There was a time when owning a television station was restricted to the rich and the few. However this all changed with the arrival of the internet, and more specifically youtube. So now if you have a PC and a camera, you can have a TV station of your own.
Of course this ability to produce and distribute your own content has made it a crowded and competitive field. And not just in the area of stupid cat videos, but also in fields like chess. There are a number of Chess 'stations' in operation, some connected with other chess resources (such as playing sites) and some existing on their own.
A new entry into the market is Bundy Chess. It is a youtube channel run by IM Andras Toth, and has an emphasis on chess puzzles and the demonstration of chess beauty (NB He explains what he means by this in his first video). The channel has only been running for a month but already has plenty of content, with 24 videos up at last count. Each clip runs for between 2 and 6 minutes so you can digest them in bite-sized chunks. Every clip is intended teach you something, so if you are looking for a way to improve you chess, or just to see some very nice puzzles, visit Bundy Chess at youtube.
Friday, 28 February 2014
Thursday, 27 February 2014
Magnus has been a busy boy
World Champion Magnus Carlsen has been quite busy over the past few days. First off, a new G-Star Raw featuring Carlsen has been launched, even making it as far as my home city of Canberra. Walking past the G-Star Raw store in the Canberra to other day, I pointed his poster out to some work colleagues. "Is he the guy having his hair pulled? He doesn't look very happy about it" was the response of one of my workmates.
He has also launched a chess app called "Play Magnus". It is a chess playing app with a couple of extra bells and whistles. The basic app allows you to play against Magnus ate various ages in his chess development (starting at 5 years). Of course you don't actually play Magnus, but a chess engine that has its levels based on the estimated strength of Carlsen at that age.
While in general I think that graduated strength chess engines are a good idea, I fear this implements the idea in a flawed way. Based on the few games I have played against it, I suspect the programmers use the move_score = eval + random_number method. While the engine evaluates the position normally, I adds a random value to the final assessment of each move. At the lower levels this value is usually quite big, meaning the program essentially plays randomly. As the program gets 'older', the random value range becomes smaller, meaning that better moves are more likely to be chosen. The problem I have with this kind of idea, is that to beat the program, you simply wait for a big mistake. A better implementation, from a learning point of view, would instead to have a shallow search to start with, and deepen it as Magnus gets older. This way you improve by thinking deeper than your opponent, which is how we normally improve at human chess.
Apart from the quibble I still like the program and the ideas behind it. The basic program is free from the Apple App Store, while you can pay to have the adds removed and enable extra features.
He has also launched a chess app called "Play Magnus". It is a chess playing app with a couple of extra bells and whistles. The basic app allows you to play against Magnus ate various ages in his chess development (starting at 5 years). Of course you don't actually play Magnus, but a chess engine that has its levels based on the estimated strength of Carlsen at that age.
While in general I think that graduated strength chess engines are a good idea, I fear this implements the idea in a flawed way. Based on the few games I have played against it, I suspect the programmers use the move_score = eval + random_number method. While the engine evaluates the position normally, I adds a random value to the final assessment of each move. At the lower levels this value is usually quite big, meaning the program essentially plays randomly. As the program gets 'older', the random value range becomes smaller, meaning that better moves are more likely to be chosen. The problem I have with this kind of idea, is that to beat the program, you simply wait for a big mistake. A better implementation, from a learning point of view, would instead to have a shallow search to start with, and deepen it as Magnus gets older. This way you improve by thinking deeper than your opponent, which is how we normally improve at human chess.
Apart from the quibble I still like the program and the ideas behind it. The basic program is free from the Apple App Store, while you can pay to have the adds removed and enable extra features.
Wednesday, 26 February 2014
2014 ANU Masters - Week 3
The third round of the 2014 ANU Masters saw the first appearance of FM Junta Ikeda. Ikeda has spent the past 9 months studying in Japan, with chess taking a back seat. He met strong resistance from Alana Chibnall, and while he achieved an attacking setup in the middlegame there was no immediate knock out. It was only after Chibnall declined the win of the pawn that his chances improved, and Chibnall then walked into a tactic that lost her a piece and the game.
IM Andrew Brown scored his third win of the event, after Miles Patterson wheeled out a Benko Gambit. At one stage Patterson had a dangerous looking passed pawn, but this was gained at the cost of an exchange, and Brown was able to use the material advantage to win the game. Andrey Bliznyuk - Fred Litchfield was another game where the win of the exchange proved sufficient. Again there was a faint hpe that a passed pawn might provide some compensation, but Bliznyuk scooped up a couple of central pawns before tragetting Litchfields king.
Wenlin Yin scored his first win of the tournament in a fairly wild game against Adrian de Noskowski. Yin caught de Noskowski's king in the centre, but had to worry about his own king safety. It turned out that Yin's threats were stronger than de Noskowski's and Yin was able to win queen for rook, and then force checkmate soon after.
After 3 rounds IM Andrew Brown is on 3 points, with Andrey Bliznyuk and Fred Litchfield on 2. FM Junta Ikeda is on 1/1 with 2 games in hand, while the 5th round game between Brown and Bliznyuk has already been played, with a fighting draw the result.
