User Profile: Gypsy

Gypsy
Member since Mar-17-04 · Last seen Jun-19-13

"There Would be No Game"
--
As he got to know him, Joseph and Mary regarded Doc with something akin to love---for love feeds on the unknown and unknowable. Doc's honesty was exotic to Joseph and Mary. He found it strange. It attracted him in spite of the fact that he could not understand it. He felt that there was something he had missed, though he could not figure what it was.
One day, sitting in Western Biological, Joseph and Mary saw a chessboard and, finding that it was a game and being good at games, he asked Doc to teach him. J and M easily absorbed the characters and qualities of castles and bishops and knights and royalty and pawns. During the first game Doc was called to the phone, and when he returned he said, "You have moved a pawn of mine and your queen and knight."
"How'd you know?" the Patron asked.
"I know the game," said Doc. "Look,, Joseph and Mary, chess is possibly the only game in the world in which it is impossible to cheat."
Joseph and Mary inspected this statement with amazement. "Why not?" he demanded.
"If it were possible to cheat there would be no game," said Doc.
J and M carried this with him. It bothered him at night. He looked at it from all angles. And he went back to ask more questions about it. He was charmed with the idea, but he couldn't understand it.
Doc explained patiently, "Both players know exactly the same thing. The game is played in the mind."
"I don't get it."
"Well, look! You can't cheat in mathematics or poetry or music because they're based on truth. Untruth or cheating is just foreign, it has no place. You can't cheat in arithmetic."
Joseph and Mary shook his head. "I don't get it," he said.
It was a shocking conception and he was drawn to it because, in a way, its outrageousness seemed to him like a new strange way of cheating. In the back of his mind an idea stirred. Suppose you took honesty and made a new racket of it---it might be the toughest of all to break. It was so new to him that his mind recoiled from it, but still it wouldn't let him alone. His eyes narrowed. "Maybe he's worked out a system," he said to himself.
John Steinbeck, "Sweet Thursday"
----
Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.
All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.

general Sun Tze: "The Art of War"

>> Click here to see Gypsy's game collections.

   Gypsy has kibitzed 8614 times to chessgames [more...]

   Jun-19-13 Gelfand vs Carlsen, 2013

Gypsy: <tamar> The <56.Kd6? Ne4+> is a sweet trick. Alas, 56.Kd6 is not that attractive in the first place, as even 56...Nf7+(?) holds the draw by perpetual.

   Jun-17-13 Chigorin vs Lasker, 1895

Gypsy: <Phony Benoni> Thx friend! <Were you searching for it as an 1895 game?> Yup, that was the problem.

   Jun-17-13 Anand-Carlsen World Championship (2013)

Gypsy: < And there is no strong child prodigy after him until Capablanca. > Charousek can be considered one, if you include also teenagers.

   Jun-13-13 Carlsen vs Kramnik, 2013

Gypsy: <chessdgc2> Prophylaxis from an old furniture of the site. Man, you have not been around for some of the discussions we have had here over the years. The worst thing is, you get pulled in against your better judgement and then you just can not let go... :-)

   Jun-10-13 Euwe vs Bogoljubov, 1928

Gypsy: <When I am White, I win because I am White. When I am Black, I win because I am Bogolyubov!> A famous Bogo pun, but generally not fully appreciated by 'foreigners': <Bogolubov> ~= <Favorite-of-God>

   Jun-09-13 Barmen Meisterturnier A (1905)

Gypsy: <whiteshark> Good suggestion.

   Jun-08-13 Jose Raul Capablanca

Gypsy: <Wyatt Gwyon: If Capa could get a good opening, how do you think he'd manage against modern elite GMs?> Capa would be among the very best. I am not sure if he'd be stronger that Carlsen, though. Perhaps he'd be at roughly the same level of play. (my -2c-)

   Jun-07-13 C Kottnauer vs Bogoljubov, 1932

Gypsy: <It's fuuny,in some languages CE is pronounced like CHE and CHE is pronounced as kay.> However, the proper Czech spelling of the player's name is <Čeněk Kottnauer>, with the diacritical 'hooks' as indicated. With these hooks, the name pronounces (as in the youtube video

   Jun-05-13 L Dominguez vs Topalov, 2013

Gypsy: <Nerwal> Thx. The essence is that Black K is initially so out of position that getting both, R and K, into good defensive positions proves not to be possible.

