Behind the Scenes with Sergey Shipov
If you're curious to see the strong Russian GM and well-known commentator Sergey Shipov at work, here's your chance. All the videos are in Russian, but enough excerpts are translated to make it worth at least a glance.
(Two side notes. First, I've never seen anyone type so quickly with one finger in my life. It's a pretty awesome sight. Second, I recently read someone describe my analytical work as that of a cyborg. I don't deny that I use a computer to check and extend my work, but let's get real here. Practically all responsible commentators are cyborgs now, and Shipov is using three computers simultaneously! Of course, the person describing me as a cyborg didn't refer to Shipov in the same way. Grr. Of course Shipov is a terrific player, certainly stronger than I am, but we're all cyborgs now. I haven't checked all his match commentaries yet, but I've compared a number of other ones by GM/cyborgs with my own work, and I'm not embarrassed but what I've done. Very occasionally they've found a nice line that I missed, but the vast majority of the time I've found what they have and then some - and that "some" has been relevant, not padding or irrelevancies. The point isn't to blow my horn [especially compared to Shipov, who I'm happy to praise as a player, analyst and author!] but to suggest that a decent player who is experienced with using chess engines can do very good work if he puts his mind to it.)
Reader Comments (4)
Some one needs to help Shipov out by telling him about "virtual monitors" (this is built into linux already, but for windows you can download software for it)
Software exists to split one monitor into as many virtual ones as you want with a click.
Its ridiculous to have 3 keyboards, mice etc.
It would also save him quite a bit on power bills Im guessing.
More money for coffee and chess books.
[DM: I believe he's using three different computers, not just three different monitors. By the way, many of your comments are negative (not necessarily inappropriate) and involve criticisms of things that have nothing to do with this blog (the press coverage for the world championship, Shipov's monitor use) and which won't be rectified by posting here. I don't always read Shipov's commentaries, but I'm pretty sure he never reads mine.]
That's really strange that he would just type with one finger! I've seen lots of people do that, but only with people that were relatively new to computers. Maybe he developed that habit from using his multiple computers simultaneously...
I support what Dennis says here---I've said as much in private to several people since several years ago.
And not only do I highly admire Shipov's work (too), Shipov is the one I've most often compared myself to when a chess person asks what kind of "rating" and role I have in academic computer science. Except now I don't find any games of his in TWIC after 2010, whereas I'm still writing papers in computational complexity.
[DM: I'm not sure what exactly you're saying, but it sounds vaguely immodest. :) (Possibly justified, but still!)]
A few thoughts:
A key point in Shipov using three computers is that he's commentating live - so if he doesn't want to flick constantly between different windows (the live video broadcast, the game at the ICC, ChessBase to check the databases, the applet that he uses to enter his commentary etc.) he needs more than one monitor/computer (while translating him live I also need at least two computers for it to be comfortable). It's not primarily that he's using chess engines on each computer to check different lines, though he may well do that as well! I'd say the live aspect is also what makes what he does hard to emulate for a non-GM, as you need to simply know a lot of things, especially in the opening, to be able to write an entertaining/instructive commentary very quickly. Again, there are some similarities to translation - I could translate commentary from a language I don't know well (let's say Bulgarian - similar to Russian but not that similar) if I had time to use Google Translate for almost every phrase, but I certainly couldn't do it live.
Having said that, I agree with the general thesis that it's not necessary to be a GM to write well about chess. I don't have a FIDE rating and my rating at various internet sites oscillates around about 1800-1900, but as news editor at WhyChess I was pushed well outside my comfort zone into writing (brief) analysis of games at various tournaments. Of course I did that by making a lot of use of computers and reading/listening to analysis from people like Shipov, but overall I think it was possible to do a good job - a few GMs even said complimentary things about it. Conversely, I can think of at least one GM (not naming names) whose analysis often tends to be more computer-based and superficial. Perhaps as a GM he feels more qualified to criticise players, or he grasps the computer analysis quicker and everything seems obvious, or he's just somewhat lazy...
A question about lower-rated players analysing top games also appears at most Crestbook "KC-Conferences" from "vasa" (who does that himself and I think is rated about 2000). Levon Aronian's answer was interesting: http://www.crestbook.com/en/node/1547
"Aronian: If that commentary is corrected by a serious player, then why not? Perhaps the problem of commentary done by chess players at that level is that a great number of variations can be introduced, and entirely correct ones, but they’re given for moves which don’t need to be illustrated with variations – while some truly critical moments in games might pass unnoticed. But that, of course, is an overall assessment, while you need to look at particular examples. And in general, the more enthusiasts the better for the game."
On Shipov not playing since 2010 - yes, I think he considers himself essentially retired, but 1) he was once among the top-25 players in the world (maybe he could have achieved more if he hadn't spent 5 years at university studying physics), 2) he works as a trainer and as far as I know he's still coaching Russia's youngest GM Daniil Dubov, so he's probably still up-to-date on a lot of openings and so on, and 3) he mentioned at the start of his Game 3 commentary that he'd played in a blitz tournament in Moscow and "it didn't go too badly". Actually he was 2nd on 7/9 behind Max Dlugy on 7.5. Jakovenko scored 6.5 while Morozevich and Malakhov had 6. It should be added that it was a handicap event, so Shipov's lower rating meant he got more time on the clock than higher rated opponents, but it shows he hasn't completely forgotten how to play chess. For the curious here's a report on the event at the Russian Chess Federation website: http://russiachess.org/news/report/skrytyi_rezerv_maxima_dlugi/ And the results table (in Russian...): http://www.chessmoscow.ru/files/downloads/140512-gandikap-itog.txt