White forfeits. New ratings: SudoRandom, 50; Radiant_Darkness, 140.
Category: Chess
Chess Game: Radiant_Darkness vs. pie girl, 1-0
Chess Eterna-ment Rankings
Inspection of the chess games on the blog found only one game (Tesseract vs. bookgirl_me) still in progress*. To keep things tidy going into the new year, the Chess GAPA (Robert) has adjudicated and closed all other games** of standard chess and calculated new MuseBlog Chess Ratings on the basis of the results. Ratings for Capablanca and Turbo Chess are unaffected.
Here are the new ratings, as of January 4, 2011 (numbers in parentheses indicate number of games on which the rating is based).
*(Finished on January 8; ratings updated to reflect the result.)
Latest update: 24 September 2011.
Attention, Chessplayers!
The latest version of our chess software has an option for bigger boards (with squares 48 pixels wide instead of the usual 32). We’re giving it a try. Let us know how you like it. If the boards are too big now, we can go back to the smaller ones.
(There’s a sample below the fold.)
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Latest Chess Results
The game cromwell vs. Jakob Wonkychair has ended in a victory for cromwell, who now moves up to second place on the MuseBlog Chess Ladder.
MuseBlog Chess Ladder
This is where we’ll keep track of all MuseBlog Chess Ratings, with separate “ladders” for standard chess and the two chess variants played on the blog. We’ll update the list at the end of each game. (Please remind us if we don’t.)
Last updated: 25 June 2010
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Chess Problems, Set 3: Checkmate in Two Moves
The theme for this problem set is pins: situations in which a piece cannot move, because it screens a player’s king from check. (Under the rules of chess, you’re never allowed to make a move that puts your own king in check.)
In this simplified position, for example, Black’s rook, bishop, and pawn are all pinned:
So White can play either
- rook takes bishop, checkmate!
- queen takes bishop, checkmate! or, most dramatically,
- queen takes pawn, checkmate!
In each case, Black can’t recapture, because the pieces needed to do the job are pinned. So near, and yet so far! (Do you see why, after White plays queen takes pawn, neither Black’s rook nor bishop can capture the queen?)
Now, on to the real problems. Each is a “forced mate in two”: White moves, then Black moves, then White checkmates no matter what Black tries to do:
Continue reading “Chess Problems, Set 3: Checkmate in Two Moves”
Chess: Tesseract vs. bookgirl_me — 0-1
MuseBlog ratings at the start of the game: Tesseract, 50; bookgirl_me, 260.
Ratings after game: Tess, 40; book girl, 270.
Chess: Piggy vs. bookgirl_me — 0-1
Pre-game MuseBlog ratings: Piggy, 210; bookgirl_me, 200. As White, Piggy moves first.
Chess: cromwell vs. Jakob Wonkychair — 1-0
MuseBlog ratings going into the game: cromwell, 100; JW, 110.
As White, cromwell moves first.
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Solutions to Chess Problems, Set 2
If you feel you’ve stared at chess problem set 2 as much as you can stand, the answers are here.
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Chess Problems, Set 2
All are “mate in two” problems: White moves, Black moves, then White checkmates. No “one-move” boards this time.
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Chess Problems, Set 1
One of the big challenges for some chessplayers is knowing when they’ve won. Sometimes a checkmate is staring them in the face, but they don’t see it. These chess problems are designed to help you recognize checkmate.
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Unfinished Chess Games, 26 April 2010
Some of these games are still in progress; most have clearly been abandoned. The sheer numbers are impressive, we guess.
Chess: Piggy vs. Jakob Wonkychair — 1-0
Created April 25, 2010. Each player enters the game with a MuseBlog rating of 160. If the game is a draw, the ratings won’t change. Otherwise, the winner will end up with 210, the loser with 110.
Chess: Enceladus vs. SudoRandom
We could call this game the Duel of Convergent Gravatars.
Chess: Ducky vs. Pseudonym — Concluded!
Your wish is our command.
Chess: gimanator vs. oxlin
First game for each. Hail, gladiators!
MuseBlog Chess Ratings
Just for fun, we’ve decided to give players in our Chess Eternament numerical ratings based on the English Chess Federation (ECF) system. Whenever you finish a game, you get a new rating based on your pre-game rating, your opponent’s pre-game rating, and the outcome of the game. (Results below.)
Chess: Jacob Wonkychair vs. muselover — 1-0
Ready when you are.
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Latest Chess Results
Here, as far as we can tell, are the results of all chess games played to completion so far in the Muse Academy Chess Eterna-ment:
Regular Chess
bookgirl_me > mason
Ducky > Kiga
Purple Panda > TMFA
Piggy > RoseQuartz
Jakob Wonkychair > Tesseract
cromwell > Ducky
Ducky = Keiffer
peary moppins > Pseudonym
Piggy > SudoRandom
Capablanca Chess
bookgirl_me > POSOC
cromwell > Enceladus
Turbo Chess
bookgirl > Jakob Wonkychair
Turbo Chess: Ducky vs. mas0n
We haven’t had a Turbo game for a while. This should be a nice change.
Chess: peary moppins vs. Keiffer
Keiffer has been playing White and peary Black a lot lately, so this game mixes things up a little.
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Chess: bookgirl_me vs. cromwell — 1-0
Two undefeated players (by our count, cromwell has won 1 standard game and 1 Capablanca Chess game on the blog; bookgirl_me has won 1 standard game, 1 Capablanca game, and 1 game of Turbo Chess). As usual, we’ve assigned the black pieces to the person who requested the game.
bookgirl_me, as White, moves first.
Continue reading “Chess: bookgirl_me vs. cromwell — 1-0”
Chess: Pax the Hamster vs. Ducky
Pax, White; Ducky, Black.