Mahesh - Week 14: Is memory destroying classical chess?
Mahesh - Week 14: Is memory destroying classical chess?
Everyone’s favorite game of chess is known for its strategy and an extraordinary stereotype of housing the most brilliant of minds. However, the element of preparation has brought the chess community into disarray. Magnus Carlsen and Robert Fischer—two past world chess champions—have expressed their disdain for the engine preparation that is encouraged by classical chess tournaments, which Magnus grew tired of to the point where he quit defending the classical world champion title. Engine preparation would include analyzing various openings and memorizing the sequences and ideas of the positions before a tournament game. This type of pregame activity is present at the elite level of the game; but, I have encountered varying degrees of preparation from my opponents when I was obsessed with tournament chess.
For the past year, my brother has been a constant presence at Bay Area Chess organized tournaments, climbing up the rating ladder to receive the National Master title. Through his experiences in the elite level of the competitive chess community (top 0.1% of players), he shares his thoughts on chess preparation at his level frequently. I know for a fact that he gets extremely annoyed when he plays into his opponent’s preparation and has to think for every move while his opponent plays planned moves with mere seconds of thought.
I notice the same trend of the prevalence of using memorized variations to gain an early advantage in classical chess. Preparing for the game and memorizing moves takes as much precedence as the calculation and intuition as I see in the currently ongoing the Candidates Tournament—the most important chess tournament of the year—determining the qualification to the world chess championship. In one of the games, one of the players played about 20+ moves of engine preparation and spent about 5 minutes in that part of the game while his opponent spent over an hour formulating his responses to those moves. That brings me to the question: is engine preparation neutralizing and destroying classical chess as a possibility?
Hikaru Nakamura—my favorite chess player and the man I root for in every tournament—shared similar sentiments in his podcast with Lex Fridman. All of the chess players that I know personally and the top players have a strong liking toward fast-paced chess where results come down to intuition and fast calculation, rather than a memory-based approach to the game. Rather than relying on memory to get me through the first part of the game, I want to see more fast chess at the elite level rather than classical, slow-paced chess.
Source:
Mather, Victor, nytimes.com, 20 July 2022, www.nytimes.com/2022/07/20/sports/chess-magnus-carlsen-world-championship.html/. Accessed 10 April 2024.
Hey Mahesh, I found your article very interesting and can relate it with other instances where memory has taken over in many scenarios. In a fast paced environment, each player knows that their moves are their impulse and shows their depth. In a 10 minute game of chess, the use of engines becomes more prone and as people play against top players more and more, the idea of just memorizing plays and counters saturates the impulsive characteristic that chess can hold. Even during online games, the use of AI based engines has become more prevalent in longer games of chess. The same issue with memory can be seen with games such as Catan or Risk. While not as serious of a game, when taken the time to study maps and plays, it ruins the fun of having impulse in games. The impulsive strategy that many games require are slowly becoming overshadowed by memory based analysis and countless hours of studying.
ReplyDeleteHi Mahesh. I’m not very familiar with professional chess, but it was interesting to read your perspective on memory in chess. Based on your description, it seems like memorizing a bunch of strategies is the equivalent of memorizing the answer for math problems the day before a test, which doesn’t seem like the way chess is usually supposed to be played—it’s a game that tests a player’s critical thinking skills more than their memorization skills. It was also really interesting to visit the hyperlink of the Candidates Tournament; I had not seen this website before and was intrigued to see how each match is “live streamed” in a sense. Regardless, hopefully there can be some change in the way professional chess is played, as memorizing moves seems like a slightly dull way to win a match for such an intellectual game.
ReplyDeleteHi Mahesh. It is interesting to read your article about the preparation of classical chess. It is concerning because move memorization seems to be more important in the game than strategic intelligence and reasoning. For example, Magnus Carlsen and your brother, among other players, have voiced their dissatisfaction, which emphasizes the widening divide between more instinctive play and strategy that requires extensive planning. It is good to see people like Hikaru call for a return of a more rapid style think on the spot style of chess.
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