![]() ![]() If you’re new to chess, never fear! Learning the principles of chess openings alone will give you a massive advantage over your opponents and set you on your way to rising through the ranks, without memorizing a single sequence of moves. Memorizing Specific Opening Moves (“Opening theory”).The study of chess openings can be broken into two major categories: If we can learn a good plan to implement from this position, we’ll be on our way to getting off on the right foot in each and every chess game we ever play. The GOOD news is that the following position occurs in every chess game you will ever play: The endless complexity of the game of chess has kept it relevant for centuries, captivating the minds of young and old alike – but there’s nothing worse than the frustration of staring blankly at the board in front of you, not having a clue what to do! But in some positions, coming up with a plan can be rather difficult – even for Masters of the game. So…what is the purpose of learning chess openings? And how do we go about learning them?Įveryone knows this. Yet no one can deny that a deep understanding of chess openings – and the plans associated with each one – is a huge advantage at ANY level of chess. Chess is not a “memorization contest,” and it is true that one can get by, at least to a certain point, on only a rudimentary understanding of chess opening principles. The truth, of course, lies somewhere in between. It’s not applicable to amateur chess when most games are decided by tactics.” Some take things to the other extreme, saying “Learning chess openings is only for Masters.Some have claimed to have met chess players who “memorized EXACTLY what move to play against ANY sequence of moves I could come up with – all the way to the end of the game!” (Magnus Carlsen better watch out if such a player ever arises.).Some have grown frustrated with chess, saying “I didn’t realize it was just a memorization contest” (this, of course, isn’t true!).The complexity of the study of chess openings has led many a chess player to hold numerous misconceptions about this important phase of the game: “We look forward to hosting Magnus at a future event in Saint Louis.Few topics intrigue and intimidate newcomers to chess like the study of so-called “Opening theory.” We hear stories of Masters who can play 15, 20, or 30 moves from pure memorization – despite the number of possible 20-move sequences to begin a game of chess being in the billions! “A player’s decision to withdraw from a tournament is a personal decision, and we respect Magnus’ choice, ″ Tony Rich, Executive Director of Saint Louis Chess Club, said in a statement. To win the world championships we're going to have to get much more serious." That post has gone viral on Hacker News, though there is no evidence that this device or any other was used by Niemman.Ĭheating in online chess is significantly more common, and online events have been routinely plagued by scandal during the last few years.įor their part, event organizers wouldn’t speculate on the motivation for Carlsen’s abrupt departure, or comment on the parade of online gossip that has accompanied his exit. In a writeup of that proof-of-concept, the device's designer wrote that "I was planning to recruit a 'plausibly-good' chess player to use the shoes to win the world championship," and that he was planning on creating an updated version of the cheating device: "This proof-of-concept only needed to fool my mates, in a pub, for the duration of 2 games. One recent proof of concept involved using vibration-based buttons in a player’s shoes to communicate with a Raspberry Pi Zero running the open source Stockfish chess engine hidden somewhere in the player’s clothing. In real-world over the board (OTB) chess, cheating usually comes in the form of somehow obtaining outside move advice through hidden communications systems, or embedding computers in clothing or footwear that can predict game outcomes and provide move recommendations. A few years ago, my chess dreams were quickly dwindling but thankfully they rose from the dead.”ĭirect accusations of cheating in the chess world are rare and often hard to prove. “I am eternally grateful for the opportunity to play chess at the highest level and live out my dreams. “This is truly a humbling day for me,” Niemann said in a Tweet shortly after the win. Carleson has won the cup twice in the last decade, and had never before withdrawn from an ongoing event. The Sinquefield Cup features cash prizes as high as $350,000, and has been a major step on the World Grand Chess Tour since 2015. In the wake of Carlsen’s vague allegations, event organizers say they delayed the online broadcast of the fourth round by 15 minutes, and ramped up event metal detection and RFID checks on players ahead of the next round. ![]()
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