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Is Gary Kasparov Playing Chess in This Picture? (medium.com)
2 points by idancali 3602 days ago
1 comments

No.

It's set up with the initial board; no piece has moved. Kasparov is on the white side, and white goes first, so it's supposed to be his move. The opening moves of any game are so well practiced that they go quickly. Basically, they are memorized, and there is no need to spend time thinking about them while playing, especially not the first move.

If Kasparov were playing a game of chess, he wouldn't be thinking about his first move but would be making it.

In addition, take a look at the timer clock. It's depressed on Kasparov's side. That means time is counting down for black. But it's white's move, not black's. This setting is meaningless, which means no game is in play.

Therefore, no, Kasparov is not playing a game of chess in this picture.

I realize the picture was meant as a metaphor for other purposes. Perhaps there's a different metaphor lurking in the picture, like "looking like you are concentrating doesn't mean you are concentrating on what it looks like you are doing."

It does, however, make it hard for me to appreciate the subtitle "Everything depends on the answer to this question. Everything.".

Ah, I had stopped reading immediately after looking at the picture for the same piece placement.

In this picture, G Kasparov is earning a paycheck by posing in front of a chessboard while trying not to look at the camera.

Good for him, too ;-)

I hope you didn't see the first stock image of a hand moving a pawn. It's horrible, don't look at it.

It looks like this article was written by someone that doesn't play chess, so I don't think that it is a reliable person to make conclusions about the subject.

I didn't really look at the images past the first one.

I looked. It is horrible. I can only hope it's a picture of a person putting the last piece onto the board, rather than black making the first move in a match.

Looking now, did you see the fingers "typing" on the German keyboard, where most of the fingers are positioned between keys?

Edit: But it could be legal! If white moved a knight out, and black moved the pawn by one, then white pulled it's knight back, then this could be the move from f6 to f5. That sort of ridiculous move is still not what the author means by the metaphor.

Wow, I have to commend you on your keen sense of observation. I really did not notice that. I was looking for a clean picture with a light background, but I know what I'm looking for next time I search for a picture of someone typing :) Thanks for reading though, I do appreciate it.
Lol, I agree, pretty horrible stock photo, I do play chess - somewhat - and you're right, I should've used a better photo :)
Thanks for the comment, you're right the subtitle kinda sucks, I actually hesitated when I wrote it but I eventually left it.