Being skilled at a game has little bearing on your intelligence beyond maybe "above average". Intelligence is often best reflected in learning speed.
this post was submitted on 17 Apr 2025
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Showerthoughts
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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.
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- Both “200” and “160” are 2 minutes in microwave math
- When you’re a kid, you don’t realize you’re also watching your mom and dad grow up.
- More dreams have been destroyed by alarm clocks than anything else
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Paul Morphy, chess genius and sometimes described as best in the world in the mid-1800s:
"The ability to play chess is the sign of a gentleman. The ability to play chess well is the sign of a wasted life."
Why play chess with Moriarty when you can just bash him in the head with a chessboard?
I know someone who is pretty good at chess but also thinks vaccines are fake, Musk is a genius, and Ukraine belongs to Russia.
So not all chess players are smart.
Do you know their rating? Tbh most people's idea of being "pretty good at chess" is actually not very good at all (I don't mean that as an insult, more lack of familiarity with the game).
That's not to say that it's impossible for someone to think those things and be a strong chess player, but it's probably not super common. I've actually ran into a couple people at a local chess club with "interesting" ideas about vaccines and uh... let's just say they were not hard to beat (I think I mated one guy in like 12 moves). And btw, I'm not even a super strong chess player myself (~1134 USCF). But like, they probably would seem really strong to someone that just occasionally plays chess at family gatherings or whatnot. Chess is a game with a low skill floor and very high skill ceiling, so you have a huge range in ability.
2000 ish, apparently.
The only famous douche I know that's very good at chess is Andrew Tate lol
I don't think a minority of rightwingers are dumb. I think they're invested in their idea of their team, and any insult to their team is an insult to them. They root for Trump. It's like that one guy you know who owns a lot of Lakers memorabilia despite living in Texas. The media, expectations, their own investment, the threat of being wrong or misguided, "Me? Never!", vastly outweigh any sort of critical thinking. Its straight denial to the core.
But a vast majority? Yeah, dumb as an absorbent trash bag.
I'm dumb as rocks at night but I won 3rd in a competition once. My brain does that thing the DVD logo does on your TV when you're not watching anything but I can get a bunch of bullshit into the middle of the board really fast.
I don't have the patience to learn how to play chess well. I don't think more than one move ahead. My favourite game is Catan.
I also think it’s a generational thing.
Back then, since chess was associated with intelligence, a lot of academic types tried to play it and get good at it.
I would say once we had computers, there was another much more practical thing you could get good at.
But seriously, chess sets used to be part of the house decor.
If you want to beat all of your friends at chess:
learn how to mate in endgames with a few different combinations of pieces.
Castle early and on the same side of your opponent.
Learn to defend scholars mate.
Focus on piece development early on, get you back rank pieces out (bishops knights)
Fight for the center
When attacking a square, just count how many other pieces are attacking and defending that square and see if you have more than your opponent, this is a great way to quickly analyze an attacks value.
Trade when you have a piece advantage, this is like taking a math question and simplyifing the terms. It greatly simplifies the game and brings it in to the the end game with an advantage.
Learn any one opening system just a few branches that can consistently bring you into tactics (static analysis of the board state) even or with a slight advantage.
These tips can be accomplished in a week and will dominate anyone who 'just knows the rules'
Got it. To beat my friends at chess i just need to learn to play chess.
Funny, but really, those things are marginally more effort than learning the rules and are a far cry from the level of effort it takes to actually be considered broadly 'good' at chess.
Learning one opening system can be done in about an hour and most of the tactics advice is just things to think about as you play.
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