We are at the Church of St. Mary of Prayer and Death. Yes. Really.
Welcome registrant:
mfk*** (email address… not a great idea. But, hey!)
Meanwhile, this is tricky. White to move and mate in TWO.
NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.
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3:16 isn’t just in John.
In chessy news, Vladimir Kramnik keeps harping on statistics and Hikaru’s great success online. Also, Niemann won in Zagreb. Interesting point: the organizers kept lengthening the delay between actual play and transmission of the moves to the outside world. Some of the players sent out both sarcastic and pointed messages about the victory. Also, FIDE has now introduced the Gender Equality Index, apparently unaware that gender and sex are not the same thing. They seem to be trying to legislate parity. I’ve often wondered if there is a difference in the ways that men and women play. Note well that Prag’s sister has just become a GM, not a WGM. I know that girls and women have not always been treated equally (or well) in tournaments, which has prompted the need for a separate women’s classification. Anyway, shades of China, federations will now be “scored” on the basis of some criteria.
On another tangent, you have heard of the Golden Rule. In the Sermon on the Mount the Lord said:
“So whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them; for this is the law and the prophets” (Matthew 7:12).
Ancient Greek philosophers had similar lines. Makes sense, right? However, Christ’s statement, which condenses the Second Tablet, has divine authority, not the authority of common sense.
I learned to my shock that there is now a Platinum Rule. I guess that’s supposed to trump the Golden Rule since gold per ounce is now about US$2072 and platinum is $944… hmmm…. no wait… that’s less, isn’t it. Well… ummm… platinum has qualities that gold lacks. For example, platinum is denser and more durable. I digress.
The Platinum Rule is “Do unto others, wherever possible, as they would want to be done to them.”
That “wherever possible” leaves a pretty big hole.
QUAERITUR: Is such a rule beneficial if there is, among those with whom you are dealing, no interest in or perception about the fact of objective truth?
Meanwhile, maybe it’s time to learn to play one of these theremins.
The theremin was one of the first electronic instruments invented (1920) pic.twitter.com/RKqSSmUGLc
— Historic Vids (@historyinmemes) December 1, 2023
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De Goodde Bruvver Eccles hath sur-passèdde his-selffe here :
http://ecclesandbosco.blogspot.com/2023/12/burkegate-what-pope-francis-really-said.html
1. Qh1 . . .
Black can move the g pawn or the knight here. A g pawn move allows Qa1#, which cannot be blocked. Any black knight move moves the knight off the h file, where it is blocking the queen, and white follows with 2. Ng6#. The h pawn is pinned by the queen and cannot capture the knight.
Interesting image. I thought capirotes were Spanish? In any event, an idea that now has a different vernacular than its original intent.
Qh5, g6
Qe5#
or
Qh5, N…
Ng6#
The 5 most “equal” nations (Mongolia, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Vietnam, and Namibia) according to FIDE have top 10 open players whose average rating is 2446, 2176, 2154, 2478, and 1911. They are only “equal” to the degree the men are worse players.
If you were a women’s chess player you’d much rather be in the countries with strong chess programs – US, the Soviet Bloc countries, and more recently China and India. The average top 10 women in these countries are around 2350 (as high as 2430 and 2480 in India/China). But these countries all have several 2700+ GMs as well (because they are countries with strong chess programs).
I suspect an honest study of the matter would conclude 1) not as many girls start in chess because it’s a nerdy thing to do as a kid; 2) not as many girls persevere in chess because it is an individual sport (lots of time spent studying alone) and there are some real creeps in the chess world (probably because it’s an individual sport :D); 3) girls do not have as much access to top coaches/tournaments (boys get there first). All of that is real, and explains where there are many fewer women at the FM/IM level (which should be achievable by a precocious kid who sets their mind to it and has some resources). I suspect the leap between IM and GM (and super GM) is much more about innate ability though (we see this in top children players who max out somewhere between IM and 2650 GM). To get to 2725+ requires a unique talent that some just don’t have. I suspect more men than women have that, as IQ studies have suggested as well.
Knight to F5
1. Qe5 Knight anywhere (only moveable piece)
2. Qg7#
Whoops! I was wrong. Black can protect g7 by moving the knight to f5. beggingformercy got it.
The best theremin players I’ve seen always seem to have painfully-flexible fingers, as they contort them nearly beyond what seems natural….as beautiful as that sound is, I think I’ll stick with the piano!
https://youtu.be/JxY_KfQfoog?si=zLXG8-gxRVpJjab7