You nearly gave me a heart attack. Sorry, but I have to point out that a grandmaster (what you wrote in the thread title) is not the same as a master (what the article title says) which is not the same as an expert (the level the girl actually obtained). That brings my astonishment down two whole notches HOWEVER, specificities aside, she's probably a better chess player now than I will ever be in my life and I have to say that what she has obtained is quite an accomplishment. She has the goods to be Grandmaster one day, which is a truly awe-inspiring feat. Chess used to he taught in schools in the USSR. If you ask me, it's the one thing they got right. I love games as a fun way to sharpen critical thinking and pattern recognition.
It's a much more complex game than the casual player realizes. I've encountered people online who have upwards of 300,000 games of experience and have yet to become experts at it. I know this means nothing in the real world, but I'm a strong Connect Four Master (the title is unofficial, as no organization grants it, but is reserved informally by the game community for the best of players who know the game in-and-out and can play nearly perfectly). The only thing that separates me from being Grandmaster is the memorization of a few lines of play (I enjoy on-the-fly calculation rather than memorization, but I realize that if I continue to play, I will eventially memorize these patterns as they arise). It's popularity comes in waves. About 5 years ago, there was a huge tournament to decide which online community had the strongest players. It drew a lot of attention and got many people excited about taking up the game as a hobby. Imagine several dozen Grandmasters playing contrived patterns of play with less than a second to make each move in clashes occuring over the course of several days. There should have been a documentary!! Most of those people have moved on, since the online sites have become flooded with dishonest, weak players and the Grandmasters have moved on to other games. I'm trying to spearhead a new generation of elite players who might be able to stage another such tournament. Heck, I know I'm dreaming, but how epic would it be if we could draw back the legends to the game and MC can call a tournament of Old VS New, leading the new generation to victory and starting a new era? With my legendary name recognition from such an accomplishment, I could start my own Connect Four dojo and train others in my style, preserving the tradition for generations to come. LOL, did I really just say all that?
I'm not sure how to take this all in. Can you play Connect 4 online? If so, awesome and I must find this site.
For general interest here is the USA chess federation ratings required to reach the different rankings. (note: I haven't played tournament chess in 30 years so perhaps the following has changed since then?) 1000-1200 E 1200-1400 D 1400-1600 C 1600-1800 B 1800-2000 A 2000-2200 Expert 2200-2400 Master 2400 Senior master Grandmaster is a ranking bestowed by the international chess federation. One needed two grandmaster norms to earn the title grandmaster. A grandmaster would be expected to probably be rated in the high 2400's or higher. High masters and into the senior master category are good enough to compete with professional chess players. Above 2200 is definitely getting into the small area of the bell curve.
