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Originally Posted by buymeariver9
But still if a computer can beat most if not all chess players today, would that mean chess requires more technical skill than poker, which requires both technical and soft skills (I guess you could call it). I mean, from what I've read online and on this board, chess requires creativity, imagination, technical knowledge, experience, etc. Which in my opinion is the same skills that many poker players have. Is poker just chess with adhd?
If this is the perspective you're looking at it from, I think the best answer would be to say that yes, chess and poker do use the same general skill set, however they each require many unique applications of those skills that aren't necessary in the other game.
As for chess computers, it's worth keeping in mind that they do two different things. One is calculation, the other is evaluation. Yes, computers have the ability, through raw number crunching, to calculate every possible line in a position out to depths at which no person could ever come remotely close to, but eventually the computer still hits its limit and has to decide which of those possible positions it would most like to reach 20 moves down the road, in order to decide what move to play now.
This evaluation portion is something computers do wholly numerically, by assigning values to the different pieces, and to positional considerations, and whatever other factors the programmer designates, and ultimately coming up with a single number that combines all of that information into a specific evaluation of the position.
Humans also do the same two things, calculation and evaluation. Obviously we can't compete with computers in calculation (the "technical" side), but we do have an edge in our ability to evaluate, through pattern recognition and creativity. Now, computers have progressed far enough that the best computers are better than the best humans, thanks to their sheer computational power, but that doesn't mean chess doesn't have a place for creativity or "soft" skills. The best human players are definitely very strong in areas like creativity and imagination.