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I don't think your conclusion follows from your premises

Posted By: Bob Koca
Date: Wednesday, 23 April 2014, at 3:03 a.m.

In Response To: I don't think your conclusion follows from your premises (Timothy Chow)

"Whenever you introduce a new game, the skill spread is necessarily smaller because the best players have not had the time to understand the game thoroughly and thereby pull way ahead of the competition."

I disagree. One reason is that figuring things out on the fly is a skill also. As a thought experiment take an open field at a tourney and and let them keep their game playing knowledge and other intellect but wipe knowledge of backgammon from their mind. Would there be a wider range of skill?

"At the top, Magnus Carlsen leads his closest competitor by over 70 Elo points. It is because the chess community has had time to study the game and develop its theory that there is such a large spread of skill. "

If you measure skill difference by Elo point lead then the non probabilistic nature of chess compared to backgammon explains a lot of that seeming difference.

HIstorically what has been the skill difference in chess from the best to next best player? Does your argument suggest it should be increasing over time?

"What I am saying is that quizzes and PR tournaments are far more to the point than creating variants is. They bring out the skill differences that already exist in the population, rather than obliterating them by changing the rules of the game."

I agree to some degree. They are more to the point but they do change the rules of the game. Have I mentioned I prefer VR?

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