Stop Misquoting Carlsen!

In 2015 a troll on the chess.com forums misquoted Carlsen as saying:

"All games between players rated <1800 are decided on pieces being blundered on almost every move."

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/carlsen-quotplayers-under-1800-blunder-almost-every-movequot?page=1

In the first page of this topic people point out the quote is wrong.

The real quote:

Source:

https://edition.cnn.com/2015/12/16/sport/magnus-carlsen-chess-world-number-one/index.html

There is a new troll @tygxc who keeps repeating the wrong quote even after being told it's wrong. I've seen him do it in multiple topics, but this is the latest one:

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/difference-between-300s-and-600s-rated-players#comment-70253963

I imagine it's very annoying for players like Carlsen to be constantly misquoted by trolls.
It's also unfair to beginners to give them information you know is wrong.

That guy misquoted Capablanca as well saying that "A beginner should not be allowed to play a game of chess until he can checkmate KBN vs. K" on one of my threads.

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/for-beginners/is-it-important-to-learn-the-minor-piece-mating-patterns

Lol I haven't ever even tried to mate with bishop and knight, never had that end game

IM Jeremy Silman, in "Complete Endgame Course", page xv: 

"I heretically decided not to include Bishop and Knight vs. Lone King because it's far from easy to master, and it occurs very rarely in over-the-board play. In fact, I only got it once in my entire career, while IM John Watson and IM John Donaldson never got it at all! Is such a rarity really worth the two or three hours it would take to learn it? I say no."

In fairness for endgames. If you are aiming for a trade down to KBN vs K then you will get it more often then if you did not aim for it and should learn it. You are more likely to hit what you aim at with practice and preperation than not. Some people will learn the end game and then not aim for it in trade downs that would be a waste.

#1
You quote CNN as the source, but I thought the original was Twitter.
Do you have the Twitter original?
CNN might have translated "players rated < 1800" to "beginners" to avoid jargon and make it understandable to non chess players.
Anyway, even if he said "beginners" then his quote still applies.

#5
It is what Capablanca said.
Capablanca also urged to study KBN vs. K.
Capablanca included it in his 60 pages "Chess Fundamentals" so he considered it something you need to know.
Silman is no Capablanca and his endgame course is not complete.

1)
The question was:
"What advice would you give a beginner starting out in chess"
So the answer is about beginners.

2)
If CNN wanted to edit his quote they wouldn't have left the error "capture all your opponent's positions."

3)
If CNN wanted to edit his quote they would have looked up that 1800 is "class A" and would not have changed that into "beginner."

4)
It is the common sense of ALL chess players that 1800s do not blunder pieces "on almost every move." So no, it does not "still apply," and also it is a misquote.

You seem to like quotes that have no source and go against common sense.

I think it's obvious Capablanca never said this.

I don't think the endgame arises often enough to say that you need to know it, at least as a club player. I've only had it occur once, in over thousands of games. I would expect a GM to know it.

I'd expect that Carlsen doesn't waste energy worrying about about something like this, but thank you for the correction.

looks like the 'new' troll account has been here long before yours.

don't think carlsen actually cares but thanks for saving him and the beginners on this site who believe everything they read.

“I never said half the things i said.”

-Yogi Berra

#10
Capablanca said in his "Chess Fundamentals":
"The student will do well to exercise himself methodically in this ending, as it gives a very good idea of the actual power of the pieces, and it requires foresight in order to accomplish the mate within the fifty moves which are granted by the rules."
So the quote is consistent with what he said elsewhere.
It is not because you are too lazy to study that endgame that Capablanca did not say what he said.

It is not at all consistent with what you said. You (not Capablanca) said that a beginner shouldn't be allowed to play a game until they can checkmate B+N vs king, which is ridiculous, which is why no one believed you when you said it was Capa's quote... except for beginners who don't know any better, which is the harm you cause.

It's not hard to quote someone correctly. Even a child can do it. Just copy their words. If you fail at that, then you're either incredibly dumb or a troll.

Then he/she gives beginners bad information on purpose, which is much worse than a troll.

1800-rated players are advanced players. They definitely don't blunder pieces on almost every move.

Carlsen was likely talking about true beginners, who play games like this: