r/dontyouknowwhoiam • u/Upstairs_Cash8400 • 7d ago
Chess Match
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u/Sufficient_Coach7566 7d ago
This is Anna Cramling...both parents are GMs and she's a WFM. Probably just surprised it's a IM at some random place rather than being intimidated.
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u/ryry013 6d ago
To add to this for others, when you play enough chess, you can tell relatively quickly from an opening whether the player across the board from you knows what they're doing, and that was the point of Anna's original comment, "Okay you're a good player (laughs)". It's not like he did anything amazing in those first couple moves, but they were solid enough to tell her he's not making random moves like she maybe is used to when she plays a random fan.
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u/Somerandom1922 6d ago
You can, up to a point. Like you could confidently say the other guy doing the king's indian opening casually is at least like 1600 and comfortable with the opening. After that though you need to play more to know if they're much better than that.
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u/Saragon4005 6d ago
It was good sport to tell his ranking when called out even in a casual match.
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u/Somerandom1922 6d ago
Oh for sure. If I was playing chill games expecting relative novices that I'd be basically teaching, I'd like a heads up if all of a sudden my opponent was like 200 ELO stronger than me so I could lock in.
I've played only a couple of games against opponents 200 ELO better than me, particularly OTB, and its always super intense but really enjoyable. I'm always stretched to my limits and I can generally assume that if I've seen it, they definitely have, so I need to find something better, which just makes me play better than I normally do.
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u/Dyzzle7 6d ago
What’s your ELO?
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u/Somerandom1922 6d ago
At moment, I don't know, it'd be pretty bad as it's been ages since I've played at all.
At my best around 1600. When I was about 1500 rated I versed a 1700 rated 9 year old and it was perhaps the most fun game I've ever played (I was a grown adult at the time).
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u/megamoze 6d ago
She basically does this is many of her videos, but the other way around, playing these speed chess players in parks without them knowing who she is. I think she found it amusing to be on the other side of it.
It’s very probable that he knew who she was though.
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u/Saragon4005 6d ago
Even if he didn't literally know who she was he definitely watched a few of her games beforehand to have a much better grasp of her skill level then she had of his.
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u/YesNoMaybe 6d ago
Even if he didn't literally know who she was
I would be shocked if there was anyone in the chess community (I'm not counting park players) that doesn't know who she is by now.
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u/weakbuttrying 6d ago
Works until you get super GMs playing the bongcloud or other meme openings just for fun.
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u/Ghostwalker_Ca 7d ago
Correct. However her ELO is 2046 as of February this year, which is of course impressive, but his is 2332.
Also he is currently 3187 in world ranking so it can be excused that she didn’t recognised him immediately.
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u/justsomechickyo 7d ago
Correct. However her ELO is 2046 as of February this year, which is of course impressive, but his is 2332
Lol wut
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u/themateo713 7d ago
Elo is a skill rating, such that a 400 elo gap means 10:1 odds of winning (for a game with no draws). Here a 286 FIDE elo gap at this elo gives odds of 7% win, 17% draw, 75% loss for her.
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u/justsomechickyo 7d ago
Yeah I'm just gunna pretend I understand any of that lmao
Lol jk I get what you are saying ty for the explanation.... Just at first glance I was more confused
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u/Accomplished-Plan191 6d ago
If you win games, your ELO rating goes up according to a mathematical algorithm. If you lose, it goes down. For him to have a greater rating it means he wins rated games more often than her. Both are really good players, but he wins more.
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u/edgeofruin 6d ago
Just tell people it works like matchmaking on halo 3 lol
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u/Escher0 6d ago
The original skill based matchmaking for Halo was actually based on ELO.
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u/edgeofruin 6d ago
Well holy crap I didn't know that! I thought I had just coined the analogy lol.
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u/z-eldapin 6d ago
Ok, it's like a golf handicap. Hers is good, his is a lot better.
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u/justsomechickyo 6d ago
Yeah I get that….. I was being funny it’s been explained to me…. A layman. When I first posted these comments they were upvoted I guess yall smarties didn’t find the humor in it I’m getting downvoted to all heck 🤷♀️
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u/z-eldapin 6d ago
I didn't downvote. I never understood downvotes people for asking for clarification on things they don't understand
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u/justsomechickyo 6d ago
I’m not saying you did lol just frustrated about it and idk why it’s stupid internet points that don’t mean anything but still 😭
At least you were nice!
