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1500 questions
10
votes
3 answers
How would Chess have been played in England in 1450-1600?
I'm trying to reconstruct how Chess would have been played at various points in history in England, specifically at three points: around 1450, 1530, and 1610.
What rules would have been used at these dates? What kinds of boards and pieces might have…
orome
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10
votes
2 answers
How was the FIDE rating system introduced?
I am looking for a historical summary on how the first Elo ratings came about. Apparently in the first official rating list from 1971 there are already ratings in the range of 2200 to 2760. What are these based on? Did they actually run rated…
user1583209
- 20,735
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- 41
- 97
10
votes
3 answers
Counting attackers and defenders, which pieces count?
I've heard multiple times the idea of counting attackers and defenders in estimating whether an attack/sacrifice will succeed. However, I think authors are quite loose in counting who is the attacker and who is the defender. And their decision is…
jf328
- 2,488
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10
votes
2 answers
What is 'control?'
One of the important factors to take into account is 'control' of squares, ranks, files and diagonals. But what exactly, does it mean when we say that a player 'controls' space?
The reason I ask is that many, many times, I have seen commentators…
Dave H
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10
votes
3 answers
Do different nationalities have "notably" different play styles?
In chess, noting the more common countries I've played (Indian Russia, Australia, France, US, China, Japan etc) I've noticed some similarities in their play style. Like how Japanese players, from what I've seen, play aggressive pawns; France and US…
TheAutomaton
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10
votes
7 answers
Helpmate of arbitrary length
One of the FIDE rules states that if someone's flag falls, and there exists a legal sequence of moves such that the other player mates the first player, then the position is a win for the second player. This got me thinking whether this rule can…
TMM
- 379
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10
votes
4 answers
How to calculate the number of combinations for Chess960 positions
Can someone derive how do we get the total number of 960 possible positions for Chess960?
Cool_5275
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10
votes
1 answer
Modified move-order in the KID 4. ..0-0. What is the point and how to react?
A main line in the King's Indian Defense is this 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6. However, black could castle instead of d6:
[FEN " "]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 O-O
Is this a more-or-less inconsequential move order inversion or…
quid
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10
votes
5 answers
How should one resign properly?
In some of the tournaments I've been to, there were pretty indecent people (some of whose licenses were revoked).
One of my friends had a terrible incident. At the end of the game, he was dominating and his opponent looked at him, told him that he…
padawan
- 1,110
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10
votes
1 answer
When is a bishop stronger than a rook?
Usually the rook is stronger than the bishop. Are there situations (and obviously I'm not assuming equal material) in which the latter is stronger?
Vincenzo Oliva
- 202
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10
votes
1 answer
Has anyone ever played and recorded a full game of Taikyoku Shogi?
I have googled for a little while and found pages and pages of rules and explanations but no documentation. Are there any documented games where the moves have been recorded? It's so ridiculous, I don't believe that anyone has ever been able to…
Aric
- 2,081
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10
votes
2 answers
How do I respond to 8. g3?! in the 4. e3 Slav?
This is taken from a rapid game where my opponent threw me by playing 8. g3, coming out of book in the 4. e3 Slav:
[FEN ""]
[StartPly "17"]
1. Nf3 Nf6
2. c4 c6
3. d4 d5
…
user1108
10
votes
1 answer
Mate in N. What is the largest N known?
What known position has one side with a forced mate in N moves, with N the largest? I came across one with 517 moves using only 7 pieces, so there should be much be larger. (Ignoring the 50-move rule).
Dont know if this is on-topic here, - but…
fzk
- 141
- 5
10
votes
9 answers
How to determine if a position is open or closed in a "rigorous" fashion?
I am creating a set of chess positions to be used [as a data set] for a project. It's based on supervised machine learning, but I need to have labeled data (see more italicized text below) before any machine learning can be done. I wish to label…
PartyLovingHermit
- 121
- 9
10
votes
6 answers
Why is en passant only possible on the first opportunity?
Quoting FIDE rulebook:
This capture is only legal on the move following this advance and is called an ‘en passant’ capture.
Quoting Wikipedia:
The en passant capture must be made at the very next turn or the right to do so is lost.
Why?
I know…
DrZ214
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