Category Archives: Chess Engines

An interview with Lennart Ootes

All photos: Lennart Ootes

You are a renowned chess photographer who visits about 25 top tournaments a year to make pictures of top players and amateurs and to support the transmission of these tournaments. With your work you shape the image of chess and chess players. Moreover, as you write on your recently launched website lennartootes.com you are also a strong amateur chess player with a rating of 2217. How did you get interested in chess and in chess photography?

I played chess from a young age. My dad is a passionate chess player and drove my brother Lars and me to many chess tournaments in the Netherlands. Till the age of 23 I was playing a lot of chess, made it up to 2200, but also lost 100 points once I spent less time on studying and playing.

My passion for chess photography is quite a coincidence. I have always been involved with chess tournaments in the Netherlands: I wrote tournament reports, organized events and operated DGT boards. Back in 2011, the Dutch chess website schaaksite.nl asked a friend and me to make video reports of youth tournaments. So we went to a camera shop and bought a Sony photo camera with video function. But it took another three years before I preferred the photo function over video. In 2014 I was hired to operate the DGT boards at the US Championships, but I also managed to take pictures as well, which ended up on websites like Chessbase, Chessvibes and Chess24. It motivated me to learn more about photography, I watched many hours of online tutorials and the rest is history. 🙂

What is it that fascinates you about chess players and the world of chess?

Chess is a sport and sport is emotion. I love to witness the crucial moments in a chess tournament and to capture the moments that tell the story.

Garry Kasparov

Magnus Carlsen

I am very fortunate to get very close to the players, to see their hands shaking in time trouble and to hear their reaction after the game. I really have an amazing day at work when there are exciting games and some decisive results.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Magnus Carlsen

Besides that, the chess world is a big family that shares so many great memories in so many different places.

How did you become a professional photographer? Did you take courses, did you teach yourself or did you learn by doing?

I have watched many hours of online photography and photo editing tutorials. EspeciallyLynda.com(which is now LinkedIn Learning) gave me a great basic understanding. But in the end I had to practice. To make many thousands of photos, edit the ones I like and throw away the ones that were not good enough. Chess is the only thing I do and it's easier to stand out in a niche market than to master the entire spectrum of photography.

Tell us a bit about the everyday life of a chess photographer when working at chess tournaments. Usually, at top tournaments photographers are only allowed to take pictures at the beginning of the game. What do you do to get the best pictures in that short period of time and what do you do the rest of the time to produce your pictures?

At classical events I take about 100-250 photos at the start of the round, then make a selection to reduce that to about 30 photos, edit them in the next 3 hours and come back to the playing hall when I expect some action: a potential tactical blow, time trouble, the end of a game or a player interview. I have to admit that I have the privilege to be house photographer at the Grand Chess Tour and some other tournaments, so I can get within the ropes and have more freedom to do my work compared to some colleagues.

Fabiano Caruana vs Magnus Carlsen

You seem to travel all year to take pictures from chess tournaments but I think officially you still live in Holland. Are you indeed living there or are you just travelling?

I am quite passionate about traveling, so I am happy you don't ask me about my CO2 footprint...

I live in Amsterdam together with some chess friends: Merijn van Delft, David Miedema and Nico Zwirs, who are all IMs and chess trainers. Amsterdam is an amazing city, but I am there only one week per month.I just came back from two days in Windhoek, Namibia, to join my girlfriend who flew there as a flight attendant. And after this I will go to the Isle of Man, three days at Hoogeveen, the Chess960 World Championships in Oslo and the Grand Chess Tour events in Romania, India and London almost back-to-back. I won't be home in the next two months. It's a lifestyle that I really enjoy.

Travelling might be exciting but isnt it boring to take pictures of chess players again and again two players who hardly move sitting opposite each other, looking grim most of the time?

When a game lasts for six hours, timing is actually very important. As a photographer I am looking for emotions or something interesting.

I have to agree that I don't get too excited when a social media manager asks me to take a normal photo of two players behind the board. But I have to say that the real magic happens on my laptop: I can crop the photo in different ways, make it black and white or pump up the contrast in a creative way. Editing photos is not a puzzle with only one correct outcome and that gives me a lot of pleasure.

Vladimir Kramnik vs Vishy Anand

How do find the motifs for your pictures, your inspiration?

I've had a wonderful time working at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, the largest Modern and Contemporary Art Museum in the Netherlands, for 14 months. Russian avant-garde artists like Malevich and Kandinsky have made a deep impression on me with their colours, shapes and movement. I can really appreciate stadiums or interesting stage designs. From David Llada's photos it looked like theWomen's Grand Prix inSkolkovo had a great venue with interesting colours.I can only hope that more chess tournaments would learn from theatre and other sport events.

Do you have any idols or role-models in photography?

I don't consider photography as the ultimate art and I am not obsessively studying the greatest photographers of all time. Like chess, photography is very technical and has been extremely influenced by the computer. But I tend to check David Llada's photos when I'm carving for some inspiration.

And in chess?

When I was young I really enjoyed the games of original players like Shirov, Morozevich andVolokitin. But it is the rise of Magnus Carlsen in 2010-2013 that convinced me to try to make a living in the chess world.

Can you give us a very short crash course for budding chess photographers and reveal what mistakes one should avoid at all costs when taking pictures of chess players?

Chess photography is extremely hard. We work in low light conditions, our subjects do sit there for hours and we can only get close to them in the first few minutes. On my website you can find an article on how to get bright photos in a dark environment. Camera gear is important, but the biggest win can be made in editing photos.

The biggest mistake I see in chess photography is when the photo is not framed well. I see a lot of photos that are taken from a standing position, so you see more board than player. Cropping is also very important: what to you pick as your horizontal line, what part of the chess board to include. I tend to crop parts of the head to make a photo more intense, but that's a creative choice that depends per person.

If I had to review my own photos, I would say that I have trouble with the white balance (colour temperature) and that I publish too many photos that are just above average and nothing special. My biggest strength is to be at the right moment at the right time. That is something that comes with experience and some decent passion for the game.

(From left to right) Sergey Karjakin, Hikaru Nakamura, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Fabiano Caruana, Magnus Carlsen

Girl with curious hair

And what are the three most important rules or guidelines to follow?

Don't distract a player. And be nice to arbiters and security they can't make your day, only break it.

