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Oct-01-04
 | | Benzol: <Troewa> Thanks that's a great article. |
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| Nov-18-04 | | combofan: <offramp: Tal & Euwe were both very good at Maths, as was Capablanca.> We know that Euwe was good because he was teaching maths but how do you know that Capa and Tal were also good at maths? |
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| Nov-18-04 | | Swindler: <combofan> Capa had an engineers education and Tal could multiply large sums in his head when he was very young. |
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| Nov-18-04 | | maoam: <combofan>
Euwe actually had a PhD in mathematics
http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.a... and Capablanca must have had some capacity for maths because he studied engineering at Columbia University. I don't know whether there's any reason to suppose that Tal was mathematically gifted (apart from his genius for chess of course). |
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| Nov-18-04 | | combofan: <Swindler: Tal could multiply large sums in his head> Did you get this information from a site? |
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| Nov-18-04 | | acirce: Well, it's not clear that such an ability means being "good at maths". |
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| Nov-18-04 | | combofan: <acirce> You are right. Maths are much more than this. |
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| Nov-18-04 | | Swindler: <combofan> No, from Kasparovs OMGP II. <acirce> True, it's more an "idiot savant" thing. |
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| Nov-18-04 | | Karlo Santos: I think there are more mathematicians who are chess players than chess players who are mathematicians. |
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| Nov-18-04 | | acirce: <I think there are more mathematicians who are chess players than chess players who are mathematicians.> And how many of those are logicians? |
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| Nov-19-04 | | TheSlid: <Karlo Santos> Hee hee |
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| Nov-19-04 | | Karlo Santos: <acirce> lol, I was trying to say that more people try playing chess because of an ability in maths than the converse, at least that's how it appears to me. My previous statement does lack a bit of common sense, my apologies :) |
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| Nov-19-04 | | TheSlid: <Karlo Santos> I actually thought this was joke from Boolean Algerba. I hope you did not think I was making fun of your good self! |
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| Nov-19-04 | | Orbitkind: It is certainly the case that there are more mathematicians that play chess than chess players who dabble in maths recreationally. It might be noted that chess is a part of mathematics; there are axioms and everything on the board results from these axioms, and tactics might be thought of as theorems, whereas strategy is a little more like witchcraft and are certainly not precise enough to be considered theorems, though they are shown from experience to be beneficial in a long term sense.. this is what makes chess still playable despite computers; although chess is mathematically precisely defined, it is not deterministic when humans play each other, and strategic moves tend to shift the probabilities of outcomes of plans or of the game, but cannot yet be shown to be deterministic given optimal play by both sides. And even in the hypothetical case of computers having arbitrary processing speed and making the game deterministic given optimal play by both sides, (and the tempo for white probably meaning white will win with almost any sound opening - and the many sounds ones that humans haven't yet discovered that probably exist - save perhaps gambits), this ability will never be able to be imparted to an individual human unless entire games are learnt like opening lines, but then the opponent could make a non-perfect but still sound move, and the two humans would be out of the opening book, and this would be possible in so many ways that human chess could not die, both players willing to play and win, and the higher rated player winning in the divergent path from the learnt line. |
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| Jan-10-05 | | Hanada: Well, I think Nunn, or Dr. Nunn if u prefer, is an extrememly talented player. He conducts many of his games with amazing energy and sharpness, and has contributed alot to opening theory, if I am not mistaken. High top rating and great winning percentage, according to the database. From what I have seen, I would place him in the category of elite GM, at least in his prime. It seems he is a dangerous player that no one should take lightly. Hey, they all can't be WC, right? |
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| Jan-10-05 | | AdrianP: At one time Nunn was rated No. 3 in the world, I think. He was also one of the first GMs to fully appreciate the power of computers for preparation. |
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| Jan-10-05 | | euripides: I have some recollection that in the biographical information in Golombek's book on Capa it records a remarkable mark he achieved in a maths exam at Columbia. |
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| Jan-10-05 | | like a GM: <euripides> The algebra examination, for instance, was scheduled to last three hours. At the end of an hour Capablanca handed in his paper.
“Poor kid,” the instructor said, “I guess it was too tough for him. He just gave up.”
But he was wrong. When he marked the paper he found that Capablanca had attained the high mark of 99 per cent, highest of any who had taken the test.
“Mathematics always came easy to me,” Capablanca said thoughtfully. Is this what you are talking about? |
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| Jan-10-05 | | euripides: <like a GM> yes, I think the Golombek book gives the 99% though not the bit about walking out early. |
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Jan-11-05
 | | offramp: Bronstein says that Nezhmetdinov was a genius at mathematics, and I know that Tal was a maths prodigy as well. I don't like reading things like that because I never really liked maths. |
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| Jan-11-05 | | bobo7up: Nunn sure wrote a very good thesis. As an aside one more mathematician who is a very good chess player (even better problem composer and solver; represented Israel at the problem solving championship) is Noam Elkies at Harvard. |
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| Jan-11-05 | | maoam: <bob7up>
I haven't read Nunn's thesis (on topology of some sort?). But I'm familiar with Noam Elkies; aside from his work on computational number theory he's written interesting papers on pawn endgames (see http://www.math.harvard.edu/~elkies...). And if you're fortunate enough to do math at Harvard there's even a "Chess and Mathematics" seminar. No fair. |
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| Jan-11-05 | | like a GM: <offramp> On the contrary i like reading things like that because i love both chess and math. Where did you get this information? (about Nezhmetdinov and Tal) |
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Jan-11-05
| | offramp: Thebit about Super-Nezh was from the Sorcerer's Apprentice; I can't remember where I read about Tal - it may be just a well-known fact. Wasn't Tal's dad a mathematician? |
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| Jan-11-05 | | like a GM: <offramp> Tal's father was a physician. |
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