16-Year-Old Chess Prodigy Defeats World Champion Magnus Carlsen (axios.com) 56
India's teen chess grandmaster Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, 16, just become the youngest person to defeat Magnus Carlsen (Warning: source paywalled; alternative source), 31, since he became world champion in 2013. The New York Times reports: While his defeat of Carlsen, who has been struggling from the aftereffects of a Covid-19 infection, does not affect the International Chess Federation world title, it nevertheless stunned the chess world and elated people in India. [...] Praggnanandhaa orchestrated his defeat over Carlsen in 39 moves. It was all the more remarkable because he was playing with the black pieces, moving second, with the disadvantages that entails, particularly in elite chess. "He controlled the game, it felt, from start to finish, which is what Magnus does to people," said Levy Rozman, an international master who recaps tournaments and discusses strategy on his YouTube channel, GothamChess, which has more than 1.4 million subscribers.
Carlsen, who was also a top player as a teenager, opened with the Queen's Gambit, moving his queen's pawn to d4. Praggnanandhaa declined the gambit. (Replay the game at Chess24.) In the early and middle stages of the game, Rozman said, Carlsen played a precise game, successfully gaining a pawn, and then another, putting him at an advantage, but Praggnanandhaa compensated by keeping the pieces he still had on the board active and swarming Carlsen's king. "He used what was remaining on the board to launch a devastating counterattack," Rozman said.
The game turned definitively at the 32nd move, when Carlsen made a move with his knight that was later viewed as an error. The decision prompted David Howell, a British grandmaster and a commentator on the chess streaming platform Chess24, to ask, "Is this clever, or is this madness?" The answer was soon clear. Praggnanandhaa quickened his pace and Carlsen appeared visibly frustrated. Seven moves and about 10 minutes later, it was over. After Praggnanandhaa's win, Kaja Snare, a commentator for Chess24, asked him how he would celebrate. "I think it's about just going to bed, because I don't think I will have dinner at 2:30 in the morning," Praggnanandhaa said.
Carlsen, who was also a top player as a teenager, opened with the Queen's Gambit, moving his queen's pawn to d4. Praggnanandhaa declined the gambit. (Replay the game at Chess24.) In the early and middle stages of the game, Rozman said, Carlsen played a precise game, successfully gaining a pawn, and then another, putting him at an advantage, but Praggnanandhaa compensated by keeping the pieces he still had on the board active and swarming Carlsen's king. "He used what was remaining on the board to launch a devastating counterattack," Rozman said.
The game turned definitively at the 32nd move, when Carlsen made a move with his knight that was later viewed as an error. The decision prompted David Howell, a British grandmaster and a commentator on the chess streaming platform Chess24, to ask, "Is this clever, or is this madness?" The answer was soon clear. Praggnanandhaa quickened his pace and Carlsen appeared visibly frustrated. Seven moves and about 10 minutes later, it was over. After Praggnanandhaa's win, Kaja Snare, a commentator for Chess24, asked him how he would celebrate. "I think it's about just going to bed, because I don't think I will have dinner at 2:30 in the morning," Praggnanandhaa said.
What a big moment (Score:2)
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The *one* time I ever beat a varsity basketball player in one on one, while in high school, was when he had a bad flu. It can take a lot out of a person.
This guy was normally really impressive. Pretty short - about my height (5'6" or 1.65m), but could dunk, and I never saw a defense he could not pretty easily drive his way through. Like a lot of folks from my HS team, he now runs basketball camps for young people.
Re:What a big moment (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:What a big moment (Score:4, Informative)
Maybe but he will go 10 for 10 against Nakamura at rapid and not break a sweat. I think this kid and his coach (and stockfish) got him into a planned line that he hadn't thought about, and the covid did the rest. An accomplishment, still.
Let's not exaggerate - he will most certainly not go 10 for 10 against Nakamura in any time control. Is he better? Yes, Magnus is the best at every time control (perhaps excepting hyper bullet, but that's more about mouse speed and less about chess - I'm guessing Tang is the best here). FWIV, a rating difference of 450 or so would estimate a 95% win rate.
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Maybe but he will go 10 for 10 against Nakamura at rapid and not break a sweat. I think this kid and his coach (and stockfish) got him into a planned line that he hadn't thought about, and the covid did the rest. An accomplishment, still.
A "planned line" where the black player is down two pawns before the mating attack, and the key move takes place on move #32? Seems hard to believe...
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Magnus is the biggest badass at rapid chess though, so maybe not important.
Was the biggest badass at rapid chess.
That little detail, might be more important to him than you think.
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Magnus might still be able to beat Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa at rapid chess 9 times out of 10.
Anyway, it's a great accomplishment.
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Talking of covid, it's way over-hyped. The Queen of England, at 95, has it, and she's still working.
That one multiply-vaccinated old woman - who has pretty decent and near constant medical attention, I'd imagine - is able to carry on with what's probably one of the less severe strains of covid doesn't mean covid is not dangerous.
I'd raise you with the fit hill-walking 30-something that died from covid having not been vaccinated. Or any number of people with long-covid symptoms. Yes, we might all survive with no sense of smell for a few months, but some of the other reported longer term effects aren't nice
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There's a difference between the work the Queen of England carries out and elite chess - or any other sport.
Praggnanandhaa and Carlsen were two of the 14 players in a tournament in the Netherlands last month. Carlsen finished first, Praggnanandhaa was outclassed for a lot of the tournament - partly because his trainer was Covid-positive for several days.
