Mediaboss Marketing

On the second day of the final, rounds 5 to 9of the all-play-alltournament were played. After day 1, Clichy and Deizisau weresharingthe lead with six matchpoints each, with the French slightly ahead by one board point.

Already the 5th round saw Deizsau taking the sole lead, as they defeated the womens squadfrom Monte Carlo, while another German club,Hamburger SK, defeatedClichy.

The victory did not come easy forDeizisau, though, as they scored a single win (and three draws) against the winners of the Womens European Club Cup. Georg Meier who finished the eventwith a remarkable5/6 score defeatedAleksandra Goryachkina, a player who can normally hold her own against the (male-dominated) worlds top players:

Practical Chess Strategy: The Bishop

When it comes to strategy, one of the key things that chess professionals understand much better than amateur players is the role of the bishop which is the key theme on this video course.

The ultimate testfor the team from Deizisau came in round 6, when they faced the strong squadfrom St. Petersburg, a team that has often fought for the title in similar events. This match could not be lost: to keep the lead in the standings, but also to strengthen the belief that they could winthe tournament! And they succeeded.In a hard-fought 2:2 draw (there were no draws on individual boards), Alexander Donchenko and Vincent Keymer each took a full point.

In Round 7, the Poland Husars, led byJan-Krzysztof Duda, were then left behind in the standings with a 2:1win Georg Meier and Vincent Keymer, the most successful point scorers for the eventual winners, scored victories in this match.

In Round 8, Deizisau thankedHamburger SK fortheir support earlier in the day (see above) as the match was drawn 2:2.

At the end, it all came down tonerves a win againstLadya Kazan, who had not been too successful until that point, was needed to secure overall victory. This was once again a battle of equals,except on board 4, whereDmitrij Kollars had a large rating advantage over his opponent. Kollars kept his nerve and scored the full point.Deizisau won the match 2.5:1.5.

Clichy finished strong, with wins over Novy Bor and Odlar Yurdu, but that was not enough to catch the Germans. Mednyi Vsadnik and Poland Hussars obtained 11 match points each, but the Russians had two more board points, which was enough to secure the bronze.

A Classical Guide to the French Defence

This DVD gives you the key to start out with the French Defence. GM Yannick Pelletier is a specialist of this opening, and believes that the most efficient way to understand its ideas, plans, and typical structures is to study classical lines.

Read more:
SF Deizisau convincingly wins the European Club Cup - Chessbase News

By Aron

Recently we have talked extensively about computer games and virtual worlds created by humans. However, I want to talk about a physical game that we brought computers into, Chess.

For a long time, automatic chess machines were the interest of people. From 1770 till 1854 The Turk was once famed as the first automatic chess machine which won games from players all over Europe and the Americas. However this wonder was exactly that, amechanicalwonder. It was not actually an automatic chess machine; it was operated by a person through clever use of mechanical contraptions.

A main problem in the early Chess engines was the amount of computing power needed for computers to calculate the best moves. Usually computers played brute force chess. meaning that they examine a large amount of possible moves and thus an array of outcomes. There was also research trying to get a computer to imitate human thinking during a chess match. The advances of technology eventually solved this by allowing brute force to become a viable option.In 1977 there were already computers that were capable of examines all possible moves to play in a chess game and the outcomes. This took a large amount of time and that is why a computer during that period could not beat a human player. Chess competitions have a time element in them and such computers would lose chess games just because of this crucial factor.The first computer to beat a grandmaster in a competitive setting was called Deep Blue. Deep Blue played against the then world champion Garry Kasparov. The victory was not total; of 6 games played, Deep Blue won 4 and after this last game, Kasparov was furious, walked away with frustration from the table and later arguing about his loss which can be seen below.

Source

After this, the advancement went fast and it is now accepted that a human can no longer beat a computer. this led to the new top players of chess versing each other. The computers faced each other and advancement kept being made. New programs beat the older ones and one of the lead players was called Stockfish. Stockfish saw many iterations and kept the top position for a long time. A new opponent rose through the field in the form of Googles AlphaZero. AlphaZero was a neural network based engine that beat Stockfish with only 4 hours of training against itself and no input other than the Chess rules.

