
Is Gary Kasparov Playing Chess in This Picture? - idancali
https://medium.com/@idancali/is-gary-kasparov-playing-chess-in-this-picture-c3d7b789f9dd#.5k43qhg7v
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dalke
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.".

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buserror
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 ;-)

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gus_massa
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.

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dalke
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.

~~~
idancali
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.

