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A comment on Go master Cho wins best-of-three series against Japan-made AI. Parent comment

Re:Go master Cho wins best-of-three series against Japan-mad... by olalonde on Thursday November 24, 2016 @06:39PM (#13033484)
The best computers now consistently beat the best humans but "solved" has a precise definition in game theory and it isn't completely solved under that definition[0]. With regards to your question, I can't say for sure but my impression is that interest in chess has declined a lot.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solving_chess

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Re:Go master Cho wins best-of-three series against Japan-mad... by imaginenore on Thursday November 24, 2016 @09:54PM (#13034119)
That's an understatement.

The best computer algos beat humans at chess by a huge margin, to the point a regular PC beats Carlsen (and I heard even the best smartphone apps beat him).

Carlsen's ELO rating = 2853

Top chess program ELO rating = 3381

The number of DIFFERENT programs stronger than Carlsen = 59

http://www.computerchess.org.uk/ccrl/4040/

https://ratings.fide.com/top.phtml?list=men

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Re:Go master Cho wins best-of-three series against Japan-mad... by espadrine on Thursday November 24, 2016 @07:17PM (#13033657)
> my impression is that interest in chess has declined a lot.

I don't think it has. Much like horseback riding has not made olympic races obsolete, human competition remained fascinating. I for one very much followed the rise of Magnus Carlsen.

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Re:Go master Cho wins best-of-three series against Japan-mad... by olalonde on Thursday November 24, 2016 @07:37PM (#13033727)
That was a poorly chosen example since interest in horseback riding has declined a lot, at least in relative terms, compared to the pre car days. Today, auto racing as a competitive sport is probably more popular too.

Personally, the fact that computers are better at chess than humans makes me less interested in the game so I'm a bit biased.

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Re:Go master Cho wins best-of-three series against Japan-mad... by dmoy on Thursday November 24, 2016 @11:09PM (#13034364)
The argument is that the presence of horseback riding (and now race car driving) doesn't necessarily diminish the popularity of foot races. Not that horse racing is less popular now (though that my be, simply because it's no longer anyone's preferred method of transportation...)
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Re:Go master Cho wins best-of-three series against Japan-mad... by olalonde on Friday November 25, 2016 @01:31AM (#13034732)
Ah, I missed that. It's hard to say with certainty whether horseback riding diminished the popularity of foot races since it happened such a long time ago and at a time where probably neither was considered a sport or entertainment.

I do think that technological advances in general affect the appeal of certain games and sports by rendering them less mysterious or by bringing them further from a real world activity/situation.

Of course, I'm talking about relative, not absolute, popularity. Chess and horseback riding will remain popular for a long, long time.

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Re:Go master Cho wins best-of-three series against Japan-mad... by andrepd on Thursday November 24, 2016 @07:14PM (#13033641)
>With regards to your question, I can't say for sure but my impression is that interest in chess has declined a lot.

It hasn't, in the slightest. The fact that computers playing at full strength can beat top humans makes no difference in the enjoyability of the game for people.

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