The chess games of ?

?
Number of games in database: none
Years covered: none

Search Sacrifice Explorer for ?
Search Google for ?

The question mark symbol (?) is used in chess notation to denote a move which is a mistake, or "blunder". For example, in 1.e4 e5 2.

h5 g6? 3.

xe5+. Two question marks (??) denotes an especially bad move, e.g. 1.e4 e5 2.

e7?? 3.

xe5#. The exact difference between ? and ?? is largely subjective.

The symbol is generally thought to originate from the Latin qućstio, meaning question, which was abbreviated to 'Qo'. The capital 'Q' was written above the lowercase 'o', and this mark was transformed into the modern symbol. Another theory about the origin of the question mark proposes that the mark originated in the 9th century, when it appeared as a point followed by a wavy line, like '.~'. The point has always indicated the end of a sentence. The curved line represented the intonation pattern of a spoken question, and may be associated with a kind of early musical notation, like neums.

In some languages, most notably in Spanish typography since the 18th century, every question mark must be opened and closed; an interrogative sentence or phrase begins with an inverted question mark, "ż" and ends with the familiar question mark "?". (Source: Wikipedia article: %3F)

< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 4 OF 23 · Later Kibitzing>
Apr-06-05		nikolaas: More of these questions please, they're nice! btw my answer to the fifth was a little wormhole. Guess I searched it too far...

Apr-06-05		schnarre: <aw1988> That's an idea!

Apr-07-05		Backward Development: <nikolaas> that's all of my questions for a little while; a lot of the ones online are pretty stupid. Until then, have fun with this one? If chessgames.com didn't exist, how would you spend your spare time?

Apr-08-05		nikolaas: <BD>I would use my board :-)

Apr-09-05		schnarre: <Backward Development> Probably be lost--all hopeless & forlorn, like people in a post office cue on a Thursday.

Apr-09-05		Milo: <people in a post office cue on a Thursday> Not sure what that means, but it'd be a good lyric.

Apr-09-05		Backward Development: Here's another KGA miniature, only this one with a very interesting and correct sacrifice. Unfortunately, my opponent didn't play the best moves, and I won much simpler. W:BD B:NN TC:2'+12" 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Bc4 Bc5? 4. d4?<4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Qh5+ > 4...Bb6?<4...Qh4+ 5.Kf1 Bb4 6.Nf3 Qf6 7.e5 Qf5 ~> 5. Bxf4< White's regained his pawn with a clear advantage."Now I have the pawn and the compensation." :-)> 5...Nf6 6. Nc3 O-O 7. Bb3?!<unecessary loss of time.> 7...c5?<7...Re8 8.Nge2! Nxe4?!<8...d6 =>9.0-0 Nf6 10.Bg5 > 8.Nf3?!<8.dxc5 Bxc5 9.e5! Ne8 10.Ne4 > 8...cxd4 9. Nxd4 Nc6 10. Nf5!?<now things start to get interesting.> 10...g6?<tempting; and just what i wanted! 10...d5! 11.Bxd5 Nxd5 12.Qxd5 Bxf5 13.Qxd8 Raxd8 14.exf5 Rfe8+ 15.Kf1 Nd4 > 11. Nh6+!<of course not retreat!> 11...Kg7 12. Bg5!<subtle move; clearing the f-file> 12...Nd4??<12...Bd4!<forced>13.Ng4 d6 14.e5! Bxe5 15.Nxe5 Nxe5 16.Qd2! Re8 17.0-0 Bf5 18.Rad1 > 13. Rf1< > 13...Qe8??<allowing a forced mate. I saw the mate,<14.Bxf6+ Kxh6 15.Qd2+ Kh5 16.Qg5#> but would rather have played on and played a very interesting and correct sacrifice. 14. Nf5+!! Kh8?? <14... gxf5 is refuted by 15. Bxf6+! Kxf6 16. Qg4 Ke7 17. Qh4+ f6 18. Nd5+ Kd8 19. c3 Ba5 20.0-0-0! Nxb3+ 21.axb3 Bc7 22.Rxf5 Bd6 23.Nxf6 Qe7 24.Rxd6!! Qxd6 25.e5!! and Black loses by force. 25...Qc5 27.Ne4+ Kc7!<27...Qe7? 28.Rxf8+ #'s>28.Nxc5 Rxf5 < ><The Queen and Knight are a deadly force!, especially after 19.Qe7!> 25...Qe7!? 26.Nd5!! < > 25...Qe6 26.Nd5+! < > etc. The text loses immediately and this time I finished my opponent.> 15. Bxf6+ Kg8 16. Nh6# 1-0 That was the most "Tal-like" sac I've ever played in my life, and it was sound! Woohoo! I'm so much more creative in blitz than OTB...

