Category Archives: Chess Engines

PROVIDENCE Over the last decade, Indias political and economic progress has faltered. Its once-plausible aspirations of becoming a global power on par with China now seem fanciful. The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a devastating human and economic toll. In such circumstances, sports can be a national balm.

This years Tokyo Olympic Games brought a slight reprieve. India took home its first gold medal in track and field, achieved a partial return to past glory in mens field hockey, and saw its womens field hockey team display heart-wrenching grit and determination, even as it fell short of winning a medal. Ultimately, though, a ranking of 48th in overall medals, for a country with 1.4 billion people, only reinforced the sense of underperformance.

Against this backdrop, a game of the mind may be one of the brighter spots. India is quickly becoming a legitimate global chess superpower, leading the United States and China on key metrics, and running neck and neck with Russia, the historically dominant chess power. Since 2012, 44 Indians have been anointed as grandmasters (GMs), the highest achievement in chess, compared to 18 for China and 22 for the US. Even Russia added just one more than India.

This is no small achievement, considering that an Indian first attained GM status only in 1988, a full 41 years after independence. Reflecting this ascendancy, the Indian team of men and women tied for first place with Russia in the 2020 FIDE Online Chess Olympiad.

Just as heartening as the overall tally of GMs is the age profile and regional distribution of Indias chess talent. Nearly half of the last 20 GMs, and some of the most promising of them, are in their teens, and several players come from outside that usually account for chess champions. Just as Indias proficiency in cricket improved as opportunities broadened beyond the English-speaking elite, chess has flourished by drawing in talent from smaller cities and towns.

Why is this explosion of talent happening now? National sporting success is not easily explained; but, in Indias case, a superstar effect cannot be ruled out. We can never know why 1970s Sweden produced tennis great Bjrn Borg, the winner of 11 Grand Slam titles. But we do know that there was an explosion of Swedish talent in subsequent decades as Borg became a role model that young Swedes wanted to emulate.

Similarly, Indias excellence in chess today is almost certainly tied especially to its first GM, Viswanathan Anand, and also to female players like Koneru Humpy. Anand came out of the blue in the late 1980s to become the worlds leading player, winning five world championships and remaining at the top, in both the traditional and more rapid versions of chess, for nearly 25 years. Humpy is the reigning womens world rapid chess champion and was the youngest woman ever to become a GM when she attained the rank in 2002. With a lag of a decade or two, the current crop of GMs appears to have burst onto the scene as a result of the Anand and Humpy effects.

But other factors are also at play. In the pre-digital world, learning, playing, and competing at the top levels of chess often required an organisational infrastructure, not always Indias strong suit. But now, every player is connected to the Internet, and chess students can avail themselves of chess engines and databases as well as virtual access to experts. Online tournaments allow players to compete from the remotest places. As the digital revolution has unfolded, Indias hundreds of millions of young people have become a deep pool for chess talent. At this scale, the probability of producing excellent players has risen exponentially.

Another hypothesis is that the advent of sophisticated chess machines has tilted the skill set in favour of memory relative to brute calculation over the board. These machines establish winning and losing patterns of play that a player can memorise and then recall during a match. In this new era of chess, the Indian education systems over-emphasis on rote learning may offer a distinct advantage, as it does in spelling bee contests, where Indian-Americans also tend to dominate.

But Indias chess revolution is not complete. For all of its GMs, none are in the worlds top ten, and none pose a serious threat toMagnus Carlsen, the Norwegian reigning world champion who took the title from Anand in 2013.

Moreover, there is a harsher side to the digital eras democratisation of opportunities in chess. Indian parents have gambled their life savings to send their sons to international tournaments; girls have put aside their own dreams so that their male siblings can access limited resources; and players themselves must make hard choices between career preparation and the pursuit of the game. Even with the new digital tools, success at the highest levels requires resources and a team of other players, psychologists, managers and fitness coaches.

Most critically, while chess opportunities are expanding, there are still hard limits in place. Sadly, all of the major axes of exclusion in Indian society, group identity, geography and gender, seem to carry over into the game. Disadvantaged minorities such as the Dalits (formerly known as untouchables) and Muslims are thinly represented, if at all, among the top players, as are players from the poorer regions of the Hindi-speaking heartland. Among Indias expanding roster of GMs, there are only two women (whereas China has nine).

Still, India is churning out GM-level chess talent at a ferocious pace. If its problems of still-limited resources and exclusion can be addressed, its future as a chess superpower will become only brighter.

This would make for a fitting historical irony. In the twentieth-century filmmaker Satyajit Rays The Chess Players, two self-centred noblemen, neglecting their spouses and official responsibilities, obsessively play chess even as their kingdom is being annexed by the British. Successful colonisation is portrayed as Britains superior ability at the metaphorical chess game of imperial strategy. Today, in the more literal version of the game (reputedly invented centuries ago), that history is being reversed: Indians are gradually becoming the grandmasters of the world.

Arvind Subramanian, a former chief economic adviser to the government of India, is the author of Eclipse: Living in the Shadow of Chinas Economic Dominance.

Read more from the original source:

India's kings and queens of chess - Jordan Times

Though India has little to be hopeful about nowadays, one bright spot is chess, where the country has surpassed the United States and China and emerged as a rival to Russia. But to make the most of the opportunity, the country will have to address some of its most deeply entrenched sources of exclusion.

PROVIDENCE Over the last decade, Indias political and economic progress has faltered. Its once-plausible aspirations of becoming a global power on par with China now seem fanciful. The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a devastating human and economic toll. In such circumstances, sports can be a national balm.

