Are you a Gamemaster ?

[cherdano]

JK I love you arend. I think scott waldron may be able to give you a run for your money. Though I'm not sure how good he is at go now, he quit bridge s a promising junior and focused on go and got to a higher level than you I believe. Though I'm sure you're a better bridge player than him these days since he hasn't played in a long time and you are better now than he was at his peak anyways so you probably have him beat overall. He was a former jdonn partner and was top 10 in the world junior pairs with him when jdonn was a nobody I believe, also played with me quite a bit back in the day. Damn, I miss him :(

http://agagd.usgo.org/Player_Card.php?key=13272 - seems like we have fairly similar ratings, if I remember the EGF-US conversion rate; however, I haven't played much go in a while. Seems quite close either way.

 

(Anyway, the "noone is better than me at both"-metric is ridiculous anyway. Also, I am terrible at go by Asian standards, so I am sure there are some Asian bridge pro who also played a bit of go and who would have to give me a handicap at either game. I was recently thinking of this metric because, as some of you may know, my employer is also running a fairly successful basketball program. So it made me wonder whether it could make the claim that there is no school that's better at both basketball _and_ academics; but that's so obviously false--unless you add "and less hated".)

[benlessard]

What is the USG/EGF go rating compared to KGS/IGS ratings ?

[mgoetze]

What is the USG/EGF go rating compared to KGS/IGS ratings ?

 

I think this subject may be a bit too controversial even for the water cooler, so I will simply point you to http://senseis.xmp.net/?RankWorldwideComparison and notably http://senseis.xmp.net/?RankWorldwideComparison%2Fdiscussion

[Lobowolf]

I'm a bit over 2100 USCF at chess. Used to be NSA member (Scrabble); I'm a hack by touranment player standards and good by non-tourney standards. Played a fair amount of poker before the boom, mostly 7-stud & 7-stud split. Backgammon hack.

 

For all-around names, Dan Harrington is certainly worth mentioning. Master at chess, won the WSOP (and final tabled the next year, I believe, when entries were already up there). Neil can speak to this more authoritatively than I, but I used to play in backgammon chouettes with him, and I wouldn't be surprised if poker wasn't his best game.

 

And on the all-time multi-game list, even if it's just 2 games, Stu Ungar was just sick. It would be like if chess wasn't Bobby Fischer's best game.

[jjbrr]

this is a totally random, probably off topic post so dont take it in any context with the rest of the thread, but i know jlall went on a chess streak for a while and lobowolf is obv baller, and maybe others might find it interesting.

 

i once was ok at chess, but i never studied it or put any work into it or anything. my story is a friend taught me chess in 5th grade during lunch break, a few weeks later i could consistently beat him, and throughout middle school i would qualify for the state tournament and finish like ~7th or so. i was never great or even good by any serious player's standards, but i appreciated the theory and understood what was necessary to get to the "next level" though i never will get there.

 

this was all before i understood bridge, obv.

 

anyway, i just recently saw this study:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laLKG2hyuh4

and it really seemed awesome to me. many of you have probably seen it, but jfc, if you cant appreciate how awesome chess is after seeing this, i feel like there are a lot of things in life that you're missing.

[JLOGIC]

Fournier is baller at fast time controls fwiw.

[benlessard]

Im was about 2100 at chess but ive stop playing chess after discovering shogi, problems in shogi are simply crazy, this is a 1525 ply (713 moves) problems. Note that in shogi problems all the moves must be checks ! So the enemy moves are mostly king move (or blocking with a piece).

 

 

But more impressive are Musou and Zukou problems, wich are 200 problems composed around 1730 by 2 brothers, each of these problems are still unsovable with today best programs, they are are about 25 to 300 moves each (50-600 ply), for an amateur like me (ive played shogi for more than 10 years) it will take me more than 25 hours to solve the easiest problems of the bunch. As far as i remember ive rarely saw a chess problems or studies that took me more than 2 hours to solve (moving/replacing the piece is allowed).

 

[jjbrr]

Fournier was baller at fast time controls fwiw.

.

[Zelandakh]

My game was always chess and I am probably still better at it although the difference would be small now. Anyway, my partner and I were recently playing at a bridge congress on a holiday island and decided to have a mess around with one of the large "by the beach" chess sets. During the game one of the locals decided to give my partner some unsolicited advice so we immediately stopped and moved to the side to chat to someone we had made friends with at the congress (he kibitzed us).

 

The local then played another local and won. At the end of their game I asked my partner if they would like me to beat him. After a nod I asked for a game and we played. I had seen from the first game that he was a decent player but a Woodpusher, so I just played to exploit him. Once his centre crumbled he made mistakes. We were satisfied and afterwards just went back to chatting with the other man, who it turns out is a world class card player, just not in bridge.

 

Sometimes being a gamer can be useful. Of course, it would be nice if I could be sure of giving the same lesson to bridge players offering unsolicited advice too. It is lucky that most of those that do are of the weaker variety.

[Antrax]

What's a Woodpusher? It sounds dirty.

[TimG]

Sadly true, but it is the game with by far the most money in it, so it's worth it as long as you don't play full time imo. I mean if you can part time it and make 6 figures a year it's worth it for a while even if it's boring imo. Of course if you are successful/rich with other ventures, don't bother.

 

A bit of a hijack, but where do US residents play online poker these days?

