AssemblyBoard

Say whatever you want about Assembly childtraining:

However, today I was soundly, conclusively beaten in chess by Lucas Sturnfield.  He made me look stupid, and I am actually a pretty good player....at least I thought I was.

Whatever the detriments of Assembly child training are, chess aptitude is not one of them, at least in the Sturnfield family.

My short term life goal is to beat him just once....


Brent

     I strongly suspect that while other AKs were on their mats looking at picture books, wee Lucas was playing computer chess with the sound muted! :o ::)

 ;)al

Um, Brent, I'm guessing the average IQ in the Sturnfield household to be about 210! :o

Better to start with someone who rode the short bus. Go down to the docks in San Fran and take DG on. He always fancied himself the master gamesman (credit to him for teaching me Risk!).

Brent---

I agree with Scott. Hey---I'll even play you a game. The horsies get to make "L" shaped moves right?


--Joe

funny thing is, I had won 10 games in a row before playing him.  I always tried to play people who had a higher rating than I did.   After he beat me the third time, he informed me that he was ranked 44th in Illinois, then he set the timer for 15 minutes and said "that should be plenty of time."   :(

He was right.

I'm glad Lucas wasn't part of the Dark Side in this whole affair.

Brent

It was close! Well, not really, he's too smart and his family is too cool. But he was out there defending the system for a short while!

I knew he'd come around.

Hey, maybe you could take him in a more physical sport. Well maybe not, he made the U of I rugby team.

Tiddlywinks?

Scott

you guys are funny, but it is interesting the affect a year of life has upon a person, eh?

i suppose i should mention that both my dad and my uncle were state chess champions in highschool as it helps to have a good teacher in anything you learn - (and also an understanding father who would leave the meeting to get me new batteries for my muted Grandmaster™ series handheld  ::)).  

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lucas

During the years when David and I were friends, he taught me how to play Diplomacy.  This is a really great game!  (Thanks David)

What was funny, is that every time we played, I always found myself against him.  He was king of his allies, and I was usually aligned with people who had to survive his attacks.  I usually won---but always had to worry about him getting people to defect from my side over to his.  He got people to agree, first thing, that they wouldn't be trusted if they broke a committment---which was always an agreement to help him.   He always ended up with the most recources on his side, but usually lost.

I didn't always have the most toys on my side, but we usually won.   David and I were always enemies in diplomacy.  He didn't know how to play chess.

Timothy was a bad chess player.  Typical move the queen out on the second move kind of player----nothing like Lucas.

I think I can beat him in swimming and sailing   ;)  (I'm not competing, I'm just having some fun.  I predict Lucas will be famous someday, and I want to be able to tell the reporters that I knew him when.....)

Brent

I am the worst chess player I have ever known.  One time I taught someone the rules of chess.  He then proceeded to beat me at his very first game.

I was taught how the pieces move and that was it. I can beat pretty much anybody who has the same level of experience as I do, but I don't stand a chance against anyone who has even the slightest bit of knowledge.

I'll play anyone one-on-one in basketball, though!

Scott

This sounds very similar to my attempts to learn Go.  People I taught the rules to would often immediately beat me.  Once I had opportunity to try playing a real Go player, a Korean co-worker at a former place of employment, who quickly got bored and gave it up.

Years ago, I used to play chess reasonably well, but now I tend to make mistakes and lose.  I never did go to the trouble of learning the standard openings.

While a computer has succeeded in beating the world chess champion, the best Go playing computer programs can't even beat a rank amateur.  Perhaps that means that Go is a more difficult game than chess.  Even clearly defining the end of the game and the scoring is difficult.  It is based on a circular definition.  The score is defined by the territory surrounded by defensible groups, less captured stones.  Whether a group is defensible is defined by whether an attempted attack on the group will result in an improved score.  The book, Mathematical Go by Berlekamp and Wolfe, contains an attempt at clearly defining some of these things.

ohhhh i am tried my hand at Go.....and it did not work out at all  :'(

talk about convoluted games  :-X

--
lucas

Hey, is GO the game they played at the university in A Beautiful Mind? Great flick, btw.

Scott

Yup, one of the few games where you can play perfectly and still lose

--
lucas

There's an old war movie called "Heaven knows, Mr. Allison" in which the sole survivor of a Navy ship sunk by the Japanese lands on an evacuated island on which only a nun is left.  Later the Japanese land on the island, and he sneaks into their storeroom to find supplies, but the guards return unexpectedly.  He ends up having to lie there hiding motionless through the whole night while the guards play two games of Go.

