# I can make you an ace chess player, archer, or both. Any takers? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 14, 2010, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-make-you-an-ace-chess-player-archer-or-both-any-takers/557142 "2010-10-14T16:11:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Vihaga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Vihaga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vihaga)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-make-you-an-ace-chess-player-archer-or-both-any-takers/557142/41 "2010-10-14T19:04:20Z")
Archery, please! I like archery, but I find chess boring. There’s no point in taking a skill I’ll never use when I could be really awesome at something I actually enjoy. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-make-you-an-ace-chess-player-archer-or-both-any-takers/557142/42 "2010-10-14T19:18:17Z")
Wow, everybody’s going for the archery! I admit, archery certainly has the Errol Flynn-Legolas going for it. But it just never comes up that often. When do you happen to be walking past an archery range and somebody says to you, “Wanna take a shot?” and you just flip a bullseye? But I go places where chess is being played, and I must say it would be deeply cool to have somebody ask me for a casual game and whip a few asses. You can keep a chess board in your pocket, or play computer chess. I’ll take the chess. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-make-you-an-ace-chess-player-archer-or-both-any-takers/557142/43 "2010-10-14T19:31:25Z")
Mastery of Archery please. Although it does make my character conception a bit muddled. Having the proportionate strength and speed of a lemur, AND a master archer? That’s just asking for a retcon. Still, the damn deer keep killing the peonies, and the chest freezer won’t fill itself. So archery it is. Plus, winning archery bets is a lot cooler than winning chess bets, plus you can win the bet in a minute or two, rather than after an hour of chess playing that nobody except another expert will notice the expertness of. Master archery everyone sees _thunk_ into the bullseye, and proclaims you bowmaster. Chessmaster, not so much. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-make-you-an-ace-chess-player-archer-or-both-any-takers/557142/44 "2010-10-14T19:39:50Z")
> [@](#): > > I don’t do physics except as an oberver, but I play chess and regularly kick professional chemist-sister’s ass; this despite the fact that she is probably smarter than me in every other way. Admittedly I have a ten-year-head start on playing, but it’s not like she’s a kid anymore. > > Anyway – IS there any overlap? Not a rhetorical question, and anybody who wants to answer should feel free. If nothing else, there’s pattern-recognition, deep logical chains, memory, and attention span, all of which would certainly be helpful. Beyond that, I don’t know. But I seem to recall seeing studies that mental exercise in any intellectual endeavor helps improve mental performance across the board. And as an aside, you really need to get your smarter sister to hang out here (assuming she doesn’t already). ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-make-you-an-ace-chess-player-archer-or-both-any-takers/557142/45 "2010-10-14T19:47:56Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > I don’t do physics except as an oberver, but I play chess and regularly kick professional chemist-sister’s ass; this despite the fact that she is probably smarter than me in every other way. Admittedly I have a ten-year-head start on playing, but it’s not like she’s a kid anymore. > > > > Anyway – IS there any overlap? Not a rhetorical question, and anybody who wants to answer should feel free. > > If nothing else, there’s pattern-recognition, deep logical chains, memory, and attention span, all of which would certainly be helpful. Beyond that, I don’t know. But I seem to recall seeing studies that mental exercise in any intellectual endeavor helps improve mental performance across the board. > > And as an aside, you really need to get your smarter sister to hang out here (assuming she doesn’t already). I know she lurks from time to time. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-make-you-an-ace-chess-player-archer-or-both-any-takers/557142/46 "2010-10-14T19:56:53Z")
If I can kill the better chess players from a distance, well, sooner or later I will be as good a chess player as I need to be. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-make-you-an-ace-chess-player-archer-or-both-any-takers/557142/47 "2010-10-14T19:59:32Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > If I can kill the better chess players from a distance, well, sooner or later I will be as good a chess player as I need to be. The cops have guns. Guns beat bows. That is what _gun_ and _bow_ mean. Green Arrow lied to all of us. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-make-you-an-ace-chess-player-archer-or-both-any-takers/557142/48 "2010-10-14T20:03:07Z")
How many chess players have police escorts? How many chess tournaments have a heavy security presence? How many cops can shoot me with a pistol from 200 yards away? ---
**Author:** ![Coil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Coil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coil)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-make-you-an-ace-chess-player-archer-or-both-any-takers/557142/49 "2010-10-14T20:07:18Z")
My first feeling was to go for 90th percentile in both. But on reading through the thread I think I’m going to go for archery. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-make-you-an-ace-chess-player-archer-or-both-any-takers/557142/50 "2010-10-14T20:16:57Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > How many chess players have police escorts? How many chess tournaments have a heavy security presence? How many cops can shoot me with a pistol from 200 yards away? Okay then. I’m just gonna take your weapons and book you some holosuite time. You’ve got some … issues … to work through. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-make-you-an-ace-chess-player-archer-or-both-any-takers/557142/51 "2010-10-14T20:26:26Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Green Arrow lied to all of us. You. Take. That. Back. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-make-you-an-ace-chess-player-archer-or-both-any-takers/557142/52 "2010-10-14T20:28:10Z")