Hunt for the player's eyes. It's our primary way to get into the chess player's brain. Without eyes, it is hard to find the emotion of a player.

Tatev Abrahamyan

The Indian talent Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu

Try to build a special feeling with the moments/persons you take a photo of. A photo is more special when someone plays an amazing game, or when something memorable happens.

You started your career as chess photographer in 2012. What are the most memorable moments of the last seven years chess wise and in regard to travelling?

The world championship in Chennai was my first memorable event. I was there on my own cost (like more events in 2012-2014) but experienced chess history and was really impressed by the Indian culture with its colours and smells. On the rest days we visited, for example, Anand's former high school and a place for disabled children that was supported by Vishy's donations.

The passion for the game in India is amazing. That also strikes me in countries like Croatia, Russia, Germany and the Netherlands. At the Grand Chess Tour in Zagreb, the spectators stayed in the playing hall for five straight hours and gave the players a huge applause at the end of every round.

Another amazing adventure was Timur Gareyev's world record blindfold chess in Las Vegas. The simul lasted for 19 hours, including a fire alarm caused by "raw food master" Joe who preferred to prepare some sausages for himself. Timur's opponents were exhausted after such a long game, while Timur was slowly peddling on his stationary bike. The next morning Timur was so hyperactive that he ran through a glass door of our apartment.

Timur Gareyev on his way to his record in blindfold chess

Are there any chess players that are particularly easy or particularly difficult to photograph?

It is hard to capture the eyes of Kasparov, Kramnik, Anand and Carlsen. Guess what they have in common (smiles).

But it is also satisfactory to take a good photo of these guys. Emotional players like Nepomniachtchi, Nakamura and Jobava usually deliver in front of the camera. Grischuk is a mystery. But maybe the most remarkable player is Daniel Naroditsky who pushed suffering to a next level.

Daniel Naroditsky (right) in despair as Hikaru Nakamura watches

On your website you publish about 30,000 of your photos. How does one navigate through such an enormous number of pictures and do you have any favourites pictures that you like particularly well?

For me it was quite a job to go through all these photos, to tag players and to rate them. In the "Highlights" sectionyou can find a selection of my favourite photo by theme. But you can also just search for a player.

In your work you are close to the top players. Did you form any friendships or do the players and you keep a professional distance?

The top players are incredibly friendly, especially when you take into account that they are sportsmen. There is no player I have daily contact with, but I created some special connection with Wesley So. We mainly do some silly trash talking, but its origin might come from the Chess960 blitz game that we played last year. I have to admit that Wesley played with time odds.

Wesley So

How does travelling to these top tournaments affect your chess: do you get better by watching all these top players analyse and play or are you too saturated with chess to play well yourself?

These top guys are beasts. I have nothing but respect for the games that they play, the amazing moves they make and the mistakes they have to allow in time trouble. I do feel inspired when I play an incidental league game after a top event, but it's not that I gain chess knowledge during these game. Honestly, it's easier to follow the games at home than in the playing hall.

As you write on your website you also co-produce live-transmissions from chess events and you are on the team of app developers who work for New in Chess. As you say, you are quite advanced with the latest tech developments and always looking for new ways to improve chess broadcasting.Now, if you had the necessary resources how would your ideal transmission of a chess tournament look like?

I think that there are too many round robin tournaments. Most sport events end with a big final, but in chess we keep on playing against the same players all the time.

In terms of broadcasting, there are many things to try. For example live commentary for chess fans rated under 1400 that works well in Norway and there are many chess fans that have never played a tournament game in their life. Or a well-produced 20-minute recap of the most interesting game of the day, where the two players tell the narrativethrough personal interviews before and after the game.

Another idea is to get more practical information from computer engines. Right now, the engines' only output is tocriticizethe top player with its evaluation and a long variation.I would love to get more human-like explanation from the engine: what is the essence of the position, how difficult is it to calculate or assess the top engine line for a human, are there possible tricks in a variation? I wish it could become a tool to understand and appreciate chess more than it does now.

To conclude: what are your plans for the future in regard to your own chess and in regard to chess photography and chess transmissions?

In am working on a small photo exhibition at the Max Euwe Centre in Amsterdam, so that's exciting. There are a lot of chess events in the rest of the year, so you will definitelysee a lot of new photos in the next months. But first I will co-produce the live commentary for the Isle of Man tournament I am not sure if I will bring my camera...

See the article here:

Lennart Ootes: "Chess is a sport and sport is emotion" - Chessbase News

It didnt enthrall the world like a moon landing, didnt define a generation like Woodstock, didnt stun the experts like the Mets World Series win. But there was also a compelling world chess championship match during that packed year of 1969, one that is worth celebrating 50 years later.

As weve written here before, Boris Spassky is too often remembered today as the Russian guy Bobby Fischer beat. But Spassky in the mid-1960s was probably the strongest player in the world, with a flexible, harmonious style that set him apart from the great generation of Soviet grandmasters with whom he competed.

Armenian world champion Tigran Petrosian, whose quiet, positional style sometimes masked a unique, revolutionary approach to the game, narrowly held off Spassky in their first world title fight in 1966. But Spassky, 32, was at the peak of his powers in 1969, easily winning the right to a 24-game rematch and entering the Moscow match a betting favorite.

Given the suspicions and machinations that attended so many other world title matches before and after the two Petrosian-Spassky matches, it is nice to learn the two protagonists here genuinely liked and respected each other, despite or perhaps because of their deep stylistic differences at the chessboard.

Spassky may have entered the 1969 fight a touch overconfident, for he proceeded to lose the first game with the White pieces in 56 demoralizing moves. But he righted himself with wins in Games 4 and 5, and the play seesawed back and forth for weeks. With the match tied 8-8, Spassky finally broke Petrosians resistance with crucial wins in Game 17 and Game 19, the latter the one time in the match when the challengers famed attacking skills were on full display.

Petrosian, rightly considered one of the greatest defenders in chess history, here gets bulldozed in a classic Najdorf Sicilian battle. Blacks queenside counterplay never gets going, and with 15. g4!? Nxg4 (trying to gin up counterplay with 15b5?! 16. g5 hxg5 17. fxg5 Nh5 18. g6! is very strong for White) 16. Qg2 Nf6 17. Rg1 Bd7 18. f5!, White is already threatening tactical tricks such as 19. fxe6 fxe6 20. Nf5!.

