Tag Archives: odds

Boost Your Chess Winning Odds: Discover 3 Essential Cheats for Success!

Posted on by
Reply

Chess Game Analysis

Detecting Cheating in Chess: The Challenge

Simple Image/Getty

Just three cunning acts of cheating can drastically shift the odds in chess, turning an evenly matched game into an almost guaranteed victory, a new analysis reveals. This highlights the need for effective systems to detect and prevent cheating in chess.

Daniel Kellen from the University of Haifa, Israel, simulated 100,000 games using the advanced Stockfish chess engine. Famous for its unmatched performance, Stockfish can outplay any human world champion. In these matches, two computer engines competed at an average skill level (1500 Elo rating), while powerful interventions occurred from a more skilled computer with an Elo score of 3190—higher than any human’s.

Typically, playing as White confers a slight advantage with a 51% probability of winning, primarily due to the first move advantage. However, Kellen’s findings showed that leveraging a computer system like Stockfish for guidance on just one move amplifies that probability to an average of 66%. If a player resorts to three instances of cheating, the chance of victory escalates dramatically to 84%.

“We anticipated that the first act of cheating would raise the winning probability to 55%, with a second nudging it to 60%. However, cheating three times escalated the odds to an astonishing 84%,” Kellen notes. This is a crucial insight for players seeking victory.

A single, well-timed move suggested by a superior chess engine (approximately 30 moves into the game) can improve winning chances by 15 percentage points. In contrast, random interventions throughout the game yield a mere 7.5 percentage point boost.

The analysis employed a system that intervened only if the suggested move significantly enhanced winning chances compared to the player’s original choice. The thresholds for cheating became more stringent as gameplay progressed. “Initial acts of cheating are somewhat lenient; however, scaling up your cheating necessitates a marginally greater advantage,” Kellen points out.

Such tactics create a “camouflage measure,” according to Kellen, which enables cheaters to evade detection by the automated systems employed by online chess platforms. These systems may mistake a remarkably effective move as an exceptional human insight rather than a product of computer assistance.

“Proving selective cheating through manual analysis poses significant challenges, as a single strategic hint from an engine can determine the outcome of a game,” emphasizes Kellen. Kim Shu from the University of Mainz in Germany finds this research compelling.

Kellen clarifies that his work does not aim to facilitate cheating but rather to assist chess platforms in recognizing the threats posed by subtle cheating methods. “Understanding your adversary is crucial,” he concludes.

As online chess gains popularity, the community must intensify its efforts to uncover cheating instances, notes Shu. “An effective anti-cheating strategy demands a multifaceted approach,” he advises, suggesting the analysis of behavioral patterns, move timings, and comprehensive histories of online chess accounts.

Topics:

This version has been optimized for SEO while maintaining the original HTML structure and improving the content’s clarity and relevance.

Source: www.newscientist.com

Your Odds of Retaining Boys and Girls May Not Be Equal

Posted on by
Reply
SEI 259393673

A woman’s age may influence whether she has only sons or daughters

Marko Pekic/Getty Images

Many people might think that the likelihood of women having sons versus daughters is split evenly, akin to a coin toss. However, it appears that some women tend to have children of only one gender.

“Based on my personal observations, I have friends who only have girls or boys,” states Xiwen Wang from Harvard University. “This prompts the question of whether it’s all mere chance or if there are underlying biological factors at play.”

At a broader population level, the ratio of boys to girls at birth is close to 50:50. This is largely due to the fact that male sperm have an approximately equal probability of carrying either X or Y chromosomes that ultimately determine the child’s sex.

Nonetheless, Wang and her colleagues were curious about whether mothers might also have an influence. To investigate, they reviewed data from over 58,000 mothers in the U.S. who were part of two distinct studies focusing on contraception and maternal health. Among these mothers, 61% had two children, 30% had three, 8% had four, and the rest had more than five children.

The researchers examined the gender of female offspring in relation to eight maternal traits: height, weight, race, hair color, blood type, chronotype (time of day they feel most alert), age of first menstruation, and the age at which they had their first child between the ages of 13 and 48.

The findings revealed that women who were over 28 at the time of their first birth had a 43% greater likelihood of having only children of the same sex compared to a 34% chance observed in mothers under 23.

“Our research indicates that the age at which a woman has her first child is correlated with [an increased chance of] her having only sons or daughters,” Wang explains. No other characteristics were found to be associated with the sex of the children.

The reason behind this age-related effect remains uncertain; however, it may point to different biological changes that occur in women’s bodies over time, Wang suggests. Prior research indicates that the initial phase of the menstrual cycle tends to diminish with age. This could correlate with a higher likelihood of birthing boys, while vaginal pH decreases with age, which might benefit the survival of X chromosome-carrying sperm, according to Wang.

However, these findings might also stem from behavioral elements. Joshua Wild from Oxford University suggests that older women may be more inclined to plan their family size. As a result, even if they desire children of both sexes, they may choose to stop after having two boys or two girls, whereas younger women might be less concerned with family size and therefore more likely to have children of different sexes.

Further investigations are necessary to explore how behavioral, environmental, and biological factors influence the sex of newborns, Wild notes.

Topics:

Source: www.newscientist.com

Despite the odds, life exists against all impossibilities.

Posted on by
Reply

“Humanity exists on a scale intermediate between elementary particles and the observable universe.” Milky Way Galaxy.

Shutterstock/Nednapa

When measured by orders of magnitude, it is sometimes argued that humanity lies somewhere between subatomic particles and the observable universe. (Put another way, we are somewhere between nothing and everything.) Whether or not this claim is strictly true, it commands attention and sympathy in all kinds of ways. I call. Each of our lives may feel like a whole universe, extremely important and infinite in scope, but from another perspective, each life is completely insignificant and fleeting. This is an impossible paradox, and this state of both surplus and surplus of value presents creative and moral opportunities. I love how these opportunities are explored in fiction, how scale makes human life, and indeed all life, unfamiliar, the infinite nature of its expanse, and I'm interested in what it can do to remind us of the improbability and wonder of its existence.