This years Tokyo Olympic Games brought a slight reprieve. India took home its first gold medal in track and field, achieved a partial return to past glory in mens field hockey, and saw its womens field hockey team display heart-wrenching grit and determination, even as it fell short of winning a medal. Ultimately, though, a ranking of 48th in overall medals for a country with 1.4 billion people only reinforced the sense of underperformance.

Against this backdrop, a game of the mind may be one of the brighter spots. India is quickly becoming a legitimate global chess superpower, leading the United States and China on key metrics, and running neck and neck with Russia, the historically dominant chess power. Since 2012, 44 Indians have been anointed as grandmasters (GMs) the highest achievement in chess compared to 18 for China and 22 for the US. Even Russia added just one more than India.

This is no small achievement, considering that an Indian first attained GM status only in 1988 a full 41 years after independence. Reflecting this ascendancy, the Indian team of men and women tied for first place with Russia in the 2020 FIDE Online Chess Olympiad.

Just as heartening as the overall tally of GMs is the age profile and regional distribution of Indias chess talent. Nearly half of the last 20 GMs and some of the most promising of them are intheirteens, and several players come from outside the metropolises that usually account for chess champions. Just as Indias proficiency in cricket improved as opportunities broadened beyond the English-speaking elite, chess has flourished by drawing in talent from smaller cities and towns.

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Why is this explosion of talent happening now? National sporting success is not easily explained; but, in Indias case, a superstar effect cannot be ruled out. We can never know why 1970s Sweden produced tennis great Bjrn Borg, the winner of 11 Grand Slam titles. But we do know that there was an explosion of Swedish talent in subsequent decades as Borg became a role model that young Swedes wanted to emulate.

Similarly, Indias excellence in chess today is almost certainly tied especially to its first GM, Viswanathan Anand, and also to female players like Koneru Humpy. Anand came out of the blue in the late 1980s to become the worlds leading player, winning five world championships and remaining at the top in both the traditional and more rapid versions of chess for nearly 25 years. Humpy is the reigning womens world rapid chess champion and was the youngest woman ever to become a GM when she attained the rank in 2002. With a lag of a decade or two, the current crop of GMs appears to have burst onto the scene as a result of the Anand and Humpy effects.

But other factors are also at play. In the pre-digital world, learning, playing, and competing at the top levels of chess often required an organizational infrastructure (not always Indias strong suit). But now, every player is connected to the internet, and chess students can avail themselves of chess engines and databases as well as virtual access to experts. Online tournaments allow players to compete from the remotest places. As the digital revolution has unfolded, Indias hundreds of millions of young people have become a deep pool for chess talent. At this scale, the probability of producing excellent players has risen exponentially.

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Another hypothesis is that the advent of sophisticated chess machines has tilted the skill set in favor of memory relative to brute calculation over the board. These machines establish winning and losing patterns of play that a player can memorize and then recall during a match. In this new era of chess, the Indian education systems over-emphasis on rote learning may offer a distinct advantage, as it does in spelling bee contests, where Indian-Americans also tend to dominate.

But Indias chess revolution is not complete. For all of its GMs, none are in the worlds top ten, and none pose a serious threat to Magnus Carlsen, the Norwegian reigning world champion who took the title from Anand in 2013.

Moreover, there is a harsher side to the digital eras democratization of opportunities in chess. Indian parents have gambled their life savings to send their sons to international tournaments; girls have put aside their own dreams so that their male siblings can access limited resources; and players themselves must make hard choices between career preparation and the pursuit of the game. Even with the new digital tools, success at the highest levels requires resources and a team of other players, psychologists, managers, and fitness coaches.

Most critically, while chess opportunities are expanding, there are still hard limits in place. Sadly, all of the major axes of exclusion in Indian society group identity, geography, and gender seem to carry over into the game. Disadvantaged minorities such as the Dalits (formerly known as untouchables) and Muslims are thinly represented, if at all, among the top players, as are players from the poorer regions of the Hindi-speaking heartland. Among Indias expanding roster of GMs, there are only two women (whereas China has nine).

Still, India is churning out GM-level chess talent at a ferocious pace. If its problems of still-limited resources and exclusion can be addressed, its future as a chess superpower will become only brighter.

This would make for a fitting historical irony. In the twentieth-century filmmaker Satyajit Rays The Chess Players, two self-centered noblemen, neglecting their spouses and official responsibilities, obsessively play chess even as their kingdom is being annexed by the British. Successful colonization is portrayed as Britains superior ability at the metaphorical chess game of imperial strategy. Today, in the more literal version of the game (reputedly invented in India centuries ago), that history is being reversed: Indians are gradually becoming the grandmasters of the world.

Link:

India's Kings and Queens of Chess by Arvind Subramanian - Project Syndicate

This is a brief history of UI development within the broader topic of software development and reflects my personal journey to build a chessvariant application for fun. The UI matters a lot because it dominates the code in most professional/commercial applications.

Typically, the code that controls how you interact with your application takes up most of the program. It is often called plumbing and most programmers re-write this part repeatedly in every application, ideally with only small changes, whereas the part of the program concerned with the core application may be just 10% to 20% of the whole code.

Picking up the story just before the internet (pre-1994), it was quite simple then, Microsoft and its Windows OS dominated, and the user interface was for the PC. The World Wide Web brought in a major change in UI development. Post 1994, UIs had to contend with browsers and connecting to applications that were running on a remote server in the data center. Web applications had to deal with being offline and synchronizing when online.

