create some form of creative thinking make them understand probability and get them to try to apply it to understand real life problems (such as finding flaws in news articles).
Meanwhile any popular high school kid can tell you there's a correlation between chess and being the kind of unpopular nerd who'll likely die a virgin. So maybe that's the real plot there: they're trying to curb population growth ;)
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
And that's not a hoax.
Armenians are smarter than the average Africans, or even the Americans.
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
Funny you should mention that, because chess was originally not some uber-intellectual study, but just a 4 player strategy game, with units modeled after the armies of their time. You had lots of infantry, horsemen, elephants and chariots. And literally, each of the 4 players would get half the pieces and start off one of the 4 board sides. Then eventually they figured out that since the Internet still wasn't anywhere in sight in their Civ tech tree, they're either stuck with waiting for a 4th player, or they can play with 2 players commanding two of those armies each. In the process, one king became a grand vizier, and the deadliest piece on the board. (Queens had no political or military power, but a grand vizier was one mean mofo.)
Later the elephants unit became "bishop" , the chariots became a "rook", and, of course, the grand vizier became a queen.
So, yeah, I'm not sure why one couldn't play WH40K instead. Take your pick as to whether the tabletop or computer version.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
They no longer have Internet access - what else are they gonna do?
Seems to be another Armenian outstanding chess project: http://www.arshah.com/
Whilst Chess promotes creative thinking, logic and other sorts of strange and whacky buzzwords, it's lacking any school curriculum linked ideas (based on the NSW Primary School Curriculum). I would have thought that if they want to use a game this way, they could have used some sort of D&D or Warhammer style game, where you can link them into parts of the curriculum like Maths or Literacy, hell, you could even throw in Role Playing ideas like creative writing and art, all based on the game they're playing. There's a school that is trialling a similar project using World of Warcraft: http://wowinschool.pbworks.com/w/page/5268731/FrontPage
If they want to use a classical board game, does anyone else think they'd be better off learning Go?
Technoli
There are many subjects of study that can help a child's mind develop. Chess would help develop problem solving and creative thinking. Learning to play a musical instrument (especially Piano), and listening to classical music seems to have a profound effect as well. Physical education is important as well (just look at how many kids in the US are over weight!). I hope the Armenians see beyond the glitter of the 'prizes' and are serious of the student's development and setup a well rounded school program. I wish we would do this in the US.
Do those students in the Armenian equivalent of the ROTC get to substitute Global Thermonuclear War for a nice class of chess instead?
Studying Chess is in no way equivalent to studying Go. The study of Chess is about memorizing openings, endgames, game positions, and strategies; the study of Go is about understanding. Some people like to memorize as much Joseki as they can; but most professionals study and understand some Joseki, then abandon memorization of piles of Joseki and all 25,000 variations because they know how moves play out. More importantly, which josek, tesuji, etc to use depends on the whole board position, and (by extension) on the timing of play; the 3-3 invasion behind the 4-4 early in the opening is a mistake. As far as openings go in general, there are some (nirensen, sanrensen, high/low/mini chinese, etc); but they are rather variable, and the decision on how and when to approach, what approach to use, how to extend, etc is a matter of goals.
There is no book of all good Go openings; the openings are a framework, with many variations, responses, etc. What actually happens is a matter of complex strategy.
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But this will not be enough to erase the reputation created by the Kardashians.
Have gnu, will travel.
I'm thinking the biggest implementation problem with doing the same in the US would be finding good chess teachers, especially for the low level students. Overall, I think it's a great idea.
Aha! And this leads to the deeper truth: you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.
Neither can you make a horse play chess.
It does work differently in blitz chess which does tend to be about playing the opponent - let's agree you are talking more about classical long games. Taking one look at the opponent's rating is vital because while not an "idiot", at least for me it changes my clock usage. If I am rating favored by 300 points I am "supposed to win", so the best long haul is to focus on solidity and staying out of time trouble. If the opponent is a master ahead of me by 300 points, it's more of a gamble against the clock looking for entirely new classes of strategy out of the twilight zone.
