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1500 questions
28
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8 answers

Would an ensemble of chess engines beat the best one?

In many areas such as prediction and classification, ensemble methods tend to outperform individual methods. This made me wonder if it would make sense to pick a few of the top chess engines and work with them together to make a stronger one. Let us…
Dennis Jaheruddin
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What is the fastest way to reach stalemate?

It is known that the minimum number of moves required for checkmate is 2 moves (4 half moves) resulting in a victory for Black. However, what is the minimum number of moves required for stalemate? Clearly, this would take a lot more moves since no…
Haran
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28
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4 answers

Stalemate situation with all pieces on the board

Suppose all the pieces are on the board. Does there exist a position such that A) one of the players can't make any move (a stalemate)? B) neither player can make any move (a double stalemate)?
Sharlotta Neimor
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28
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4 answers

What does this chess proverb mean?

"Chess is a sea where a gnat may drink from and an elephant may bathe in." ~ Anonymous The above proverb is scattered everywhere throughout chess literature, folklore and even software. I have never fully understood its meaning, however. Does the…
lolololol ol
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28
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2 answers

How do age and initial rating correlate to decline in playing strength with age?

The current Rausis phone cheating scandal saw a player with an initial rating of about 2500 in his 50's improve by about 200 rating points in 6 years. This improvement was remarkable because older players are expected to get weaker with age. It…
Brian Towers
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28
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3 answers

Why always 4...dxc6 and not 4...bxc6 in the Ruy Lopez Exchange?

[FEN "r1bqkbnr/1ppp1ppp/p1B5/4p3/4P3/5N2/PPPP1PPP/RNBQK2R b - - 0 1"] In the Ruy Lopez Exchange, black always takes back the bishop with 4...dxc6. In Timothy Taylor's 2011 book Slay the Spanish, he advocates 4...bxc6 instead. I want to analyze his…
RemcoGerlich
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28
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1 answer

What openings typify 21st century chess?

What openings are particularly typical of 21st century chess so far? To be more clear, which openings are particularly popular in the 21st century relative to the 20th century? For example, certain hypermodern defenses became a lot more popular in…
Andrew Latham
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3 answers

Spectacular queen sacrifice game

I once watched a famous chess game that I can't find anymore and maybe someone could help me find it. The game I watched evolved somehow natural until one moment: player1 sacrifices its queen. The spectacularity in this move consists on the fact…
Jacob Krieg
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2 answers

Was there ever a time when the goal in chess was to capture the king?

The modern rules of chess, except for the stalemating being a draw, are basically equivalent to a game in which the goal is just to capture the king, not checkmate him. It's plausible that in the oldest versions of chess, this was indeed the goal,…
Jack M
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When en passant is the only legal move

Consider the following position: 8/7p/5K1k/8/7p/7P/5PP1/8 w - - 0 1 1. g4 hxg3 In the above postion, White plays g2-g4. The only legal move is hxg3, en passant. I heard someone say that since the en passant capture is optional, Black can refuse to…
Andrea Mori
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27
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What should you do when opponent opens with excessive pawn moves?

As a beginner I'm not spending much time studying openings (there are so many!) but trying to work on opening principles. One principle I've read is not to move too many pawns in your opening moves. So, when an opponent opens with a long sequence of…
Corvus
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5 answers

How can I make chess interesting and fun for beginners and doubters?

I love playing chess, but I find that it is difficult to find people who are willing to commit time to play games with me. I'm not a great player (I've never memorized moves or openings) but I have played enough to know my way around. I invite…
brentonstrine
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6 answers

What is sufficient mating material?

The FIDE chess rules describe that "The game is draw when a position is reached from which a checkmate cannot occur by any possible series of legal moves" (FIDE rule 9.6). This rules is sometimes referred to as "Insufficient mating material rule",…
Morten Zilmer
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27
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5 answers

Longest sequence of mutually forced moves

In this position, the black move 1. ... Qc3 results in two consecutive forced moves, Kxc3 and Ke7: 2rkr3/2p5/2q5/8/8/8/3KP3/3R4 b - - 0 1 1... Qc3 2. Kxc3 Ke7 What is the longest sequence of mutually forced moves that can be constructed on a…
user2659
27
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12 answers

What is the easiest possible way to start teaching children how to play chess?

As a followup to What is the earliest possible age to start teaching children how to play chess?, I'm wondering: What is the easiest possible way to start teaching children how to play chess? The point is that at such an early age, it's possible,…
blunders
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