Game Theory

Game theory has held a fascination with me for many years though, at first, I didn’t realise that it was a formal topic for study. It can be applied in all walks of life with the earliest writing on the subject that I can find being Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People” published in 1936 to be followed by the first formal book on the subject, “Theory of Games and Economic Behaviour” by John Von Neumann and Oscar Morgenstern published in 1944.
 
The blip illustrates the game “Paper, Rock, Scissors,” though I’m sure that the exact order of the words is not important, which originated in China during the Han Dynasty two thousand years ago. To my simple mind, it is purely a game of chance: the odds being a simple one in three each of either winning, losing or drawing a “throw.” Some players do take the game rather seriously with the World Championships due to be held in “The Green Man,” London on 16th of April this year.

Some years ago I saw a demonstration game between the Champion and a schoolboy who fancied his chances; they stopped when the Champ was winning six throws to nil and it was obvious that luck had no part in the proceedings; I have absolutely no idea what sort of strategy he was using.
 
Myself? I used game theory when playing chess in a former life; I was not what you would call a competent player but, the secret was not to let on. Not understanding the finer points, my play was unconventional – and complicated; I didn’t understood the strengths, or more likely the weaknesses, of my position but, anyone crossing knights with me for the first time had no idea what was going on. The fact that I didn’t know what I was doing often didn’t cross my opponent’s mind until he had a hopelessly lost game on his hands. It didn’t pay to accept a challenge to a return match.
 
I gather that it is now fairly standard practice in chess competitions for there to be a power struggle, with the weaker player trying to make the position as complicated as possible so that neither of them understands the play, while the stronger tries to keep it simple so that only he does.