White claims a powerful initiative with a second pawn sac: 19. Rfd1 Qd8?! (e5!? might be a better try, since Black survives on 20. Ne6!? [Nde2 preserves a small edge] fxe6 21. fxe6 Rxe6! [Bc6? 22. Rxf6!] 22. Bxe6 Bxe6 23. Rxf6 gxf6 24. Qg6 Bc4 25. Qxf6+ Kh7) 20. fxe6 fxe6 21. e5!, opening new lines while disrupting Blacks defense. Spasskys follow-up is impeccable: 21dxe5 22. Ne4! Nh5 (exd4 23. Rxf6! g5 [obviously not 23gxf6?? 24. Qg8 mate] 24. Qh3 Qe7 [the threat was 25. Rxh6+ Bxh6 26. Qxh6+ Kg8 27. Nxg5 28. Nxe6+ Kf7 29. Rf7 mate] 25. Rxg5 Qh7 26. Rfg6 hxg5 27. Nf6!, and if 27Qxh3, 28. Rg8 is mate) 23. Qg6! (the silicon engines at first think 23Nf4 saves things for Black, only to eventually hit on 24. Rxf4! exf4 [exd4 25. Rxf8+ Rxf8 26. Qxg7 mate] 25. Nf3! Qb6 26. Rg5! Rxc8 [hxg5 27. Nexg5 and mate next] 27. Nf6! and wins) exd4 24. Ng5!, and the champion resigns.

The threat is mate on h7, and theres no hope for Petrosian after 24hxg5 25. Qxh5+ Kg8 26. Qf7+ Kh7 27. Rf3 g4 [e5 28. Qh5 mate] 28. Rxg4 with checkmate in sight. Amazingly, Petrosian rallied from this debacle to win Game 20, but then lost again and two games later conceded the match, 12-10.

The most talked-about chess game of the week was a 47-move, midtournament draw at the FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss tournament now underway on the Isle of Man. The reason: Belarus GM Vladislav Kovalev had Norwegian world champion Magnus Carlsen he of the 93-game unbeaten streak, whose last over-the-board loss at classical time controls came in the summer of 2018 on the ropes, with a slew of chances to deliver the knockout blow.

But its not easy to get the champ on the canvas and get him to stay.

We pick it up from todays diagram, where Carlsen as Black has been completely outplayed in a Rossolimo Sicilian: Kovalev dominates the center, has a monster passer on d7 and, after the just-played 29b6-b5, is winning a pawn to boot.

Kibitzers worldwide saw a number of winning paths, but White was facing a dogged superstar with just a few minutes to reach the 40-move time control. There followed 30. Nxc5!? (Rf5! c4 31. Re5!, centralizing the rook, was instantly winning) Bxc5 31. Qxc5 Kh7 32. Qd5 Qg5 33. Qe4+?! (and stronger here was 33. Rf5! Qe3 34. Rf7 a6 35. d4!, and Black has no perpetual check) Qg6 36. Qc7 Qg5 37. Qd6 Qg6 38. Qc7?! (Qd5! gets back on the winning track) Qg5 39. Qc6 Qe7, and with the passed pawn under control, Black has finally reached a defendable harbor.

After 40. Qxb5 Rxd7 41. Qf5+ g6 42. Qf8 Qxf8 43. Rxf8 Kg7 44. Ra8 Kf6 45. Kg2 Rxd3 46. Rxa7 Rd2+ 47. Kg1, Whites extra pawn means nothing with his king pinned on the back rank. A disappointed Kovalev agreed to the draw.

Spassky-Petrosian, Game 19, World Championship Match, Moscow, June 1969

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 Nbd7 7. Bc4 Qa5 8. Qd2 h6 9. Bxf6 Nxf6 10. O-O-O e6 11. Rhe1 Be7 12. f4 O-O 13. Bb3 Re8 14. Kb1 Bf8 15. g4 Nxg4 16. Qg2 Nf6 17. Rg1 Bd7 18. f5 Kh8 19. Rdf1 Qd8 20. fxe6 fxe6 21. e5 dxe5 22. Ne4 Nh5 23. Qg6 exd4 24. Ng5 Black resigns.

David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by email [emailprotected].

See more here:

Fifty years ago, it was Boris Spassky's turn to shine at the chessboard - Washington Times

By integrating continuous intelligence systems into business processes using real time and historical data, organizations can respond in near real time.

Oh, the many questions to ponder when it comes to extracting value from data.

What if you could analyze data as its created?

What if you could visualize your business?

What if you could better predict your customers needs?

What if you could gain insights from unstructured data like audio, text, or video?

What if you could automate immediate actions?

What if you always knew where your assets were, and where they would be?

What if you could update machine learning models continuously?

And what if you could do it all in real time?

Streaming analytics engines have the power and sophistication to answer the questions above in real time. As computing and networking costs have continued dropping year after year, sensors are monitoring nearly everything. Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and 5G networks have enabled near-instantaneous delivery of huge volumes of data.

Deep learninguses artificial neural networks to recognize patterns in data. A human brainhas about 200 billion neurons, with about 32 trillion connections between them.Its these connections that enable people to recognize the pattern in speech,facial expressions, and so much more. Artificial neural networks have far fewerconnections, but as they continue to grow, they continue to improve inaccuracy.

These artificialneural networks have been applied to many areas, such as vision, speech,acoustics, natural language processing, medical image analysis, and board gamesranging from chess to go. In many of these situations, they have producedresults beyond top experts:

Whilethese high-profile grand challenges in computing were aimed at specific tasks,the experience gained has been applied to much broader areas.

Combiningall these forms of artificial intelligence with continuous intelligencedrawingfrom geospatial, real-time, and historical analyticscan further enhancebusiness ability to know where assets and people are at all times and helppredict what might occur next. One effort some years ago used anonymizedtelephone location data to predict with 95% accuracy where people would bebased on their past movements. Were all creatures of habit, going to work,school, synagogue, mosque, or church with great regularity, enabling thesekinds of predictions.

Addingrules engines and programmatic logic to AI, location data enables organizationsto automate many decisions that previously required human insights. Frompredictive maintenance based on actual driving conditions to decide the bestnext action to take with customers to improve loyalty, leading companies aredecreasing costs and improving revenues to become more successful.