I'm not sure what the time controls are for this event, they can't be the "classical Chess" ones because they are playing four games a day. Carlsen lost t
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Talking of covid, it's way over-hyped. The Queen of England, at 95, has it, and she's still working
Tell that to the six million people who have died from COVID19.
The Queen is fully vaccinated and probably gets the best medical care in the World. Of course she's going to be fine.
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Calling slashdot an Establishment echo chamber is laughable. You have bad karma because you're a fucking creep.
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Oddly enough, it's always you tinfoil hat fuckers who end up being wrong.
Also oddly enough, it doesn't matter how wrong you fuckers are, you find ways to say you were right all along!
Come on dude. It's the 21st century. There's no excuse not to get the psychological help you need.
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Masks: of course, for an airborne disease this is obviously irrelevant. And, yes, in practice not all masks are medical grade or used correctly. But, this is not a case of "I wore a mask and still got covid" or "I wore a mask and gave someone else covid" but one of probabilities. If mask wearing reduces - not obviates - the risk either way, why wouldn't you? Unless, obviously, you don't have any concern for anyone else. The research suggest it helps exists. And I know a study with a different view exists to
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Just to clarify: I, and others here, aren't suggesting masks are 100%. If they're only 0.001% effective then scaled across millions of interactions and fewer people might get covid, and of those, fewer will be serious ill and die. And that last bit actually happens.
If I were to clear asbestos I'd want a 100% level of protection because that stuff is cancerous. Or is it? Have you drunk the establishment cool-aid on that one. Why do you believe asbestos is dangerous? You're a BigPersonalProtectionAndVentilato
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mRNA vaccines don't alter your DNA. They simply give your mitochondria some proteins to build.
If they altered your DNA, you'd never need a booster. Your cells would keep on making the shit (and die, since at that point it'd be a... you guessed it- virus)
Arguing that a mask is pointless would be like arguing that a parachute is, since all
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Imagine your body is a gladiator arena.
A live virus vaccine is training your little gladiators by throwing a few live lions in there.
A deactivated virus vaccine is training your little gladiators by throwing a few dead lions in there and telling them to go to town.
An mRNA vaccine gets the on-site craftsmen to build some lion training dummies, and delivers a training session on how to kill lions.
Please note that like all good analogies, this one is completely wrong and utterly meaningless.
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I don't know if you were disagreeing with me or not, though.
I certainly don't disagree with it.
One nit I'd pick, is that in the case of the mRNA vaccine, it doesn't deliver a training course on how to kill the lions. It assumes the gladiators will do that themselves. Ultimately, if you've got unarmed gladiators, they're going to perform as expected regardless of the dummies. It does nothing but create the dummies (and one could argue that it walks around and punches each gladi
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Actually, I think you have the propaganda. The rest of us have facts.
Covid is potentially dangerous. It's killed people; it's causing long-term effects. Vaccines work. And nothing is without risk but Covid is worse than vaccination.
Just because you'd like a pandemic to be the plot of some global cabal for whatever non-sensical reason you can think of, doesn't make it true.
Different countries have had different responses under varying circumstances but if this was all made-up nonsense wouldn't there be one n
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Facts, and it seems the ability to use tags.
But, no matter. "Big pharma". Tick! "echo-chamber". Tick! We have a game of bingo!
As I, and, as the you suggest, the majority are wrong, why don't you provide some, you know, actual information to back up your position. Clearly, anything we suggest, any statistic used, is obviously wrong just because it doesn't fit your narrative.
So, go on, prove it. It's all non-sense because...
If you're suggesting we do research to agree with you, show us your research to show w
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I get that we disagree. You keep pointing that out. Yes, obviously, I'm manipulated, I know you think that.
As you missed it: do you have any actual evidence? This is what we're all expected to find if we stopping being mind controlled. You know the truth. Share it! Share the detail, though, not your opinion we're all wrong.
You'll reject any stats we use because there MSM/establishment/BigPharma lies. Fine. Do that. But what have you got? If it's so obvious we're all being manipulated, prove it.
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The Queen of England, at 95, has it, and she's still working.
Here's something that doesn't fit that narrative. BBC news is reporting that she's postponed two virtual engagements. Presumably because she's not up to doing them. She might - gasp - be ill with covid. But that doesn't fit your narrative, obviously, so let's ignore that.
Carlsen may leave league due to brain damage (Score:3)
Carlsen, even when off-form, losing to weaker players due to illness (Covid), or whatever, is still the strongest in the world.
Nevertheless, he may have suffered brain damage and be less than he once was. (If so, a great tragedy - among the many from COVID.)
One of the common long-term effects of a COVID infection is brain fog [webmd.com], which can last for months, may be permanent.
Even without viral infection of the brain, affected individuals have shown strong brain inflammation and circuitry disruption, similar to
Shougi (Score:2)
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Very few people would argue that the invasion of Ukraine was triggered by the Olympics. Anyway, there's a Slashdot post about the Ukraine today, if that's what you want to talk about. Do you see me going on the Ukraine thread to complain that no one is talking about chess?
Please explain (Score:3)
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Even Tom Brady didn't win every Superbowl. But, quite an accomplishment to beat the champion and a boost to this young man's chess confidence.
Re:Please explain (Score:5, Informative)
Yes, he just resigned. White has to choose between giving up his queen or a forced mate in 9. Either way, the game is over.
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Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa (Score:2)
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