OT: Magnus Carlsen brouhahas

[Fencer reregistered]

Magnus Carlsen seems stressed out.

First, he announced he wouldn't defend his world championship, with reasons that boiled down to:
-- He didn't find it fun.
-- He no longer has enough use for the status to endure the grind.

Also, he seems to suspect one particular opponent -- Hans Moke Niemann -- of cheating, and is taking dramatic actions accordingly.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/sep/20/carlsen-v-niemann-the-cheating-row-that-is-rocking-chess-explained

That said, the infamous Carlsen-Niemann game that set this all off does NOT contain moves that look like the result of cheating.

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2372960

In another wrinkle, Carlsen is part owner of a chess website and so on that, among other things, sponsored the tournament he walked out of.

Oh yeah -- this Ken Regan guy cited is smart. In particular, he made mincemeat of me in a casual game decades ago, when he was touring grad schools. Possibly the strongest chess opponent I've ever had, with the main alternative being the late Kim Commons.

[pace31]

How do you cheat at chess?

[andyhop]

How do you cheat at chess?

Get moves messaged to you that have been played out on Chess engines

[pacers33]

Really hope he isn't entering his Bobby Fischer era, which on paper sounds good but if you know what I mean...that paranoia driven mental decline.

[Kurtz]

How do you cheat at chess?

By using anal beads.

No, really.

[azcatz11]

How do you cheat at chess?

Get moves messaged to you that have been played out on Chess engines

I thought it was proven that the computers can’t beat humans? Didn’t Bobby Fischer beat the IBM computer

[gigantes]

Magnus Carlsen seems stressed out.

I'm just a casual anymore, but from what I've read, it sounds just as much like "The Great Son of Carl"'s position is strong enough now such that he doesn't have to put up with nonsense or useless work if he doesn't care to.

For example, Magnus can skip the grueling slog of the champion-cycle completely and still remain #1 in the world, right? Plus, as someone who was already champion for a whole decade, I don't see much of a problem, as I gather his fortune and rep has been made for years, now. Could even make things really interesting if he wanted to get the belt back one day.

Meanwhile, the guy he walked out on has a history of cheating IIRC. If I understand correctly, Magnus is now sending the message that he's not going to dignify the guy with a game, at least for this tourney. Unusual yeah, but can't really blame him too much.

Really hope he isn't entering his Bobby Fischer era, which on paper sounds good but if you know what I mean...that paranoia driven mental decline.

On the contrary, it seems to me Magnus is actually doing things this way to help /preserve/ his sanity. (see above)

Fischer, IIRC he pretty much went off the deep end not long after winning the title in 1972, and never looked back. Pretty sure he'd be a Trump-voting, anti-vaxx, conspiracy nut if he was alive today.

Please avoid political comments that may bait people into a political argument and derail the thread. -b

[pacers33]

Magnus Carlsen seems stressed out.

I'm just a casual anymore, but from what I've read, it sounds just as much like The Great Son of Carl's position is strong enough now such that he doesn't have to put up with nonsense or useless work if he doesn't care to.

For example, Magnus can skip the grueling slog of the champion-cycle completely and still remain #1 in the world, right? Plus, as someone who was already champion for a whole decade, I don't see much of a problem, as I gather his fortune and rep has been made for years, now. Could even make things really interesting if he wanted to get the belt back one day.

Meanwhile, the guy he walked out on has a history of cheating IIRC. If I understand correctly, Magnus is now sending the message that he's not going to dignify the guy with a game, at least for this tourney. Unusual yeah, but can't really blame him too much.

Really hope he isn't entering his Bobby Fischer era, which on paper sounds good but if you know what I mean...that paranoia driven mental decline.

On the contrary, it seems to me Magnus is actually things this way to help /preserve/ his sanity. (see above)

Fischer, IIRC he pretty much went off the deep end not long after winning the title in 1972, and never looked back. Pretty sure he'd be a Trump-voting, anti-vaxx, conspiracy nut if he was alive today.

I had heard some crazy things that sounded almost like Twitter memes about his cheating claims and it clouded my judgement on this situation. My fault. He certainly has a valid reason to not play this specific player.

Bobby went hardcore into antisemitism. I think perhaps a comparison like that was out of pocket anyway, even without your added context.

[andyhop]

How do you cheat at chess?

Get moves messaged to you that have been played out on Chess engines

I thought it was proven that the computers can’t beat humans? Didn’t Bobby Fischer beat the IBM computer

Computers have been way too strong for humans for at least a decade. The best common engine has an ELO rating in the 3500's , the best humans are in the 2800's.

The only way top players will play against computers now is in handicap matches to give themselves a chance

[BostonCouchGM]

one conspiracy theory I heard was that Magnus himself cheats using anal beads and that he knows the other guy was cheating because it scrambled his own signals lol. They should make a movie of this

[JimmyPlopper]

one conspiracy theory I heard was that Magnus himself cheats using anal beads and that he knows the other guy was cheating because it scrambled his own signals lol. They should make a movie of this

[Fencer reregistered]

How do you cheat at chess?

Get moves messaged to you that have been played out on Chess engines

I thought it was proven that the computers can’t beat humans? Didn’t Bobby Fischer beat the IBM computer

In the 1990s, then world champion Garry Kasparov first beat but later lost to IBM's "Deep Blue". Since then, computers have only gotten better, and now are substantially stronger than any human player.

[Roger Murdock]

How do you cheat at chess?

Get moves messaged to you that have been played out on Chess engines

I thought it was proven that the computers can’t beat humans? Didn’t Bobby Fischer beat the IBM computer

Beginners are rated ~800

Really good players are rated like 1800 - like think 'best player in your highschool'

Magnus Carlsen the GOAT is rated like 2800

Super computers are rated like 3800



There is a 0% chance any human could beat the worlds best chess engines. Best case scenario would be a draw, but still unlikely.

[Fencer reregistered]

Really hope he isn't entering his Bobby Fischer era, which on paper sounds good but if you know what I mean...that paranoia driven mental decline.

Fischer was nuts before he became world champion. He just stifled it well enough to get the job done.

But once he won the world championship, he was basically done ...

... with one exception. He invented a game variant that has some legs:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fischer_random_chess

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?tid=116910

One thing: You can't see Chess960 games on that site unless you change the setting to a different viewer, such as pgn4web. That's from a dropdown box called PGN Viewer that you see if you scroll down a bit for any particular game.

[Jellybeans]

Its sketchy.
Because Magnus played opening he has NEVER played in his life and Niemann just guessed
When they asked Niemann about it he said he never seen that play something like that. If you never seen it how do you know what to do

[LuDux1]

I know more songs about chess than chess rules, but I did stay in 2 threads elsewhere about this scandal.

There's theory that someone from Magnus' chess leaked his strategies and plans

[FreeThrowLine]

How do you cheat at chess?

Just hit the ‘undo’ button when you make a bad move and the computer is about to win

[Ryoga Hibiki]

How do you cheat at chess?

Moreover, how do you understand there was cheating looking at a game?

[BoatsNZones]

I found it interesting that Magnus dabbled his hand in poker and is ****. But, a chess legend none the less obviously. The cheating controversy he effectively claimed on his opponent (highly unfounded from what I saw at the time) was an odd one.

[dooki667]

How do you cheat at chess?

Moreover, how do you understand there was cheating looking at a game?

That's a great question and a huge part of the problem. Unless there following the poker god Mike postles cheating strat which is everything with complete disregard for how absurd his play and winnings are you really can't. One or two moves a game in tough spots could be all it takes and that's gonna be hard to prove. u have to basically catch him in the act.