Summary

By integrating continuousintelligence systems into business processes using real time and historicaldata, organizations can respond in near real time. Monitoring model drift andautomating model refresh and deployment enables the use of the most accurate AIto deliver on organizational improvements.

To learn more about these topics and get your questions answered, come hear me speak at IBMs Data and AI Forum on October 23, 2:15 pm3:00 pm. The Forum, which runs from October 21-24, 2019 in Miami, is the premier data and AI gathering of the year to learn how to drive smarter decisions, formulate more effective strategies and achieve better business outcomes with analytics.

I will discuss the role thatcontinuous intelligence plays in both AI and business and walk you through the benefits of using analytics to not only predict what will happen,but what to do about it.

See you there.

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What Can You Do with Continuous Intelligence? - RTInsights

Since the first industrial revolution, inventors have been driven by the idea that an automaton could mimic human intelligence.

There was even an attempt at a chess-playing automaton, the Mechanical Turk. This later turned out to be a hoax, as its inventor had someone sit inside the machine to make the supposedly intelligent chess moves against its human opponent.

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Just over two decades since the worlds first robot chess champion, Deep Blue, took its bow, artificial intelligence (AI) is breaking new ground technologically.

In March this year, AlphaGo from Googles DeepMind subsidiary proved that an AI could beat the best at the ancient game of Go an achievement many had predicted would take AI many years.

AlphaGos success suggests that the pace of AI technological advancement is accelerating. In time, it seems an AI will inevitably test what it means to be human.

There have been many heroic attempts at AI over the past 70 years, leading to several breakthroughs in AI and machine intelligence.

But beating world champion Garry Kasparov in a chess tournament, which is what IBM achieved with Deep Blue, is arguably more about the raw processing power of its hardware than the prowess of AI and logical reasoning.

In the UK, the first proper machine that was tasked with playing a game was the Hollerith Electronic Computer (HEC), which is currently on display at The National Museum of Computing (TNMOC) at Bletchley Park.

The machine was displayed to the public in 1953 at the Business Efficiency Exhibition in London. Raymond Bird, the electronics engineer who was tasked with developing the HEC, described the demonstration of the noughts and crosses game as a great success in showing the potential power of computers.

Andrew Herbert, chairman of TNMOC, says HEC became an instrument of the Cold War and used AI to help it achieve this. It was programmed to do automatic machine translation, he says. The computer was set up to convert written Russian into English the sort of demo that Microsoft often does today to show off the idea of a Star Trek-like Universal Translator.

In the 1950s, AI was also developed to support image recognition for the analysis of satellite photos during the Cold War. Again, the idea of learning to identify cats or whatever in a series of images is widely used today. AI was about clever pattern recognition, says Herbert.

But by the 1970s, AI scientists were attempting to second-guess how the human brain worked, he says. That is something neuroscientists still do not truly understand.

During the 1980s, Japan announced what it called the Fifth Generation computer initiative. This was the dawn of workstations and Japan saw that powerful computers could be made more intelligent. It led to the development of expert systems machines that could become domain experts in areas such as medical diagnosis, says Herbert.

Such expert systems captured a finite amount of information on a given subject domain, allowing less expert users to work on more complex problems without needing to have a specialist on hand.

With ubiquitous internet access, much more data became available, which led to what is now called machine learning. A big driver was search engine development by the likes of Bing, Google and AltaVista and, later, the recommendation engines all of which are based on pattern recognition technology.

The original man versus machine contest took place on 11 May 1997 when an IBM computer called Deep Blue defeated the reigning world chess champion, Garry Kasparov, grabbing the worlds attention and imagination. The six-game match lasted several days and ended with two wins for IBM, one for Kasparov and three draws.

But as with the Mechanical Turk of the 18th century, AI did not play much of a role in early logic game conquests.

Deep Blue was not a true AI because it analysed all possible chess moves using a brute force algorithm.

Primary Key Associates co-founder Andrew Lea has had an interest in AI for 35 years. His company uses the technology in data analytics to identify unknown knowns in datasets.

Lea says the reason why logical games such as chess and Go are strongly associated with AI is because they are closed domains. People were so much better than computers at playing these games, he says. Now we have the conundrum where computers are getting much better.

Lea wrote his first chess program for the BBC Model B, and recently developed a version for the Arduino microcomputer board. Writing good chess programs hasnt really increased our understanding of how people think, he says. I wrote a chess program 30 years ago. I remember writing chess on the BBC B microcomputer and its about how to make it smart on a small 8-bit computer. I think what makes AI is the ability to be smart and big, where big equals knowledge and experience.

For Lea, being smart is the opposite of brute force, where sheer computational power is thrown at the problem of identifying the best possible move for the robot chess player to make. Its about pattern recognition, knowing intuitively what you learnt from a previous game, and how this can make a difference in the current game, he says.

During the first decade of the new millennium, a step-change occurred as computational power increased to the point where neural networks and deep learning algorithms could be applied to AI.

Deep learning , to use IBMs definition, is based on the human brains decision-making process. By building multiple layers of abstraction, deep learning technology can solve complex semantic problems.

In 2011, IBM showcased its deep learning technology with the Watson computer, which beat two of the most successful human contestants on the long-running US TV game show Jeopardy!. The game show requires participants to provide a question in response to general knowledge clues. In the event, Watson marked a breakthrough in AI with its understanding of natural language and ability to make sense of vast amounts of written human knowledge.

Last March in Seoul, the Go-playing computer program AlphaGo, developed by Googles DeepMind division, defeated the best Go player of the last decade, Lee Sedol. AlphaGo won by resignation after 186 moves. Go is regarded as one of the hardest games for computers to master because of its sheer complexity. There are roughly 200 possible moves for a given turn compared with about 20 in chess, and more possible board configurations than the number of atoms in the universe.

People thought it would take 20 years for a computer to be able to beat a human at Go, but Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, believes AlphaGo's mastery of Go shows just how quickly AI is evolving.

TNMOCs Herbert says: We are making great strides in enabling computers to perceive things, so we can build amazing applications that can mimic human behaviour, but it is not intelligence in the way of a human.

The risk to humanity that Musk fears is an AIs ability not only to outpace human intelligence, but to exploit an intelligent network in a way that could undermine society in order to achieve a seemingly benevolent objective.