My interest and frustration with the UI came with my pastime desire to code a chess variant with a multi-player interface. I programmed in Java and hence the UI came in the form of Java applets that could run on any browser. The problem was that soon after I developed this application, running applets was considered a security risk and they needed a security certificate, and then they were banned altogether. Back to the drawing board for me.

Then in 2007 Apple launched the first smart-phone, the iPhone, and gave developers another UI to build for. In the wake of Apples success sprang a smartphone industry of copycats and we all watched with keen interest the fragmented mobile OS wars. Eventually out of that war emerged two winners: Apples iOS and Googles Android.

By this point UI development could be done relatively painlessly if you stuck to one platform (i.e., one OS and device form factor) but with the fragmentation of platforms, wishing to cover more than one meant re-writing your application. Writing once and deploying multiple times became desirable if you wanted an application with the broadest reach. Enter the RIA evolution (circa 2010) that led to cross-browser/cross-platform UI engines targeting desktop and mobile, and there were three main contenders: Adobe Flash, Microsoft Silverlight, and Oracle JavaFX. However, Apple wanted a closed shop, and was against supporting any cross-platform engine. Security had a part to play in that policy; Flash was continually being updated with security patches. Oracle, the new owner of Java, was internally divided on whether to grow JavaFX or not, and eventually decided not to, giving it over to an open source community where it continues to have a life today.

Circa 2016-2017, I had not appreciated how powerful Apples position was, as the mobile space was still fragmented. After considering the options, I decided my next step with my chess variant was to opt for Adobe Flash. Many months passed and Adobe announced it was abandoning Flash. The mobile wars were over, and Apple was a winner. Microsoft also abandoned its cross-platform engine. And back to the chess drawing board for me.

Today we have JavaScript as the dominant browser UI scripting language with technology options such as node.js and Angular and others too many to mention. There is a separation today between programming core applications and programming the UI, as each has its own set of technologies.

This fragmentation has also played nicely for the low code/no code (LCNC) players. LCNC will release a pent-up demand to build applications that line-of-business departments desire and which many central IT departments often have no capacity to satisfy. LCNC today can play the role of a cross-platform UI builder, but solutions vary as to which platforms are supported.

UX has been the prime driver of change for the UI: the web browser gained adoption because it made navigating the internet easier, and the iPhone revolution was all about UX, it expanded the mobile phone into a handheld computer running multiple apps in an easy intuitive way. These technology waves made the UX better.

At the same time, they created new barriers for any programmer wanting to create a cross-channel UI-rich application. So, it is no surprise to me to see the rise of LCNC, taking the burden out of cross-platform UI development is a great opportunity, I think this sector of appdev will continue to grow.

See the article here:

Why low code/no code is on the rise - SDTimes.com

Fighting the Middle Fork Complex Fire

A firefighter looks looks back at the battle to defeat the fires near Oakridge

Chris Pietsch, The Register-Guard

The Middle Fork Complex fires nearOakridge grew more than 1,100 acres between Monday and Tuesday, reaching1,707 acres total in size, according to the U.S. Forest Service. The complex is at 5% containment.

The Gales Creek Fire, the largest of thecomplex's 12 fires, increased from 400 acres to 1,268 acres, with 0% containment as of Tuesday. It's located south of Big Fall Creek Road (Forest Road 18) near Forest Road 1835.

Seven of the Middle Fork Complex's smaller wildfires areat100% containment. The fires were ignited by lightning and range fromFall Creek, Hills Creek Reservoir and north of Huckleberry. There are463 personnel, fiveaircraft and 22 fire engines responding, according to a Tuesday morning Forest Service update.

MarkThibideau, a public information officer for the Middle Fork Complex,said Tuesday any increase in fire acreage is a concern, addingthat much of the Gales Creek Fire is on steep, rocky ground that is difficult for firefighters.

"It's super steep, there's lots of opportunity for an injury, so they're really taking their time and making sure they're making the right decisions," Thibideau said.

New rules: OSHA releases temporary rules on wildfire smoke; heat in agricultural labor housing

Heavy equipment will be used to remove vegetation along forest roads 1824 and 220in response.

Time lapse of the Middle Fork Complex

Time lapse video of the Middle Fork Complex Fire east of Oakridge on July 30, 2021.

Chris Pietsch, The Register-Guard

The main priorities, Thibideau said, are to keep firefighters safe, while also keeping fires as small as possible and making direct and indirect containment lines.

There has been one injury and no structures lost, he added.

Firefighters will focuson the Kwis Fire on Tuesday, Thibideau said, which has grownfrom 40 acres on Sunday to204 acres. It's located near Salmon Creek Road, roughly 5 miles east of Oakridge, the closest fire to the town.

"Fire crews are really honing in on that one today, and hope to make great progress there," Thibideau said. "That's based on the priorities or the values that would be at risk. It's kind of a chess match almost where you have to put the right people in the right place to protect the most that we can."

Of the other fires in the complex, firefighters are still battling the fire at Ninemile Creek, which is now 143 acres.Fire engines and crews will beworking to establish a containment line along Forest Road 1834, which ties inwith the Road 339.

The 6-acre Elephant Rock Fire, which is approximately 2 miles to the southeast of the Gales fire, has held at 6acres and is 0% contained.

The 78-acre Windfall Fire is now at 80% containment, located south of Cougar Reservoir, where crews will continue mop-up efforts.

The Devils Canyon, Packard, Way, Larison Cove, Warble, Journey and Symbol Rock firesrangefrom 0.1 to 3 acresand are 100% contained.

