Evaluation

January 19, 2020


Friedrich Nietzsche

“[…] in unserm überlegenden Bewußtsein treten vor einer Tat der Reihe nach die Folgen verschiedener Taten hervor, welche alle wir meinen tun zu können, und wir vergleichen diese Folgen. Wir meinen, zu einer Tat entschieden zu sein, wenn wir festgestellt haben, daß ihre Folgen die überwiegend günstigeren sein werden; ehe es zu diesem Abschluß unserer Erwägung kommt, quälen wir uns oft redlich, wegen der großen Schwierigkeit, die Folgen zu erraten, sie in ihrer ganzen Stärke zu sehen und zwar alle, ohne Fehler der Auslassung zu machen: wobei die Rechnung überdies noch mit dem Zufalle dividiert werden muß.”

(Morgenröte, Zweites Buch, 129. Der angebliche Kampf der Motive, 1881)

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[…] in our meditative consciousness, the consequences of different actions which we think we are able to carry out present themselves successively, one after the other, and we compare these consequences in our mind. We think we have come to a decision concerning an action after we have established to our own satisfaction that the consequences of this action will be favourable. Before we arrive at this conclusion, however, we often seriously worry because of the great difficulties we experience in guessing what the consequences are likely to be, and in seeing them in their full importance, without exception — and, after all this, we must reckon up any fortuitous elements that are likely to arise.

(The Dawn of Day, Book II, 129. The alleged combat of motives, 1881)

Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher (1844-1900)

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All quotes in the Dictionnary of quotes.

The 2020s are beginning…

The 2020s are beginning. It’s time to take stock and make plans. What was the situation in 2010? Where are we today? What is the outlook for 2030?

Huge food for thought, I agree. Compared to this, the immediate choice of the right move to play in a game may sound as easy as 1-2-3. And yet it’s not always easy: you have to anticipate a few moves of your opponent in order to steer to your advantage the future of the game.

But if you think about it, doesn’t this prepare for that? In both cases – game and real life, with its real problems – isn’t it a question of looking for the best possible future, individually or together?

Good thinking, good choices, and a happy new year 2020! To all of you I wish all the best for the future!

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The most despairing games

April 14, 2019


Book cover of Apostilles or the useful and the futile (1972), by Robert Mallet

“What is most despairing is not the impossible, but rather the failure to achieve the possible.”

(Apostille ou l’utile et le futile, Gallimard, 1972)

Robert Mallet, French writer (1915-2002)

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White is on the verge of victory…


…and yet loses!! What happened?!?

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All quotes in the Dictionnary of quotes.

Serial winner, serial killer?

April 7, 2019


“Now who’s the boss?” (`∀´)Ψ

“A winner is a losers’ maker.”

Albert Jacquard, French geneticist (1925-2013)

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Every winner should help its opponent to become a better player.
“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 14:11)

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All quotes in the Dictionnary of quotes.

Quiescence

January 13, 2019


A set of Abalone marbles thrown on an Abalone board:
no past, but many possible futures…

“Quiescence is only a self-contained movement,
often more uncanny than movement itself.”

(WHAT IS A THING?, Winter 1935-1936,
A. Various Ways of Questioning About the Thing,
10. The Historicity (Geschichtlichkeit) of the Definition of the Thing)
[translated by W.B. Barton, Jr. and Vera Deutsch]

Martin Heidegger, German philosopher (1889-1976)

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Who starts? With which colour? The choice is yours!

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All quotes in the Dictionnary of quotes.

Play here and now

December 23, 2018


Allan Watts

“This is the real secret of life – to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play.”

(The Essence of Alan Watts, 1977)

Allan Watts, British-American philosopher (1915-1973)

O


Enso (‘circle’) by Bankei Yotaku (Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

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All quotes in the Dictionnary of quotes.

Every game is unique.

December 16, 2018


Maxime Vachier-Lagrave recording his game during a tournament.

“A game is never an unchanged reproduction of another game already played in the past.”

(Joueur d’échecs*, p.30, Fayard, october 2017)

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, French chess grandmaster (1990-)

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* Chess player

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (MVL) on Wikipedia

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave’s website

All quotes in the Dictionnary of quotes.

Do you really love it?

December 2, 2018


Magnus Carlsen at age 26

“Without the element of enjoyment,
it is not worth trying to excel at anything.”

Magnus Carlsen,
Norwegian chess grandmaster,
current World Chess Champion (1990-)

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World Chess Championship 2018 on Wikipedia

All quotes in the Dictionnary of quotes.

Something vs. nothing


Statue of G.W. Leibniz in the Leipzig University courtyard

“Why is there something rather than nothing? After all, nothing is simpler and easier than something.”

(The Principles of Nature and Grace, Based on Reason, 1714)

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, German polymath and philosopher (1646-1716)

All quotes in the Dictionnary of quotes.

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Nothing:

… (x_x)

°

Something!

Let’s talk, let’s play! (^_^)

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No position without opposition


Yin and Yang

“We can’t paint white over white neither can we paint black over black. Each needs the other to reveal itself.”

African proverb

All quotes in the Dictionnary of quotes.

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White over White and Black over Black /-:


(click to enlarge)

Will you find the original two-coloured position? This is a Belgian daisy opening after a few moves (^_^)

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