QUOTE(Darkmage @ Jan 29 2007, 03:26 AM)
I see what you're saying. However, I've seen magic crack and shatter minds as well as build them. Chess doesn't really do that--if people become *too* obsessed with it, they're kicked out of chess clubs and tournaments and generally get a wakeup call. Games of skill generally don't make weak minds delusional. Magic can, in the wrong hands, and in some exceptionally screwed up people, it rips them apart by giving them a sense of power that they don't actually possess.
Just my $3.
Chess isn't about shattering minds?! C'mon now that's like saying there's only one way to interpret a book!! Chess is all about shattering minds, namely your opponents! As an example I present that last world chess championship played by champion Vladimir Kramnik and challenger Veselin Topalov. After the first two games Kramnik had already one two games. A huge mountain to climb given the rarity of vicorties when two of the top of the top meet. At the time of the games many people believed Topalov, who for the past two years been playing like a man possessed would pretty easily dispatch Vlad, who was coming back from a crippling artheritic injury. So Topalov suddenely found himself down 2-0 after just two games, he was definitely going to unravel and get slaughtered when he allowed his manager Silvio Danilov to accuse Kramnik of cheating, sued the arberitrators who were favorable to his camp to close down many agreed upon arrangements in the match. Kramnik protested and refused to play the next game and was forced to forfeit a game to Topalov's side. This not only gave Topalov a free win, but gave him the necessary time to recover his wits and confidence.
What most people don't know is this: in professional or tournament chess games can last for as long as seven or eights hours. In amateur tournaments you often play two of these games in one day. In this regard magic is very similiar to chess, you spend six or seven hours of intense concentration, one goal in mind, and with one slip all your work could be washed down the drain. What's more you could play perfectly and might only come away with a draw. At this level chess is also a game of acting and psychologically destroying your opponent so that he barely has the nerve to make the right move, in this way chess at the very highest level is most definitely an art form. As some players are attackers, some are defenders and so on and so forth.
As for where to play chess, the top pay sites are the Internet Chess Club, and Playchess. Both offer excellent graphics good content and a fair share of professional chess players playing against each other for your viewing pleasure. The best free internet service to my knowledge is the FICS Free Internet Chess Service, people from around the world and I believe a few professionals as well. I personally play on playchess and have a blitz rating ranging from around 1900-2050, usually I play 3 or 5 min blitz games.
Of course playing blitz games isn't all that great for concentration and focus though it does build memory, if you reallly want to excel and get the most from chess you need to play a minimum time length of 45 min a piece. If you did that once a week with maybe some blitz in between you would definitely see an increase in awareness and concentration.
Edupanna PM sent!
Chess And Magic.
NecroReaper Chess And Magic. Jan 28 2007, 03:12 AM
Jan 28 2007, 03:12 AM