In each of my novels, especially At Ascension, I placed non-intuitive spatial and temporal perspectives next to the characters' more mundane concerns. Telescopes and microscopes explore deep time, evolution, and the life cycles of parasites and viruses alike. In addition to this, the characters eat, pace between rooms, have anxious, circular thoughts, worry about their families, and are bored. The lens zooms in and out from “domestic” to “foreign” scenes. I am not doing this to ridicule or belittle my characters, but rather that we are both infinite and infinitesimal, equal to the very big and the very small. I'm trying to evoke something in that paradoxical quality of closeness.

I've always been drawn to fiction that attempts this. When scenes with completely different perspectives collide, the effect is surprising, exhilarating and unforgettable. My favorite example is her 1927 novel by Virginia Woolf. To the lighthouse I first read it when I was a teenager. In the opening chapter, “The Window,'' page 134, Woolf gives us, through the character of Mrs. Ramsay, a consciousness so luminous that it seems impossible to define or limit it. In the next part, “Time Passes,” the perspective changes dramatically. The house is empty and the people have long left. Mrs. Ramsay, in her two short lines in parentheses, like an afterthought, we are informed that she has passed away.

I will never forget the shock and excitement I felt when I read this for the first time. I didn't know you could do something like this in fiction. Wolf's boldness and ambition took my breath away. She tragically demonstrated the power and danger of all her consciousness. This is a truism that cannot be repeated enough. Life feels endless, but it passes in the blink of an eye. Many of Woolf's novels are interested in this cacophony, as she lived through both world wars as well as the rapid advances in telescope power that changed all understanding of the size of the universe. This is no coincidence. And many believe that Woolf was not only an avid reader of astronomy books and his science fiction, but also that he had a lifelong commitment to writing that rivaled his most ambitious works. This seems obvious to people, but it's not surprising. SCIENCE FICTION.

main character of Ascension in progress, Lee Hasenbosch is a microbiologist who travels through deep space. Not only is she astonished to see the entire Earth, but she also experiences disappointment as she sees it disappear. Anthropocentrism – arguably the default perspective in English fiction – has never seemed so absurd. As she approaches the Oort Cloud, she becomes aware of other orders of life around her, ranging from algae food stocks to bacterial colonies that move between her and the rest of her crew. There is nothing beyond the ship's compound walls.

From an early age, Lee pursued the origins of life and became obsessed with the theory of life after an epiphany during a near-drowning experience. symbiosis And I was shocked at how impossible it was. It is almost impossible for life to exist, yet it is here. At the same time, she questions her own childhood and its influence on the person she became. Her life and work are centered around the pursuit of this ambiguous origin. So which scale is “correct”? Is she really interested in a universal story or a personal story? The answer, of course, is both. Neither answer alone is sufficient.

Martin McInnes Ascension in progress, published by Atlantic Books, is the New Scientist Book Club's latest pick.Register here and read along

topic:

Source: www.newscientist.com

Defy the odds, create your own path, and achieve unprecedented success

Posted on by
Reply

art kreiskorn
Contributor

Tatchapong “Art” Climbing Cone Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Amity. Art earned her MBA from Cambridge University, where she worked for five years at IBM.

have something in common A story that repeats itself in the tech industry. A fast-growing startup emerges with a breakthrough concept, succeeds in raising incredible VC funding, and rockets to unicorn status. The company then fails to achieve sustainable profits and falls from glory within a few years (or even months). Despite a relative slowdown in VC activity, that story has continued over the last year, and usually reaches the same conclusion.
90% of startups fail 10% of them die within a year.

The numbers paint a grim picture, but one thing we know as innovators is that every challenge has a unique solution. Often, what holds entrepreneurs back is not money, but rather rapid growth and an over-obsession with flashy technology. This leads to neglecting to solve core business challenges and ultimately leads to a lack of stability and long-term profitability. Before investing in an attractive technology product, it is important to change this approach and prioritize providing reproducible solutions to relevant problems.

Suppose your objective is to introduce an innovative solution to a new niche problem in a way never seen before in the market. In that case, you don’t have to be bold. You need to be bold enough to believe in the company’s clairvoyance, and know enough about your field to maintain that level of confidence even to your face. A strong headwind.

Here’s how to start your own category to solve a niche problem

Identify your unique value proposition

When faced with seemingly insurmountable challenges or unexpected investments, the most important thing is to remain true to the company’s mission.

The most loved and valued companies have built categories that didn’t exist because they offer solutions that other companies can’t even imagine. There’s a reason Apple remains the most valuable company on the planet. The advent of iPhone happened when the user had to carry her iPod, mobile phone, laptop and planner separately. For the first time, a device has appeared that allows him to achieve all these items in one device.

Compare this to products like Threads. Threads is a simple modification of existing products. Unable to retain users. A sales pitch that says, “We’re offering the same product that’s already on the market, but with a few changes,” is much weaker than, “This is a solution that didn’t exist before.” In my career helping brands connect with their communities on platforms, I’ve seen this strategy yield greater benefits than copying existing solutions.

In 2018-2019, I began a journey to take on traditional social giants and provide an alternative way for brands to develop brand-centric communities online. At the time, Facebook had some notorious scandals regarding the misuse of personal data. Amity has set out on a mission to improve and democratize social networks, with the goal of building better social networks that foster active user interaction while respecting the privacy of user data.

Source: techcrunch.com