Nova Daily - 9 May 2025

Hi!

Which is greater:
the number of stars in the universe or
the number of sand grains on the beach?

This could be a fun question to ponder. Unless you do research to this question, you won't be able to tell. The idea is that the number of both is so large that it's hard to grasp for a human. It's already hardly possible to imagine a straight line of one million people, let alone the amount of these two.

Of course, research has been done into this question:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/do-stars-outnumber-the-sands-of-earths-beaches/#:~:text=If%20we%20go%20with%20a,the%20observable%20universe%2C%20in%20fact.
https://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2012/09/17/161096233/which-is-greater-the-number-of-sand-grains-on-earth-or-stars-in-the-sky 

Although I'm not usually that well versed in the philosophy and scientific data of such matters, in this case I have something to add. Every time you go to the beach, you end up with some sand in and under your shoes, between your toes, in your hair, and what-not. That means that every time you go to the beach, you're influencing the experiment.

I have a somewhat related question:

How many people do you need to visit the beach to empty it of sand grains?

I'm not going to investigate this, so if you feel compelled: take it away.

At times it's fun to engage in philosophical questions and ruin the entire debate with a dumb observation. You're welcome.

The game analysis

Model games:

Judging by the fact that my play has been repeated in high level games, I did everything in the opening well, but I castled too early. In both of the games that reached the position after 10.Nbd2, black proceeded with the multi-purposeful move 10...f6, which is also a waiting move as it postpones revealing black's intentions as to where to castle. The two games proceed differently: Kjartansson castled kingside, while Karthik castled queenside.

I'll give both games below:

Source Analysis:

What can I take away from this game:

1. The game was very straightforward in a sense: the main thing that I did wrong is castling too early, and castling on the wrong side. It didn't fit in with my setup, and I paid the price for it.
2. Much better is to play f6 first, and to castle kingside shortly afterwards. The idea is that black wants to get e6-e5 in.