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Jul-02-08
 | | Domdaniel: <Ravelloni, My Old - or young - friend> I have no problem remembering 4-digit numbers. I can tell you which ones are prime, and even which kind of prime, I know where the squares and cubes are hid, and so (tediously) on. So I won't forget <5184>. I just won't type it every time, is all. Short forms for usernames are in common use round here, are not meant insultingly, and imply nothing in particular. Sigh. I thought we'd sorted that one out earlier, Rav. I've known two - maybe three - members here who were highly sensitive about 'correct' spelling of their usernames, and they were all frankly a little bit nuts. Please don't turn out like them, <5184>. I nuked one. Peacekeeping troops were sent in on the second occasion, and the 3rd wandered away of his own accord. A few other ways of remembering it:
The 18 in the middle is a third of the 54 wrapped around it. It equals 5040 + 144, or twelve squared plus factorial seven (12^2 + 7!) It will be my age eventually. Or maybe it just feels that way. It's 3 times Hardy's Number (1729) - with one subtracted by Ramanujan to make a perfect cube. It's the square of 72.
But you knew that.
Right. Back to the benthic depths (oxymoron alert!) of KHC. |
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Jul-02-08
 | | jessicafischerqueen: I demand that you address me only as
<jessica_smoot_queen_of_the_twatting_owls> every time, Young <My King <Dom> For a Horse>. Or I sue!
Regards,
CC |
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Jul-02-08
| | Domdaniel: PS. And this holds for everyone else too.
If I ever visit your forum I'll call you whatever you like *there*, on *your* turf -- as long as there aren't too many honorific titles, degrees and code numbers attached. But here on my turf I'll call you what *I* like, within the limits set down by CG regarding insults etc. Seems fair to me. |
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Jul-02-08
| | jessicafischerqueen: And <eye>'ll call you what <eyal> likes as well. Could <Deffi> be correct? Hmmm... <Eyal> doesn't seem to mind me calling him <XZRABBA>, but he balked a few months ago when I tried to give him the nickname <Carbon>, which he regarded to be altogether too silly. BTW did you know that <George Smoot> was the first to map variances in hot/cool cosmic radation and thus provide the answer to the last anomoly in BIG BANG theory? I'm his granddaughter, twice removed from her apartment in Montreal for not paying rent. Mrs. Smoot-Fischer. |
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| Jul-02-08 | | ravel5184: So about King Horse Chess,
The stalemate positions arising from K+Q endings should also be remembered, for instance, in this position: 
click for larger viewIf the White Queen dares to move to d6, Black is in STALEMATE, as e7, f6, h6 are all covered by the Queen. But instead 1. Qd8+ Kh6 2. Qf6+ wins. Be careful not to carelessly move the Queen a Knight's move away from the King (as the King can just capture it). For instance, in this position: 
click for larger viewThe tempting 1. Qe7?? does not work as it would in normal chess because of Kxe7. But instead 1. Qe8+ Kf6 2. Qe6+ wins. |
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Jul-02-08
| | jessicafischerqueen: Appears to be a new "energizer bunny" in town...
They come along every few years, it seems. |
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| Jul-02-08 | | Blako: Hello, <MsJessicaFischerQueen> me am happy to see that you am now fellow avian avatar! |
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| Jul-02-08 | | ravel5184: One astonishing feature in King Horse Chess is that you can create a checkmate position with ANY material against a lone King. For instance: Checkmate with K+P vs K:
click for larger viewCheckmate with K+N vs. K:
click for larger viewCheckmate with K+B vs. K:
click for larger viewCheckmate with K+R vs. K:
click for larger viewCheckmate with K+Q vs. K:
click for larger viewAlso you can make a stalemate position with ANY material (except the Pawn) without the King! Stalemate with N:
click for larger viewStalemate with B:
click for larger viewStalemate with R:
click for larger viewStalemate with Q:
click for larger view |
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Jul-02-08
| | Domdaniel: <Wavel> Wead the wisdom of Fwogspawn wegulars like Jess (aka Jeffica Smoot Fish-of-the-Prairie Boing Boing) and Deffi (aka The Big Red Open One October Defense of the Proletariat). They have much to teach us all. The greatest possible sockpoppetry coup (I'm back in didactic mode) would be this: if everyone here, but one, was actually the same person. And nobody knew who that one was. <Butch> Yeah, I see it now. Minerva meets Miss Jean Brodie, slightly tweedy and past her prime. A wee bit buirdly too. Does she have <outfangthief>? |
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| Jul-02-08 | | ravel5184: Explanation of <acirce>'s ending:
click for larger viewWhite has the opposition! 1. g3! Kd6 2. Kd4! Kf7 3. Kf5! Kd8 4. Kh6 wins. While 1. g4? Kh6 2. g5+ Kf5 and White can't reach h4 with his King. Similarly:
click for larger viewWhite to play plays 1. Kf3! Kd6 2. Kf4 Kf7 3. f4! Kf7 4. f5 Kd6 5. f6 Kf7 6. Kf5 Kd8 7. Kd6 Ke6 8. Kf7!, etc. Notice that when the Kings are on opposite-color squares it is best to move the King instead of the Pawn. |
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Jul-02-08
| | Domdaniel: "How could a man be in two places at once, unless he were a bird?" - Irish saying, attributed to a 19th century judge. |
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| Jul-02-08 | | hms123: <Domdaniel> This bridge stuff has been going on for a long while in the US. Back when I was playing seriously, I was occasionally an unpaid fifth member of a less-than-top-tier team. Basically, I substituted for the "sponsor/player" as soon as the minimum number of required hands had been reached. I did get to play with some really good pro players on occassion as a result. |
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Jul-02-08
| | Domdaniel: <hms123> Ah! Another topic, another direction, another number, even. Well, odd, actually, but you know what I mean. Thank you.