Does Go have "Fire" and "Ice" players? "Fire" players are apt to aim an ion cannon at your overall game and escaping into an almost drawn ending a pawn down is pretty good, and you might have one chance at a comeback shot. "Ice" players trick you into over-reaching because no one move does anything exciting but after 30 moves of blandness if you give them two outposts and a doubled pawn you're hosed. Generally I try to play a little faster / pragmatically vs "Ice" players because you need some of your original time bloc left if you expect to be going into move 50.
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Sovetakan azad ashkharh Hayastan,
Bazum darer dazhan champ’a du ants’ar,
K’aj vordik’ k’o mak’ar’ets’in k’ez hamar,
Vor dar’nas du mayr Hayrenik’ hayut’yan.
Krknerg:
P’ar’k’ k’ez, misht p’ar’k’ Sovetakan Hayastan,
Ashkhataser, chartaragorts-shinarar,
Zhoghovrdots’ surb dashink’ov ansasan,
Du tsaghkum yes yev kertum luys apagad.
That "Fire" and "Ice" thing is cute, and immature. Go players who play like that suffer dearly: most high level players will recognize trick plays, and people who try to play based on the opponent's mistakes or weaknesses never progress out of the mid kyu levels (where I am now after 6 months). High level games usually come within a point or two--can you quantify how close the game was in Chess, or is it about "win or lose"? Mind you a 50 point win and a 1 point win are still simply a win.
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As a current American volunteer in the Armenian school system (small, rural village), I can say that while this program is novel and worthwhile, it already takes place in most schools. The physical education teachers as well as many others use chess as a "we have no lesson plan" solution.
Armenia already does a tremendous job of teaching children the skills necessary memorize masses of information, text, etc. but the curriculum drastically lacks any sort of critical thinking or practical life-skills component. When my students were asked how to prevent HIV/AIDS, they responded "Use a condom." When asked what a condom was and how to use one, they responded, "I have no idea. Is it a medicine you swallow?"
While the program itself is a good idea, it does little to augment the current curriculum. Perhaps it would be more effective in an American classroom.
Seriously, its the least interesting game in the universe. For a turn based war sim, it fails at the biggest point: No two armies are ever equal. You cant advance in abiility, you cant make an orderly retreat, you cant build trenches or fortifications. Because so often I just send my king out (on the back of a peasant; thats why he cant move very far) so a pawn can stomp all over him. Meh! Boring boring BORING game that has been turned into a fetish thats even more sad than the MMORPGs. The Original Empire Earth (and its expansion) are leagues ahead of chess. (empire earth 2 and 3 suck.) How do I represent an atomic bomber in chess? I tried dropping a rock on the field but that got me kicked out of chess club. Knocked their king down though, so I won. Sore losers.
"That "Fire" and "Ice" thing is cute, and immature."
Your problem is that you master neither chess nor go.
Didn't your master tell you "shut up till your dan; speak short after that"?
Didn't Lenin make chess a compulsory part of the Soviet educational curriculum shortly after the Russian Revolution, on the grounds that it taught the kinds of strategic thinking that are invaluable to revolutionaries? I don't know how long chess remained a school subject, but the USSR did produce a lot of chessmasters.
The Armenian national anthem, how quaint.
Forcing people to do something they may not care about in the name of national pride I think is quite dubious on moral grounds.
If the goal is to help students think there is no reason to single out chess. Some students may prefer "Go".
South korea is known internationally for their starcraft prowess should they force everyone to play starcraft for 2 hours a day to ensure continuance of their world dominance?
Somehow this escaped notice in the article, but surely Garry Kasparov's legacy is part of the Armenian psyche, as he is half-Armenian.
Many are quick to jump on to silly fads
Wouldn't it make more sense to force babies to learn Bridge instead of Go Fish? Really, though ... chess? Chess??!!
