#22
I doubt it is memory. Reshevsky and Spassky were very strong though they had poor memories. They could not remember openings. Spassky even had to consult his own scoresheet analysing after the game.
Carlsen is very strong in endgames. That is the hallmark of all great champions.
Carlsen always stays calm and is never in a hurry.
"Is that why he plays for draws in winning positions?"
Who are you talking about? Carlsen usually plays for the win even in slightly worse positions. Every once in a while, the match or tournament situation makes a draw an excellent result, but Carlsen is famous for playing out even quite drawish positions, looking for any winning chances
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Cyrus Lakdawala wrote a whole book about this, examining Carlsen's strengths and what it takes to defeat him.
Below is an extract from that book, edited by me for conciseness and clarity. I think it's the best and most eloquent assessment of why Carlsen is the world's greatest player, and arguably the best there's ever been.
Bear in mind that this assessment is from a book published in 2020.
Extract start//
Let’s break down the sources of Carlsen’s mysterious and uncanny power:
*** An impossibly high concentration/awareness level, as a result of which Magnus is easily the most blunder-free player in the world.
*** Endless calculation ability. In my opinion, only Fabiano Caruana and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave can hang with him in this respect. In pure calculation battles, most of Carlsen’s opponents are pretty much always one or two or three or four beats behind the orchestra’s conductor.
*** Supernaturally perfect assessment power. Kasparov once said the source of Magnus’ true power is his astonishing ability to accurately assess even the most confusing positions.
*** Magnus, in my opinion, along with Capablanca and Fischer before him, is in the top three endgame players of all time category. Magnus is relentless in technical endings, where he routinely beats strong GMs and even world-class players in drawn endings.
He just never gives up and, with infinite patience, waits for his opportunity. When his opponent omits the most insignificant detail, Magnus pounces and converts positions other top GMs fail to win. No other player in the world can claim to be his equal in this endgame phase.
*** A wide and creative opening repertoire, filled with theoretical surprises for his opponent. Magnus may play White and grind his opponent down in a London System, and then in the very next round play the Black side of an antipodal opposite, a Dragon or Najdorf Sicilian.
If you are a chess player, then a sizable portion of your life is spent classifying and sub-classifying your openings. Magnus, with his either photographic or near-photographic memory, plays a bewildering array of openings, in totally opposing styles. This makes him next-to-impossible to prepare against.
*** Emanuel Lasker, Mikhail Tal, AlphaZero and Magnus Carlsen all understand: a threat doesn’t need to be real for the opponent to fear it. Magnus, channeling Emanuel Lasker, once said: ‘I am trying to beat the guy sitting across
from me and trying to choose the moves that are most unpleasant for him and his style.’
Magnus is the most fearless chess player in the world, mainly since he is uniquely equipped with a Lasker/Tal/AlphaZero-like element/ability to confuse the opponent.
Magnus, like Tal before him, carries this child-like trait where he often gambles wildly and, in the great majority of his transgressions, gets away with his crimes.
He is scholar and mystic combined, with the ability to play a dry technical ending, and then, in the very next game, to unsoundly sacrifice a pawn and win anyway, against a 2800-rated opponent, sucking him into a vortex of confusion.
*** Magnus is the premier player in the world in irrational positions. Even masters of confusion like Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Hikaru Nakamura still lag behind.
*** He has an Alekhine/Fischer-like monomaniacal will to win. It’s difficult to gauge a player’s level of will, yet Magnus is willing to push for the win, more than his colleagues. Of course, this can be viewed as a negative and there is an entire chapter in the book in which we see Magnus pushing too hard and going over the cliff.
*** 'I normally do what my intuition tells me to do. Most of the time thinking is just to double-check,’ said Magnus, who possess a Capablanca/Tal/Fischer-like, near-perfect intuition. Why did I add Tal to the list? Because Magnus is that incredibly rare player who is gifted with both strategic and tactical intuition.
Kasparov once said of Tal that, unlike others who merely calculate, Tal magically ‘sees through’ the complications. Magnus is the only other player I know of in chess history who is gifted with this kind of intuition. We have all seen countless examples of Magnus’ strategic wizardry. His tactical intuition is equally acute.
*** A Capablanca/Botvinnik/Fischer-like planning ability. Only Fabiano Caruana can hang with him in this aspect.
*** Magnus, unlike many other top players, has said he has engaged in a deep study of great players of the past. So this man/machine hybrid you see today is nothing but a condensed distillate of the great players of the past, to the present moment.
