Interesting, I find that show focuses more on freaks than nerds. I know many nerds who are cool as hell, and many freaks who aren't very nerdy at all. For example, I'd consider myself a nerd, but I still like to party.
You go girl.
I watched that and enjoyed the nerdfest. The most humiliating thing was that the loser's "advisor" bragged about being good at chess, but couldn't see the simplest mate in one.
I watched that and enjoyed the nerdfest. The most humiliating thing was that the loser's "advisor" bragged about being good at chess, but couldn't see the simplest mate in one.
Yep, that advisor was certainly not so good. I'm still shocked that she was the "nerd" with the most experience playing chess (I think she said highschool chess club or something?). I know that being a nerd and playing chess may not go hand in hand. Yet I still don't understand why none of these people were above amateur level (unless they didn't admit it, for strategic purposes).
It's really a shame that chess is associated with the stereotypical nerd... I find that the majority of players just play for recreation and have that competitive spirit that the stereotypical nerd lacks.
In any case, I do find it quite shocking and somewhat assuring that those people are not very good at chess.
So King of the Nerds came out on TV (TBS) about a week ago. I just recently saw the rerun of the premeire and noticed that there was a chess match involved in the final competition. I was shocked that none of these "nerds" could play chess (beyond novice level). So I wanted to see the notations of the final game for myself.
I looked all over the internet, but the notations hadn't been posted. So I decided to review the episode and post the notations myself. There are a couple of assumptions made, but they don't affect the game (there will be notes after the moves).
1. Nf3 - d5
2. d4 - Nc6
3. Nc3 - f5
4. e3 -
This opening is shown on the show. After white plays e3, we have to jump a few moves into the game until we get another screenshot.
4. e3 - g6*
5. Be2 - Bh6*
6. o-o - Qd6*
7. a4 - f4*
We get our next shot of the board once black plays f4. Since the game is cut, we have to speculate what happened. According to the board, these moves were all made. The order here is not so important, as using a different order (say switching Bh6 and Qd6 for black) doesn't change anything/threaten any pieces.
8. exf4 - Bxf4
9. Bxf4 -Qxf4*
These moves are shown on the show. Black's ninth move is deduced as even amateur level players wouldn't lose a bishop for nothing.
10. g3 - Qh6*
11. Ra3 - Kd8*
12. Nxd5 - e6*
Speculation, but white misses a free pawn with a chance to have his knight fork a Rook and King. Black sees this and moves his King over. Next, the TV shows white taking the pawn and black moving e6 to threaten the Knight.
13. Nc3 - Nf6*
This has to occur for Black's next moves to happen. As shown
14. Rb3 - b6*
Speculation, but White talks about moving his rook out, so this needed to happen. Black counters with b6, staggering his pawns.
15. Rb5 - Ng4*
White is shown talking to his advisor about "bringing the rook out". The TV show then jumps back and forth between moves 14 and 15.
16. h3 - Qxh3
17. Ng5 - Qh2 - Checkmate
The game ends in 17 moves with an obvious checkmate. The people on the show talked about a "trap" but I never saw one. Maybe the trap was just using Black's Queen to checkmate White once the pawn was out of the way.
I think the show didn't release the notations because we would all laugh at just how bad these "King of Nerds" were at chess...