Derren Brown chess scam

YouTube

Funny how no one twigged :-)

Funny, and almost impossible to believe as this exact same trick has often been discussed by chess players when they meet, I must have first heard about it 25 years ago. Indeed I think it was tried once by one of the minor teams in the chess olympiad years before Mr Brown's stunt.

I believe the players were asked to go along with the trick, perhaps with some sort of financial incentive.

This is from only a few days back.

http://www.redhotpawn.com/board/showthread.php?threadid=70267

Its an interesting trick.

Originally posted by Jake Ellison
This is from only a few days back.

http://www.redhotpawn.com/board/showthread.php?threadid=70267

Its an interesting trick.

Thanks... couldn't see how to do that.

What was the rating of the weakest player?

Originally posted by Jake Ellison
Thanks... couldn't see how to do that.

I have just watched this trick from the youtube link. But how could he predict the number of pieces that would be left on each board?

What was the rating of the weakest player?

Originally posted by Fat Lady

What was the rating of the weakest player?

Allegedly about 2200.
http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=1610

However he played in this inter-University tournament:
http://www.sunion.warwick.ac.uk/chess/intermr3.html
and didn't do particularly well. I know most of the Oxford players and judging by the results there I can't see how Robert Chan can be higher than 150 ECF, and that's being generous.

Originally posted by vipiu
hmm, still not so easy to win against a 2200 player after a year of chess(as he said)...
I doubt that he would win against a 2200 (especially in a simul, where he does not concentrate on a single game...

Originally posted by demonseed
What if he spent one year preparing to play that player, analysing every game ... perhaps with GM/IM assistance?

the most fun is reading some of the ridiculous comments made by the youtube posters under the video

but beating a 2200 player after just reading and studying for a year is a bit improbable imo, so he probably lied about beating #9 on his own.