Lane County issued a Level 3 Go Nowevacuation notice Sunday for all people living, camping and recreating along Big Fall Creek Road (Forest Road 18), east of the intersection with Forest Road 1821. That evacuation area includes Pumaand Bedrock campgrounds. Evacuation information is available atwww.lanecountyor.gov/cms/one.aspx?pageId=15883712.

The Forest Service issued an emergency area closure Monday within the area ofthe Middle Fork Complex, meaningall "roads, trails, developed recreation sites, dispersed camping, and entering of National Forest System" land in the closure area is prohibited. Here are the roads and recreation sites closed to the public:

Campfires are still prohibited on the entire Willamette National Forest due to very high fire danger and ongoing active fires.

Louis Krauss covers breaking news for The Register-Guard. Contact him at lkrauss@registerguard.com or 541-521-2498, and follow him on Twitter @LouisKraussNews.

The rest is here:

Middle Fork Complex fires nearly triple in size; road and camp closures ordered - The Register-Guard

RIDGEFIELD Junkers, clunkers and beaters bashed their way around the Clark County Event Center at the Fairgrounds track on Friday.

Then on Saturday, WGAS Motorsports Tuff Truck races returned for another round, with Monster Trucks tearing up the track Sunday.

These events are regulars at the Clark County Fair, which was canceled for two years in a row due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Clark County Event Center at the Fairgrounds is offering the Family Fun Series as a substitute this summer, with Tuff Trucks and a handful of other fan favorites continuing through mid-August.

Tuff Truck competitions have two racing classes: street and open. The street class allows only street-legal vehicles to complete usually trucks or SUVs while the open class allows for more heavily modified vehicles.

Each racer gets two attempts per day to come up with the fastest time around the track, which features several jumps, moguls and a mud pit. If racers go off the track and hit a safety cone, five seconds gets added to their time. The open-class grand prize was $1,000 each night, with trophies for all classes.

Chess Archibald of Vancouver said hes been racing in Clark County on and off for 15 years. His entry this year was a fairly standard street-class 2005 Jeep Cherokee with one special addition: an inflatable dinosaur riding an inflatable camo-colored rubber duck strapped to the roof for the kids, he said.

Friday wasnt the first time Archibald ran his Jeep through the race.

I got it from Bend, Ore., about three years ago for Tuff Trucks, he said before his first lap. Ran it here, had a blast with it. I rebuilt the front end and ran it again two years ago.

Archibald said he then replaced the front struts and lifted the jeep in preparation for this years race. He said he was sad the event was canceled last year but was happy with the extra time it gave him to prepare for the 2021 run.

Drivers lined up their cars in a parking lot across the street from the grandstand two hours before the race. Most spent the downtime doing last-minute tuneups or spray-painting designs on their vehicles.

Chris Holt of Castle Rock had his front airbag removed by a mechanic before the race. His vehicle of choice was a 1996 Jeep.

Rusty, crusty and crappy, Holt said. It has no resale value. But itll be fun.

As Fridays 7 p.m. race approached, fans began filing into the stadium, buying food from the Lions Club grill and drinks from the bar. Signs around the arena encouraged social distancing and noted that masks were required for the unvaccinated. Most attendees were maskless. Hand sanitizer stations were placed throughout the grandstands.

More than 40 racers drove their rigs onto the track for introductions and descriptions of the cars. Sponsors for some vehicles included Precision Wheel Repair, Affordable Auto and, simply, your mom.

After intros and a short countdown, the racers revved their engines to ear-splitting volumes, sending the small but eager crowd into a frenzy.

Finally, it was race time.

Lap times varied from just under 24 seconds for Fridays open-class leader, Jason Smolarek, to 90 seconds or more for those who had mechanical breakdowns at some point on the brutal track.

Bumpers went flying, engines sputtered and Archibalds rubber duck and T-rex decoration nearly flew off as the announcers encouraged the crowd to cheer for every racer.

Alisha Taylor and her family sat at the top of the northern end of the grandstands. She said they usually come to see Tuff Trucks every year, and her kids love it.

We wish the fair would have happened this year, too, but well take what we can get, Taylor said. This is definitely one of the highlights.

Between laps, the other racers waited in line and repaired what they could on their vehicles.

Archibald, who slammed into the mud pit hard in his first run but otherwise had no issues, took the time to re-inflate his rubber duck.

Its a new course this year, he said between laps. It was a lot of fun. I loved it. The water (from the mud pit) somehow missed me for the most part.

Its a blast out here, man, he added.

Unfortunately, the nights races ended prematurely because the track became too dark at around 9:30 p.m. The final few street-class racers completed their laps, but the open-class racers werent able to have their second run of the day.

Josh Johnson led Fridays street class with a time of 27.873 seconds.

Once the event was called, fans slowly trickled back to their cars. Some waited in line to ride around the track on the back of a real Monster Truck a few times before the grounds closed.

Woodland residents Steve Schimmel; his wife, Jamie; and their daughters Ashlyn, 4, and Ellie, 2 still full of energy chased each other around the nearly empty parking lot on their way back to their car.

It was a great event as a comeback from COVID and the shutdowns, Steve Schimmel said, with Ashlyn on his shoulders. A lot of family fun.

The rest is here:

Drivers hit the dirt as Tuff Truck events return to Clark County fairgrounds - The Columbian

The internet may have revolutionised the media in the 21 years since I joined the Guardian, but my role as a subeditor has stayed essentially the same. We check facts, write headlines and cut stories to the right length, with a final spellcheck before moving it to its next stage.