   May-28-13 L Dominguez vs Nakamura, 2013

Gypsy: <tpstar: <Gypsy> Stalemate here is a win for Black, right?!> Absolutely!

indicates a reply to the comment.

< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 12 OF 12 · Later Kibitzing>
Aug-11-11		Gypsy: <vonKrolock> Thx, the skit is funny. (Though chess is only very incidental there.)

Aug-11-11		vonKrolock: :) The title is all too chessy

Sep-01-11		vonKrolock: Frohman, Bedřich Arat. om, 1888 1st Prize click for larger view #3 Was him in some way <'The Forgotten Bohemian'> ?! But this threemover alone makes him a memorable personality...

Sep-02-11		Gypsy: <vonKrolock> Against my better judgement, I got sucked in by the puzzle. Spent way too much time on it today, but did not make much headway at all. (Just chased ghosts in circles in a maze of crooked allies.)

Sep-02-11		vonKrolock: Oh sorry - well, it's subtle and well hidden ... Curious that not even in the <Meson> online database this 3er appears ... But the diagram and solution will readillly appear in Turevsky's <yacpdb> searching or readilly pressing the button over this link http://www.yacpdb.org/?id=112324 (and in this site two full hands - ten I mean - of <Frohman>s (But about the author's himself - nothing...)

Sep-02-11		Gypsy: <vonKrolock> I'll see what I can find. (I will have to make some long-distance inquiries.)

Sep-03-11		vonKrolock: Never mind <Gypsy> ... I thought tha at least some ready to pull from the bookshelf Czech vademecum would give a minimum of data ... but <long-distance inquiries> is way too ... well :)

Sep-07-11		Gypsy: <vonKrolock> Alas, Mr. Frohman indeed seems forgotten. Sorry. My search came up blank.

Sep-07-11		vonKrolock: Thanks, <Gypsy> ... Well, maybe some nice diagrams are already memory enough :)

Sep-07-11		Gypsy: <vonKrolock> Indeed.

Nov-29-11		Penguincw: Nice rook. Looks like the one used on chessgames.com whenever a live game result is not 1/2-1/2 or a decisive result in the Chessgames Challenge. Wait a minute, it is.

Dec-16-11		Gypsy: <Penguincw> The history of the dancing rook is interesting: It appeared on this site for the first time at the close of the World Championship game Leko vs Kramnik, 2004. If you play through the moves of the game, you will understand how serendipitous the rook's appearance felt to all of those us that were there (virtually present and kibitzing, I mean). Some time later, when the dancing rook became also available as an avatar, I used my seniority, traded in a rook-avatar I was using, and acquired the rights for this one.

Mar-16-12		Ziryab: Gypsy, I fell upon this page looking for information concerning an endgame attributed to Jan Drtina (Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual) and to F. Dedrle (Encyclopedia of Chess Endings). The position: click for larger view Your comments regarding Emil Richter's discussion of opposition theory vis-a-vis theory of critical squares intrigues me. Could you provide more complete bibliographic information regarding Richter's text. I'm turning up nothing via Google. Thanks.

Mar-30-12		Gypsy: <Ziryab> The Drtina position you give is Diagram 190, Emil Richter "Sachove koncici hry", Sportovni a turisticke nakladatelstvi, Praha 1958. (In turn, Richter gives "Casopis ceskych sachistu", 1907; and F. Dedrle, "Studie", 1925 as earlier publications.) Richter then follows Drtina by position 191 of N.D. Grigoriev, "Sachmatnyj listok", 1931. click for larger view White to move wins.

