re: Bobby Fischer and Paul Morphy should be mentioned in GOAT American athletes discussions

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I will say this, as a chess fan my heart really broke when AI became unbeatable. I think chess is the single greatest game man has ever created. It did lose some of its magic for me though when an algorithm became invisible against imagination.

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Not that I ever was good enough at chess to compete at a high level, but there was a time in my life when I considered attempting to become so. The magic was lost for me when I realized that becoming ultra-competitive at chess mostly involves choosing a book of openings and memorizing them so that you are always playing the consensus "best" move in a normal situation. In a very real sense the moves in a game between two masters are simply pulled from memorized decision trees through the opening and midgame - very similar, in fact, to how certain kinds of AI operate. That's why masters sometimes fall prey to seemingly illogical opening moves or simple traps - their decision trees simply do not allow for such scenarios, since the base assumption is that the other player will always choose from a small pool of "best" moves in a given situation.

As I have gotten older I have found Go to be a more intriguing game than chess. Much simpler from a rules standpoint, but incredibly, incredibly deep in gameplay. When I study a chess match between two masters I can usually see the point in a particular move, even if I might not have been quick-witted or far-seeing enough to make it myself in that situation. Games between Go masters are simply beyond my current comprehension. Perhaps it is that I did not grow up with Go like I did chess, and so the tactics and strategy of the latter come more naturally to me than those of the former. But, consider this: in the first move of a game of chess you have 20 possible moves you can make. In the first move of a game of Go there are 361. The mind can quickly boggle. This huge pool of potential moves also eliminates the possibility of memorized openings - while there are some standard ways to play into a corner, for instance, these are limited and localized books only, because the game is too large and the possible responses by your opponent are too many to allow for more than that.

I love Fischer but this is dumb. They are not athletes, they are brilliant minds who are some of the greatest ever at their non athletic games.

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In a very real sense the moves in a game between two masters are simply pulled from memorized decision trees through the opening and midgame - very similar, in fact, to how certain kinds of AI operate.

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This is certainly true up to a point, but as Agadmator points out in his chess coverage, we have completely new games usually no further along than move ten or so. There are still plenty of new, fascinating games to watch today, and there are always plenty of challenges you can offer to your opponent throughout the game.

The world championship coming up between Magnus and Nepomniatchi will be especially interesting because of Nepo's propensity to present challenges throughout the match that the opponent is ill-equipped to "figure out" quickly. He often makes moves that are not considered the best by the computer, but which present problems to the human opponent given the time frame.

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The world championship coming up between Magnus and Nepomniatchi will be especially interesting because of Nepo's propensity to present challenges throughout the match that the opponent is ill-equipped to "figure out" quickly. He often makes moves that are not considered the best by the computer, but which present problems to the human opponent given the time frame.

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This

Just like you don’t want your offense to get too predictable in football, i’d imagine it’s not a very good thing in chess either

Elon Musk is a snake oil salesman.

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Chess is a sport.

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No. Chess is a competition.

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Chess is a sport.

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The fact that you felt the need to lead with this pretty much proves that you know Chess is not a sport.