Go, aka weiqi or baduk, now... That makes some sense, and despite recent news releases, Go as played by humans has not yet succumbed to computers, even those using Monte Carlo algorithms.
http://senseis.xmp.net/
http://senseis.xmp.net/?MoGo%2FPlayingStrength
``Tension, apprehension & dissension have begun!'' - Duffy Wyg&, in Alfred Bester's _The Demolished Man_
Yikes! I thought I was referring to Alexi Shirov and Kramnik.
I don't have the math chops to do it right, but you in fact can quantify how close a win or a loss is in chess, which some say is why chess is just barely going to lose to Go in the big picture this century.
A good Master combo puts you up "+4" which is about a piece and a pawn. Once it resolves all the way, the response is typically "resigns". (You get some ten moves to clarify a point or maybe do a favor for the audience, but that's it.) The chief criterion of beauty for "Fire" in chess is how anti-intuitive it looks at first, second, or third wave until when it does finally resolve the master emerges with the win.
Modern analysis is showing that typically when searched with a computer there are some one-three chances where a perfect opponent could theoretically have escaped, but once those chances were gone, the rest runs like a nuclear reactor and you just hang on for a ride.
The Ice players (the Russian term is "Play for Two Results (not to lose) play for steady increases of tenth-pawn positional advantages until finally the opponent just misses some one of twenty semi-required moves and then goes down a pawn. Then the Ice player is now +1.6 and wins the endgame.
Something about standard deviations or calculus 2nd derivatives/Jerkiness quantify the result and these are the methods the comps use. You can set them to your choice of "go for combo with a subtle flaw to maximize win potential" or "minimize losing positions".
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
I'm a geek, work as a computer engineer, minored in math, blah blah blah. I don't like chess. I never cared to learn the tricks, patterns, the playstyle, or anything else related to the game. Do I know the game and can play by the rules? Sure, but I think that other games need to be included as well.
That all sounds very complex and confusing. The only thing I got out of your first description was "they're either trying to overwhelm their opponent or trick them into a mistake."
Interesting (to me), Dan level players play mid-kyu and high-dan play high-kyu on high handicap waiting for them to make a mistake, but that's usually the only time that tactic is employed; this is because the handicap gives you an unwinnable game, and the only way to win is for your opponent to fail, so you play patiently and wait for them to play suboptimal moves. The direct strategy for high dan in Go high handicap games is to start complicated fights that they have the technical ability to understand, with the hopes that their lower level opponent won't be able to work it out: every play is a correct play (trick plays, when spotted, are typically devastating for the person trying the smoke-and-mirrors thing), but you're just too weak to respond correctly.
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> Teaching children how to play chess will only
> improve their skills in one area - playing chess..
no - that's wrong - learning chess helps you think clearly in other parts of your life too,
and it expurges faulty reasoning. if you dont think so - try it. but don't take my word
for it -- as Benjamin Franklin wrote in 1750 in 'The Morals of Chess':
The Game of Chess is not merely an idle amusement;
several very valuable qualities of mind, useful in the course
of human life, are to be acquired and strengthened by it, so
as to become habits ready on all occasions; for life is
a kind of Chess...By playing at Chess then, we may learn:
1st, Foresight, which looks a little into futurity, and considers
the consequences that may attend an action.
2nd, Circumspection, which surveys the whole Chess-board,
or scene of action—the relation of the several pieces and
their situations...
3rd, Caution, not to make our moves too hastily...
--
if we could cultivate just those qualities in our schools, maybe we'd avert other disasters down the line..
2cents
jp
Yugoslavia did this as well before the end of the cold war.
First let me say I like your shifts in perspective, and the main reason I don't play go is that I feel like I'm out of time to pick up a whole second game competently.
The structure of the two games leads to different insights. Chess has no game-level handicap, only ability based pairings and clock times. Go doesn't have Chess's problem with draws. So Chess has a "metagame information problem" where the game may not make sense until you look at tourney score notes and it says X player was in a Must Win scenario 3 games in a row to win money. Meanwhile Kramnik developed his style to win an entire match one win ahead because it forces the opponent to rock the boat whereupon his boat takes on water.