Ikeda,Junta (2338) - Chibnall,Alana (1896)
2014 ANU Masters Canberra AUS (3), 26.02.2014
IM Andrew Brown scored his third win of the event, after Miles Patterson wheeled out a Benko Gambit. At one stage Patterson had a dangerous looking passed pawn, but this was gained at the cost of an exchange, and Brown was able to use the material advantage to win the game. Andrey Bliznyuk - Fred Litchfield was another game where the win of the exchange proved sufficient. Again there was a faint hpe that a passed pawn might provide some compensation, but Bliznyuk scooped up a couple of central pawns before tragetting Litchfields king.
Wenlin Yin scored his first win of the tournament in a fairly wild game against Adrian de Noskowski. Yin caught de Noskowski's king in the centre, but had to worry about his own king safety. It turned out that Yin's threats were stronger than de Noskowski's and Yin was able to win queen for rook, and then force checkmate soon after.
After 3 rounds IM Andrew Brown is on 3 points, with Andrey Bliznyuk and Fred Litchfield on 2. FM Junta Ikeda is on 1/1 with 2 games in hand, while the 5th round game between Brown and Bliznyuk has already been played, with a fighting draw the result.
Ikeda,Junta (2338) - Chibnall,Alana (1896)
2014 ANU Masters Canberra AUS (3), 26.02.2014
Monday, 24 February 2014
And the traps go on
The ACT junior chess season kicked off on the weekend with the ACT Junior Lightning Championship. A good field of 44 players turned up, with Michael Kethro winning the event with 11/11. Along the way he picked up a quick win using an opening trap in the Max Lange. During the post mortem I mentioned that I had walked into a similar trap when I was a junior, but it turns out I mis-remembered my own disaster. Rather than the Max Lange it was in the Two Knights Modern variation (the one with the early e5 for White). Moving my knight to the wrong square allowed a Bxf7 sacrifice, which so unnerved me that later I tried to castle, despite having moved my king to f7 and back to e8!
Van Scheepen,Fritz - Press,Shaun [C55])
Woden CC, 22.03.1983
Van Scheepen,Fritz - Press,Shaun [C55])
Woden CC, 22.03.1983
Sunday, 23 February 2014
"Getting" Chess
I've just started reading "The Immortal Game" by David Shenk, and I've already come across some interesting points. In the Introduction he talks about his own enthusiasm as a chess player, and remarks that he is "ambivalent about chess". He attributes this to being "put off by the high gates of entry to even moderately serious play". He theorises that moving from "patzer to mere competence" would require untold hundreds of hours of study and play.
To me this reads like an exaggeration, the sort of comment made by an 'outsider' who doesn't really "get" chess. I've seen this comment repeated in other forums as well, usually by some explaining why they don't, or often in there words, can't play chess. It is either an unwillingness to learn reams and reams of opening theory, or to spend 8 hours a day studying the classics, or a general aversion to highly competitive atmosphere that chess creates. And while there might be a kernel of truth in what they say, it seems a little overblown to me.
Instead I sometimes people either "get" chess ot they do not. Partially this is a technical thing, in that new players quickly understand the point of the game, and are able to improve there play reasonably quickly while assimilating fairly basic information (eg simple checkmates, what the pieces are worth, capturing things for free). But it is also understanding how they fit in to the environment (eg starting at the bottom, knowing that losing is part of the experience etc). And to me this is the real "gates of entry". If you can understand the wider context of what you are doing, passing through successive doors is reasonably straight forward (and you can even understand why some doors are locked). Otherwise it is like being lost in a maze, where the only sensible exit is where you came in.
To me this reads like an exaggeration, the sort of comment made by an 'outsider' who doesn't really "get" chess. I've seen this comment repeated in other forums as well, usually by some explaining why they don't, or often in there words, can't play chess. It is either an unwillingness to learn reams and reams of opening theory, or to spend 8 hours a day studying the classics, or a general aversion to highly competitive atmosphere that chess creates. And while there might be a kernel of truth in what they say, it seems a little overblown to me.
Instead I sometimes people either "get" chess ot they do not. Partially this is a technical thing, in that new players quickly understand the point of the game, and are able to improve there play reasonably quickly while assimilating fairly basic information (eg simple checkmates, what the pieces are worth, capturing things for free). But it is also understanding how they fit in to the environment (eg starting at the bottom, knowing that losing is part of the experience etc). And to me this is the real "gates of entry". If you can understand the wider context of what you are doing, passing through successive doors is reasonably straight forward (and you can even understand why some doors are locked). Otherwise it is like being lost in a maze, where the only sensible exit is where you came in.
Saturday, 22 February 2014
Ton up for the 2014 Doeberl
Just noting the milestone of the first 100 entries for the 2014 O2C Doeberl Cup. As in previous years the Premier is the event filling up the quickest, with 49 entries (out of a maximum 90) ready received. The other events are catching up however, with the Major already at the 29 player mark. Based on the numbers for previous years (at the 8 week to go mark), the size of the field will be the largest yet.
(I am a paid official at this event)
(I am a paid official at this event)
Friday, 21 February 2014
Doing it with check
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