The sport has become more accessible in the internet age, says John Thornhill for the Financial Times.
LONDON: When IBM’s Deep Blue computer defeated the world chess champion Garry Kasparov in 1997, some reckoned it was checkmate for humanity, as well as for the ancient sport itself.
But he also admired the human ingenuity behind a computer that could systematically evaluate 200 million moves a second and win with “brute number-crunching force”. Such have been the advances in computing power since then that Deep Blue seems quaintly archaic. It could be beaten by most of the chess apps we carry on our smartphones today. In 2017, Google DeepMind announced that its AlphaZero machine learning system had taught itself to become the world’s strongest player in just nine hours.
The smash 2020 television hit The Queen’s Gambit, Netflix’s most-watched mini-series in 63 countries, also won over new fans, especially among girls wanting to emulate the triumphs of chess prodigy Elizabeth Harmon. For non-enthusiasts, watching hours-long chess matches, which often end in dull draws, ranks up there with snail racing as a parody of fast-paced entertainment. But chatty and creative influencers on TikTok, Twitch and YouTube have pulled in a younger generation of fans.
He seems bored by his feebler challengers, who he claims just try to “park the bus” - in football speak - when playing against him to avoid defeat. That left Nepomniachtchi, ranked number two, to square off against Ding, ranked three. But the 32-year-old Carlsen will doubtless be back, promising dramatic new plot lines.
Singapore Latest News, Singapore Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Commentary: What the Ed Sheeran copyright trial can tell us about 70 years of pop musicThe court case that pit Sheeran’s Thinking Out Loud against Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On brings up questions around inspiration and theft in songwriting, says this University of Sydney academic.
Read more »
Commentary: King Charles' coronation - what does a king actually do?The monarch’s various duties may be largely symbolic, but symbols are powerful articulations of particular values, relationships and histories, says the University of Southern Queensland's Jess Carniel.
Read more »
Commentary: Bad bots can cause all kinds of harm online. Here's how to protect yourselfIn the month of April alone, an artificially-generated Drake song went viral on TikTok, an AI image won a global photography prize, and Singaporeans were bombarded with false WhatsApp claims of a new deadly Covid-19 outbreak.
Read more »
Liverpool will not get drawn into transfer battles for overpriced players - KloppLiverpool will look to bring in new recruits in the close season transfer window but the Premier League club will not be drawn into bidding wars on players they feel are overpriced, manager Juergen Klopp said.Klopp has often spoken of the need for a rebuild at Anfield, but the club's American owner John H
Read more »
Horse racing-Skinner becomes fourth horse scratched from Kentucky DerbySkinner, the bay colt trained by John Shirreffs, has become the fourth horse scratched from Saturday's Kentucky Derby, bringing the field for the first leg of U.S. thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown down to 19, Churchill Downs said on Friday.C R K Stable's Skinner was scratched because of an elevated temp
Read more »
Why it’s time to revisit these newly renovated hotels in Southeast AsiaThese hotels have reinvented themselves to entice guests to rediscover their charms.
Read more »