Speaking at the National Governors Association on 15 July, Musk said: The pace of progress is remarkable. Now AlphaGo can play the top 50 Go players and crush them all.

There are now AI systems capable of learning without ever having being taught the fundamental principles or a basic understanding of the subject matter. You can see robots that can learn to walk from nothing within hours, which is way faster than any biological being, Musk told US state governors at the event.

One of the most recent breakthroughs came in June, when Facebook published research introducing dialog agents with the ability to negotiate. Similar to how people have differing goals, run into conflicts and then negotiate to come to an agreed-upon compromise, the researchers demonstrated that it is possible for dialog agents with differing goals implemented as end-to-end-trained neural networks to engage in start-to-finish negotiations with other bots or people while arriving at common decisions or outcomes, according to Facebooks blog.

While the ability to exhibit human-like negotiation tactics is certainly a big step forward, the Facebook bots gave a very public demonstration of an inherent risk in self-learning technology. They were switched off after they invented their own language for communicating a language that could not be understood by the human researchers.

Originally posted here:

How logic games have advanced AI thinking - ComputerWeekly.com

For 45 moves today, Magnus Carlsen played a model "Carlsen" game in the Sinquefield Cup. Getting little from the opening, he created complex positional problems and was rewarded with subtle errors from Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. However, as the engines began crowing about advantages as high as +4, Carlsen erred, immediately allowing a resourceful Vachier-Lagrave to get back into the game and then to claim the advantage.

Headline photo: Lennart Ootes, Grand Chess Tour.

Despite fierce resistance from Carlsen, Vachier-Lagrave claimed the full point. This swing reintroduces questions about Carlsen's status as the world number-one. He has a 10-point edge over Fabiano Caruana who is currently second (in Saint Louis and on 2700chess.com), but there is a real possibility that continued tribulations could allow Caruana to overtake Carlsen in Saint Louis. Meanwhile Vachier-Lagrave is leading the tournament and is only a fraction of a point shy of re-crossing 2800.

The day's other winner was Ian Nepomniachtchi who won surprisingly quickly against Hikaru Nakamura.

For now, here are the games. Check back tomorrow for quotes, analysis, and more.

2017 Sinquefield Cup | Round 4 Standings

Previous reports:

Here is the original post:

Carlsen Falters In Winning Position, Loses To MVL - Chess.com

FORD FINISHING RESULTS 1st Ricky Stenhouse Jr 2nd Clint Bowyer 6th David Ragan 13th Matt DiBenedetto 15th Darrell Wallace Jr. 19th Landon Cassill 25th Danica Patrick 26th Ryan Blaney 27th Kurt Busch 29th Trevor Bayne 31st Brad Keselowski 30th Kevin Harvick 35th Joey Logano

RICKY STENHOUSE JR. GIVES FORD EIGHTH CUP WIN OF 2017 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. registered the second win of his NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series career with his win tonight. The win is the eighth of the season for Ford, most among manufacturers and matching its win total from 2016. In addition, it continues a stretch that has seen Ford win three of the last four Cup events. The win is the 137th NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series triumph for car owner Jack Roush. The win is Fusions 87th MENCS triumph since becoming Fords flagship vehicle in 2006. Ford now has 656 all-time MENCS victories.

RICKY STENHOUSE JR., No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford Fusion (Finished 1st) -- VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW -- Wow, these guys. I kept my Talladega car and told them to build a new one. They build the Fifth Third Ford that was really fast. We won the Firecracker 400! This is awesome! I have been coming here since 2008. I actually came in 2006 one time with Bobby Hamilton Jr. and it is cool to put it in victory lane and get our second win this year. I love it! Thank you to the fans for coming out here. Everyone at NASCAR. What a great weekend. America. 1776. We are the champs!

This validates what we did at Talladega. I want to first off thank all the troops that have fallen for our country, for our freedom. That is most important right now. Thank the good Lord for letting me come out here and do what I do for a living and work with this great group of guys. We have been working hard at Roush Fenway and this pushes us further along. Fifth Third, Fastenal, Sunny D, Little Hug Fruit Barrels, GoBowling.com. This Ford Performance team has been amazing. Ford has been dominant. Roush Yates Engines and Doug Yates. I told him to bring his daughter in here because she is my biggest fan and I told her I would meet her in victory lane. I had a 4th of July party planned but it just got a little bit bigger.

WHAT WOULD THAT 3-YEAR-OLD VERSION OF RICKY STENHOUSE SAY ABOUT THIS? He wouldnt believe it. My dad has taught me for a long time that you just have to keep working hard. Sometimes when things arent going right you just have to keep working hard. You cant give up. I wish they were here. My mom, dad and sister. Theyre at the lake hanging out this weekend, but I cant wait to see them and talk to them a little bit later.

CLINT BOWYER, No. 14 Mobil 1 Ford Fusion (Finished 2nd) Wow, what a night. A fun race. Our Mobil 1 Ford was strong. I got shuffled out on that second stage and that bummed me out. I wanted those stage points. It wasnt that big a deal because I knew that we had a hot rod to get back up front. Man, its just every man for himself. Youre beating and banging Both sides are ground off my car. Good night. This bridesmaid deal sucks. I want to win. Were in this business to win. Thats what Tony and Gene pay me to do. Im proud of everyone on the Mobil 1 Ford team.

DAVID RAGAN, No. 38 Shriners Hospital For Children Ford Fusion (Finished 6th) Im certainly proud of our effort tonight. Our Shriners Hospital for Children Ford was fast. We had a great day on pit road. Our car fast and and it drove really good. I give us an A for the night. I missed my mark a bit coming to the white line. I zigged when I should have zagged. Its tough to block two or three lanes coming to the white flag. I missed it on that run. If I couldnt win Im glad another Ford is is victory lane. Rickys a good guy and Im proud for that team. Im just disappointed that I couldnt close the deal.

DARRELL WALLACE JR, No. 43 Smithfield Ford Fusion (Finished 15th) That was fun. Probably the most fun that Ive had at the Speedway. I missed three, four wrecks. Just a big chess game. Way different than Xfinity race yesterday. Just trying to plan out my attacks. It seemed like every time that I went there I was supposed to go there. It was bad timing. Things you learn from. I hate that we got in that wreck late and put us in the back. A good rally to get to 15th. We keep improving.

