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Classic Games (Games)

16-Year-Old Beat World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen to Win 'Banter Blitz Cup' (cnn.com) 45

Posted by EditorDavid from the checkmate dept.
An anonymous reader quotes CNN: A 16-year-old Iranian chess prodigy has upended the chess world by beating World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen in the final of the Banter Blitz Cup. Alireza Firouzja defeated the Norwegian 8.5-7.5 in the final of the online quickfire knockout contest -- where players must comment verbally on their moves, and their opponents, during the game -- to claim the $14,000 prize...

After 7 months and 131 matches, the series of three-minute games involving 128 contestants ended in a final between the world champion since 2013 and the rising superstar...

The Iranian is the second-youngest player to reach the 2700 Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) rating -- the rankings that govern international chess competition... Firouzja initially rose to fame when he came in second to Carlsen in the Moscow World Blitz in December.
The speed chess tournament saw Firouzja "best 132 players in a knock-out style tournament that included 109 grand masters going head to head," reports News.com.au.

"Despite living in France since he was eight-years-old when his family fled from Iran, Firouzja has elected to compete as a stateless competitor that doesn't represent any country."
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16-Year-Old Beat World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen to Win 'Banter Blitz Cup' More

16-Year-Old Beat World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen to Win 'Banter Blitz Cup'

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  • A computer can beat both of them easily, every time. Time to find some other autistic friendly useless hobby.

    • Re:Who cares? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 18, 2020 @10:49AM (#59961820)

      Time to find some other autistic friendly useless hobby.

      Like commenting endlessly on Slashdot?

    • I think their "hobby" pays them quite well...

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by Kjella ( 173770 )

        I think their "hobby" pays them quite well...

        They estimate less than 10% of the world's 1600 GMs are full time professional chess players so like maybe 150. Some inside [chess.com] info on earnings:

        Over $1 mln/year - top-3 in the world
        Over $200k - top-10
        Over $100k - top-50
        Players close to the bottom of the top-100 are very unlikely to earn over $100k, for most the figure would be about $50-70k.

        But this is extremely unlikely to be a career where you suddenly rise to the top, unless you're the child prodigy we have maybe once a decade. Most "wasted" years playing lower ranked tournaments for token money and like many other sports you don't last to retirement age. So if you're Magnus Carlsen, sure... but that's like being the Tom Brady of Chess. And the picking

        • So if you're Magnus Carlsen, sure... but that's like being the Tom Brady of Chess.

          So you're saying Magnus Carlsen is a cheater? Did he deflate his chess pieces or something?

        • the Tom Brady of Chess

          I have no clue what this means... is it a car analogy?

    • Moron, a cheap ventilator can breath better than you can, time to find some other useless hobby.

    • Re:Who cares? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by nagora ( 177841 ) on Saturday April 18, 2020 @11:56AM (#59961962)

      A computer can beat both of them easily, every time. Time to find some other autistic friendly useless hobby.

      My car can beat any marathon runner over the standard distance.

      The difference is that no one in the world of athletics would ever consider anything so stupid as letting people enter a marathon in a car against runners. The chess officials have not historically thought so clearly.

      Just as a car is not actually running, a computer is not actually playing chess.

      • Muscle vs. machine is a competition that we can't resist when the two are evenly matched, like the early races between horses and steam engines [youtube.com]. It'd be more surprising if we hadn't matched people vs. computers in chess when the best of each were nearly even.

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by moxrespawn ( 6714000 )

          I've found that the dominance of computers has shifted my appreciation of chess from the more narrowly focused "Who won?" or "Who played the best moves?" to viewing the game as a collaborative work of art, with all the human and subjective aspects that entails.

          Even (or particularly) old, "inferior" games, like those of Steinitz or Capablanca, bearing in mind those stylistic attributes which are a window into the player's unique mind, are enjoyable to play though and appreciate.

          I probably could enjoy doing t

      • Man vs Machine races are often short with the Man winning because the Machine can't compete on acceleration.
  • Stateless is fine. Yet many states treat it with such an obscene amount of disdain which leads to abuse

    • No, being stateless is not fine. Having no citizenship is a terrible state to be in .. for one thing how can you legally work? How can you have a stable home? How do you (legally) get an education? A stateless person can't even get a visa. And in his case he is just a kid, somebody put him in that position. There must always be a pathway out of statelessness.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by starless ( 60879 )

        He's competing as stateless, but did he actually lose his Iranian citizenship?
        And I think he could become French rather easily after having lived there so long.

        • Alireza Firouzja is an Iranian citizen.

          He refuses to compete as an Iranian in tournaments because of an Iranian ban on competing in any event that also includes Israelis.

          More info on his wiki page: Alireza Firouzja [wikipedia.org].

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by pjt33 ( 739471 )

          AIUI he's lived in France long enough, but has to wait until he's 18 to apply. (And as a point of interest, 8 years isn't long enough in all countries. For example, in Spain it's 10 years unless you fall into a category which gets a reduced requirement).

