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World Chess Champion Faces American Challenger, Grueling First Game, and Woody Harrelson (chess.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the check-mates dept.

"It's the biggest chess event of the year as World Champion Magnus Carlsen will try to defend his title against the American challenger Fabiano Caruana," reports Chess.com -- which is webcasting game two right now (7 a.m. PST, 3 p.m. London/GMT).

After seven grueling hours and 115 moves on Friday, the first game of their 12-game competition ended in a draw -- though challenger Caruana acknowledged that "I was quite fortunate to end up with a draw... I was outplayed after the opening... I think I was clearly losing, for a long time I was losing." This was not the most pleasant experience to defend this extremely long game with white. I think I was quite fortunate to end up with a draw... There was definitely a lot of nerves. It is a very different feeling playing the first game of a world championship match.... Normally with white you shouldn't be too happy with a draw, but considering my position I am very happy. I am relieved to have escaped."
Slate reports Caruana has spent $50,000 on chess coaching just in 2018 in hopes of claiming the 1 million euro prize. Ironically, the match's "ceremonial starter", actor Woody Harrelson, bungled Caruana's first move by knocking over his king -- and then by moving the wrong pawn. "Caruana was ready to accept the mistake and continue with the match before officials gave Harrelson a third chance and he finally moved the correct piece."

Defending champion Magnus Carlsen later admitted that "I couldn't quite find the knockout before the time trouble.... I tried to find a way to exchange in order to play for a win, but I couldn't find it. Then I just moved around hoping to force a blunder, but I didn't succeed."

37 of 62 comments (clear)

  1. A better icon is needed by Alain+Williams · · Score: 2

    showing Pacman next to a top chess story is insulting.

    1. Re:A better icon is needed by ffkom · · Score: 1

      Why is it insulting? Computers learned to play chess better than humans before they became able to play Pacman better than humans.

    2. Re:A better icon is needed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Because us chess players are intellectually superior to petty, child like video games, and deserve stories about our love to be highlighted with iconography that illustrates the illustrious position that chess holds over all other forms of game.

    3. Re:A better icon is needed by Crash+Dummy+Redux · · Score: 1

      IBM should stop teaching an AI to play Pac Man without eating the ghosts and teach it how to play chess without jumping the queen.

    4. Re: A better icon is needed by Type44Q · · Score: 1

      learned

      So you've never a programming class.

    5. Re:A better icon is needed by SlaveToTheGrind · · Score: 2

      the illustrious position that chess holds over all other forms of game

      Go called -- it wants its elitist snobbery back.

    6. Re: A better icon is needed by ffkom · · Score: 4, Funny

      learned

      So you've never a programming class.

      You are right - I never attended programming classes, such were not existent at the time when I started programming, we had to get our knowledge from spec sheets and a few existing books.

      But I did attend to English lessons in school, where I learned that sentences should contain verbs.

    7. Re: A better icon is needed by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 1

      ut I did attend to English lessons in school, where I learned that sentences should contain verbs.

      Sometimes, but not always. Just as there can be inferred subjects from the larger context, verbs can be inferred.

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    8. Re: A better icon is needed by Calydor · · Score: 1

      As long as you can put in "taught", "taken", and "nuked" and the sentence would keep making sense, then no, the verb can't just be inferred.

      You accidentally an entire word.

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    9. Re: A better icon is needed by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 1

      Oh yeah, that's not an example of a sentence where it was proper. (Although the omitted verb is clearly "taught", "taken" or "attended", which are synonymous with this usage.)

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    10. Re: A better icon is needed by Paradise+Pete · · Score: 1

      If we're talking about complete sentences, they ALWAYS contain a verb.

      No.

  2. Kingpin by Misagon · · Score: 2

    Someone please tell Woody Harrelson that chess is not like bowling.
    You are not supposed to knock over your king ...

    --
    "We mustn't be caught by surprise by our own advancing technology" -- Aldous Huxley
    1. Re:Kingpin by Paradise+Pete · · Score: 1

      Someone please tell Woody Harrelson that chess is not like bowling.

      He's about 1400 strength, so he's better at chess than the vast majority of slashdotters.

  3. Re:"White Men Can't Chess"??? by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · · Score: 1

    Well ya, ever since he killed that man in a freak chess accident...

  4. Re: "White Men Can't Chess"??? by Type44Q · · Score: 1

    Bowling is more his thing.

  5. who picked woody? by nimbius · · Score: 1

    the guy doesnt even play chess. why not Stephen Fry? Madonna? Mel Brooks? Chris rock? or heck, even the great Bill Cosby plays chess!.....

    hold on a minute my husband just informed me of some very important news about Bill Cosby. it was his character Cliff Huxtable that played chess! not Cosby. So maybe hes not such a great pick

    --
    Good people go to bed earlier.
    1. Re:who picked woody? by Kjella · · Score: 2

      hold on a minute my husband just informed me of some very important news about Bill Cosby. it was his character Cliff Huxtable that played chess! not Cosby. So maybe hes not such a great pick

      Plus he'd need really long hands to make his move from inside a prison cell. Then again...

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      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    2. Re:who picked woody? by Paradise+Pete · · Score: 1

      the guy doesnt even play chess.

      Yes he does. Why do you think he doesn't?

