The Brazilian Maid Who Became a Chess Star | Hacker News Reader

The Brazilian Maid Who Became a Chess Star

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I learned chess at an early age; this is perhaps not surprising, I was a nerdy kid and went on to get degrees in math, electrical engineering, and computer science. However, I am a very mediocre player. I’ve studied chess on and off for many years —- I think my copy of MCO (Modern Chess Openings) is 50 years old. My bookshelf currently holds 59 books on chess.

But why am I so bad at chess? After pondering this for years, I’ve decided my problem is that some people are, like the Brazilian maid in the featured article, just astoundingly, preternaturally good at the game. Humans talents are so interesting. No amount of practice will make me another Michael Jordon nor even a strong ranked chess player.

People have what seem like impossible talents. I could practice every day for decades and not be able to dunk a basketball from mid-court even once. But there are people who can do it without even looking where they are throwing the ball. I would not believe if if I had not seen it.

I think you could dunk a basketball from midcourt easily if you trained for it.

It baffles me when people think X or Y are impossible. Sure, for some things you need to work a lot. Genetics plays a huge role. Where you where born and your environment matter a lot.

But at the end of the day you can do many more things that you believe you can if you apply yourself.

Sounds like a nature vs nurture argument. I think there is a lot of literature out there on this.

And there are other things you can never do, no matter how much apply yourself.

It is difficult to discover which is which.

From midcourt, as in leaping from the midcourt line and not landing again until you have dunked? Doesn't the distance from the half-court line to the basket exceed that of the world record long jump?

You seem to be using a definition of "dunk" unfamiliar to the rest of us. Maybe you use a different word for the ball dropping through the basket without touching the rim or backboard?

(A recent crossword had a word "teardrop" whose clue suggested it might be that.)

I think the basketball example isn't true - this is a skill someone with the basic ability to throw a ball that far and no neurological impairments should be able to acquire, even if it takes a few months or years.

Chess? Not so much. In my opinion there is something in some people's brains that is akin to a custom hardware acceleration. It can be trained and further developed but the first seed must actually happen by chance. Nobody knows what creates those circuitry in some people's brains and there is no way to reliably recreate it.

Literally millions of people train and practice basketball for decades, from early childhood. How many of them can reliably sink a shot from mid-court? How many without looking? How much longer do you imagine they would all need to train? Even most of the best professional players can't do it. Why would they drive all the way to the basket if they could chuck it in from the other side of the court?

I didn't say "reliably" and not blindfolded. Nor do people who practice basketball for decades usually practice this particular skill every day excessively.

If every pro could do it, the amount of practice wouldn't be excessive, it would be expected.

I apologize if you already know this which is likely with 50+ chess books on your bookshelf. Chess is 90% memorization, be it tactical patterns or endgame technique or opening lines. Analyzing positions over the board requires subconscious memory of tactical and positional patterns as well as good working memory (aka RAM) to work through the decision tree.

I don't know whether each of us is fundamentally limited on our abilities. I used to have a lofty goal of 2000 ELO someday but now just enjoy the learning journey without a specific goal. I am better at chess in my 40s than I have ever been before and enjoying it more than ever.

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