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This couldn't be further from the truth, and it's pretty clear you don't actually play the game. I had no idea this misconception was so common.

Chess is ALL ABOUT creativity and figuring out how to outplay your opponent and secure a win. It's a game of strategy and tactics, of timing and technique. The way "memorization" works is that players tend to have some number of moves in their opening(s) memorized (typically 5-10, though top players can go to greater depth), at which point they are "out of book" and into the middlegame, which is where the game is actually played using some combination of positional ideas, tactics, and calculation. Many players opt to play less theoretically viable openings (that is, variations that are not quite as good with best play), because it gets their opponent out of book faster. "Novelties" (a move in a variation not previously played by a master/grandmaster in a tournament) are played all of the time, even by grandmasters.

Based on the number of comments in this thread, apparently this is a common misconception. Memorization is not the primary skill of chess. Knowledge of chess principles and common ideas, strategies, and tactics and the ability to synthesize those ideas with elements of the current position are the primary skill of chess. In fact, novel problem solving is very fundamental to the game.

Opening theory prep ultimately makes up a pretty small part of the game (though it is more pronounced at top levels of play). The primary purpose of studying openings is not to just memorize a bunch of lines (though having lines prepped is helpful), but to understand the common thematic elements that arise from said openings and common middlegame positions and ideas.

Do you know their rating? Tbh most people's idea of being "pretty good at chess" is actually not very good at all (I don't mean that as an insult, more lack of familiarity with the game).

That's not to say that it's impossible for someone to think those things and be a strong chess player, but it's probably not super common. I've actually ran into a couple people at a local chess club with "interesting" ideas about vaccines and uh... let's just say they were not hard to beat (I think I mated one guy in like 12 moves). And btw, I'm not even a super strong chess player myself (~1134 USCF). But like, they probably would seem really strong to someone that just occasionally plays chess at family gatherings or whatnot. Chess is a game with a low skill floor and very high skill ceiling, so you have a huge range in ability.

This is not at all what chess is. This reads to me like you don't really play chess?

Like sure, good chess players have studied opening theory for the openings they play (and top players know at least some theory about most competitive openings), but there's so much more to the game than simple memorization. Memorizing a bunch of lines and doing nothing else will get you nowhere with the game. Chess is about principles, concepts, ideas, strategies. It's about tactics and positional ideas and how the two intersect. It's about tempo and conducting the initiative. There's a reason it's the game with the most number of books written about it by a large margin. It's an incredibly deep game that rewards investment and fine-tuning your own learning process (and, in fact, a great deal of unlearning bad ideas you learned earlier).

It is decidedly not a game about memorization, even if there is some amount of it involved. At high level of play, memorization (or what we simply call "prep") is table stakes for playing the actual game. At lower levels, many players don't know a lot of opening theory and simply rely on some combination of positional ideas, tactics, and calculation.

Do you know what rating your friend was at? In my experience, the super strong players I've met (including a Senior Master that occasionally visits our chess club who's 2450 USCF or so) are incredibly intelligent and sharp. Anecdotally in my own chess career (only ~1134 USCF atm, though I think I'm a bit underrated due to my last tournament being in 2023), I've definitely noticed a difference in my own thinking since I started studying chess. Progressing in chess involves a lot of meta-cognitive thinking, and that kind of thing translates to all kinds of things in life.

https://www.visidata.org/

Way, way better than excel for working with tabular data. Excel is child's play in comparison.

Didn't know much about hilariouschaos, but it's definitely an instance I will be blocking after reading this thread. Any instance willing to put up with nazis should be shunned and other instances should defederate from them.

Edit: Apparently I already blocked the instance when I joined lemmy. Go figure.

I'm no chef but.. smoked paprika? Sounds like it could fit the bill, maybe.

I just... don't connect the TV to the internet. Never had an issue with anything like that.

Yeah I was kinda confused by the joke since that's ultimately it's origin.

Who gives a fuck about whether or not you were planned? It literally makes no difference whatsoever.

I'm honestly not so sure, they are really clueless when it comes to technology.

It really depends. Raw onions are common on hot dogs, burgers, salads, and various other foods.