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u/contentlove 6d ago
Yes, and also she didn't try to serve him any nonsense, her response to learning who he was is appropriate and kind of heartwarming honestly
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u/samcornwell 5d ago
Just chiming in to say Anna is great. Probably the best Youtube Chesser out there. Pure and happy and talks a good game.
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u/Lambda_Lifter 5d ago
Okay I'll be that guy ... He's a male IM ... Chess is segregated by gender at those levels for a reason, and with her parents she knows it, she definitely is intimidated
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u/Ghostwalker_Ca 5d ago
You are right that there are dedicated women’s titles with different requirements. Usually lower ELO requirements.
However she is certainly used to playing against people in the world elite with very high ELO rankings. The highest ranking her mother ever had was 2550 and the highest her father had was 2510. Currently they are at 2399 and 2271 because they don’t play that competitive anymore, but they both are grandmasters.
So while she probably changed her mindset because with such an opponent she had to play her A game she is most likely not intimidated.
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u/rainswings 5d ago
Chess is segregated by sex for a reason? Enlighten me on the difference that makes it so men and women fundamentally can't play against each other
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u/Lambda_Lifter 5d ago
1 women has played competitively in the men's league in the history of chess, that's why
There's nothing stopping women from playing in the men's leagues if they want, but if we got rid of segregated leagues, women playing at the upper ends would be non-existent
This isn't an opinion, this is the fact of the matter
Enlightened now?
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u/rainswings 5d ago
What's the difference between man chess and woman chess?
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u/Lambda_Lifter 5d ago
It's the same game, but women aren't competitive at the upper levels. So we segragrate the league's so that women who want to play competitively in tournaments can. Just like with basketball, football, most sports
What aren't you getting about this?
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u/rainswings 5d ago
Do you think this is objectively because sex makes brains better or worse at chess, or do you think it might be a more social thing?
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u/Lambda_Lifter 5d ago
No one knows
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u/rainswings 5d ago
That's neat! I asked that you think though. What do you, personally, think?
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u/Lambda_Lifter 5d ago
There isn't good enough evidence to make a conclusion, that's what I think, personally
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u/bethlavirgin 7d ago
I always love to see exceptionally talented people with such a humble attitude.
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u/Saragon4005 7d ago
I love how you can just watch her reconsider her whole approach.
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u/Killfile 6d ago
I mean, she did the most basic kings pawn opening. For someone playing on her level, a match against an international master would typically involve some study of his past games to understand his strengths and weaknesses.
This is like a minor league professional baseball player showing up at a little league game where the dads take turns pitching to hammer a few into the stands and shake some hands... only to find out that the "dad" doing the pitching is Nolan Ryan or Gregg Maddox.
And suddenly they're wishing they'd watched some tapes...
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u/Occams_ElectricRazor 6d ago
Someone who doesn't play chess here...What about these moves makes her say you're a good player?
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u/xXDRAGONPROXx95 6d ago
In this video they're at the early or opening stage of the game. At the level of top chess players, the opening moves are heavily memorized and have a lot of theory behind this. She saw him play opening moves with a high level of understanding thus making him a good player.
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u/dancingbanana123 4d ago
They both know their openings very well to make their moves quickly. When you play a lot of games, you just kinda see the same first few moves for every main opening enough times that your early game moves are automatic. Even someone who plays a lot of casual chess will only really know like the first 3 or 4 moves based on what their opponent does, then kind of trail off from there. He clear knows more lines than that and has seen her particular opening a lot (though hers is maybe the most common opening for white). That's mostly what she's noticing.
He's also not trying to immediately attack or anything. Usually in these kind of public matches, the high-rated player will just play a very defensive game and wait for their opponent to make a mistake. He's playing a very defensive opening and basically saying "nah I'm not gonna be aggressive either."
So from her point of view, she sees a player who knows a lot of his early game moves, is playing very defensively, and isn't making any typical early game mistakes. That kind of clues her in that "oh ok this guy has played a lot of this game too."
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u/Naps_And_Crimes 6d ago
She went from "Friendly match" to "real shit" as soon as she learned he's at that level
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u/iDontRememberCorn 7d ago
I mean, Anna still has no idea who he is, nor does anyone else.
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u/progthrowe7 4d ago
Her own parents are more notable than he is. Her father beat a world champion, and her mother was the highest rated female chess player in the world. Both of them are Grandmasters.
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u/llinoscarpe 5d ago
There are about 3-5 thousand international masters in the world so it’s pretty normal for even someone who follows chess tournaments a lot (which Anna probably only follows the big ones like most people) to not know most of them
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u/chug187187 6d ago
What about his opening moves made her realize he's a good player? Or was it just an offhanded question?