But until late last century, subediting looked completely different. Chris Dodd started work on the features desk, then based in Manchester, in 1965, after an interview in a pub (he didnt know whether to drink or abstain, or buy a round), while Barry Johnson and Jay Sivell joined the London office in Farringdon Road in 1986. Shifts then started at various points in the afternoon, and subs (as they are called) enjoyed a leisurely start. People used to take in chess sets and books, or do the crossword. You could sit for hours with nothing, says Johnson, who retired in December.

As news shifts progressed, subs sketched out page designs on paper and awaited the stories, or copy, which arrived in a wire basket as numbered pages, each containing one or two paragraphs. Subs were given story lengths, measured as inches down a single column of type, and had to estimate how many words to cut. Once the story was approximately the right length, it went to a revise sub to be deemed fit for publication before being placed in another basket to be collected by a messenger and sent by pneumatic tube to the compositing room in the basement. Subs were banned from touching the tubes as this task was controlled by a different union; all three fondly remember that Peter Preston, features editor and later editor, was the only journalist who dared break this rule.

Writing headlines often two or three hours after editing the story also involved calculations. Subs got a headline size say three lines of 36-point type over two columns and used a table to assess how many characters would fit. Wide letters such as M counted as 1.5 characters and spaces counted as a half. If it bust by half a character, you might send it down and hope for the best, says Johnson. If it didnt work and the comps [compositors] were feeling helpful, they could squeeze it a bit. Unless your headline was sent back to you in a tube because it bust, that was usually the last you saw of your work until the morning.

When we started, the revise sub was slightly frightening, says Johnson. Hed been in Bomber Command in the war and was rather abrupt, though kindly, and hed sit there smoking his pipe. Hed glare at his travelling alarm clock and glare at the copy, puffing at his pipe more as the evening went on. If he didnt like a headline, hed literally throw it back at you.

Fact-checking could be laborious. Without search engines, having vast general knowledge was crucial, as was frequent use of the desks gazetteer and Whos Who. In office hours, subs could call the library with questions, with answers typically provided in about half an hour. But, says Johnson, in the evening you had to go up to the library yourself. It consisted of some obsolete textbooks and shelves of cuttings, so you needed a feel for how the minds worked of the people who took the cuttings and what they might have filed things under. Some reporters, as now, needed more checking than others: Dodd recalls one spelling the name of the poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko 13 different ways in one story.

A senior member of the team known as the stone sub would go down to the basement a cathedral-like space filled with Linotype machines at 5pm, when the comps would start work. The stories were handed out to Linotype operators, who set them in molten metal in single lines, known as slugs. Comps would assemble the page, guided by the sketched layout, using the cooled metal type, before it was secured in a frame; dropping it was a disaster known as printers pie.

There were strict rules for the stone sub. The comp (always male) stood on one side, and the sub was opposite. That line could not be crossed. The comp would tell the sub how many lines a story was over, and the sub made cuts on paper and handed them back to the comp, who took out the equivalent bits in the metal type. On deadline, subs had to be able to read the lead over-matter laid out on the side upside down as well as back to front.

Sivell says: It was a responsible shift and I felt pleased to do it, even though it was hard work. I was a very young female journalist and they did know my business better than I did, probably, but they tended to be more helpful to the men.

Dodd recalls that although most interactions in the comp room were good-natured, it was a difficult relationship: youre working [for your editor] on a page with a comp whos working for the master printer.

Diversity was not a priority. When Sivell arrived she was one of two female home news subs, and the Guardian was such a masculine environment that she and her colleague Celia Locks were invited to lunch at the home of Mary Stott, the womens editor, to discuss their experiences. Improved diversity now, in terms of gender, class, ethnicity, age and sexuality, is reflected in more thoughtful language. We are more aware of reflecting changes in vocabulary for the readership, and that the very white male vocabulary that used to be part of the job has gone, says Sivell, who still does freelance shifts for the paper. We have a style guide that is constantly being reviewed and challenged. Prostitute or sex worker, the use of pronouns such as they this is how language evolves, and that is in the hands of the subs.

The biggest change in my time has been the focus on the website. From a sideline in an annex, with mostly junior staff, it has become a round-the-clock global operation, with subs in London, Sydney and New York.

These days, many of us in London work across web and print. Some prefer prints daily rush for the 9pm deadline. Others like the flexibility of web subbing, as well as its speed and reach. Whichever desk we work on, and whichever period we come from, we can all recall the electric atmosphere when working on a big breaking story from Watergate (Dodd), to the death of Diana (Johnson), the night Portillo lost his seat (Sivell) or the UK voting for Brexit (me).

New technology first arrived for print in the mid-1980s, in the form of Tandys powered by four AA batteries and with a memory of about 1,000 words. Computers were introduced gradually, and eventually only the news pages used hot metal, until it too was noisily banged out (a traditional farewell in journalism) in 1987.

The moment when journalists were on machines dealing with type themselves was a huge step, Sivell says. It was a ropey period for subbing when new tech came in, admits Dodd.

So were the days before all the technology the era of proper subbing? No, says Sivell: You can focus on the words now; youre not fiddling about counting how wide a letter is.

This article was amended on 2 August 2021 to clarify details about the orientation of the page during the stone sub/comp editing process.

Excerpt from:

The changing art of the subeditor: You had to read the type upside down - The Guardian

Engines are usually coded with the assumption that their opponent will play the best moves that they can imagine, as pointed out by Pat Barron above. This is called a minimax decision rule.

Just to explain why this rule is used - it is a simplifying assumption. If you code or train the engine any other way, you will need two models - one for the opponent, and one for the engine. Using minimax, you only need one model - the engine effectively assumes it is playing itself and acts accordingly.