*** This comes under the category of no-brainer, but anyone who goes over two years without losing a chess game is a master of defensive evasion. Carl Schlechter, Tigran Petrosian and Viktor Kortchnoi could only dream about reaching Carlsen’s defensive stature.
Even when he receives a wicked and unexpected blow to the gizzard, by some miraculous power he manages to remain upright, avoiding defeat, time after time.
*** More than any other world champion in chess history, Magnus is a player of constantly shifting stylistic identities. Like Boris Spassky before him, Carlsen is the epitome of stylistic universality, who seems to play every possible stage of the game in equally deadly fashion.
He is a stylistic agnostic who refuses to embrace and worship a single style of play. In one game he will go berserk, à la Tal, confuse his opponent and win with a dubious double pawn sacrifice, then in the next game he goads his opponent on in Laskerian fashion, then in the next game he grinds out a less-than-technical ending, winning in 80 moves. His style is in reality a collection of styles.
//Extract end.
...but i think that his autism has something to do with it. it barely seems to affect him, but autistic people ... often times seem to be really good at one thing or another, much better than normal people. ... his brain is really just made for playing chess at this point, but to a more extreme point than other players for some reason.
I'm supposed to be nice on the forums. I'll try... Are you (obscene gerund) kidding me????? Have you EVER looked at the symptoms of autism?
According to a new study, ~75% of autistic kids have a "special" interest. Ten percent of those have an interest in "computers/tablets/video games ." (I'll include chess in this grouping.) Researchers found that "restricted interests" (which I think is what you are describing) are more common in people who are male, have an intellectual disability and have more severe social and communication challenges. Well, Magnus Carsen is a guy.
Now watch this: https://youtu.be/FMaaHd7aFIs
While perhaps having a strange resemblance to Chris Hemsworth (note Magnus recommends working out, but apparently not to Thor's standard), what do you see to suggest Carlsen is autistic? I'll give you that he fails at eye contact when he has to look down at his notes. But watch his bloopers. They show a man with a pretty good sense of humor. Not one thing suggests Carlsen has autism, special interest or no.
What about this, however.... On average, how many hours per day do serious members of chess.com spend on chess? Do you think the serious site user spends more than 30% of their time away from work playing chess? Is that low? How many books related to chess do members buy? (I just got back into playing chess after a 30 yr hiatus, and I've bought four books in the last month.) How much do they spend on video training? Or pay for coaching sessions? How many chess sets do they own, time spent admiring the well turned bishop and hand carved knight? How many boards?
For many, chess is definitely a "special" interest. For some, they've dedicated their lives to the art, to their art. It's not autism that causes it to happen. It's love. Don't confuse the two.
I've answered my own qustion, I guess. Saying Carlsen has autism, and that's why he's so good at chess, is out right crazy. Carlsen is incredibly gifted. All the things written about his focus, aggressiveness, memory, and other skills are true, but they have nothing to do with autism. HIs brain isn't trained to do just one, single thing - play chess. Saying that minimizes his gift and the thoughtful work he's done to maximize that gift.
In the 1990s, after a concert in NYC, a member of the public told Dame Kiri Te Kanawa that she would give anything to sing like Te Kanawa. The Dame smiled and said, Would you give 30 years of your life training, 12 hours a day preparing to perform a new opera, learn 3 languages, be away from home for months at a time, work with voice coaches and sing everyday for hours, tend and tune your voice like it were a priceless violin? The woman looked at Te Kanawa blankly, and Te Kanawa smiled again as she said, I guess you wouldn't give anything.
Cyrus Lakdawala wrote a whole book about this, examining Carlsen's strengths and what it takes to defeat him....
@Lotus960 This is fabulous. Thanks for sharing.
Cyrus Lakdawala wrote a whole book about this, examining Carlsen's strengths and what it takes to defeat him....
@Lotus960 This is fabulous. Thanks for sharing.
You're welcome! I'm glad you enjoyed it. ))
Incidentally, Lakdawala puts his finger on why Carlsen is probably a greater player than Fischer. Fischer was a classicist who did best in clear and lucid positions. He was vulnerable when taken out of those into highly disorganised and confusing positions. Fischer's opening repertoire was also narrow, although within those limits he knew his openings better than any other player of his time.
By contrast, Carlsen is at home in all kinds of positions, whether classical or "irrational", and he has a huge and varied opening repertoire. It is this versatility which I think makes him the supreme chess player.
