Quote:
Originally Posted by EGarrett
That's what interests me the most about Magnus, he seems quite clearly to be as gifted as Morphischeranca, but he he is the first to have had access to the greatest learning tool that has ever existed in human history. Which may partially explain why he was kicking Karpov's ass and drawing Kasparov when his feet couldn't touch the floor from the chair.
The 2840 rating at his age is probably a big sign of that too, as well as his insane maturity and lack of pretense or "magical statements" about his talent. I really think the access to all that information helped make his brain so informed and efficient that he isn't fooled by superstition or very self-impressed by what he does. Though he does know that he is better than most other players in the world.
It could even be said that Magnus is the first of the computer-trained grandmasters just as internet-poker players dominate the old live pros who didn't have that learning advantage.
How much slower do you think your chess development would have been if you didn’t have a computer at hand?
I don’t know. I never thought about it. It seems to me (stopping to think), that the computer didn’t have any kind of fundamental influence on me personally.
That’s hard to believe… You stand out precisely for being ready to play any position “on sight”, for being ready to defend positions where “ugly” machine moves are required…
But that’s how it was. I can tell you that for the first few years I didn’t use the machine’s help at all, even as a database! Back then I simply put a board in front of me, took the books I was studying at the time and looked at everything on that. And the first time I needed a computer for chess was when I started to play on the internet.
Honestly, when I was about 11-12 I didn’t even know what ChessBase was. I realise that sounds pretty implausible from my lips – and the majority of people consider me a product of the “computer chess” era, but that’s how it was! I’d add that my computer “incompetence” in chess even amazed my first coaches. I had nowhere to show them databases, or my analysis…
Do you have any childhood notebooks with analysis which can be “documentary proof” of that? Are there any “living witnesses”?
Of course the people haven’t gone anyway – you can just ask my dad. As for any notes, I’m not sure. I didn’t particularly make notes.
So your chess understanding, your positional sense – it’s all human?
I think so, yes. And my fundamental chess understanding was formed without machine involvement. That was my approach to chess, my idea of the struggle.