The idea of exploiting opponents based on a reading of their ability is a very interesting one, but it would be a wholly different challenge to just learning to play chess as well as you can. The problem with an engine that assumes its opponent is weak, is that (for example) you can hustle it by pretending to be weak, and springing a trap. AI algorithms tend to be extremely fragile to exploitative attacks like this, and have limited ability to learn between games to prevent it happening over and over again.

Follow this link:

Why do chess engines cause immediate draws rather than ...

Byron Moore| Shreveport Times

On this day 245 years ago, the Second Continental Congress signed a declaration that the 13 American colonies were no longer under British rule.

That feisty letterwhich our forefathers sent across the pond to King Georgeeffectively said, As of today, we are free to build and become a different kind of nation.

We call the Fourth of July Independence Day. What a joyous celebration of freedom it is!

And what a word freedom is. Few words have such power to stir our souls. Why? What does freedom really mean?

Here are some things it doesnt mean:

Freedom isnt freedom from cost. As the saying goes, Freedom isnt free. It always comes at a price. At least one mark of maturity is the realization that everything of value has a cost. A mothers love is free to her child, but very costly to her.

Freedom isnt freedom from conflict. We dont always agree with the choices of others. This creates tensions among free people. While we should never seek conflict, the mere possibility of disagreement is not a good reason to abdicate our rightful freedoms. Many of the signers of the Declaration of Independence gave their lives to secure this right of dissent for us.

Freedom isnt freedom from consequences. As Tony Evans likes to say, You can choose your choices, or you can choose your consequences. But you cant choose both. Hes right. Actions have consequences. We cannot escape them. But we can choose them.

Ironically, when we use our freedom to choose a consequence, we effectively (and voluntarily) bind ourselves to whatever actions are required to achieve that consequence!

The concert pianist, scratch golfer, skilled surgeon, and chess grandmaster didnt stumble into greatness. They got there via an arduous path they freely chose so they might enjoy the consequence they deeply valued.

So if freedom isnt freedom from cost, conflict, or consequences, what is it?

Its:

Freedom of conscience. Its wrong to force people to violate their conscience. Thats why the first freedom in our Bill of Rights is the freedom of religion. This is deeper than ones preference of worship style or steeple color. It goes to the core of what someone believes about God, and how that beliefor unbeliefplays out in daily civic life. Though we often disagree about these matters, we must never force someone to violate their conscience.

Freedom of commerce. When an enterprising individual takes a business risk, it will cost her. If her venture pays off, she will experience consequences . . . like a huge profit! If we want her (and other entrepreneurs) to do this over and over again, we need to think long and hard before we (a) punish (i.e., over-tax and over-regulate) such efforts and (b) reward others who arent willing to take such risks.

One reason America is leading the world out of the economic quagmire caused by COVID-19 is that we actually encourage risk takers with the prospect of financial success. While a few entrepreneurs are greedy opportunists, most are not evil pirates. They are engines of productivity and prosperity. Its this freedom of commerce that leads to more prosperity for us all.

Freedom to critique and convince. Not everyone today is enthusiastic about Americas brand of freedom. In fact, it seems fewer today believe in it than at any point in my lifetime.

We do ourselves no favors by pretending everything in our country is perfect. In truth, theres much that needs fixing. Freedom lovers understand America has always been a work in progress . . . and that the only way to learn from our past failures is to look them squarely in the eye, admit them, and forge a better way.

We still have work to do in the land of the free and the home of the brave. The struggle continues. Its a struggle that requires all of us pulling together, not fighting each other.

Im reminded of a fact from the early days of our free, yet often fractured nation. In 1782, six years into this new experiment of freedom, our leaders finally agreed on a national seal bearing the Latin motto, E pluribus Unum. Translation? Out of many, one.

If you ask me, thats the message our nation needs on this Independence Day.

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More than fireworks and hot dogs - Shreveport Times

One of the most famous examples of longevity in top-level chess is Vassily Smyslov reaching the Final of the Candidates Matches against Garry Kasparov in 1984. Smyslov turned 63 during the match, while Kasparov celebrated his 21st birthday on the last day of the confrontation three to one age odds!

Nowadays, when you're not a Grandmaster at 14, you can forget about it.

Viswanathan Anand

If you like following live top chess events, such as the Champions Chess Tour, or other high-profile tournaments, you have probably noticed that the commentators often mention how old the competitors are. They draw parallels between the players' ages and FIDE ratings and make some conclusions on the participants' prospects. Professional chess is a tough race: you have to stand out from the crowd as early as possible to make it into the elite circuit of regulars who frequent all the most prestigious events in the world.

Having access to modern technology, especially the top engines that are getting closer and closer to playing perfect chess, allows kids to progress more quickly than ever. Currently, the record for being the youngest Grandmaster is held by ex-challenger Sergey Karjakin, who obtained the highest chess title at the age of 12 years and 7 months. When the feat was achieved back in 2003, it seemed like it would hold forever. Now we can't be so sure. In May 2021, 12-year old American chess prodigy IM Abhimanyu Mishra earned his second GM norm. He's already crossed 2500 and now needs just one more GM norm to break Karjakin's record he could even do it within days, as he started with 2/2 in his latest tournament.

That being said, the older generation is not giving up just yet. Of course, nowadays it is not possible to be a World Chess Champion at age 58, like was the case with Wilhelm Steinitz. Nevertheless, in 2012 the chess crown was at stake in the World Chess Championship match between Viswanathan Anand (42) and Boris Gelfand (43). Moreover, 44-year old Anand won the Candidates Tournament in 2014. Such motivational stories prove that certain unique people are capable of performing brilliantly at age 40+. Still, if we look at the current Top 10 of the FIDE list in classical chess, all the players there are either in their 20s or 30s. The youngest is Anish Giri (26), while the oldest is Levon Aronian (38).

