The Immortal Game: A History of Chess

[@martm216]

This question of pattern recognition and memory came up in the Susan Polgar video. Susan seemed to have a phenomenal memory, and she has got an excellent memory, but the gentleman who raised the question had a good point about pattern recognition. They showed Susan for three seconds a fairly full chess position. She instantly replicated this. Then they showed her for three seconds a position with the pieces scattered on random squares. In this case her memory was not a lot better than anyone else's. They said that in the first case she used a memory, or recognition, technique known as 'chunking', whereby certain groups or patterns of pieces, for example the king in a corner behind three pawns with maybe a rook at f8 and a knight at f6, occur typically in a normal chess game. The random position they showed her was never, if ever, likely to occur in any actual game.

[@malcolmmacrae7927]

Chess ìs so much more than a game.

[@martm216]

One little thing I must question, and this comes up in other videos, is the question of the number of possible games of chess. This is apparently astronomical. A video about Susan Polgar stated that the number of possible games, or maybe it was the number of moves in the number of possible games, was greater than the number of atoms in the known universe. But balance this against the fact that at the top level of human chess the game, under classical time-control of two hours per forty moves, has become very sterile. There is draw after draw and the match is decided on rapid-play shoot-out, like a penalty shoot-out in soccer. Or when one player does manage a win under classical time-control, it is ground out at move a hundred and something from a tiny advantage maintained deep into the endgame, a la Magnus Carlsen. Why? Because the number of POSSIBLE games is radically different from the number of PROBABLE games, where the openings run along lines of a far more limited number of recognised good sensible moves. Admittedly the superhuman chess programmes like Stockfish and Alpha-Zero play games among themselves that do not end in draws, proving that chess is not played out, 'solved' or exhausted.

[@quach8quach907]

7:39 Senet did last. It became Backgammon.

[@salvadorchindoi2063]

Sorry, but the first no chance game is GO. Older than chess. Regards

[@quach8quach907]

That is not usually known in the Western world.

[@lunakid12]

​@@quach8quach907All the more important to point it out then.

[@quach8quach907]

There is no need to change Chess. Chess was already changed in another lineage. Chinese Chess. Make chess a Tri-athlon. 1 game of Western Chess. 1 game of Chinese Chess. 1 game of Backgammon as a tie-breaker.

[@christianleggett8757]

2020 gang💪🏾

[@MartinDxt]

2021 :P

[@quach8quach907]

Hmm. As far as chess is the first game of skill, that is not entirely true. Physical games precede history. Boxing, wrestling, archery, javelin, etc. As far as board games, yes.

[@AncientChess]

Very nice to hear from David Shenk about so many facets of chess! Fans of this will probably also enjoy this book: A World of Chess: Its Development and Variations through Centuries and Civilizations kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y5zCXoiYhaaErKc

[@christopherroley2764]

For me chess is not only a game it's Life!

[@CHESS-xh6nu]

. .17:27

[@buddypal1040]

People still play hnefatafl.

[@conjured_up_skeletons6178]

I think he meant Tetris.

[@MartialVillager]

Great lecture, terrible sound. High pitched screeching, ugh!

[@jeffreyleerobinson]

dear Microsoft, * dude is unorganized * he reads his own work like he doesn't know it * he names drop like an insecure sycophant (Alan Sorkin?) * he is empty in any air of intellectual authority * he is boring as all hell

[@conjured_up_skeletons6178]

I agree on your last one, which is why he wrote a book on chess.

[@rh5466]

dear jeffrey lee robinson, you sound rather miserable.

[@justinsturgeon6948]

Some people can research organize and stucture a book perfectly but to narrate is a different skill entirely. I'm sure it reads well.

[@ivogacina4740]

actually if one of you was more interested in essennce than in form he will think otherwise

[@wleon4068]

Chess is an 'amalgamation'. Not only is it a war game, but it is game that represents the class system within society. The squares are the 'land' that must be taken. The pieces, represent all who we find within society, such as the 'pawns' [ the people] the kings and queens [royalty] the castles [ the class system] the bishops [ the Church] the knights [again, Royalty]. It can be argued too, that Chess also represents a 'race war' between black and white. That is how I have always viewed it.

[@conjured_up_skeletons6178]

The bishops are the church?? What church?? In Russia the bishop figure is named 'Slon' meaning elephant in ancient chess, the representation of the angular "cut" on its head is an elephant's tusk. Since when are elephants part of the church? Stop your pollution of religious bullshit.

[@jeffarab4947]

Race war yea but the pieces kinda so ressemble what u said but its more of a war game and the ultimate board game

[@ScallopHolden]

It’s a game of numbers and space

[@chaseparker164]

Chest is a simple but deep game that we can find many metaphors in but I think its more likely that they were easily available colors? Make them out of bone. Toss one set in something dark like mud or coals?

[@conjured_up_skeletons6178]

Yeah, the queen is transgender. Used to be male in satranj (ancient chess), named the "Vizier," meaning something like "king's advisor" just don't let the Christianity nations know, they'll have chess banned no doubt.

[@JustineBrownsBookshelf]

Yeah other religions like Islam are love that sort of thing, right?

[@MrGuitarman8000]

Too too boring

[@user-ss9vv6fh2p]

A commercial for his book lameeeeee

[@quach8quach907]

People who put all their eggs in one basket in a particular field (i.e. sports, acting, singing, dancing) are un-balanced by definition. The fault is not with the endeavor itself. The fault is in the specialization.

[@SaeedAcronia]

The earliest mentions of chess are in Sassanid texts and it has nothing to do with Chaturanga.

[@ricardolopes9563]

Amazing apresentation. He loves chess and aspire others to do the same 👌

[@robertholmes1366]

God made chess that's a fact

[@johnparinellojr.2035]

Configuring the pieces in a different way could be the start of a handy cap system.

[@conjured_up_skeletons6178]

Play fischerrandom.