Hi
Sometime back, I had read in a book about a GM (don't remember his name).
Two amateurs approach and challenge a GM to play and win against them. They offer him a huge amount that the GM could not refuse. But the games have to be played under certain conditions (which didn't look suspicious to the GM)
The conditions:
1. The GM would get to play White on one board and Black on the other board.
2. The GM would get the money ONLY IF HE BEATS BOTH THE AMETEURS (just because they are amateurs). But if the GM loses one of the games, then he's supposed to pay the entire money to them.
How do you think the games went on? Did the GM win?
I am sure some of you must've read about this GM and I'll be glad to hear about him and the games.
>As part of my teaching chess to young kids in local elementary schools, I often give a simul with 10 or so of them. In one school there were these cute identical twin girls, about age 10, whom I could not tell apart and who had hatched this plan beforehand. They sat side by side with one playing White and one playing Black.
>I came to the first board where I played White, made my move, and the second twin simply copied my move on her board. The first twin then copied my move on her board. In effect, I ended up playing myself on both boards. Once I saw what was going on, it took me a few moves to figure out how to get out of this mess, as they tried very hard to suppress their young girlish giggles.
>So the next time around the room, I bypassed the first twin's board and went to the second twin's board and made her move. In this way she had to make the move on her own. Then I returned to the first twin's board and made a different move so that the two boards now had different positions. In this way, I managed to win both games.
>The lesson to be learned here? -- Watch out for cute twins! They can be tricky!
I remember watching a video on Youtube where Derren Brown (psychologist) beats 9 chess grandmasters in a simul (4wins, 3losses, 2draws) as a group, there is a trick which he uses involving memorising the moves played by a GM on one board and mirroring them on another board where he is playing as the opposite colour... using this trick, the GM's are essentially playing each other, Derren Brown is simply transferring the moves across (of course, that would require a really good memory, but the guy was a psychologist so he managed).
This puzzle has a similar idea, the amateurs won their bet (either the result was 1win and 1loss OR it was 2draws)... all that has to be done is person A glances over at the move played by the GM on board B, and mirroring it, and vice versa with person B. That way the GM is essentially PLAYING HIMSELF. So there must be an even result, hence the GM losing his bet.
Originally posted by fianchettochessActually, only 8 of the 9 players were titled and Brown used the mirroring technique in those 8 games. The 9th player was a club level player. Since Brown did defeat the 9th player, it does imply that he possesses at least some innate chess skill.
I remember watching a video on Youtube where Derren Brown (psychologist) beats 9 chess grandmasters in a simul (4wins, 3losses, 2draws) as a group ...
AttilaTheHorn
//>So the next time around the room, I bypassed the first twin's board and went to the second twin's board and made her move. In this way she had to make the move on her own. Then I returned to the first twin's board and made a different move so that the two boards now had different positions. In this way, I managed to win both games. //
That was a good ploy indeed 🙂 but the GM did not have the luxury to do so.
fianchettochess
//This puzzle has a similar idea, the amateurs won their bet (either the result was 1win and 1loss OR it was 2draws)... all that has to be done is person A glances over at the move played by the GM on board B, and mirroring it, and vice versa with person B. That way the GM is essentially PLAYING HIMSELF. So there must be an even result, hence the GM losing his bet.//
Nope, the GM didn't lose to them 🙂 I will explain how he won in my next post...
The GM won using the simple/basic rule of chess: If you touch a piece, you HAVE to move that piece (provided that piece can be moved to a square by the rules of chess).
After playing a couple of moves, the GM did realize the trap. So, he played the game in such a way that (as White) he had an option to kill a Black Knight (which was protected by Black Rook I think) with White Queen and White Knight. He killed the Black Knight with White Queen, but then he uttered 'Oh No... Sorry!!!' and tried to change his move to kill it with the White Knight.
To which, the amateurs didn't agree. So, the GM reluctantly lost his queen on one board. But on the second board (where the GM was playing Black), it was amateur's turn and he didn't want to make the wrong move 😛 He killed the Knight with his Knight and at this point, the sequence of moves changed on both boards changed. So the GM was no longer playing himself.
The GM won both the games.