Damn… superior… chess masters… thinkin’ they’re better… Anyway, I’ll win bets in archery bars and buy my own bow and arrows, eventually. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-make-you-an-ace-chess-player-archer-or-both-any-takers/557142/53 "2010-10-14T20:29:23Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Damn… superior… chess masters… thinkin’ they’re better… > > Anyway, I’ll win bets in archery bars and buy my own bow and arrows, eventually. If you say so. :: cancels holosuite reservation, spends money on ice cream :: ---
**Author:** ![Telperion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telperion/32/509_2.png) [@Telperion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperion)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-make-you-an-ace-chess-player-archer-or-both-any-takers/557142/54 "2010-10-14T20:42:42Z")
I’ve always wanted to try archery, actually, and I do suppose it would quite helpful not to have everybody who’s done it for years laughing at my attempts to pull the string while keeping the arrow pointed in the right direction. Besides, I imagine there’s a good reason they didn’t need a chess player in the fellowship. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-make-you-an-ace-chess-player-archer-or-both-any-takers/557142/55 "2010-10-14T20:44:10Z")
After all of the archers eliminate all of the chess players will they start going after each other based on chess skill? At that point I guess the ones who chose both skills will be taken out first since they’ll have the superior chess skills but won’t be quite as good at archery as the ones who chose just archery. The culmination of all this will be a world in which the best archer will also be the best chess player. He will have superb archery skills but will be at best mediocre at chess. Odds are that someone in the archer group doesn’t even know chess, in which case he or she will be the only one remaining. Skald, you’re creating a world without chess! Was that your intent? Have you really gained anything? Assclown! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-make-you-an-ace-chess-player-archer-or-both-any-takers/557142/56 "2010-10-14T20:46:50Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > How many chess players have police escorts? How many chess tournaments have a heavy security presence? How many cops can shoot me with a pistol from 200 yards away? This would make a wierd video game. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Love](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Dr.Love](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Love)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-make-you-an-ace-chess-player-archer-or-both-any-takers/557142/57 "2010-10-14T20:51:47Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > By means that need not concern you scum, I have come into possession of 1296 mystic amulets. A third of them can cause the bearer to become an archer of Legolas-like skill. Another third grant the bearer Bobby Fischer-level chess skill. The remainder give both abilities, though not as high a level as the single-use amulets: 90th percentile, say, rather than 99.99 percentile. I don’t think anyone has asked this yet, so: These percentiles are relative to what population? If we’re talking about (say) the entire US population, I suspect you could reach the 90th percentile in archery with only a couple months practice. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-make-you-an-ace-chess-player-archer-or-both-any-takers/557142/58 "2010-10-14T21:26:19Z")
> [@Dr.Love](#): > > > [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > > > By means that need not concern you scum, I have come into possession of 1296 mystic amulets. A third of them can cause the bearer to become an archer of Legolas-like skill. Another third grant the bearer Bobby Fischer-level chess skill. The remainder give both abilities, though not as high a level as the single-use amulets: 90th percentile, say, rather than 99.99 percentile. > > I don’t think anyone has asked this yet, so: These percentiles are relative to what population? If we’re talking about (say) the entire US population, I suspect you could reach the 90th percentile in archery with only a couple months practice. :: checks manual for imaginary product :: In both cases, the population is the set of people who actively pursue the avocationin question. ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-make-you-an-ace-chess-player-archer-or-both-any-takers/557142/59 "2010-10-14T21:47:26Z")
I find this very interesting. For one of the amulets, you chose a human, from the real world. The other is modeled after a fictional character, with superhuman abilities. Chess at the level of Bobby Fischer is an amazing feat, but it’s not superhuman. Some of Legolas’ feats, both in the books and in the more well-known film series, would very nearly qualify as supernatural. I don’t just mean extra-human, I mean damn near breaking the laws of physics. He consistently puts arrows through the eyes of orcs, in the dark, in a jostling crowd, while on unsteady ground. This is not a human capability. One of the amulets will make you an extraordinary human, the other makes you superhuman. This makes it a very easy choice from my point of view. I’ll take the archery amulet. Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-make-you-an-ace-chess-player-archer-or-both-any-takers/557142/60 "2010-10-14T21:53:16Z")
> [@Mtgman](#): > > I find this very interesting. For one of the amulets, you chose a human, from the real world. The other is modeled after a fictional character, with superhuman abilities. Chess at the level of Bobby Fischer is an amazing feat, but it’s not superhuman. Some of Legolas’ feats, **both in the books and in the more well-known film series,** would very nearly qualify as supernatural. I don’t just mean extra-human, I mean damn near breaking the laws of physics. He consistently puts arrows through the eyes of orcs, in the dark, in a jostling crowd, while on unsteady ground. This is not a human capability. One of the amulets will make you an extraordinary human, the other makes you superhuman. > > This makes it a very easy choice from my point of view. I’ll take the archery amulet. > > Enjoy, > Steven :eek: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-make-you-an-ace-chess-player-archer-or-both-any-takers/557142.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-make-you-an-ace-chess-player-archer-or-both-any-takers/557142.md?page=4)