The player he reminds me of most is Lasker, that supreme pragmatist, but he is a kind of "Lasker on steroids", additionally armed with the best weapons of many other great players.
...but i think that his autism has something to do with it. it barely seems to affect him, but autistic people ... often times seem to be really good at one thing or another, much better than normal people. ... his brain is really just made for playing chess at this point, but to a more extreme point than other players for some reason.
I'm supposed to be nice on the forums. I'll try... Are you (obscene gerund) kidding me????? Have you EVER looked at the symptoms of autism?
According to a new study, ~75% of autistic kids have a "special" interest. Ten percent of those have an interest in "computers/tablets/video games ." (I'll include chess in this grouping.) Researchers found that "restricted interests" (which I think is what you are describing) are more common in people who are male, have an intellectual disability and have more severe social and communication challenges. Well, Magnus Carsen is a guy.
Now watch this: https://youtu.be/FMaaHd7aFIs
While perhaps having a strange resemblance to Chris Hemsworth (note Magnus recommends working out, but apparently not to Thor's standard), what do you see to suggest Carlsen is autistic? I'll give you that he fails at eye contact when he has to look down at his notes. But watch his bloopers. They show a man with a pretty good sense of humor. Not one thing suggests Carlsen has autism, special interest or no.
What about this, however.... On average, how many hours per day do serious members of chess.com spend on chess? Do you think the serious site user spends more than 30% of their time away from work playing chess? Is that low? How many books related to chess do members buy? (I just got back into playing chess after a 30 yr hiatus, and I've bought four books in the last month.) How much do they spend on video training? Or pay for coaching sessions? How many chess sets do they own, time spent admiring the well turned bishop and hand carved knight? How many boards?
For many, chess is definitely a "special" interest. For some, they've dedicated their lives to the art, to their art. It's not autism that causes it to happen. It's love. Don't confuse the two.
I've answered my own qustion, I guess. Saying Carlsen has autism, and that's why he's so good at chess, is out right crazy. Carlsen is incredibly gifted. All the things written about his focus, aggressiveness, memory, and other skills are true, but they have nothing to do with autism. HIs brain isn't trained to do just one, single thing - play chess. Saying that minimizes his gift and the thoughtful work he's done to maximize that gift.
In the 1990s, after a concert in NYC, a member of the public told Dame Kiri Te Kanawa that she would give anything to sing like Te Kanawa. The Dame smiled and said, Would you give 30 years of your life training, 12 hours a day preparing to perform a new opera, learn 3 languages, be away from home for months at a time, work with voice coaches and sing everyday for hours, tend and tune your voice like it were a priceless violin? The woman looked at Te Kanawa blankly, and Te Kanawa smiled again as she said, I guess you wouldn't give anything.
An excellent post!. Also, a diagnosis of autism needs to be made by a qualified psychologist in person, someone who has the necessary training and experience in that field. Attempted diagnoses by random unqualified people on the internet don't count for anything.
The world's greatest psychiatrist's and scientists can be found in the Chess.com forums
The world's greatest psychiatrist's and scientists can be found in the Chess.com forums
Yes, and they can also do heart surgery if required. They read a web page about it one time. ))
.
Cyrus Lakdawala wrote a whole book about this, examining Carlsen's strengths and what it takes to defeat him.
Below is an extract from that book, edited by me for conciseness and clarity. I think it's the best and most eloquent assessment of why Carlsen is the world's greatest player, and arguably the best there's ever been.
Bear in mind that this assessment is from a book published in 2020.
Extract start//
Let’s break down the sources of Carlsen’s mysterious and uncanny power:
*** An impossibly high concentration/awareness level, as a result of which Magnus is easily the most blunder-free player in the world.
*** Endless calculation ability. In my opinion, only Fabiano Caruana and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave can hang with him in this respect. In pure calculation battles, most of Carlsen’s opponents are pretty much always one or two or three or four beats behind the orchestra’s conductor.
*** Supernaturally perfect assessment power. Kasparov once said the source of Magnus’ true power is his astonishing ability to accurately assess even the most confusing positions.
*** Magnus, in my opinion, along with Capablanca and Fischer before him, is in the top three endgame players of all time category. Magnus is relentless in technical endings, where he routinely beats strong GMs and even world-class players in drawn endings.
He just never gives up and, with infinite patience, waits for his opportunity. When his opponent omits the most insignificant detail, Magnus pounces and converts positions other top GMs fail to win. No other player in the world can claim to be his equal in this endgame phase.