Source

The game of Chess was changed by immensely by the advent of computers allowing people to enjoy practice by themselves without the need for a human opponent. It also changed moves by finding new moves in positions human wouldve never considered.

Through this way computers have influenced our physical games as well. Chess is not the only one, many computers have also been created for the game Go and there are likely to be many more such engines/programs/machines. If it is for the better, Im not sure, it removes the element of mind games, a computer cant be tricked in ways that can aid you during the game. The emotional setback one might feel during the loss of a mispositioned queen piece wont affect the machine. Yet the positives effects on the games should also not be forgotten.

Thank you for reading this blog! Do you know other games which computers have influenced in our physical world? Id love to hear.

If you want to play a match of Chess against me, let me know in the comments and we can set something up!

This post was previously published on digmedia.lucdh.nland licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

***

Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS. Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here.

Photo credit: iStockPhoto.com

Follow this link:
The Machines Gambit - The Good Men Project

Chess is an entire world in just 64 squares, says Beth Harmon, the doe-eyed prodigy in The Queens Gambit. I feel safe in it. I can control it; I can dominate it.

Beth is the fictional heroine of a hit Netflix series, but her understanding of the power of the game to deliver a sense of achievement to young people is being harnessed in the UKs richest chess tournament for youngsters.

The 10,000 Scottish Junior Tournament has been endowed by Gareth Williams, the multimillionaire founder of Skyscanner, in the hope that hundreds of children of all abilities will sign up.

Williams will be able to build on the success of The Queens Gambit

PHIL BRAY/NETFLIX/AP

It is important they do, believes Williams, 52, because chess requires a skill that is in short supply in our digital age: concentration.

Chess

Link:
Scot's gambit to get kids into chess | Scotland - The Times

After another 2-2 in their second match, GM Anish Giridefeated GM Ian Nepomniachtchi in the playoff to win the Magnus Carlsen Invitational on Sunday. Giri earned$60,000 for first place. GM Magnus Carlsencame third after securing two game points vs.Wesley So.

"Again it was a lottery and this time the winning ticket went to another guy," was how Nepomniachtchi summed up this final. And he had a point because he clearly had chances to win it as wellbut only after Giri had dominated in the first three games.

Again it was a lottery and this time the winning ticket went to another guy.Ian Nepomniachtchi

He took the lead in game two, once again with the wonderful, dynamic play that Giri had been showing throughout the tournament. As it turns out, you can also play the Keres Attack against the Taimanov!

Giri's Najdorf again held up very well in both his black games. Here's game three:

So far, so good for the Dutch number one. However, things changed completely in game four, in which Nepomniachtchi had to win on demand.

"These must-win games are very tense for both sides," said Carlsen the other day. The effect on Giri was that he decided to say goodbye to his dynamic chess and return to a safer approach.

Concretely, this meant choosing 3.Bb5 instead of the Open Sicilian. In hindsight, it's easy to criticize but it does feel that this approach sort of backfirednot because Giri was worse out of the opening (on the contrary) but because it somehow resulted in him playing worse than in the earlier games.

"Of course, the game was bad. I'm disappointed, in terms of chess, the way I played the game," Giri said, before praising his opponent for finding a very nice regrouping with his queen and bishop: "That was very impressive, I thought."

It's often said that the player who comes back from a deficit goes into a playoff with a psychological advantage. How did Giri recover so well?

"What really helped is the match of Ian against Magnus, because there Ian messed up two must-not-lose games and then still won," Giri said. "He did it right there a day ago so I never had any doubt that the match was [not] over once I went to the tiebreak."

In the first game, again as White, Giri chose the Alapin and Nepomniachitch steered the game into a French. At the wrong moment, Giri sacrificed a piece and didn't get much compensation but won anyway as Nepomniachtchi blundered terribly on move 25.

