Hi everyone,
I have been in a dilemma recently. During my college days I was actively engaged with discrete maths and used to practice it admittedly a bit irregularly. Then I was introduced to CP last year. I started with leetcode and soon I started getting a hang of everything then moved to codeforces. At the same time last year, chess was rising in popularity and I got introduced to Levy's channel aka GothamChess. I had never given much thought to chess before so watching his game analysis were an eye opener as to how fascinating the world of chess is. My interest has only grown since then.
I am at a point where I want to specialize and become really good at one of them but I am facing difficulty choosing one of them. I have confidence in CP and math as I know how things are done there, I understand proofs and I know what questions to ask when solving a problem. This element of confidence is at the moment missing in chess. I have not yet become comfortable in the field. I have heard that chess is also a lot of memorization when you get good and there is almost no place for creativity which bothers me. Also since I am planning to specialize I want to know does chess become boring after a few years since the starting position is always the same? This is never the case with CP as it always gives variety and I have seen some Project Euler problems which are baffling too. Personally I love chess because of its rich tactics and the feeling of a genius fight and insane brilliant moves. My rating on chess.com is 1300. Can you guys give some insight and tips that could help me make a decision? I would also like to mention that I am 25 years old and I work as a software engineer in a company.Age is not a problem for me tho. I am okay with starting late.
As a 1900 on chess.com, I believe Chess is about memorization of tactics/patterns which develops positional understanding. I'm better than others just because i can see the tactics quicker because of my trained mind over the time. I think if given a choice, I would choose being a 2000 on codeforces than on chess.com
true
2000 on cf >>> 2000 on chess.com
I used to be 2000, I dropped chess for grinding CP, honestly I feel like it was worth it because even though I've dropped to 1800, I feel like I've had fun while grinding CP and I've improved a good amount. Now I'm trying to shoot for CM by September. There's no right or wrong based on your choice. Both are great options!
Thank you for the insight :)
I think CP is also similar in the sense that problem solving is also a lot about recognizing patterns you have already seen. I think CP provides more variety to those types of patterns but in chess there are interesting patterns but only based on the same kinds of pieces. Amount of patterns to remember in both is unquestionably lot.
What is chess ?
I do both for fun. I am rated 373 on chess.com
Choose yourself
Bro continue with both (I am doing the same), and its true that chess gets a little bit boring after reaching to 1900-2000 level as compared to earlier elo's , coz then you have to do much of memorizing theory kind of things. Try to be GM on both (btw I am newbie on both).
Why spend time on either useless thing? Are either something you can look back on and think you are glad you spent time that way, as opposed to some hobby you can either see a physical manifestation of your results, an activity you can do with others near you, or a project that can make an impact in your community or the world? Well, if you say yes, then go for it ig.
I would do chess of the choices if you are able to find motivated people near you can meet with to play/discuss and think it will be fun, otherwise cp if you want something easy to think about anywhere and encourages you to spend time alone thinking about random abstract constructions.
Also as you say it just depends on if you like analyzing more constrained idea to its extreme (chess) or a bit larger search space but not quite so deep on particular thing (cp). I do think cp can better lead you to more topics in future and make you think about meta process of problem solving, where chess is more constrained to itself. You could always just continue both too until you know more yourself.
Very well worded SuperJ6. Out of the two I think chess is the one I can socialize with the most and find motivated people to play with in clubs or in office. I anyways stay in my room most of the time watching anime and youtube and I dont talk much even in my office so I would like to have fun with other people. Additionally there arent anyone to discuss CP related things with and no one around me is doing this. Regarding your first paragraph, I dont really care a lot about contributing to society or having a mission to change the world/make it a better place. I would just love to have some fun and feel good mastering an intellectual hobby so these are my best choices. Both are really amazing hobbies. I would like to know why do you do CP? What motivated you to reach so high on codeforces?
I wanted something feasible I could concretely prove I was one of best at (I really wanted to make IOI, unfortunately too weak), and not being completely constrained to itself so I could use skills on other things later. Also I used as way to get into top college without having to focus so much on school (since in US they care about extracurriculars, if you are very top of olympiad it helps at a few colleges).
It is not something I regret doing, but I wish I focused simultaneously more on skills that can actually create things. Personally I don't see it as very fun (but not terrible, just so-so) and don't see why you'd do it if fun is your sole reason, but I know some others who really like it. It is satisfying to see objective proof you're getting better (but could get from any form of ranked contest), and to be able to finish something from start to end that you have a proof of completion (problem AC). Also I do think it teaches some good ways of thinking anyone could benefit from (but marginal benefits after touching CM).
I have been feeling exactly the same regarding CP lately. Even I see it as so-so evident by the fact that I keep breaking consistency in CP compared to chess where I have already played nearly 3000 games. The only thing I think that makes me keep coming back to CP is that I know I can reach a great level in it because I am comfortable with it and have a systematic way of thinking in it which I dont have currently with chess (probably because I have yet not tried actually studying it). I also ponder about what if I get bored with chess as it is limited in variety of concepts so thats also one more contributing factor that I am still sticking with CP. A lot of what you said actually resonated a lot with how I feel. Thanks.