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Your Move/Readers Write: Nauseating Profiles; Clarifying Calculated Mistakes

Published on 6/26/2014

Nauseating Profiles: “Reading the journal is part of my morning routine,” writes Chris Uzal. “Most of the time it is interesting, sometimes it's not. Can't win them all, of course. One of your articles today crossed over into the nauseous zone. This morning's article about "player profiles" (2014 WAGC Player Profiles: Asia 6/24 EJ) is easily among the dumbest stories I've ever read. You want to inspire kids to play go? Articles like this is certainly not how you do it.” Sorry you didn't like the profiles; our intention is simply to introduce EJ readers to the players who will be competing at the upcoming WAGC, which we'll be covering in greater depth starting at the end of next week. Thanks for taking the time to respond!
Clarifying Calculated Mistakes: “Just a quick reply to Michael Redmond's comments on the Chess Life article!" (Michael Redmond 9P on “Calculated Errors” 6/24 EJ) writes Ed Scimia of About Chess. “I'm a lifelong chess player, and I can clarify a couple things that Michael brought up in his commentary. His concept of ‘calculated mistakes’ does exist in chess endgames as well: it is, of course, much easier for humans to play simplifying moves to reach an endgame situation they are certain is a win than to play the ‘perfect’ line according to a computer or deep human analysis (which may be much more complex and therefore tactically dangerous). In chess, nobody would consider those "sub-optimal" moves to be errors either, as long as they clearly lead to a win. In these situations, though, a player would be said to be winning by much more than a half-pawn. That advantage is enough to say that one player's position is slightly better, but not enough to be certain they can actually win with best play from both sides (remember that in chess, a draw is a common and natural outcome for many games). I hope that helps!”

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Your Move/Readers Write: Nauseating Profiles; Clarifying Calculated Mistakes

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