| People, particularly chess players | | | | 4 ) Computers play chess better than people. |
| themselves, say the darnedest things about | | | | |
| chess and about chess players. Here are some | | | | In 2006, the finest computers play chess |
| of our favorite misconceptions about the | | | | better than 99.99% of people, but are evenly |
| royal game. Some of these sayings are | | | | leveled in games against the top humans. If, |
| unquestionably off-target, some of them are | | | | as some experts think, computers are gaining |
| uneducated impression, and some of them are | | | | 20 - 30 rating points per year, the moment |
| controversies that might or might not be | | | | will soon arrive when humans have no chance |
| valid. | | | | against the best machines. It should not be |
| | | | overlooked that computers are always trained |
| 1 ) Chess is difficult to grasp. | | | | by teams of human specialists who program |
| | | | them in psychological areas like opening |
| Chess may not be the easiest game to pick up, | | | | repertoire. Removing this benefit would |
| but it is far from the most prohibitive. You | | | | eliminate their excellence. |
| have to know the moves of the six pieces, | | | | |
| where the object with the slightest | | | | 5 ) Chess is a sport. |
| significance, the Pawn, has the most complex | | | | |
| moves. Then you have to memorize the rules | | | | Here we run the peril of upsetting the many |
| about attacking and defending the King, | | | | meritorious chess organizers who have spent |
| including castling. Then there are a few | | | | years trying to prevail upon the |
| rules about games where neither player wins. | | | | International Olympic Committee (IOC) that |
| One side of this myth is legitimate - - it is | | | | chess should be included as an Olympic sport. |
| difficult, very difficult, to learn to play | | | | Lifting light pieces of wood or clicking |
| chess well. One player in a hundred achieves | | | | rapidly on a computer monitor is not |
| supremacy. | | | | physically challenging work. As any quantity |
| | | | of photos from foregone high level chess |
| 2 ) You have to be brainy to play chess. | | | | events will demonstrate, chess players don't |
| | | | always cut a lean, trim, muscular profile. |
| There is some link between chess talent and | | | | |
| general intelligence. Minimum smarts are | | | | 6 ) Chess isn't a sport. |
| required. Cats and dogs will never make out | | | | |
| the basics; no one has tried giving lessons | | | | Here we try to make amends with those very |
| to dolphins and chimpanzees. Chess does | | | | same organizers who nearly convinced the IOC |
| involve, after all, using numerous advanced | | | | that chess is a sport. Chess has been |
| compartments of the brain as skillfully as | | | | included as a medal sport for the 2006 Asian |
| applicable. People from all walks of life | | | | Games. A game between two extraordinary chess |
| have fun playing chess, several attaining | | | | masters is full of tension, where superior |
| mastery. Some very clever people delight in | | | | nerves can make the difference between a |
| playing but never progress beyond novice. | | | | winner and an also-ran. Grandmasters have |
| | | | been acknowledged to lose a lot of weight |
| 3 ) Chess is for nerds. | | | | during the action of a month - long contest. |
| | | | |
| In fact, this isn't a misstatement, since | | | | 7 ) Women can't play chess as well as men. |
| chess is for everyone. It is for nerds, | | | | |
| geeks, eggheads, and boffins, as usually as | | | | To date it is unquestionable that women have |
| it is for anyone else. People who want to | | | | not performed as well as men in chess events. |
| call other people unpleasant names should | | | | There are many possible reasons for this. One |
| better say, ' chess is only for nerds ', but | | | | may be that male players are often expert at |
| this is plainly untrue. Even if it was on | | | | making female players feel uncomfortable at |
| target, so what? Intelligent, awkward, quirky | | | | chess events. The Polgar sisters have gone a |
| people have made more contributions to the | | | | long way to convince the chess world that |
| evolution of society than have the rest. If | | | | women can play very well. Perhaps one day we |
| they want to play chess, that ' s their | | | | will discover that women can even play better |
| business. | | | | than men. No one really knows. |
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