Apr-09-05		dac1990: <BD> 5. It has to be the human brain. It makes sense, since we only really use about 10% of the brain anyway, so not much of anything can completely fill it.

Apr-09-05		child of my tears: <Backward Development> I like the puzzles, couldn't you add heat to the barrel to make it weigh 14 pounds? One morning, at sunrise, a man begins to climb a narrow path that spirals around a mountain. He climbs at varying speeds, stopping often along the way and reaches the top at sunset. He spends the night in a small hut at the top of the mountain before starting his descent at sunrise the next morning. His average speed of descent is, of course, faster than his average speed going up the mountain, and again he stops several times on the way down. <What is the percentage chance there is a spot along the path that he would occupy on both trips at exactly the same time of day?>

Apr-09-05		child of my tears: No tricks, it is incredibly obvious!

Apr-10-05		samvega: This may be fancier than necessary, but consider the equivalent problem of a man travelling along a straight line at varying speeds. Plotting distance vs time, gives some crazy line from the (0,0) up to (x,t1). His journey back is some other crazy line from (x,0) to (0,t2). The two lines, however convoluted, must cross at some point.

Apr-10-05		samvega: Doh! There's a much more straightforward way of looking at it. Just imagine that instead of the man returning the next morning, the man's doppleganger walks down from the summit on the same day that the man starts his ascent -- they must cross paths.

Apr-11-05		tamar: Right <samvega> Around midday the hiker and the doppelganger meet. Both are pursuing the same identical subset of the same path. The hiker is under halfway up. Both look to give way in the same direction. They bump and both become angry. They fight and fall from the mountain. Only one set of footprints is found :-)

Apr-11-05		schnarre: Hmmnnn!!!???

Apr-11-05		Sneaky: A man works nights and comes home to his apartment building each day around 2:00am. Even though he lives on the 20th floor, he always pushes the button for the 14th and walks up the stairs for the remaining floors. The exception is when it's raining, or even when it looks like rain--then he comes home and takes the elevator straight to the 20th floor. Can you explain this man's odd behavior? Note: he is not an exercise enthusiast.

Apr-11-05		tamar: Such an easy one! The man is a door to door lightning rod salesman and he stores his lightning rods at his 20th floor apartment. On normal days, he goes up to the 14th floor to throw off any investigator who has been tailing him, but when the weather is threatening, he has to make sure the elevator is higher than his lightning rods to take any strikes. You can read further about him in Melville's short story "The Lightning-Rod Man"

Apr-11-05		Sneaky: Creative, but wrong.

Apr-11-05		offramp: The man is quite unbelievably tall, and cannot touch certain numbers owing to the way his body is compacted into the lift. On rainy days he carries lightning rod and is able to poke the numbers over his shoulder.

Apr-11-05		offramp: Here is an odd one: Last November Mike met Juliet. What film did they go and see?