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
You know, it's folks like YOURSELF, that were probably HEAVILY exemplary in your nation deciding to implement this! Think about it - a few hundred or thousand like you, starts to look "statistically significant" & all that!
Chess DOES help with "analytical thinking" & strategy, w/ out question:
"I studied 2 years of chess in Armenia, beginning from grade 4 in a 10 year secondary system. Of course, this was during Soviet times and you were allowed to choose from a range of subjects. It wasn't compulsory. My grades in other subjects improved dramatically as a result. Really glad this is happening." - by Renderer of Evil (604742) on Monday April 18, @03:47AM (#35853124) Homepage
Seriously awesome, & I am GLAD for you all that it's happening in your nation... chess? The BEST GAME EVER MADE!
(I've played LITERALLY 1,000's of games the past 10 yrs. with a former tenant of mine who had rented from me, & we had EXCELLENT games... he was GOOD! I played the MOST w/ he, glad I did, he was great (we split the games nearly down the middle too, he was beating the HELL out of me intiially, but I passed him @ the very end)).
Playing diff. people, you pick up "new ways of thiinking" too!
HOWEVER - What I love about it, best? It's NEVER THE SAME GAME TWICE, & you either THINK, or sink.
APK
P.S.=> It does help decision making & being 'smart' about choices you make, and it's FUN too (especially pulling a "3 move gambit" on someone... lol, 1 night I was drinking beers, & my nephew (who has beaten me 33 games of 100, not bad really, considering he hasn't played QUITE as much as I have & is literally less than 1/2 my age)... he starts "ribbing on me", saying I was "NEUTRALIZED" from drinking beers!
Yea, it ticks me off... he kept on "needling me" as I sat on the couch about that, & challenged me to chess... what happened? 3 MOVE GAMBIT CHECKMATE... lol!
Yea, "Uncle AL" showed his nephew just WHO was "neutralized" alright... lol! Ah, memories of CHESS! apk
Scanning article titles in my RSS reader, I read this at first as "Armenia makes *Cheese* Compulsory in Schools". As a fan of delicious cheese, I'm a bit disappointed now.
Man, everyone's ganging up on the Mets...
First let me say I like your shifts in perspective, and the main reason I don't play go is that I feel like I'm out of time to pick up a whole second game competently.
My shifts in perspective are usually due to a failed understanding of the world. My losses in Go, on the other hand, are usually due to personal flaws; but a failed understanding of the game plays a large part. I may be 2 or 3 stones stronger if I wasn't so mindless, and I play sloppy against weak opponents.
A game-level handicap in Chess would be difficult. In Go, every piece does the same thing; whereas in Chess, losing a Queen may be preferable to losing a Knight if I can make a game-winning strategy with no Queen but not without the Knight, despite the Queen being more powerful. Further, having two moves in a row in the beginning of Chess is not necessarily as helpful as you'd like to think, and probably not in any way quantifiable; while two moves in a row in Go is quantifiable, and even devastating (Chinese rules where you can put your handicap stones anywhere; I prefer Japanese fixed handicap positions, because a Chinese style 4 stone handicap to me is 8 stones in strength, as I am really strong at the opening for my level). In Japanese rules, handicap stones are fixed; and a rank is defined by handicap anyway (if you can beat someone on X rank with 2 handicap stones 50% of the time, you are 2 ranks below them).
So of course in Go we have a rough idea of what a handicap does, whereas in Chess there's no such thing. The best you could do is make up a list of standard Chess positions playing off certain openings that are favorable to White by an established value, and play from there (which is roughly analogous to Japanese handicap rules in Go).
You never had time to learn Go. In 4000 years... the first 9 dan was about 50 years ago, nobody had ever advanced to that level of skill yet. And we're still searching. The game is too deep, there is more to know than can be known. That said, a few Chess grand masters were also Go players. I was 10k in Go (fairly competent) in 3 months, but I've been stalled for 2 months now.
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