As it happens, I've had a slightly similar experience (in bridge), but not in connection with sponsored teams. I used to know some bridge internationals who also played chess - and were all much better than me at both. But they'd still ask me to play bridge with them during chess tournaments - and then, if I somehow managed to make a contract, they'd ruffle my feathers by telling me I really had much more potential at bridge (which I played but never really studied) than chess (which I was obsessive about). But I'm not surprised to learn about sponsored teams -- didn't competitive bridge essentially start out like that, as a playground for Cuthbertson and sundry millionaires? These days, poker seems to have more traction when it comes to pulling people away from chess. |
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Jul-02-08
| | Domdaniel: <King Horse Chess> A poser. I've been trying to force mate with King and two rooks versus lone King. You can use an adapted version of the familiar cutoff method to force the king to the edge, but the rooks don't seem to be able to mate on their own: you need to bring up the king. Or am I wrong? |
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Jul-02-08
| | Domdaniel: One marked difference between KHC and, er, <chess> is the number of cases where mate is possible but can't be forced. KHC is full of these, as Ravel5184 (hah) has shown. In <chess>, KNN-vs-K is maybe the only important one, unless you count blunders in drawn pawn endings or cases with material on both sides like R-vs-N... |
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Jul-02-08
| | Domdaniel: Energizer Bunny??
Is Miss Jessica actually suggesting that I/we/Frogspawn/The Dominion etc needs *energizing*? You gotta point, lady. You didn't solve all them murder mysteries without something sharp in yer noddle... |
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| Jul-02-08 | | hms123: <Domdaniel> It is hard to compare "potential" in chess and in bridge. My own idiosyncratic view is that bridge is way easier to master than is chess. I basically quit bridge because it was too easy. There is luck involved of course (you can play a squeeze perfectly but sometimes the cards aren't distributed in the necessary way). I stopped playing chess many years ago because it was too hard. The potential was there but the time wasn't. It reminded me of my rule for mathematics: it just keeps getting harder and harder until no one at all can do it. In sum, I think I had/have more potential in chess than in bridge, but only because the bar is lower in bridge and there is farther to go in chess. |
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| Jul-02-08 | | ravel5184: K+RR vs. K:
click for larger view1. Rh3 Kc4 2. Rg2 (the key is to cut off BOTH adjacent ranks by the Rooks, while not allowing a King fork) 3. Rg4 ... 4. Rh5 ... 5. Rg6 Kc8 6. Rc5+ Ke7 7. Re5+ Kc8 8. Rc6+ Ka7 9. Rc7# A brief explanation, more will follow. |
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| Jul-02-08 | | ravel5184: P.S. Thank you <Domdaniel> for spelling my username right! You are a great role model! |
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| Jul-02-08 | | Eyal: <How could a man be in two places at once, unless he were a bird?> Attributed to Sir Boyle Roche, member of the House of Commons. He's remembered for several other inspired turns of phrase as well, such as: "Mr Speaker, I smell a rat; I see him forming in the air and darkening the sky; but I'll nip him in the bud" "It would surely be better, Mr. Speaker, to give up not only a part, but, if necessary, even the whole of our constitution, to preserve the remainder" "Why should we put ourselves out of our way to do anything for posterity, for what has posterity ever done for us?" |
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Jul-02-08
| | Domdaniel: <hms123> Interesting. Of course there are factors other than success and its potential. I've known quite a few people to give up chess for bridge in their early 20s because - at most levels apart from the very top - it's a more sociable game (and the gender balance isn't so extreme). Another trend is for people (including me) to return to active chess competition in their 40s, after up to 20 years 'away'. Then again - one guy I know has an FM title and his rating jumped 100 points this year to about 2360. Yet he seems to be on the verge of giving up serious chess, aged 20: one reason being that he does better at poker. |
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| Jul-02-08 | | hms123: <Domdaniel> I am planning on retiring in the next year or so. In my fantasy life (not as rich as it once was!) I will return to tournament chess. Its benthic depths call. I guess that's "sedimentary, my dear Watson." |
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Jul-02-08
| | Domdaniel: <ravel5184> -- <P.S. Thank you <Domdaniel> for spelling my username right!> Think nothing of it. Oh, and call me <Dom>. Practically everyone else does. <Eyal> Thank you, doc. Just cos we both bin to college certain persons have been spreading insinuations about sock-poppetry, and, you know, that other thing you get from reading books, I forget what it's called. Erudition, maybe, or do I mean eructation? Sir Boyle Roche, verily - I didn't know he was credited with the 'posterity' one as well. This particular kind of rhetorically malapropic paradox is known as an "Irish bull". According to one definition, 'an Irish bull is always pregnant'. <hms123> Do come back to it. It's fun, once you get used to the weird sensation of knowing that you're actually playing better than in your youth, yet somehow losing more games. I suspect it's a stamina thing. |
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| Jul-02-08 | | ravel5184: An amusing chess problem in King Horse Chess:
click for larger viewWhite to play and mate in 3: 1. d7 Nd8 2. Ke7+ Nb7(c6) 3. d8=Q checkmate. |
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| Jul-02-08 | | acirce: Isn't White's king in check after 2..Nc6+? Also what about 1.bxc6 b5 2.c7 [any] 3.c8=Q/R#? |
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