"Heaven knows Mr. Allison" ...great old war flick. Watched "Seabiscuit" last week, great movie also.

So I take it that you may be one of the few who would know why Nolan Bushnell named his company Atari.

while i did enjoy the movie immensely, once again the book was even better. the book was strictly factual, while there are a lot of things they twisted around in the movie. the book has fascinating math theory, fascinating insights into the bizzare world of genuine mental disorder, and invasively yet compassionately rounds out the picture of who the man really was. highly recommended reading for anyone remotely interested in these topics.

brian

I thought the movie was beautifully done (whether completely factual or not for dramatic purposes, whatever...)  For someone who went through something very similar, it portrayed what it feels like to experience life in that way.  Trying to explain it to someone is rather difficult.  Being able to see the movie with someone I love and allow them to see what I experienced was wonderful.

Yup, and considering Atari 2600's are still selling for $60 on ebay to this day, I believe he did.

--
lucas

It depends on how you define "perfectly".  Your usage seems to mean only as well as can reasonably be expected of a mere human.

True perfect play by both players combined with a perfectly defined komi should result in a tie.  Komi is the score adjustment that is used to compensate for the first player advantage.  Various tournaments use values that range from 5.5 in Japan to 7.5 by the Ing rules.  Present opinion seems to be that black has a 7 point advantage from going first.

Did you have the Black or White pieces? If White, what was your opening? If Black what was your defense?
Verne

I'm not so worried for the kids who grew up in the assembly.  Most of them don't want to have anything to do with the likes of the assembly.  Since your children weren't raised with the assembly, you will have to educate them as to these wolves in sheeps clothing.  My children will have nothing to do with anything resembling the assembly.  They had enough of it for one lifetime. ;D

Kimberley,

You might be surprised at how many AKs do not see it the way yours do. Many of the AKs were not involved in assembly politics and have close friendships with the other AKs. Some teens find it difficult to move to a new school/church etc. if they have established friendships where they are.

Marcia

I must say, I wasn't using just my kids, but the teens that my girl is still in touch with.  Granted, most of the teens that she stays in touch with (not all) were not the leaders kids, just the lowly members.  

As I've said before, I believe the kids go one of two ways.  They buy the assembly line hook, line and sinker or they want nothing to do with the assembly. (Strangely enough quite a few first borns in the Fullerton assembly were of the latter group!)

     ...so, are you saying that the LBs' every move was crooked? ??? ;D

 ;)al

It wasn't just Fullerton - first borns left from every where.   From my end, I had to constantly downply the roll of the assembly in my life from the time I was in kindergarten through high school.  It was kind of weird actually...I resented the assembly growing up, and when I went to college and finally had the chance to bail, I got kind of freaked out and became a full blown assemblyite for about 9 months.  It it wasn't for Tim Geftakys being a total asshole during a time of "counseling" in California at a seminar, I definitely would have stayed in longer.

I guess instead of being unhappy with Tim Geffatass, perhaps I should be thankful that seeing his true colors early on which gave me an excuse to bail.

Kim,

Here's a fairly representative sample: Of the first gen Assembly Kids in Tuscola (somewhere between 30 and 50 kids), exactly two stayed involved over the years.

Scott

I played black and white each twice.  My first opening with white was loosely based upon the Benko opening, and my 2nd the Blackmar Diemer gambit.

I am not exactly sure what openings Brent played, but I countered the first one with the Dutch.  The 2nd was rather oddball, but I guess it would be most closely approximated as a Mason's Variation.

--
lucas

Lucas----

Just out of curiosity, are there any chess openings or moves that Bobby Fischer is credited with? if so, what would his most famous one be? I'm asking for an unusual reason(it has to do with a book that Paul Hoffman--who is Dr. Crypton--wrote), but very seriously. You seem to know a lot about chess so I thought I'd ask.

Thanks,Joe

Well, he is accredited more for a new kind of chess clock than any particular opening, but even then, he is also accredited for the creation of "Fischer Random Chess" (chess where the initial squares of the pieces are randomly shuffled) which he made to reduce the importance of memorizing opening moves.

As for moves he is famous for, he wrote an article in response to his first loss to Boris Spassky's play of the King's Gambit entitled "A Bust to the King's Gambit" which fully detailed how to win against it.

Other than that, nothing really comes to mind - Fisher was more of a shock player than a strategist, IMO.

--
lucas

Lucas----

OK---thanks for your response.