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Herve5 ( 879674 )

          Thank you ShanghaiBill , thank you pjt33.
          Being french and well aware that we raised our specific racist politicians here, I started being ashamed of the way CNN described the thing.
          But well, it was just CNN after all.
          Thanks again!

  • The little stateless prodigy might also be good at programming. He has to comment on his moves, but he could also get some indirect support from a good chess program like Stockfish.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by dvice ( 6309704 )

      Better use AlphaZero: https://www.chess.com/news/vie... [chess.com]

    • The games were 3 minutes for each player. At that speed, both human players make lots of mistakes. Alireza is really fast with the mouse and that's how he wins. Here is an example of how fast it can get [youtu.be]. At that speed, it's not a thinking game it's a reflex game. In traditional slower chess, Alireza has never beaten Carlsen. He has never even drawn, he just loses.

      Also, Magnus is probably more focused on the tournament that started today, called The Magnus Carlsen Invitational. He really doesn't want to lo
      • 3 minutes per side is not a mouse race.
        Even 1 minute per side is not really a mouse race.

        I say that as someone who has played well over 100,000 1 minute games over the past several decades, first on ICS, then on FICS (now freechess.org), and currently on LICHESS.

  • uhhh (Score:3)

    by nomadic ( 141991 ) <[moc.liamg] [ta] [dlrowcidamon]> on Saturday April 18, 2020 @11:17AM (#59961880) Homepage

    "'Good game, Alireza! That was really horrible, I just was way out of shape, but he deserves full credit,' the 29-year-old said on the livestream."

    Then give him full credit you jackass. "I just was way out of shape"? You didn't come out of retirement, you constantly play at the professional level, you weren't "out of shape," you were just outplayed.

    • OK, Dill Weed, now discover the existence of chess ratings, and check the ratings of the two players.

      Firouzja is good, but of course he can only beat Carlsen if Carlsen plays poorly compared to normal. At blitz he'd have just as much trouble with Nakamura.

      The kid is good, but he's not even top 10 yet.

      Perhaps you don't realize this part; if Firouzja was #5 in the world, Carlsen would win even when he thought his play was out of shape! He normally wins even after making a mistake, because there is a huge gap

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by nagora ( 177841 )

        There are levels in chess

        There's also luck. Like, finding that you're facing the world champ but he's out of shape today. That's pretty lucky.

      • Nakamura beats Firouzja pretty regularly on stream. Here it is 7 wins, 3 draws, no losses [youtube.com] (skip to the end if you just want to see the final score). Carlsen just doesn't have the quick twitch mouse speed, which isn't really a chess skill.
        • You keep talking about mouse speed... for 3 minute chess... you are inconceivably stupid.

          • You keep talking about mouse speed... for 3 minute chess... you are inconceivably stupid.

            You make your point so eloquently......not.

            If it's not about mouse speed, then try winning without premove. If you've played that many 1 minute games, then surely you have the experience of playing ten moves in a second on the clock.

            • If you've played that many 1 minute games, then surely you have the experience of playing ten moves in a second on the clock.

              Your claims are about 3 minute chess... when are you going to back them up?

              Average game is ~50 moves, thats well over 3 seconds per move... and you are blathering on about mouse speed. You are inconceivably stupid. Period.

              • You are inconceivably stupid. Period. You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

                For instance, I can conceive of far greater stupidity than that which is on display here.

              • Your claims are about 3 minute chess... when are you going to back them up?

                I posted a video to a game with some pretty quick mousework. I even linked to the time where it starts to speed up.

        • Carlsen is famous for trolling top GMs in lightning and blitz using pseudonyms and playing awful openings before crushing them. He does that to top 10 players.

          At blitz and faster, Nakamura is as strong, but nobody else is really very close at any time control.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by nomadic ( 141991 )

        You're being idiotic. "Out of shape" is not the same as "I didn't play at my best."

        • It literally is. In chess.

          I'm over 2000, that's weak compared to Carlsen but it is strong enough that at least I can say, Do you even chess, bro?!

  • I'm super amateur at both but real chess doesn't leave me sweating with my heart racing after a few games.

    Speed chess is so fast that not only are grave mistakes being made that would never happen in a real game but in non pro coffee shop games you'll see shit like a king has been in check for several turns before either player notices.

    Just not the same game but makes a good headline.

  • There was a recent slashdot post about Magnus playing anonymously on lichess [slashdot.org].
    If you watch the very long video of him winning a tournament [youtube.com] on lichess you'll see him play someone with the handle "alireza2003" who Magnus praises with "this guy is really good, I enjoy playing him", or something along those lines (it's too long a video for me to go back and find the exact comment).
    You can tell that Magnus has both respect and admiration for Alireza's abilities. That video was uploaded 2 years ago to this month.

  • I watched the match, listening to both players' comments. It was exciting and on-the-brink all the time. Three points: a) Both of them, as well as Nakamura and others, are top practitioners and it is silly to badmouth any of them -- as some here do. b) Being adept with the mouse does make a difference -- akin to racecar drivers gaining/losing tenths of a second on each lap...all the difference in the world! Especially in 3-minute blitz, without increments or delays; indeed in one game Carlsen managed to mat

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