"Considering the comeback in game four and a completely winning position in the first blitz game I would probably claim that I deserved a little bit more," said Nepomniachtchi. "But when you spend one minute on 25Rh7, then you see 25Rh7 is wrong and anyway you play 25Rh7, OK, this is probably karma or something. Perhaps he deserved more or I should have done something better."

The Russian player chose 1.b3 for the second blitz game but didn't get anything out of the opening and then blundered positionally, after which his winning chances were gone.

Giri was surprised to see 1.b3: "Usually, people play 1.b3 because they want to get an interesting position because they are sick and tired of boring openings. But I'm playing the Najdorf, I don't really see why you would avoid the Najdorf in a must-win. It's anything but solid. But I can imagine, he probably felt I was very well prepared and he didn't want to end up in the situation where he ends up in my preparation, he just wanted to get a 'man against a man,' it's fair enough."

As always, the playoff was mostly about nerves and that was also why this victory was so important for Giri. Two months ago in Wijk aan Zee, he was incredibly close to winning his first super-tournament that included Carlsen in the participants' list but in the tiebreak, he stumbled against his compatriot and friend GM Jorden van Foreest. This time, Giri showed that he can overcome his nerves.

It's also a very welcome development for him taking into account that the next big tournament is the FIDE Candidates, which will resume on April 20. Giri reflected:

"Mostly, it's good for the vibes, for the Candidates, for the preparation. It's also good because I am of a firm belief that there is no such thing as 'destined,' or some people say that the champions are made of something, this kind of nonsense, I absolutely don't buy this. It's good, before the Candidates, that I win a tournament like this one and that I know if I get to the very fortunate situation that I will be close there, which is a long way to go, but if I ever get in that situation, I will not have any doubts, despite what many people are trying to create. I know there is no curse, but [now] I will know for sure there isn't such a thing."

Nepomniachtchi was mostly happy that it's over, saying:"The main achievement for me is that I survived these nine days of very intense playing.I got great practice. It's a little bit difficult to play chess never playing your own openings but OK, it was a nice experience."

The players can get back to their training for next month, where preparation will be of great importance. Giri said that, preparation wise, he benefited from the fact that the second half of the tournament was postponed twice as he organized several training camps already.

At the same time, he didn't agree that his tournament victory was based on his preparation for the Candidates:"Working on chess is like a continuous process. This process is lasting from the beginning of your career. It's like accumulating more and more knowledge. I've started preparing for the Candidates since I'm seven."

I've started preparing for the Candidates since I'm seven.Anish Giri

Having won the first match on Saturday, Carlsen only needed to score two game point to secure (at least) 2-2. He did, with two draws and the following win in the first game. The opening went well for So but the American GM missed a nasty knight move and it all turned around:

All Games Day 9

The Champions Chess Tour's Magnus Carlsen Invitational ran March 13-21 on chess24. The preliminary phase was a 16-player rapid (15|10) round-robin. The top eight players advanced to a six-day knockout that consisted of two days of four-game rapid matches, which advanced to blitz (5|3) and armageddon (White has five minutes, Black four with no increment) tiebreaks if a knockout match was tied after the second day. The prize fund was $220,000.

Previous reports:

View original post here:
Anish Giri Wins 2021 Magnus Carlsen Invitational - Chess.com

Quantification is taking over the world of sport. Ruben Saavedra, a Catalan neuroscientist who runs Metrica Sports, is part of the data revolution in football. He explains why and how data matters in football to Pinaki Chakraborty

Can data help you to measure the brilliance of a player?

No. I always make the comparison with chess. Football is similar to chess in a lot of ways. If you move a piece it has an impact on other pieces. You can analyse all of that. Not everything can be done with data, when they scout, they also scout their personal lives. Not everything can be measured. The more information you have the better decision you can make.

How has game evolved with data sciences?

We saw while watching games what media were doing with heat maps and we thought it was very basic. A player ran 5.2 km, but then when did he run, at what speed, with ball, without ball? I am talking about 2012-13, there were no clubs in the world that had proper data science departments, none. Some were starting in England, mainly Liverpool, and in the US because there is a culture in sports of data analysis. It comes from baseball, basketball etc.

