Rambling: More On DeepMind -- This Story Has Legs -- December 7, 2020

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How DeepMind boss Demis Hassabis used chess to get billionaire Peter Thiel to take notice. 

Link here.

Hassabis told The Sunday Times newspaper that he had “literally one minute” with Thiel, who co-founded PayPal and Palantir, in his California mansion in August 2010 after an event that Thiel hosts each year called Singularity Summit. 

“I spent months thinking about how I would use the one minute I had to speak to him,” said the entrepreneur. “There’s hundreds of people there, but everyone and their dog is trying to pitch something, so it was difficult to see why he would take notice of us.” 

Hassabis said he read about Thiel’s background and realized that he played chess as a junior. 

“That was my ‘in’. Instead of pitching him my business idea, I tried to intrigue him,” said Hassabis, who reached No.2 in the world for his age group by 12. 

“In that one minute, I managed to crowbar in the question of why chess is such an amazing game. I have asked grandmasters this question and they have struggled to give an answer. But as a game designer, I have thought deeply about it. Chess is exquisite. It is almost perfectly balanced.” “And I think the secret is that the bishop and knight are worth three points each but have such different powers,” Hassabis continued. “All the creative tension comes when you swap the bishop for the knight in certain positions. This intrigued him. He had never thought of that ... We secured our meeting.”

I am learning to play chess with Sophia. The game does not yet interest nor hold my attention. But there's something about chess that is important. Just as golf is important.

Sophia has advanced from knowing all the pieces and how they move, to opening gambits. She is beginning to understand the importance of controlling the middle four squares on the chess board. 

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The Queen's Gambit

From wiki:

The Queen's Gambit is a 2020 American coming-of-age period drama streaming television miniseries based on Walter Tevis's 1983 novel of the same name. 

It was created for Netflix by Scott Frank and Allan Scott, and written and directed by the former. 

Beginning mid-1950s and proceeding into the 1960s, the story is about an orphaned chess prodigy on her rise to becoming the world's greatest chess player while struggling with emotional problems and drug and alcohol dependency. 

The Queen's Gambit was released on October 23, 2020. 

After four weeks of viewing it became Netflix's most-watched scripted miniseries. 

It has received critical acclaim for Anya Taylor-Joy's performance as Beth Harmon as well as for the cinematography and production values. It has also received a positive response from the chess community and is credited with spurring a resurgence of public interest in the game.

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Ten Best Opening Moves

In reverse order, #10 to #1. The Queen's gambit is #1.