 

I used to play a bit of low stakes, but stopped for a while and then when I went back to try it again, I found the environment had changed considerably (and my funds no longer available)!

[TimG]

I'd be interested in a BBF Diplomacy game.

Me too.

I recall when at college, going to a local bridge club that had an enlarged diplomacy map(Japan, China, India added and 4 armies to start with for most civs (6 for Russia)) which made for a fun game on some Friday nights..I partied almost every other night anyhow so didn't mind gaming on Fridays.

There are a lot of modified version of the game, some with very minor modifications and some with entirely different maps.

[TimG]

And on the all-time multi-game list, even if it's just 2 games, Stu Ungar was just sick. It would be like if chess wasn't Bobby Fischer's best game.

Wasn't Billy Eisenberg once a backgammon and bridge world champion?

 

Kit Woolsey can probably make a valid cherdano-like claim that that there is no one in the world better than he is at both bridge and backgammon (or coudl have at some point in the last 25 years).

 

Was bridge Oswald Jacoby's best game?

[Zelandakh]

What's a Woodpusher? It sounds dirty.

A player who likes to push pawns, usually at the expense of development. The classical counter is to develop your pieces elestically and then pick the right moment to make a counter-strike in the centre. The advanced pawns can then become weaknesses for your better positioned forces (and also in the endgame).

[Antrax]

Thanks, never heard the term. Based on the description, he was a beginner, I'm guessing? Back when I played online, I didn't see many people above 1200 ELO or so play like that.

[Zelandakh]

He was not a beginner, simply of a lowish club player standard. He was also (clearly) not used to losing that way so I can assume the local standard, at least on the beach, was quite poor. You get Woodpushers at most levels of play. I was better than ELO 1200 when I played that way, for example. As the player gets better the pawn-pushing tends to be less at the expense of (early) development and more to create an active plan, even when the position is objectively not good enough to create such weaknesses. A very small number of players at IM standard have also been described as Woodpushers (Michael Basman for one) although that is clearly not correct in the normal sense of the term - it is all relative.

[Cyberyeti]

A very small number of players at IM standard have also been described as Woodpushers (Michael Basman for one) although that is clearly not correct in the normal sense of the term - it is all relative.

Basman was a lunatic at the chess table (in a good fun way). I remember a game published a long while ago under the title of "How weird is your chess" where you're invited to duplicate a number of his consecutive moves. This task is nearly impossible.

 

I played chess in a vaguely similar style up to about 180 BCF (around 2000 ELO equivalent) standard for a short while, but gave it up as it took way more effort than bridge to keep at a lower standard, and I wasn't likely to get much better.

 

I would add that a lot of the chess GMs at the Hastings congress used to enjoy a game of bridge in the evening, so I played with some of them when they needed a 4th. As I recall Mihai Suba was a pretty decent player.

[paulg]

I would add that a lot of the chess GMs at the Hastings congress used to enjoy a game of bridge in the evening, so I played with some of them when they needed a 4th. As I recall Mihai Suba was a pretty decent player.

Jonathan Mestel presumably the strongest bridge player amongst the GMs (given he is a GM at both!)?

[Cyberyeti]

Jonathan Mestel presumably the strongest bridge player amongst the GMs (given he is a GM at both!)?

Not sure, (possibly mis)remembering from 20+ years ago, but Korchnoi was also reckoned to be a pretty strong bridge player. People from abroad are pretty difficult to rate for bridge ability if they don't play tournaments. Not sure if Suba played any EBU bridge before he went back to Romania.

[TimG]

Irina Levitina must rank pretty high in the bridge/chess duality.

[Fluffy]

I would add that a lot of the chess GMs at the Hastings congress used to enjoy a game of bridge in the evening, so I played with some of them when they needed a 4th. As I recall Mihai Suba was a pretty decent player.

 

about Mihai Suba... maybe in the past, when I met him in 21st century his bridge was outdated. He still kicks some arse in chess even when he is a bit old now. His wife (now ex-wife) plays bridge very well.

[Fluffy]

Ok, maybe that is a stupid bet, but here is another story about Steve. A bunch of people including great card players were at Bobby Levins lakehouse. They were all playing a card game called asshole, which everyone but steve had played before. He was pretty bad getting the hang of everything, whatever. Everyone goes to sleep, and 8 hours later when people are getting up Steve suggests playing asshole. He crushes everyone, makes some amazing plays, and announces that he stayed up thinking about the game, lol.

 

Learning a new game and staying all night thinking about it is very common for me. Also winning the first game of a new game and the first 3-10 games after it as well. Learning new games fast is one of my best skills.

 

Crushing people on a game they already know and I don´t happens from time to time, but its obviously more complicated, last year I went to a board games convention and I decided to just sing up to every game I could and learn the rules just before the tourney started from the 3 I didn´t know at all, with 10-20 contesters each, I won one tourney, got second in another and reached semifinals in another.

 

I don´t know if I´d be better than Steve at that, but I could at least surprise him on new games.

[Cyberyeti]

about Mihai Suba... maybe in the past, when I met him in 21st century his bridge was outdated. He still kicks some arse in chess even when he is a bit old now. His wife (now ex-wife) plays bridge very well.

Well this was circa 1990 and we were playing rubber bridge (and thus using pretty much a common outdated system) so I didn't get to assess that, looks like he didn't play tournaments then.