Jonathan Tait wrote on 02/05/19 at 23:39:20:


It used to be something of a Larsen speciality to prod the rook pawns down the board. But like Alpha Zero, he was self-taught, mostly at least.

Yes, I'm reading it at the moment – very, very interesting – though I can't say yet whether it will change my play at all. Well, perhaps I'll push my h-pawn down the board even more than I usually do

ErictheRed wrote on 02/04/19 at 23:43:21:



I believe he is, very much so, and there is serious evidence both in his games, and his interviews that this is indeed the case.

Have a look at Sadler's analysis of some of the games at Youtube, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkK8M0dMhAX8JinU-6aD7xA and see for yourself. I think both the games and analysis are very interesting. I expect the book to be similar in style and content.

tipau wrote on 02/05/19 at 08:49:37:

I liked Sadler's book Chess for Life as I mentioned in the article https://chess-brabo.blogspot.com/2016/06/peakrating.html
However this book is advertised as it is a must to read if you want to become a stronger player which I believe is nonsense.
tipau wrote on 02/05/19 at 08:49:37:

It reminds me of some of my students rated around 2000 elo and lower which wanted to follow courses aimed for +2400 players from a 2600 player. They were just baffled by the content and couldn't keep their attention in the courses. In the end they didn't like it. I think here it will be the same. The stuff Alpha Zero can teach you will be way above the standard stuff most of the amateurs don't know yet. Besides it is like with the tablebases available today. We have them but no human is able to reproduce them during the game nor even understand them.

Also do you really think that Magnus was serious when he stated that he was thinking how Alpha Zero would approach his position. Maybe for a second yes but I am pretty sure he was just focused on his own calculations. Magnus likes to fool around just check his many streaming videos.

Finally I am sure the book still has interesting content. Seeing some new themes, openingideas are always useful but it is not something which you can't find anywhere else and which will suddenly improve your chessrating with 100 elo. Also his previous book was very easy to read and enjoyable. I think that are already sufficient reasons to buy it but stop pretending it is some holy grail.

I took Magnus's comment to mean something similar to how we all look at an open position and say, "How would Morphy handle this?"  Or at a closed position and ask, "How would Karpov (or Petrosian, etc) handle this?"  I don't think that Magnus is honestly trying to think like a computer program.

Hello, I was wondering if anyone has gotten their hands on a copy of the new book "Game Changer" yet? I'm in the US and preordered a copy from Amazon, where it will be released on the 15th of this month, but my impression is that those in the UK already have access to it. It is also available on Chessable and Forward Chess.

I am interested in any impressions of the book you might have, but specifically whether it might help improve the play of the average club player, since the book is marketed in this way (partially). Also, are there any interesting observations on opening theory?