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1500 questions
31
votes
11 answers
Is allowing takebacks in friendly games a bad practice?
When I am playing friendly games with my brother, if one of us makes a big blunder that would make it pointless to continue playing, instead of quitting, we undo the move(s) to give a second chance (if we both agree, otherwise the one that did the…
ajax333221
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31
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10 answers
How do chess openings work?
A recent question by xaisoft got me thinking about a problem I had as a novice player. When I first started to play chess, I thought that the moves in an opening were independent of the moves made by the other side. For example, so long as white…
Robert Kaucher
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30
votes
5 answers
Can a rook win against a knight in the endgame?
Suppose we have a rook and the opponent has a knight next to his king.
Is it possible to win this game theoretically?
E.g., in the following position (white to move), is it possible for white to win?
[FEN "8/8/8/3n4/3k4/8/K7/R7 w - - 0 1"]
Saeed Amiri
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30
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5 answers
When you check someone, do you have to say "check"?
Yesterday I was playing with a friend, I was almost out of time, he checked me, didn't say anything, I didn't see the check as i was in a hurry to make my move. And I was mated.
Computers don't let you play any move when you're in check. Therefore…
Lynob
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30
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1 answer
Has O-O ever been played without moving the e or g pawns?
Normally the e or g pawn must be moved (to release the bishop) before castling kingside is possible. However, it’s theoretically possible for a knight to have taken the bishop without these pawns ever moving, and thus for short castles to be played…
Brennan Vincent
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10 answers
Is there a way to use handicaps in chess to bridge the gap between players of different skill levels?
Handicapping is routine in the Japanese game Go (my best game). The basic strength unit is one stone, and a one-stone difference represents a full level of difference in strength.
I (about a 1500 player) once asked a 2100 player how much of a…
Tom Au
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30
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2 answers
Why is castling kingside more encouraged than queenside?
I often hear that you should castle kingside first, rather than queenside. What are the advantages of castling the king-side as opposed to the queenside? Sometimes I like castling queenside, because when I do, my rook ends up on an open file.
xaisoft
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30
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4 answers
What is the status for seven man end game table bases?
There are complete (or nearly complete) six man end game table bases available for download, and even online.
What is the status of seven man table bases? Is there still active development in this area? How much progress has been made? Is there any…
Mark Byers
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30
votes
9 answers
How has chess managed to remain a competitive sport despite engine dominance?
As much as people fear losing their jobs to machines that can do them better, Chess has seen the exact opposite take shape. There have been extremely strong chess bots since Kasparov's time, and more recently, the supremacy of chess engines has only…
user3576467
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30
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5 answers
What are some of the best sites to play chess?
What are some of the best sites for online chess?
Free sites with friendly communities are better.
Andrew
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4 answers
As a beginner, how do I learn to win in "won" positions?
I'm fairly new to chess (~3 months) and I have almost entirely been playing on chess.com where my rating sits somewhere between 1000 and 1100. Recently, I decided to sign up for lichess.org, where I was placed at ~1650 as I haven't played many games…
Matt
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30
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9 answers
Why is it not a checkmate?
I am new to chess. I have tried to learn checkmate from the video lesson in chess24 website. There, in one question, it marked my answer wrong and said that it was not checkmate. Can anyone please explain the reason ?
Cagnus Marlsen
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30
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4 answers
Why does Stockfish undervalue pawns when compared to the classical "a piece is worth three pawns" approach?
I was taking a look at values engines give to pawns and piece and was quite shocked by Stockfish values for middlegame (Mg):
PawnValueMg = 128
KnightValueMg = 721 ~ 5.6 pawns
BishopValueMg = 825 ~ 6.4 pawns
RookValueMg = 1276 ~ 9.9…
emdio
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30
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8 answers
Is it poor sportsmanship to resign immediately after a major blunder early in the game?
In a recent (online) game in which I had black, my opponent played an opening variation with which I was unfamiliar. That, a very aggressive attack, and lack of adequate time to think through my moves had me down a pawn and in poor position as we…
GreenMatt
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30
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9 answers
Has anyone attempted to characterize chess mathematically?
From years of being student, researcher, and practitioner of chess, I feel like it possesses completeness and elegance that are found in mathematical proofs and theories. Thus, it seems only natural to imagine that it should be possible to describe…
postoronnim
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