Apr-11-05		Sneaky: Was the movie "Romeo Must Die" (Mike was jealous.) <offramp> Funny you should say that, I always carry lightning rods around on rainy days myself. I get a charge out of it. <all> Here's another one... this is kinda weird. Somebody gave it to me on a chess server, I hope I get it right. There is a monestary which houses a large number of monks, a Chief Monk. The Chief Monk is the only monk who talks; all the others have taken a vow of silence. The other odd thing about this monestary is that their sect forbids any reflective or shiney objects--mirrors are out of the question. On a certain day, let's call this "day number zero", the Chief Monk gathers and says "A plague has cursed our monestary. At least one monk has been sticken with a horrible affliction. The proof that you have the affliction is if a dark cross forms visibly on your forehead." This of course is already a problem, since the monks cannot see their own foreheads, and there are no mirrors to be had, and their vow of non-communication prohibits them from asking their neighbor if they have a cross on their forehead! The Chief Monk continues: "Fortunately, the plague is over and all monks which are unafflicted at this time will not become afflicted. However, as to ones which are afflicted, they must leave. Therefore, if any monk among us concludes that they have the mark on the forehead, they should say nothing, and go about their business normally, until the next morning when they are to pack up their bags and immediately depart the monestary." That was day #0. On day #10 (the 10th day after the proclimation above) the last of the afflicted monks left the monestary. Question: How many monks, in total, were afflicted? And how did any of them know to leave?

Apr-11-05		tpstar: 1) The man is a ghetto lord/chief rocker/madhatter out big pimpin' until 2 am when he finally hits the apartment/acorn project/crack house/shooting gallery. On a good night, his skank-a-slores be workin' it 14 through 17, so he knocks them up (= collects profit) on his way up, else they visit Thugz Mansion fo shizzle. Then 18 to 19 represents the crystal meth palace with dusting on the side, then 20 be his crib. Whenever it rains, the baseball game gets cancelled, so his fresh ladies all spend the night at the players' homes instead of the ho-tel, plus the posse breaks out weed instead of rock or ice so they won't pull a Pryor(possible lightning), so he does 20 before the aroma of fresh broccoli makes him all bizzo (reefer madness). Knuck if you buck, G. 2) <How did any of the monks know to leave> It must have crossed their mind.

Apr-11-05		offramp: <Sneaky: Was the movie "Romeo Must Die" (Mike was jealous.)> Not quite. Sort of close, though.

Apr-12-05		cu8sfan: <Sneaky> That's an old story. There were 10 monks with the plague. The important information is that there is at least one monk with the plague. That monk sees no one else that has it and therefore concludes that it must be him. So he'll leave. If there are two they'll leave on the second day. On the first day they assume that there is only one and that one will leave that day. Since he doesn't leave that means the other one sees a monk with the plague as well and that can only be himself. Therefore on the 10th day all the monks that see nine others have concluded that they must have the plague, too and leave. Actually this story is relevant in economy. I read something about the economy crisis in East Asia that only broke out when someone proclaimed that there was a crisis. Gotta look this one up and get back to you later.

Apr-12-05		Sneaky: I've never heard the solution spelled out, cu8sfan, only the riddle. But what you said is exactly what I deduced myself. It's interesting to think of the case where exactly two monks have it. Each of those two monks is staring at all of the other monks noting that only one monk seems to have the mark. Therefore they conclude that either (a) that's the only monk with the mark, or (b) the only two monks with the mark are him and myself. So the next morning those two monks are watching each other like hawks to see if the other one starts to pack his bags. When neither of them do, their fears become confirmed. By the way, who can name a nine letter word in the English language with only one vowel? A five letter word with only one consonant?

Apr-12-05		offramp: Strengths. Queue.

Jump to page # (enter # from 1 to 23)
< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 4 OF 23 · Later Kibitzing>

NOTE: You need to pick a username and password to post a reply. Getting your account takes less than a minute, totally anonymous, and 100% free--plus, it entitles you to features otherwise unavailable. Pick your username now and join the chessgames community!

If you already have an account, you should login now.

Please observe our posting guidelines:

No obscene, racist, sexist, or profane language.
No spamming, advertising, or duplicating posts.
No personal attacks against other users.
Nothing in violation of United States law.

See something which violates our rules? Blow the whistle and inform an administrator.

NOTE: Keep all discussion on the topic of this page. This forum is for this specific player and nothing else. If you want to discuss chess in general, or this site, you might try the Kibitzer's Café.

Messages posted by Chessgames members do not necessarily represent the views of Chessgames.com, its employees, or sponsors.

Spot an error? Please suggest your correction and help us eliminate database mistakes!