I had a ball tonight. It was great to battle Ryan (Blaney) there for a while. I was wondering what the fans were tweeting? My rookie stripes came in a bit there when I started to follow him and I didnt see where Jimmie was. All and all it was a good day for our Smithfield Ford. Great to have a Ford in victory lane.

RYAN BLANEY, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion (Finished 26th) I am not sure what happened. I saw the 42 get turned and get up in the air a little bit. I just couldnt miss him. I was already on the top and I hate that I t-boned him. I just couldnt get out of the way. I thought we had a really good car. We were racing hard. Everyone was racing hard. We got kind of shuffled out. I didnt pick a very good lane. We were working our way back forward when that happened. I cant thank Motorcraft and Quick Lane and Ford enough for what they do. We had a super fast Fusion but it is just the way it goes sometimes. We will go on to Kentucky.

KURT BUSCH, No. 41 Monster Energy Ford Fusion (Finished 28th) I was hoping to be a little closer to the front. I saw some crazy stuff happening on the high side. I was low and then we just got clipped in the wrong place at the wrong time. We didnt get the Daytona sweep. Looked like the 43 just clipped us right there. I am good though. The cars are very safe. I gotta thank NASCAR for that. We just didnt get the job done for Monster and Haas and Ford. We were really hoping for the Daytona sweep but that is the way it goes. We are all kind of in a funnel and there is nowhere to go on the low side. I cant go left because it will rip my splitter.

DANICA PATRICK, No. 10 Aspen Dental Ford Fusion (Finished 25th) I dont really know what happened. Not totally sure. We all went low down the back straight and then they got up to speed and we came around turn four and I am not sure what happened but having seen the replay it looked like Ricky (Stenhouse Jr.) and Kyle (Larson) and then we ran out of room. I think maybe the 20 checked up or got hit from the outside and that hit me. That is why I dont want to be on the bottom. I promised I wouldnt be on the bottom when it came to the end and sure enough I go to the back saying I didnt want to be on the bottom but you have to race and go where the momentum goes. It is what it is. It was crazy. All I can say is that yall are getting your money worth tonight. From lap one it has been crazy. It should be a full moon because that is how crazy it is out there. We got the car better early on in the race and were able to kind of get in there but still not quite enough. Not enough. We were in the mix though. Unfortunately it is another Aspen Dental Ford burnt to the ground.

KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Jimmy Johns Ford Fusion (Finished 32nd) We just blew a tire. I hate it for our Jimmy Johns Ford guys. Thats the way it goes. It just blew out right in the middle of the corner. I hate to wreck half the field. Thats a part of what we do.

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Fusion (Finished 35th) I saw four our five laps before the wreck that the 95 got into the side of the 18. I didnt see any smoke off the 18, just a near miss. Then four or five laps later I think the left-rear popped on the 18 and around he started going and we were there. Wrong place at the wrong time again for us. Its superspeedway racing. Sometimes youre on the good side of it, sometimes youre on the wrong side of it. That was the bad one. Well just move and head to the next race.

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Ford Daytona Notes and Quotes - 13abc Action News

TODAY

GOVERNMENT MEETINGS

Marion County Development Review: 8:30 a.m., Office of County Engineer, 412 SE 25th Ave., Ocala. Visit 671-8686.

Walk to the Hits!: 8:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., Marion Oaks Community Center, 294 Marion Oaks Lane, Ocala. Free. Call 438-2830.

T.O.P.S.: Take Off Pounds Sensibly: 9 a.m., Spring Lake Village, 2450 NE 146th Terrace, Silver Springs. (625-3358); 10 a.m., Ocklawaha United Methodist Church, 13335 SE 123rd St., Ocklawaha. (347-2841); 10 a.m., Grace Baptist Church, 10835 SE 70th Ave., Belleview. (245-9593); 7 p.m., Belleview Christian Church, 7149 SE County Road 25A, Belleview. (245-2603); and 4:30 p.m., Dunnellon Womens Club, 11756 Cedar St., Dunnellon. (763-602-1055).

Scrappy Angel Quilters: 9:30 a.m., Memorial Baptist Church, 3693 SE 95th St., Ocala. Call 347-4453.

Quilt Club: 10 a.m., Forest Community Center, 777 S. County Road 314A, Ocklawaha. Call 438-2840.

Sexual assault survivors support group: 10 a.m., Ocala Domestic Violence Sexual Assault Center. Call 622-8495 for location.

LifeSouth bloodmobile: Call 622-3544.

Walmart, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., 2400 SW 19th Ave. Road, Ocala

Publix, 11:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m., 2575 SW 42nd St., Ocala

A Better World: Environmental Awareness: 10:30-11:30 a.m., Belleview Public Library, 13145 SE County Road 484, Belleview, 438-2500; and 1-2 p.m., Belleview Public Library, 13145 SE County Road 484, Belleview, 438-2500.

Summer Reading - John Storms World of Reptiles: 10:30-11:30 a.m., Lady Lake Public Library, 225 W. Guava St., Lady Lake, 272-3900.

Cardio strength and balance: 11 a.m., Marion Oaks Community Center, 294 Marion Oaks Lane, Ocala. Free. Call 438-2830.

Ocala Lions Club: Noon, Ocala Golf Club, E. Silver Springs Blvd., Ocala. Call 854-6715 or email ahall014@embarqmail.com.

Ocala Silver Springs Rotary: Noon, Knights of Columbus, 1510 SW Third Ave., Ocala. Call 207-1247.

Silver Springs Shores Kiwanis Club: Noon, Silver Springs Shores Presbyterian Church, 674 Silver Road, Ocala. Call 687-1119 or visit silverspringsshoreskiwanis.org.

Drawing and painting class: 12:30 p.m., Hobby Lobby classroom, 2400 SW College Road, Ocala. $14 per hour. Call 528-0169. Taught by experienced artist and instructor.

Start Your Engines!: 2-3 p.m., Dunnellon Public Library, 20351 Robinson Road, Dunnellon, 438-2520. Program for families.

Film Fest!: 2-4 p.m., Freedom Public Library, 5870 SW 95th St., Ocala, 438-2580. Program for teens.

Thread Therapy: 2:30 p.m., Headquarters-Ocala Public Library, 2720 E. Silver Springs Blvd., Ocala. Free. Call 351-6110 or visit YardsNYarn.com. Gathering for needlecrafters.