What age are you supposed to reach your peak in chess? The answer to this question depends on such personal qualities as physical and mental health, motivation, tournament experience, and numerous other factors. Many chess experts believe that most top chess players peak somewhere around age 35-40. For instance, this figure is given by GM and Doctor of Science in Psychology, Nikolai Krogius.

As usual, a lot depends on the definitions. If we mean relative strength, e.g. becoming the World Chess Champion, then quite a few people have achieved this feat in their 20s. Some of the names that come to mind are Garry Kasparov (22), Magnus Carlsen (22), Mikhail Tal (24), Anatoly Karpov (24), Vladimir Kramnik (25). However, in terms of absolute playing strength, all of them kept improving their play even after winning the World Chess Championship. Notably, Mikhail Tal, the youngest ex-WCC in the history of the game, used to say that he would have crushed "Misha Tal-1960" had he played the young version of himself at a later stage. In other words, he was getting better as a chess player, but the competition was progressing at an even faster rate.

In case you are interested, here are the ages at which some of the Classical World Chess Champions reached their rating peaks (let's leave rating inflation out of the discussion, since this topic tends to cause holy wars):

FIDE World Chess Champions:

As you can see, with a few exceptions, some of which will be explained below, pretty much all the World Chess Champions peaked rating-wise somewhere between 34 and 43.

Please note that Mikhail Botvinnik, Vassily Smyslov, and Tigran Petrosian were probably past their primes when the Elo system was introduced. Also, we don't know what heights Bobby Fischer could have reached had he not quit chess at a young age. And Magnus Carlsen is an active player who has all the chances to improve on his personal best in the future. The easiest way to track his progress (or decline!) is to take on the reigning World Chess Champion in thePlay Magnus app, where you can play against his AI clone at any age you like.

It is common for professional players to retire somewhat prematurely due to burnout, loss of motivation, financial problems, failure to progress, and other similar reasons. For amateur and semi-pro players, age is less important because most of them have by far not exhausted their potential for improvement. Hence, if you are a bit older than 35 and haven't played chess professionally since early childhood, your age should not worry you too much chess-wise. For example, compared to pros, amateurs usually build up experience much more slowly since they don't play as many games per year. Consequently, it is not unheard of for some people to take chess seriously and improve their personal bests even in their late 40s and 50s.

Last but not least, you can let go of the Elo trap at any age and enjoy playing chess! It is such a great game, after all, so good luck and have fun!

Are you interested in learning more about the World Chess Champions mentioned in the article? Download Magnus Trainer, where you will find interactive lessons about all the World Chess Champions and their challengers, allowing you to see whether you can play as well as them or even improve on their game!

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At what age are chess players at their peak? - chess24

When the Tesla Roadster was revealed, it was quite a surprise. People thought the Tesla Semi reveal was over and that everyone was going to head home soon. Suddenly, the lights changed and the prototype came out of the back of a Semi like the DeLorean in Back To The Future came out of Doc Browns van.

It turned out that Tesla had not only the showmanship for the reveal down, but a vehicle built to back it. The fastest acceleration times, great top speeds, and over 600 miles of range (obviously not at top speed, of course) made for a big change in the supercar world. The companies making cars that sell for millions found much of their performance looking weak next to a car that would sell for far, far less. It indeed could give a hardcore smackdown to gas-powered cars.

If we compare the Roadster reveal to the destruction of the Death Star in Star Wars Episode IV, what were seeing now is Act II of the play, where the baddies strike back (like, you know, The Empire Strikes Back). Thats the part of the play where the heroes often end up in a bind again. Obviously, ICE cars dont have The Force (in the auto world, we call this massive low-end torque) that Tesla does in terms of raw acceleration, which puts them at a big disadvantage, but they still have some tricks up their sleeve.

Lamborghini says they arent even going to focus on getting the best 0-60 times, and will instead get a competitive advantage through better handling. As I pointed out in this article, this is a real threat to any dominance Tesla may gain with the 2G Roadster. Sure, the Roadster will beat almost anything the supercar makers can throw at the drag strip, but on other types of tracks, handling will matter a lot more.

While we dont yet know the curb weight, it seems very unlikely that it will weigh less than 3000 pounds. The battery alone will be around 2000, and with everything else the vehicle needs, 35004500 pounds is a reasonable range.

Contrast this with cars like the Gordon Murray T50. Not only will the car weigh around half what the 2G Roadster will, but it will also have an active fan system that suctions the vehicle down to the road like the legendary Chaparral 2J. With this weight advantage, plus technology that was banned from most forms of racing because the vehicle was too good, the advantages of more modern engine technology is going to give that car a shocking handling advantage over the 2G roadster.

This really shows us where the supercar industry is going. Everyone is making their vehicles lighter, with better handling, and more top-end power than ever before.

In other words, they cant beat the Roadster on acceleration, so theyre stepping up their game in places where the Roadster is currently the weakest. But will that last?

In response to all these recent supercar developments, Mercedes-Benzs performance division, AMG, is going to do something truly wild. Theyre basically taking a Formula 1 racer, Making the minimum changes it takes to make it road legal, changing it a bit more to make it street drivable, and selling it. Theyre calling this beast the Mercedes-AMG ONE.

Image by Mercedes-Benz AMG.