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u/ThoughtfullyLazy 6d ago
She made her comment after he played his 7th move, the timing is important. For his first 6 moves, he played a well-established opening sequence called the King’s Indian Defense. A lower skilled player could memorize those first 5-6 moves and maybe play them without understanding them. He never paused to think at all about his moves, showing that he knows that opening sequence of moves by heart. He was also casually chatting and not stressing about it. Many decent chess players would know this opening and could do that. The first 6 moves of that line are pretty standard. When you get to move 7 there are all kinds of variations that start to open up and typically a lower level player would have to pause to think about their moves by that point (if not earlier). I think she expected that he was going to start thinking or making mistakes as they got past the normal “main-line” of this opening. He just continued on like it was nothing, which is what prompted her comment at that specific time.
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u/keenedge422 6d ago
Sorry, super noob question. Is the series of the first six moves kinda a given since in those moves there's not really any threatening being done by the other player, or does it still depend on what they're doing too?
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u/ThoughtfullyLazy 6d ago
It is supposed to depend on what the opponent is doing. A lot of new players learn a sequence like this and just play it no matter what. You can get away with that at low levels but it’s obvious to skilled players when someone is playing like that. I think that’s why his 7th move was the one that gave away that he was a good player because that move is where a lot of the sequences diverge. The fact that he didn’t need to pause and think and was still making moves that are known to be some of the best possible moves in the position is a giveaway that he has played this sequence a lot. You don’t have to be an international master to play that series of moves, but it’s unlikely to be played by someone who isn’t a decently experienced player. I don’t know the context of the people she was playing but they were probably not people with official titles so he stood out as being much better than the others.
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u/keenedge422 6d ago
I see. So an experienced player would be able to tell if an opponent was knowledgeably playing the opening or just doing it from rote without actually responding to the conditions on the board. Makes sense.
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u/Killfile 6d ago edited 6d ago
Most people who learn chess learn a kings pawn and a queens pawn opening. They're both characterized by a push straight up the middle of the board.
He's using - I'm on mobile and can't pause the video to examine it closely - a King's Indian Defense. I would bet that if we examine it more closely there are some other more specialized elements here.
Chess openings are highly choreographed and optimized and it's not uncommon for players to know the first 5-10 moves they'll make if given the freedom to do so. But it's not enough to have a bunch of openings memorized, you need to be able to exploit the advantages and minimize the disadvantages that they create.
So when you play someone who starts out with a sophisticated opening it tells you something about their skill level. Very few mid to low level players know much more than a standard variation of one or two standard openings.
Edit: Fixed the name of the specific defense thanks to /u/kda127's sharp eyes
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u/kda127 6d ago
She says it after he plays pawn to a5. Every move up to that point is very standard for the Kings Indian defense (the opening he's playing). I'm a decent player by normal human standards- i.e. trash by both of their standards- and I would've gotten to the point before that move. Pawn to a5 would not have been on my radar after that, though. I assume it's a known, fairly standard move for high level players in that opening (I don't play that opening myself), but it's not a move that someone would just stumble into playing without knowing enough to know it's a good option.
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u/Killfile 6d ago
Thanks for calling out the defense. I'll update my post and credit you. Not being able to see the moves slowly made it hard to follow.
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u/CarbonKevinYWG 6d ago
Uhhh...that can't really be answered without explaining a lot about opening strategies.
To put it simply, everything about his opening moves made it clear he was a good player.
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u/ReApEr01807 6d ago edited 6d ago
How the fuck did he get his Queen King on the other side of the Rook like that?
Edit: Ahh, castling
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u/F___TheZero 6d ago
I think the answer you're looking for is "castling". It involves the king and the rook though, not the queen and the rook.
Also just a heads up you're probably gonna get comments to "Google en passant". It has nothing to do with your question, but if you get them, you need to reply with "holy hell". There's no time to explain.
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u/edgeofruin 6d ago
My son got a "how to play chess for kids" book. I saw the en passant page and my jaw hit the floor. Never knew. I'm not chess master tho.
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u/PrecedentialAssassin 5d ago
For those who don't follow chess, this is Magnus Carlsen. Sorry though, I don't know who the International Master is.
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u/ThirstySun 6d ago
Hopefully it’s the start of a good friendship. It’s a great origin story for a relationship.
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u/Leprecon 6d ago
I mean, he is not really famous or anything. It makes sense that she wouldn’t know him. But they had a nice game nonetheless.
One thing I liked is that she thanked him for saying that he is an international master so she can focus and take the game more seriously.
And the game ended in a draw by the way.