Thursday Matinee: 2:30-4:30 p.m., Reddick Public Library, 15150 NW Gainesville Road, Reddick, 438-2566.

Bingo: Doors open 4 p.m., games 6 p.m., American Legion Post 58, 10730 US 41, Dunnellon. $6. Call 489-4453.

Fit Kids: 4:30 p.m., Marion Oaks Community Center, 294 Marion Oaks Lane, Ocala. Free. Call 438-2830.

Ocala Chess Club: 5 p.m., Headquarters-Ocala Public Library, 2720 E. Silver Springs Blvd., Ocala. Call 812-4221.

Escape Room: Protect the World: 5-6 p.m., Headquarters-Ocala Public Library, 2720 E. Silver Springs Blvd., Ocala, 671-8551. Solve clues to escape; program for teens.

CF Young Singers: 5:30 p.m., Dassance Fine Arts Center at CF, 3001 SW College Road, Ocala. $25 dues. Call 854-2322 ext. 1419. Choir open to ages 8-12, performs twice yearly.

Martial arts: 5:30 p.m., Forest Community Center, 777 S. County Road 314A, Ocklawaha. Call 438-2840.

Walk it Off in 30 Days: 5:30 p.m., Marion Oaks Community Center, 294 Marion Oaks Lane, Ocala. Free. Call 438-2830.

Forest Jam: 6 p.m., Forest Community Center, 777 S. County Road 314A, Ocklawaha. Call 438-2840. Musicians and singers of all levels welcome, acoustic only.

Deep worship: 6-8:30 p.m., Sacred Fire Ministries, 12226 County Road 301, Belleview. Call 203-4810 or visit sacredfireministries.com.

Al-Anon: 7:30 p.m., First United Methodist Church, Room 21, 1126 E. Silver Springs Blvd., Ocala. Free. Visit al-anon.org.

ONGOING

U.N.I.T.Y. Group Services, Inc.s Clothing Closet: Anyone in need of free clothing can make an appointment on Tuesdays and Sundays, U.N.I.T.Y. Group Services, Inc.s Clothing Closet, 7 E. Silver Springs Blvd., Suite 102, Ocala. Call 1-800-910-3574 or email unitygroupservices@gmail.com. Donations welcome; may qualify for tax credit.

Fort King National Historic Landmark and Visitor Center temporary closures: 3925 E Fort King St., Fort King, will be periodically closed due to construction without notice through July for construction of replica fort. Visit fkha.org/donate-now.

Marion County Public Library Systems "Finders Keepers": Through July 31, all library locations. Find treasure-packed geocahes and earn the chance to win a prize pack. Visit geocaching.com or ask a librarian.

"Con-Text: The Word-Based Images of Tyrus Clutter": Through Aug. 6, Appleton Museum of Art, 4333 E. Silver Springs Blvd., Ocala. Admission fee. Call 291-4455 or visit appletonmuseum.org. Colorful and unique works of art relying heavily on text throughout the years; explores the ways humans interpret words and images.

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Calendar of events for June 29 and beyond - Ocala

Hey, everyone. I've recently become aware of how using a Chess Engine can help you improve at chess. I've been watching a lot of videos on youtube and the commentators always mention how they are using a Chess Engine to analyze the games or positions on the chess board.

I was wondering if there are any completely free Chess Engines I can download that can help me analyze positions? I currently have Chessmaster: Grandmaster Edition, but the Chess Engine that comes with it isn't very intuitive or designed well. It takes awhile to set up and I can tell it definitely isn't the best tool for what I'm looking for. Perhaps there's a Chess Engine designed for this purpose? Maybe something that explains the reasons why the move the engine recommends is optimal?

Does anyone know of any free Chess Engines that are very good at helping you analyze chess positions and finding the next best move?

As a side note, I will not use the Chess Engine to cheat. I strictly want to use this as a tool to improve my own skill. It's something I've come to realize that will help me progress in skill. Often in my games I come to a moment where I can't figure out the best move. I then make a move never knowing whether it was right or wrong, and because of this I don't learn from possible mistakes.

Thank you in advance for any suggestions.

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Free Chess Engine recommendation? - Chess Forums - Chess.com

Virtual Reality (VR) has been around for a few years now. However, what made VR accessible to everyone was Googles Cardboard, a budget solution that gave everyone a taste of what VR could do. When Google announced its Pixel phone last year, it also launched the Daydream View, a premium VR headset for those who want a more immersive experience.

One of the things that make the Daydream View stand out is build quality. Google has used a breathable fabric for the outer body which is surprisingly well-cushioned: this makes the headset comfortable to wear for long durations.

Daydream View comes with a handheld remote control with a built-in accelerometer, trackpad, volume control, select and home button. The controller works seamlessly with VR apps for viewing content or playing games. Having a handheld controller improves the experience by a big margin. Once you are done using the headset, the controller can be tucked inside the headset so that you dont lose it very thoughtful.

Setting up the Daydream View takes a couple of minutes via onscreen instructions in the app.

Then the app shows a tiled interface for recommended apps: YouTube VR, Play Store, settings and your installed apps. You can install new apps without removing the headset, which makes things easier from a users perspective.

The VR experience with the Daydream View is unparalleled. We have used a number of VR headsets, but the visual quality, smooth interface, navigation and ease of control we got with this is mind-blowing. The audio from the headsets speakers is loud enough for personal use and adds to the overall immersiveness.

One issue with the headset is that it is compatible with only select Android phones; support for other phones will be added over time. Another problem is that most of the good VR apps in Play Store are paid and the app ecosystem is overall still limited. Apart from this, the Daydream View is one of the best headsets for VR save for the high-end HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. By Karan Bajaj

ET Chess Moves: Game for iOS and Android

So you want to play a game of chess? Obviously, you have got your smartphone; no need to carry the board. There are hundreds of free chess apps available, so why are we writing about this one? Three big reasons. One, its adfree.

Two: all features are free, including undo, resume game and online play. Three, it has a nice two-player mode in which two people can play simultaneously on the same phone. You have a board facing you while your opponent has a board facing the other direction.

Your board automatically scales up in size when its your turn a smart way to overcome the limitations of small screens! And the developer (Asim Pereira) is using the Stockfish 8 engine for the single-player mode one of the best open-source chess engines that scales well to mobile and desktop platforms.

