A REALLY crazy idea

[ImaParrot]

Three things I love in life: birds, chess, and attention.
What if I could teach one of my parrots to play online chess? I can imagine them being able to learn the pieces and where to move them, but what about theory? How can they learn the idea of checkmate, positions, material advantages, and tactics? Is this even possible? I'm on a mission to prove that my birds are smarter than my brothers, but is this too far? (I have other ideas... some may involve a Rubik's cube) I have no doubt that if they could learn, they would enjoy it immensely.

Am I just crazy? I know birds are smart, but are they THAT smart? I know it'll take a ton of time and millet if it's even possible, but it would be literally awesome if they could understand that complex a concept.

To top that, I want to make the whole training process into a YouTube video and have them play a chess master. This part is completely optional but would be really really cool.

Thanks,
-Ayu

 

[foxgloveparrot]

Three things I love in life: birds, chess, and attention.
What if I could teach one of my parrots to play online chess? I can imagine them being able to learn the pieces and where to move them, but what about theory? How can they learn the idea of checkmate, positions, material advantages, and tactics? Is this even possible? I'm on a mission to prove that my birds are smarter than my brothers, but is this too far? (I have other ideas... some may involve a Rubik's cube) I have no doubt that if they could learn, they would enjoy it immensely.

Am I just crazy? I know birds are smart, but are they THAT smart? I know it'll take a ton of time and millet if it's even possible, but it would be literally awesome if they could understand that complex a concept.

To top that, I want to make the whole training process into a YouTube video and have them play a chess master. This part is completely optional but would be really really cool.

Thanks,
-Ayu

This is SUPER interesting.

You could probably teach a parrot to have SOME concept of chess - like moving pieces. And MAYBE figuring out where and how to move them. I doubt they could understand theory, but maybe I'm just very wrong. After all, birds are being trained to play basketball, make digital art, fish are being trained to play soccer, dogs are being trained to perform complete merengue dances, and so on... so why not?

Go for it.
Even if it's not possible, you'll learn a lot just from trying.

 

[wrench13]

I dont know there bubba. Parrots are plenty smart, with some individuals really smart, but understanding chess? Maybe the moves, with a lot of training with the right parrot, but understanding the theory, the abstract thought needed to actually play the game? I mean Salty, my Amazon is one of those very smart ones, he knows over 40 different tricks, but could he know when to take a bishop or just move a pawn 1 space instead of 2? Probably not.

 

[Greenhouseparrots]

I follow this woman on instagram and she's taught her parrots how to speak using a sound board, how to use a tablet and play simple games and she's even taught them concepts like death, temperature and I think past/present/ future. I'm not sure just how much of it the birds actually know or if it's a lot of editing but it doesn't seem like she's faking it all. One of her birds recently told her that her stomach hurt using the sound board and even though she showed no symptoms, a vet visit confirmed that she had an infection.

If all of that is actually true then I'd say you could teach your parrot to play chess, it might take a very long time but I think it could be possible! It won't hurt to try anyway

 

[ImaParrot]

I dont know there bubba. Parrots are plenty smart, with some individuals really smart, but understanding chess? Maybe the moves, with a lot of training with the right parrot, but understanding the theory, the abstract thought needed to actually play the game? I mean Salty, my Amazon is one of those very smart ones, he knows over 40 different tricks, but could he know when to take a bishop or just move a pawn 1 space instead of 2? Probably not.

Chess.com has a setting where it can show you the possible moves. I think this tool will help immensely. I still don't know how to teach them theory, though. 🙃