Didnt big clubs have data analytic teams then?

Barcelona was starting, they had only one person. All top clubs nowadays have data sciences department. But if you go below those, they dont have it yet. Clubs like Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad are now building data science teams. We think we are in the middle of a revolution.

How is the data used at different levels?

Top clubs have a data science department and they use the data for whatever else they want along with football. The data can be used for scouting. You can get data from any video. If they upload a video from Brazil, then they can see his (players) workload, physical speed and high intensity runs. They also use the data for opposition analysis: where they shift the ball, the transitions.

Thats pattern recognition.

Yes, but it is also for analysing your own game. Clubs have their own philosophy and they have their own way of going through the game and they take their time to analyse the game. These are very fine details, for example, in some situation the players should not be further away than 5 metres. In the lower leagues you dont have data scientists, it is all based on videos. Now these clubs can add data to their video analysis.

How does data impact football philosophies of clubs?

Data can be used to see if the philosophy is actually happening. Clubs, reportedly like Barcelona and Ajax, have a fixed philosophy. They can build algorithms to detect those very specific movements: if we lose the ball here, we press for three seconds and step back, a certain player will instantly move to a position. Data will instantly tell you when this happens and when this does not. You can specify algorithms for positioning. For right backs and wingers there is a set of patterns. This enables them to compare a player who is playing u-17, u-19 and u-21 to those in the main team. They did it in the past by watching players, now they do it with data and scouts.

Can all clubs afford this?

For sure, this is not a cheap department. It also needs a change in culture. That is why the top clubs are leading the revolution. We believe that in a few years every professional club will make decisions based on data. When we started, the data trackers were bought by broadcasters and then in some clubs and leagues the broadcasters would try and sell this data. Now, it is the clubs that are buying the data directly.

How do they use the data for scouting?

Twenty years back all teams had a crew. They had 20-50 people travelling around the world watching games. They would send a report and then if the player was interesting, they would send another analyst. Now, data is used to support the decision. A club once told me that they were scouting a player in Brazil and all videos that they had was that he was superfast. Until we got the data. He was fast compared to Brazilian average, was low compared to our average. Now, its come a lot further. Data can tell you whether the player will fit into your team. So you buy a defensive midfielder and look at the data and find how many tackles he makes, how many recoveries and where he sprints. Then you put that data in your model and take out your defensive midfielder and put this one in. The more information you have, the better decision you can make.

Tell me what doesyour firm do?

We provide video and data analysis to football clubs. We provide it at all levels. The idea is to provide video and data analysis to football coaches, players, analysts, fans at all levels. We have an AI based tracking technology. We can track any football video whether it is training, from broadcast, from a hand held camera, anything. The data that is generated is the difference. We provide clubs like PSG or other clubs with highly sophisticated data, event data i.e. all ball events like passes, shots, tackles, all events during a game.

Is it because the so-called not well off clubs cannot afford expensive softwares like yours?For sure, this is not a cheap department. It is not just the people, but the data is very expensive. It also needs a change in culture and like any innovation there are early movers. Thos early movers are those who have enough money to waste or give . That is why the top clubs are leading the revolution. It is a matter of time when the low clubs in Spain, England and Germany, Holland now have the budgets to have such a department. When we started the data trackers were bought by broadcasters and then in some clubs and leagues the broadcasters will try and sell this data.

You spoke about democratising football. What is the Tesla model that you follow?What I meant was Tesla launched a very expensive product in the beginning, which only some privileged customers could pay and with that they financed some of the lower versions of the product. This is our model. When we founded the company in 2014, we only had the elite plan. We only worked with big clubs like the Reals, the Valencias, the Spanish national football team and covered the MLS, the American soccer league. That was our company back then. We wanted to democratise access to these kind of solutions for everyone now.

Views expressed above are the author's own.

END OF ARTICLE

Read the rest here:
Football is similar to chess. Clubs have their own philosophy, algorithms can detect those specific movemen - The Times of India Blog