There are 10 levels, different board designs/colours and you can share your game once it is over. Try it out if you need to brush up on your skills. By Hitesh Raj Bhagat

Rheo : App for iOS; Get It For: Free You can always head to YouTube when you need to be entertained.

But what if you want to learn something new or just have a laugh? How long will you keep browsing aimlessly? Plus, there are other video platforms, you know? Rheo presents a steady stream of curated videos and the cool thing is that it pre-buffers the next video so when you swipe to the next one, it instantly starts playing. If you want a change of mood, you can switch from default to laugh, inform, learn, taste, spark, move or chill. You dont need to sign up to use it but if you do, you can record your reactions to videos, and your friends can see these reactions when they watch the same video.

Favourite what you like and Rheo will pick up on your taste and show you more like that. It's cool enough to take a place along with Hyper, another of our favourite video apps on iOS. By Hitesh Raj Bhagat

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ET Recommendations: Get Google Daydream View for Rs 6499 - Economic Times

Over the last 12 years, Russian chess Grandmaster Garry Kasparov has been a writer, human rights and democracy activist and a sometime chess-coach-cum adviser to top players. For an earlier generation, Kasparov is a superstar, probably the greatest ever chess player, a World Champion at the age of 22 in 1985 and a flag-bearer for human intelligence in matches against the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue (Kasparov won the first match in 1996 but lost the re-match in 1997). Twenty years later, Kasparov has written a book on the match, Deep Thinking: Where Machine Intelligence Ends and Human Creativity Begins. In an email interview with Suman Layak, New York-based Kasparov shares his views on chess, AI, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. Edited excerpts:

On why the book has come 20 years after the match The approach of the 20th anniversary of the 1997 rematch was the catalyst, but I wouldnt have written Deep Thinking if I hadnt felt ready. It was still painful to look back at that catastrophe, but enough time had passed to be objective, to find the truth, even if it was unpleasant. The other factor was that I had a lot more to say about intelligent machines and human-machine relationship. I felt that this could be an important message for others as well.

On whether he would do it again No, the strength of todays chess machines makes me quite happy Im retired! A free app on your smartphone is stronger than Deep Blue ever was. And a top engine on a decent laptop is likely unbeatable by even the best human on a good day. Engines dont play perfectly, but they dont make enough mistakes of the magnitude required for a human to beat them. Draw, yes, but probably not win. It was my blessing and curse to be the World Champion during the period in which chess computers went from laughably weak to practically unbeatable. It was a fascinating moment in my life, but in the historical perspective its a tiny blip.

On whether computers can take up human jobs, replace chess coaches Job loss to intelligent automation is a critical topic, but one of the reasons I wrote Deep Thinking was because we are looking at it the wrong way, with dangerous repercussions. Worry about people, not jobs, not professions. The evolution of human civilisation is the replacement of human labour by technology. Thats progress. Its essential, and makes our lives better, longer, more comfortable and productive. We should be concerned about what people will do if their tasks are taken over by machines, yes, but that problem will only get worse if we slow down instead of speed up automation and the development of new technology. Industries that automate also expand, leading to the creation of better jobs, even new industries. We need to focus on how to train people who are being displaced, how to keep them active. The good news is that smarter tools are also easier to use with less training. Computers are already teaching kids to play chess! But there will always be a place for human coaches and teachers, to help kids reach their potential and not only in chess. With an infinite amount of information at everyones fingertips, its ridiculous to preserve the old teacher-student relationship. Teachers today should focus on teaching kids how to learn, not what to learn. Training methods and critical thinking are still essential.

On opponents Anatoly Karpov, Viswanathan Anand, Vladimir Kramnik Enjoyed isnt really the way to put it! In a professional game, especially in a World Championship match, its a life or death struggle, and even the thrill of victory leaves you exhausted. But I always felt a special surge of energy when facing Karpov who was, of course, my great rival over five World Championship matches.

Even in less consequential games later in our careers, I had a feeling like against no other opponent. We knew each other so well, and public interest was always high when we met. To answer more selfishly, my record against Anand was far better than against Karpov or Kramnik, so I suppose those games were more enjoyable in that way. Vishy was a formidable opponent so he inspired me to play my best, and more often than not it went my way.

On challenging current players They are very strong, with Magnus Carlsen still a step above everyone else. But I havent been gone so long! I played many games against several of the players still near the top, especially Kramnik and Anand. Of the young generation, they are often very good technically and still need to show their fire and dedication. One reason Im impressed with Wesley So is how hard he works. He has other chessboard talents as well, but his ability to focus and prepare is tremendous. I have no interest in big chess challenges. Top-level chess, especially classical chess, requires concentration and dedication. I have a million other things in my life today, from young children to books and politics. Its not compatible with professional chess and Im quite happy with my life.

On US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin Putin long ago decided that the US was his enemy. It is the worlds most powerful nation and so it is a potential threat to his uncontested power as the dictator of Russia. And he cant stay quiet since he needs international conflict to justify his power at home. More conflict was inevitable, but this scandal with Trump is a huge wildcard.

Why does he praise Putin, a brutal dictator who attacked the US election? Why does Russian propaganda attack the US constantly, but never say anything negative about Trump himself? So far, most of the known contacts are with Trumps team, which has more Russian connections than Aeroflot. Trump may not be intelligent enough to be part of a grand conspiracy himself, but he may end up being prosecuted for trying to interfere in the investigation of his administration and allies, like Michael Flynn.

On the dichotomy of Edward Snowden finding sanctuary in Russia Its only a dichotomy if he wasnt already working with Russian intelligence, either willingly or as a pawn. I have no special knowledge of Snowdens activities, but his path afterwards, his welcome in Putins Russia and his willingness to allow himself to be used as a tool of Putins propaganda arent in his favour as a mere whistleblower or misguided zealot. You can be happy that what he exposed was exposed and still suspect he was an agent or traitor.

On democracy in Russia There isnt any democratic politics in Russia, only that approved by the Putin regime. The balance of power is between various camps of Putins allies, pushing and pulling for influence and cash, usually behind the scenes. You cant speak of democracy or sully the word election by talking about Russia. Its a joke, a show to distract people, nothing more. Russia is a dictatorship and anyone who posed any sort of real challenge to Putins grip on power would be dead, in jail, or exiled.

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Worry about people, not jobs: Garry Kasparov - Economic Times