NYC Drinks - QuantNet meet up?

[bob]

did anyone beat @bob and @WilliamY at b pong?

Yes, we did bow out on our third game. I'm afraid I didn't catch her name, but there was a ringer there who played Division I-A b pong in college or something like that. My liver was grateful that our winning streak didn't last....

 

[Andy D.]

Sounds like you all had a blast!

 

[emil]

How many people here can play table tennis? Maybe we can organize a tournament among the NYC programs.

I'm in for a basketball tournament. Maybe we should call it Quantnet/MFE Olympics, but with different sports each year. First year: chess, table tennis & basketball. Another year can be another mind game, badminton & soccer.

 

[pruse]

I'm in for a basketball tournament. Maybe we should call it Quantnet/MFE Olympics, but with different sports each year. First year: chess, table tennis & basketball. Another year can be another mind game, badminton & soccer.

Is chess really considered a sport? I have doubts about table tennis being much of a sport -- much less chess

 

[Ycohen]

Is chess really considered a sport? I have doubts about table tennis being much of a sport -- much less chess

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sport
There are 14 definitions there. Chess and ping-pong both fall into at least one of them no?

 

[emil]

Is chess really considered a sport? I have doubts about table tennis being much of a sport -- much less chess

Table tennis, badminton are olympic sports. Looks like Chess is not. http://www.olympic.org/sports

 

[pruse]

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sport
There are 14 definitions there. Chess and ping-pong both fall into at least one of them no?

Hehe. In fact, I had just visited that page before posting. But the first definition is primarily the one people go by --
"an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc." The key word here is "athletic". Table tennis can definitely be argued to be athletic since it requires dexterity, but not chess. That said, chess is great. What about poker?? That should've been the first game to come to mind.

 

[emil]

We should first get a tournament framework accepted. What about: mind game+individual sport+team sport?

 

[pruse]

did anyone beat @bob and @WilliamY at b pong?

Haha... looks like Will's a pro. He kept winning at my house party too...

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Will is a smooth operator as the legend has it. The man, the legend.

 

[Ycohen]

Hehe. In fact, I had just visited that page before posting. But the first definition is primarily the one people go by --
"an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc." The key word here is "athletic". Table tennis can definitely be argued to be athletic since it requires dexterity, but not chess. That said, chess is great. What about poker?? That should've been the first game to come to mind.

As someone who played a tremndous amount of competitive chess, it is not accurate to say that chess requires no athleticism. It may not require dexterity (in fact, using different hands to move your piece and to press the clock is illegal....), it is physically taxing. Chess players usually retire from competitive chess at around age 50 because physically, they cannot do it anymore.
This is a clip from before Fischer went insane, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPlXC3M8hbg Go to the 4:20 mark. It's quite fascinating and sad to see what he became afterwards, but it also touches on the point we're trying to resolve here. Let me know what you guys think about it.

 

[pruse]

As someone who played a tremndous amount of competitive chess, it is not accurate to say that chess requires no athleticism. It may not require dexterity (in fact, using different hands to move your piece and to press the clock is illegal....), it is physically taxing. Chess players usually retire from competitive chess at around age 50 because physically, they cannot do it anymore.
This is a clip from before Fischer went insane, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPlXC3M8hbg Go to the 4:20 mark. It's quite fascinating and sad to see what he became afterwards, but it also touches on the point we're trying to resolve here. Let me know what you guys think about it.

Well chess definitely requires a lot of mental endurance, as do certain sports (like tennis, for example, where matches can be hours long). Mental stress certainly takes its toll on the body. But then we can argue that certain financial engineering jobs are a sport too. Hey, it's true they do like athletes for certain trading positions.

 

[Ycohen]

Well chess definitely requires a lot of mental endurance, as do certain sports (like tennis, for example, where matches can be hours long). Mental stress certainly takes its toll on the body. But then we can argue that certain financial engineering jobs are a sport too. Hey, it's true they do like athletes for certain trading positions.

Well then we have it!
The first ever ping-pong, chess, basketball, poker, and financial engineering olympics!

 

[Richard Phu]

Yes, we did bow out on our third game. I'm afraid I didn't catch her name, but there was a ringer there who played Division I-A b pong in college or something like that. My liver was grateful that our winning streak didn't last....

Even though it was beginner's luck Bob calls me a ringer.
I assure you that none of the pages in the notebook were burned. It was handy for recording useful advice.

 

[bob]

Even though it was beginner's luck Bob calls me a ringer.

Unless you prefer to be referred to using the feminine pronoun, Richard, it was your partner I was referring to, not you.

In any case, as one n00b to another, good game. Perhaps at the next meetup we can have a rematch...um...earlier in the evening.

 

[Joy Pathak]

Unless you prefer to be referred to using the feminine pronoun, Richard, it was your partner I was referring to, not you.

In any case, as one n00b to another, good game. Perhaps at the next meetup we can have a rematch...um...earlier in the evening.

Yeah. She was good. I think she mentioned that she is a Desk Quant at a Hedge Fund.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

She is an old acquaintance of mine. Too bad I didn't get to talk to her much.
How do you guys like the place? That wasn't much of a "garden" but i think the place will be packed when the weather gets nicer.

 

[AlgorithmCandy]

Let's try to plan another one soon!

 

[Joy Pathak]

July 2nd?

 

[D C]

I'm in NYC and would be down, but not July 4th weekend...how about the week after?