*** A wide and creative opening repertoire, filled with theoretical surprises for his opponent. Magnus may play White and grind his opponent down in a London System, and then in the very next round play the Black side of an antipodal opposite, a Dragon or Najdorf Sicilian.
If you are a chess player, then a sizable portion of your life is spent classifying and sub-classifying your openings. Magnus, with his either photographic or near-photographic memory, plays a bewildering array of openings, in totally opposing styles. This makes him next-to-impossible to prepare against.
*** Emanuel Lasker, Mikhail Tal, AlphaZero and Magnus Carlsen all understand: a threat doesn’t need to be real for the opponent to fear it. Magnus, channeling Emanuel Lasker, once said: ‘I am trying to beat the guy sitting across
from me and trying to choose the moves that are most unpleasant for him and his style.’
Magnus is the most fearless chess player in the world, mainly since he is uniquely equipped with a Lasker/Tal/AlphaZero-like element/ability to confuse the opponent.
Magnus, like Tal before him, carries this child-like trait where he often gambles wildly and, in the great majority of his transgressions, gets away with his crimes.
He is scholar and mystic combined, with the ability to play a dry technical ending, and then, in the very next game, to unsoundly sacrifice a pawn and win anyway, against a 2800-rated opponent, sucking him into a vortex of confusion.
*** Magnus is the premier player in the world in irrational positions. Even masters of confusion like Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Hikaru Nakamura still lag behind.
*** He has an Alekhine/Fischer-like monomaniacal will to win. It’s difficult to gauge a player’s level of will, yet Magnus is willing to push for the win, more than his colleagues. Of course, this can be viewed as a negative and there is an entire chapter in the book in which we see Magnus pushing too hard and going over the cliff.
*** 'I normally do what my intuition tells me to do. Most of the time thinking is just to double-check,’ said Magnus, who possess a Capablanca/Tal/Fischer-like, near-perfect intuition. Why did I add Tal to the list? Because Magnus is that incredibly rare player who is gifted with both strategic and tactical intuition.
Kasparov once said of Tal that, unlike others who merely calculate, Tal magically ‘sees through’ the complications. Magnus is the only other player I know of in chess history who is gifted with this kind of intuition. We have all seen countless examples of Magnus’ strategic wizardry. His tactical intuition is equally acute.
*** A Capablanca/Botvinnik/Fischer-like planning ability. Only Fabiano Caruana can hang with him in this aspect.
*** Magnus, unlike many other top players, has said he has engaged in a deep study of great players of the past. So this man/machine hybrid you see today is nothing but a condensed distillate of the great players of the past, to the present moment.
*** This comes under the category of no-brainer, but anyone who goes over two years without losing a chess game is a master of defensive evasion. Carl Schlechter, Tigran Petrosian and Viktor Kortchnoi could only dream about reaching Carlsen’s defensive stature.
Even when he receives a wicked and unexpected blow to the gizzard, by some miraculous power he manages to remain upright, avoiding defeat, time after time.
*** More than any other world champion in chess history, Magnus is a player of constantly shifting stylistic identities. Like Boris Spassky before him, Carlsen is the epitome of stylistic universality, who seems to play every possible stage of the game in equally deadly fashion.
He is a stylistic agnostic who refuses to embrace and worship a single style of play. In one game he will go berserk, à la Tal, confuse his opponent and win with a dubious double pawn sacrifice, then in the next game he goads his opponent on in Laskerian fashion, then in the next game he grinds out a less-than-technical ending, winning in 80 moves. His style is in reality a collection of styles.
//Extract end.
Does the author know that there are more than 6 players on this earth lol. Acts like Tal, Fischer, and Capablanca are the next best players ever lmao
Many weak minded people lack the ability to concentrate and work hard. Carlsen has great powers of concentration and terrific fighting spirit. Jealous patzers try to feel better about themselves by saying Carlsen is autistic. They are fools
Carlsen is been noted to have had a near photographic memory when very young. This isnt some mean spirited thing people are suggesting. Almost the contrary, to suggest someone may be autistic because of their skill is almost a 21st century claim that you so virtuoso at your craft its unfair.
the connotation is interesting though because it has a positive and negative element. Sometimes its used as praise because even if you are not literally autistic you have a level of passion/dedication and talent to match someone that obsessed with the relevant expertise. It can be used negatively to suggest the only reason you won is because you are an obsessed geek with no life gifted this capacity for singular focus at the expense of all else.