---Joe

OK, I have never heard of any of that above.  Do you guys understand what we are dealing with here?  This kid is so much smarter than I am,  (and larger and stronger) that I am beginning to be afraid.  ;D

Be nice to Lucas.

Brent

No, I don't understand any of it and that is why I REFUSE to learn how to play chess.  My husband has annoyed me for the length of our marriage (10 years) to learn how to play and I resoundingly refuse. :o

I don't want to have to stuff my brain (already on overload :o) with meaningless drivvle on how to win chess.  I look at it like learning languages.  If you started young, that's great!  For us old fogies, I'm just resigned to enjoy life and what I DO know!

Happy chess playing y'all!

You mean he's not a skinny little geek sitting in front of his computer with taped glasses and a pocket protector?! That's not hardly fair! ??? ???


*sigh*

 ;D ;) 8)

S

If you both learned Go, then your husband wouldn't have an unfair advantage.  Chess is a game that is not very popular among women.  Go fares better since it is more intuitive than logical.

Learning new things of substance is good exercise for the brain and helps keep you young.  If you don't like games, you should find something else of significance to learn.

Old people can even learn languages.  An older Cambodian woman at church said that besides her native language she knows Chinese, Vietnamese, French, Thai, some Tagalog and of course English, and she is working on learning Spanish.

If you both learned Go, then your husband wouldn't have an unfair advantage.  Chess is a game that is not very popular among women.  Go fares better since it is more intuitive than logical.

Learning new things of substance is good exercise for the brain and helps keep you young.  If you don't like games, you should find something else of significance to learn.

Old people can even learn languages.  An older Cambodian woman at church said that besides her native language she knows Chinese, Vietnamese, French, Thai, some Tagalog and of course English, and she is working on learning Spanish.

I'm learning new things all the time.............yoga, my insurance business (now that's enough new knowledge to have to cramm into my wee brain!)

Most games don't interest me!

I like the group games that make everyone laugh........Cranium, Taboo, etc.  Games like chess don't interest me..........remind me too much of being in school.  I'm a kinisthetic learner...........wasn't conducive to the normal educational process and learning chess reminds me of such.

Well, the "biggest" loss I had to a girl was back in the '01 Illinois State Championships where she finished with a single loss (and that was to the undefeated champion) and sent me back about 19 places in the ranking.  Those were 4 hour games.  

But as for females playing the game, it really isn't all that uncommon.  The chess team at my 2nd highschool had 9 girls, 28 guys on it and my first highschool had 5 girls, 4 guys (heh, 2 of which were my brother and I).  

if you ever want to play........ ;)

actually, i will go ahead and say "goodbye all" here.  Feel free to drop me emails  ;)

--
lucas

I was recruited to work at the supercomputing center here in champaign, and am able to leave the board up all day while I work.  

I first "returned" to the board over my winter break, when I was back in Chicago and had little or nothing to do.  Assuming my usual schedule from last semester, I did not think I would have the extra time needed to maintain a board presence, and only said "goodbye" as there are ones who frequent this board whom I respect.

--
lucas

Yeah, one of the great benefits of working for one of the most powerful computing centers outside of Silicon Valley is the bleeding edge computing gadgets they've got. . .Must be why they call Champaign the Silicon Prairie!

Lucas, great to hear you got a job in here and are doing well.  Which group do you work with there (TMG...). I worked their briefly with NCSA back about 7 or 8 years ago, when I was a little smarter and had some interest in working with computers.  Hope everything is well . . . give me a ring sometime if you have the time from your serious ;) work.

Actually, I work at the Beckman Institute with the NCSA.  They give me tons of fun toys to play with, much better than ACM to be sure  ::)

--
lucas

I'm sure, 'specially with the opportunity to go Caving there at Beckman.  The Cave is at Beckman, right?  After all, it has been a while for me.

Great place to work.  Hope you do well.  

-Robb

Haha, you are two for two :)

My work is specifically oriented to the CAVE - generating algorithms for the display of phylogenetic trees to be exact

......that and playing Quake 3 when my boss isn't around ;)  It is awesome, the first time I died I physically fell over  ::)

--
lucas

Yes, the great Quake - played it a couple of times.  Somewhat addictive, if I had a good machine and time to play.  Most days, my computer's tied up with work related to school.  That, or the latest version of an AWESOME game - "Reader Rabbit Kindergarten"  ;D HaHa, no really it's great, if you're 6 years old - my son Joel loves it.

I miss those times of playing Tim Ross ;D