Dec-19-12		frogbert: i left a note to you on my player page: Hans Arild Runde

Dec-23-12		frogbert: btw, i've been asked to write an article for the official norwegian chess magazine about carlsen, his rating record and possible implications - where rating inflation is one of the topics i'm touching. i.e. i'm already digging into the issue from various angles. :o)

Jan-26-13		Tiggler: Repost from Hans Rulde's gamesforum: <Tiggler: <Sep-08-12 Gypsy>:<It took me a while to realize that the Elo process in this case is not Wiener, which would pretty much prove your hypothesis, but rather mean-reverting Orenstein-Uhlenbeck.> But not so long as it took me (4.5 months) to realize that the reversion you are discussing is synonymous with "regression". (Smacks head with palm). The same concept that Francis Galton used (circa. 1880) to explain why human traits do not diverge without limit. If you had called the same process "mean-regressing Galton-Fisher" (an equally apt but precedent-respecting attribution), I would have got it instantly.>

Mar-03-13		Tiggler: <Gypsy> Long time since we heard from you. I have just completed some new simulations with interesting results. Included draws and a mean-regression component. Guess what? The ratings distribution converges to a stable Gaussian, and by selecting one parameter in the mean-regression I can get any standard deviation desired. Now in a position to model real population dynamics, including ratings inflation, ratings islands - whatever.

Mar-21-13		TheTamale: I like the Steinbeck passage!

Mar-28-13		Gypsy: <Tiggler> Great to hear from you. Sorry for being a recluse; I have just enough cycles to occasionally peek at what is happening, but do not dare to engage till I am done with my current load. (Trying to complete paperwork that we hoped to have done before this year started.) Your results sound great! Have a couple of ideas re how to tackle the inflation problem from a slightly different angle, but keeping those on the back burner till my current ordeal is over. (Looking forward to working it through with you guys.)

Mar-28-13		Gypsy: <TheTamale> Thx. Great book, btw! (In retrospect, one of the most influential books in my life. Formed a great deal of how I see the World.)

Mar-28-13		Tiggler: <Gypsy: <Tiggler> Great to hear from you. > idem. Just a sample: the well behaved result I reported previously blows up completely if the FIDE 400-point rule is used. That nonlinear rule creates: chaos.

Apr-02-13		Gypsy: <Tiggler> Fascinating result.

Apr-03-13		Tiggler: <Gypsy> It may be because I only had 200 players in my simulation, but here is what happens (not literally chaos): Players at the extremes of the distribution, when nearly all their games get to be against players with >400 points difference, fly off to + infinity, or -infinity. Increase the mean regression tendency, to counteract this, and it still happens, but all other players' ratings collapse to the mean. Not chaos, but bizarre all the same.

Apr-03-13		Tiggler: <Fascinating result.> <Gypsy> I forgot to say thank you for this compliment. Not exactly a <result> as meant by <Senior Wranglers>, but I'm pleased with it.

Jump to page # (enter # from 1 to 12)
< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 12 OF 12 · Later Kibitzing>

from the Chessgames Store

NOTE: You need to pick a username and password to post a reply. Getting your account takes less than a minute, totally anonymous, and 100% free--plus, it entitles you to features otherwise unavailable. Pick your username now and join the chessgames community!

If you already have an account, you should login now.

Please observe our posting guidelines:

No obscene, racist, sexist, or profane language.
No spamming, advertising, or duplicating posts.
No personal attacks against other users.
Nothing in violation of United States law.

See something which violates our rules? Blow the whistle and inform an administrator.

NOTE: Keep all discussion on the topic of this page. This forum is for this specific user and nothing else. If you want to discuss chess in general, or this site, you might try the Kibitzer's Café.

Messages posted by Chessgames members do not necessarily represent the views of Chessgames.com, its employees, or sponsors.

You are not logged in to chessgames.com.
If you need an account, register now;
it's quick, anonymous, and free!
If you already have an account, click here to sign-in.