  6. Potentially a great match by john83 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Carlsen is a remarkable player. He's been the top rated player since 2010, mostly by a margin comparable to Kasparov at his peak, and he's been World Champion since 2013. Carlsen's recent form hasn't been quite to his usual standards, and Caruana has matched that dip with gains of his own. In terms of elo rating, the statistical ranking used in chess, they're currently neck and neck. This means that an outright match victory (it's best of 12 games) would probably make Caruana not just World Champion but also the world #1 ranked player for the first time. At 27 and 26 years old respectively, they could be duking it out for a long time to come - pro chess players can retain almost all of their peak strength well into their 40s.

    --
    Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
    1. Re:Potentially a great match by ffkom · · Score: 5, Insightful

      At 27 and 26 years old respectively, they could be duking it out for a long time to come - pro chess players can retain almost all of their peak strength well into their 40s.

      Yes, but how boring would that be? I mean, those are two Mr. Nice Guys just playing chess. Where is the drama of a Bobby Fisher vs. Boris Spassky match in that? The crowd prefers weird cranks battling for the title!

    2. Re:Potentially a great match by ffkom · · Score: 1

      I remember at least Robert Hübner, who lost competitions because he refused to hand over the game script because he insistent to have a "copyright" on the series of moves, and if I correctly remember he repeatedly threw hissy fits about "things making noises" at competition locations.

    3. Re:Potentially a great match by Dutch+Gun · · Score: 1

      Yes, but how boring would that be?

      Only to people who don't really care about chess, I'd think.

      --
      Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
    4. Re:Potentially a great match by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1

      Where is the drama of a Bobby Fisher vs. Boris Spassky match in that?

      1972. Half of people were ever too young or not yet even born to appreciate the match.

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  7. Slashdot, give us the gory details! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Who designed their clothes? What color were their phones? Any crazy hair styles?

  8. What about a neural network AI? by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 2

    Remember how the world champ of Go was obliterated by the "alien" neural network based AI? How do you think it would work out if we applied the same training concepts to chess? I know Deep Blue was new and amazing but I feel like we have advanced to the point where Deep Blue could get destroyed by a completely unconventional approach through neural network AI. I want to see that. I want to see human players completely obliterated and left dumbfounded.

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    1. Re:What about a neural network AI? by religionofpeas · · Score: 1

      Go ahead: http://play.lczero.org/

      Start with easy mode (computer looks at 1 node before playing a move). If all 4 modes are too easy, download the binary yourself, and play on GPU.

    2. Re:What about a neural network AI? by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 2

      Deep Blue is ancient history. You can download and run chess programs on your cell phone that would obliterate Deep Blue 100 times out of 100, and of course, do the same to any human player.

    3. Re:What about a neural network AI? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Seems like you missed Google's AlphaZero.

    4. Re:What about a neural network AI? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      They did just that with AlphaZero. It taught itself chess from first principles by playing against itself, and within a single day improved so much it was stronger than humans and all other chess programs. One grandmaster said it was like playing against a superior alien species.

    5. Re:What about a neural network AI? by Nivag064 · · Score: 1

      Remember how the world champ of Go was obliterated by the "alien" neural network based AI? How do you think it would work out if we applied the same training concepts to chess? I know Deep Blue was new and amazing but I feel like we have advanced to the point where Deep Blue could get destroyed by a completely unconventional approach through neural network AI. I want to see that. I want to see human players completely obliterated and left dumbfounded.

      The rules of Go are far simpler than the rules of Chess, but Go requires a lot more thought. So Go suits using a neural net better than Chess.

      I can beat most social Chess players with out any real effort, but in draughts (I think it is called checkers in Trumpistan) I have to work much harder, as in Chess I can just glance at the board for a few seconds to make what appears to be a reasonable move. I have watched people playing Go, but it looks like a lot of hard work, but I've never played the game.

      Chess is visual richer, than either Go or draughts, so it is easier for me to play.

    6. Re:What about a neural network AI? by religionofpeas · · Score: 1

      The rules of Go are far simpler than the rules of Chess, but Go requires a lot more thought. So Go suits using a neural net better than Chess.

      Both games can be done by neural net. The biggest difference is that chess can also be done very well with a brute search, whereas Go can't. This means that the bar for chess is much higher.

  9. I'd love to watch but ... by jmccue · · Score: 1

    using noscript I can see all the sites you need enable to watch, by the time I saw reached facebook I was in the verge of bailing, FB put me over the edge. If it was a simple video stream I would be watching in now

  10. Supposed to be a joke by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 1

    The king knock over as a first move was intentional as a joke. But, for an attempted joke, the knock over of the king was just badly done. Rushed, no build up n his motion. Not what I would expect from a famous comedic actor.

    The second wrong move was a mistake.

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  11. World Champion -- among humans, that is by UnixUnix · · Score: 1

    Rated at 2800+, the top human players are much weaker than top engines; Stockfish is approx 3500. And neural net engines, notably Lc0 ("Leela") are a recent spectacular arrival, set to challenge the dominance of alpha/beta search ones. Leela, inspired by the Alpha Zero approach, is already in the top 4. (Komodo and Houdini are the other two, both AB). No human stands a chance against any of them. Skynet?

    1. Re:World Champion -- among humans, that is by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

      I never understood why people think game-playing is a measure of intelligence.

    2. Re:World Champion -- among humans, that is by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1

      I never understood why people think game-playing is a measure of intelligence.

      Not understanding something is.

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  12. Re:Trump 2020 by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

    If Bobby Fischer were alive today, which post would Trump appoint him to?