Thursday, February 09, 2006

Strong player yes, titled player no

I got a chance to talk to the Grandmaster i am currently playing through MSN. When i asked him if it was possible for me to become a strong player he said, strong player yes, titled player no. When i asked him why it wasn't possible to become a titled player it basically came down to memory capacity. Not that i expected to become one...

13 Comments:

At 09 February, 2006 15:23 , Blogger CelticDeath said...

Don't let comments like that bother you. Instead, let them fuel your fire. Prove him wrong and become a titled player!!!

I liken comments like his to when a strong player beats a weaker opponent, say in chess club, and then tells the weaker opp to give up chess. It's a bullying, disgusting practice.

 
At 09 February, 2006 17:10 , Blogger David Glickman said...

If the GM had said "you started too late in life" or "you don't spend enough time studying" to become a titled player, then maybe I'd buy it. But, how the hell would he know how much memory capacity you have?

 
At 09 February, 2006 18:50 , Blogger Jeff said...

Did you have to pay to play him?

 
At 10 February, 2006 01:46 , Blogger funkyfantom said...

I am actually in awe of the fact that you got to play a game against Nataf.

I just got finished analyzing his famous Sveshnikov Sicilian against John Nunn. What a freaking amazing game!

To have the cojones to sac a rook and minor pieces without a forced mating sequence against an anlytic mind the caliber of Nunn just blows me away.

I would kill to have the chance to get blown off the board by the likes of Nataf. (Yeah I know my chess computer could do it anytime, but it ain't the same.)

 
At 10 February, 2006 02:45 , Blogger Calvin said...

Wow. I can't believe he said that. What an elitist jerk. That's like rich people using Social Darwinism to say that their wealth makes them better people, or something. Strikes me as quite rude. how can he know your "memory capacity". Just ignore what he says. jeez

 
At 10 February, 2006 07:36 , Blogger Edwin 'dutchdefence' Meyer said...

Thank you all for your votes of confidence, but i do like to add that these were not his exact words. He was refering to the fact that i started out in chess pretty late, and that one has to be able to memorize tons of variations and stuff etc. etc.
Now, it's not that i wasn't aware of that, because i was. I mean, at the moment Grandmasters are allready saying thing's like, when you're not a GM at age 12 nowadays, you might as well forget about it entirely (or something like that). Anyway, if i am aiming at something so much as a title in life, it would be the title of National Master. I think i'm being realistic when i say i can't aim much higher...
But i'm cool with that :)

And to Qxh7#, i did not have to pay :)

And to Funky, yeah i played Nataf. We played 2 games of 3 minutes each to be exact. I didn't even last that long. Or should i say short :)
I played him on ICC.

 
At 10 February, 2006 11:34 , Blogger takchess said...

Beliefs like that are in the norm in the chessworld MDLM was told that it would take him a long time to improve slightly and he ended up improving 800 points in 2 years. When it comes to peoples capabilities, who knows what is possible????

 
At 10 February, 2006 16:05 , Blogger funkyfantom said...

Seems self-serving for some GM to be like :

"Bah, humbug. I am the great and mighty Oz. None can learn my secret wizardry but the chosen few!"

Translation : "I don't need more competition, I want all the goodies for me only".

 
At 10 February, 2006 20:02 , Blogger Majnu said...

If you ask the same question to 10 different GM's they'll give you 10 different answers, I think. So don't worry. Keep on working on improving your level op play and enjoy it!

 
At 10 February, 2006 23:37 , Blogger Edwin 'dutchdefence' Meyer said...

Now that you mention it Manju, i aksed the same question before to WGM Ekaterine Korbut. She answered that it would be possible to become a strong player, but that it would be very hard to become a titled one. But she didn't exclude the possibility.

But really, it is not something i worry about. It is more like something i fantasize about ;)

 
At 11 February, 2006 01:00 , Blogger Friend of Plato said...

I'm totally with DG on this one. How does this GM know the caliber of your memory?

 
At 11 February, 2006 23:37 , Blogger Edwin 'dutchdefence' Meyer said...

I just found out that there is no such thing as a National Master title in our country. So let me re-adjust my aim to, say, FIDE Master :-)

 
At 24 February, 2006 21:21 , Blogger Majnu said...

Hehehe, FIDE-master. We have some work to do! Let's try! Good luck! :-)

I'll start with a easier goal:
To become clubchampion within 2 years. That's hard enough.

 

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home