The plug-in hybrid car has a modified F1 engine, plus 4 electric motors. Three of the cars motors drive the wheels directly, with two in the front (one for each wheel), and one in the rear tied to the gas engine to drive the rear wheels. The fourth electric motor is part of a turbocharger system, and can either use electricity to push more air into the engine or generate electricity from exhaust gases. While these motors would serve in a support role during racing, the vehicle can drive for 16 miles on electric only.

The gas engine itself is about as wild as they come. Its displacement is only 1.6 liters, spread out over six cylinders. It wont rev up to 11,000 RPM like a Formula 1 car, because they couldnt sell a vehicle with an engine that only lasts a couple thousand miles, but it will still have impressive abilities for the track.

Final figures arent out yet, but expect superior handling and loads of top-end power for the straight sections of the track.

At this point, the reasonable readers are wondering who would win, while the Stans are 100% sure the Roadster would still beat it. As it turns out, youre both right.

At a drag strip? Tesla all the way. The F1 engine and limited electric power wont propel the AMG ONE from 060 mph or through a straight-line quarter mile the way Teslas monster EV system will. For racing without sharp turns, the Tesla will be hard to beat with anything but other upcoming electric supercars (and those are coming, too).

On a track with lots of curves, though, the ONE will either run very competitively or be the one doing the smackdowns. Its all going to come down to the layout of the track.

On something like the Nordschleife, expect the Tesla to initially pull ahead because of its superior low-end acceleration. Once they get to the turns, though, the Roadster will lose ground and start to fall behind. A vehicle thats 1,000 to 1,500 pounds lighter and still has the benefits of electric torque vectoring just wont be beat by a heavy EV here unless they completely botch the suspension design. Given that its a modified F1 car, expect this to not be the case, and expect it to romp all over in the curvy sections.

What happens in the longer straightaways is still an open question that will decide the race first. Tesla says the Roadsters top speed is over 250 mph, and AMG says its car will go more than 217 mph. Those are both open-ended figures, and not actual top-speed figures, so its possible that either car will have a greater top speed. Either way, wed see the Tesla take back ground in the straights initially, at least until the F1 engine can get to screaming and possibly give the AMG the advantage.

The Tesla will have to start braking before the other supercars, though, when the straightaway ends. Thats going to take away part of the gains it made (if any) in the straight sections.

The above comparison also leaves out any potential magic from SpaceX thrusters.

Bottom line here: we dont know who will win here.

For the Mercedes-AMG ONE, there are still going to be some major downsides, though.

The biggest one is the price, which will approach $3 million. Thats 1015 the price of the Roadster, so that extra little edge that could beat the Roadster on some tracks comes at quite a price. On top of that, the engine will only be designed to run for 30,000 miles. This is impressive, because the real F1 race engines only last 2,000 miles at most, but thats going to add to the expense of owning one.

Expect some owners to try to do a lot of casual driving on electric so they dont wear out the racing engine.

The price advantage probably wont hold in the long run, though. The Gordon Murray T50 will be almost a million bucks cheaper than the Mercedes-AMG ONE, and we can expect supercar technology to slowly trickle down to the cheaper sports cars.

One likely contender that could give the Roadster a challenge for a similar price is the upcoming Corvette E-Ray. Specs are all rumor at this point, but some expect to see a hot turbocharged version of the cars mid-mounted V8 gas engine that produces 900 horsepower alone. Add two front electric motors, and youd have a machine that will make buyers think about their options.

Another indicator that hybrid supercars will continue to compete comes from Honda. The NSX has been out a few years, and many people were initially disappointed with its performance. When people started giving them upgrades and tunes, though, the NSXs got to the point where they werent far behind a Raven Tesla on the drag strip. We can expect to see more affordable sporty hybrids come out in the same price range as the Roadster with even better performance.

Nissan is also stepping up its attack specifically the GTR N Attack package. The price of the GTR plus all of the N Attack upgrades would give you a vehicle thats capable of approaching 7 minutes at the ring for a price thats close to that of the Roadster. Thats a little faster than the modified Plaid Model S Tesla ran on the same track.

If the emerging competition is like The Empire Strikes Back, the second act where the heroes are in peril, then something else we recently learned is going to be the equivalent of The Return of the Jedi. It turns out that a trick Elon Musk had up his sleeve wasnt just a good card, but all four aces.

As my colleague Johnna pointed out, we recently got more information about the upcoming Roadster SpaceX package. We already knew that they intended to offer one with cold gas thrusters that shoot compressed air to push the car, but what we didnt know was that it could achieve 0-60 mph in just over 1 second with that option. Thats an insane amount of acceleration, and can happen independently of speed because the thrusters are not coupled to the drivetrain.

Sure, 060 mph times arent a help against the competition, which is now focusing on the Roadsters weak spot, but it seems likely that there will be more thrusters that allow for lateral force that could cancel out inertia in corners (even if the occupants would feel queasy afterward). Plus, getting a quick burst of power when exiting turns, or a quick burst of acceleration to execute a pass, will likely more than level the playing field.

Add the possibility of using the thrusters for downforce and/or short hops, and you take the 2D racetrack and play 3D chess. Will tracks/events allow you to literally leapfrog the competition? Even if they dont, its still really intimidating to know that the vehicle could do that and that its only the rules thats saving you from utter defeat.

Im not sure what the competition could pull out to fight that, but I doubt theyll just call it quits. Its great that Tesla is still doing things to push the industry forward into new territory and keep competition strong well into the future.

Featured image by Tesla.

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The Supercar/Hypercar Wars Continue, But The Roadster Still Has An Ace Up Its Sleeve - CleanTechnica