Why chess is the perfect game?

[kairos12]

Because whether King or pawn, everyone ends up in a box.

[Earthshine2]

1. It's egalitarian. Any pawn can become a queen! nt

[lastlib]

2. "once a king, always a king...

...but once a knight is enough."



(this quote was attributed to a chess grandmaster whose name now escapes me.)

[hfojvt]

4. I just played a game against the computer

end game was me with two knights and three pawns against a rook and a pawn. Instead of making my pawns queens on the 8th rank followed by rook takes queen and then king takes rook, I made them knights.

The game ended with the computer's king at b1 and I had knights at b3,c3,d3,b4, and c4. Not your typical checkmate.

[lastlib]

6. Ah, the Five Knights mate!! :-)

Pretty awesome!

I can't seem to beat computer on level 4, but I've beaten it on level 7 and level 8 (supposedly two levels below master). Go figure.

[hfojvt]

8. I was pretty sure I could force mate with 4

but I ended up getting the rook for free with a double fork

I am playing online at lichess,level five, which often plays rather badly, giving away pawns, knights, bishops for no reason (even a fairly bad player would know that after bishop takes knight they should follow with pawn takes bishop, but sometimes the computer won't.)

Still, level 6 beats me about nine times out of 10.

Sometimes I see humans on lichess who are 2000+ and yet their record shows they lost to a 1200 ranked player. ??? The highest ranked player I beat was about 2057, but for some reason he fell to a rather obvious mate in two.

When I play humans I always seem to be paired with people ranked 1850-2100. I am like, can't I ever get paired with a 1400 and have a nice easy victory? Especially after I have lost two or three in a row and then my next opponent is ranked 2033. I wanna tell somebody, come on, I am having a bad night already, give me somebody I can beat.

[lastlib]

9. Theory says it can be done with three knights,

but WTH--if ya got five knights, use 'em!

I have avoided online play--too afraid I'd get too addicted to it. Good luck to you!

[hfojvt]

11. yes and I should know that too

since I used to play a lot of Peasant's Revolt - which is a king and 4 knights against a king and 8 pawns. I had programmed that in to chessmaster, but if you played at a high enough level, you could not win with the pawns.

Now the internet tells me I was doing it wrong, supposed to be 4 knights and a pawn or 3 knights and a pawn versus 8 pawns.

I played against humans online for a couple of months, but I went back to computer play. It is sort of more casual, and I can pause it and take back moves. Playing against humans, I lost at least 4 games by slip ups accidentally moving to A4 instead of A5 like I wanted.

[hfojvt]

3. chess isn't fun enough to be a game

and isn't serious enough to be real life

[PJMcK]

5. Wow!

Respectfully, I don't think you understand the game.

To its adherents, Chess is tremendous fun and it's deadly serious.

Regardless, have a great weekend!

[hfojvt]

7. actually not my quote

but goog does not seem to know who said it.

I understand the game well enough to be 1967 in blitz at lichess after 727 games. Although honestly, I probably get about 20% of my victories because of the clock.

[Paladin]

10. My father taught me the game.

But not in the feverish detail that is reflected in "The Queen's Gambit" TV series. I understand that chess sets are becoming hard to find this holiday season, on account of that well-made show.

[lastlib]

13. wholesalechess.com has about anything you'd want

altho they don't get too exotic.

Every year I donate a chess set to Toys For Tots. Hoping some young'un gets the bug.

[Doc_Technical]

12. Simon & Garfunkel - Flowers Never Bend with the Rainfall

No matter if you're born
To play the King or pawn
For the line is thinly drawn 'tween joy and sorrow
So my fantasy
Becomes reality
And I must be what I must be and face tomorrow

[lastlib]

14. "Mongo only Pawn in Game of Life."

--Blazing Saddles.

Great verse, great song! (Great musicians!)

[rogerballard]

15. Endgame...

[Major Nikon]

16. Not sure who decides such things. My vote goes for Twister