CURRENT BOARD (Turn 2): Medium difficulty (Elo rank: ~1600) against the computer. I have to use some website thing so if this suddenly stops all blame goes to myself. The above board will be updated periodically with the latest move made. All of you members shall post the moves you wish to make each turn (in a general vote of frequency) and an update of the board will be posted after each computer move. Have a move you are certain is superior? Convince others through discussion if needed be. You are white. The computer is black. * A note about the rules of the game: Spoiler How to play chess: http://www.chess.com/learn-how-to-play-chess * A note about making moves: Spoiler Chess has a specific notation to keep track of moves, called algebraic notation. Look at the bottom of the board and the left of the board. You will see letters and numbers. The board is essentially a coordinate system. When you want to move a piece, you can type: <letter of piece><coordinate of board square you want to move the piece to, with letter first then number> For example, if I wanted to move the knight to square c3, I would say, "Nc3". In the case of pawns, there is no <letter of piece>, just the name of the square you want to move to. For example, if I wanted to move the pawn in front of the king two squares, I would say, "d4". When taking a piece, you would add an x after the <letter of piece> and before the letter for the square you wish to take a piece on. If there were a piece on the c3 square I wanted to take with my knight, no matter what piece it could be, I could say, "Nxc3". With pawns, you just use the letter of the square your pawn is currently on. If there was a piece on the e5 square I wanted to take with my d4 pawn from before, I would write. "dxe5". Castling kingside is O-O and queenside is O-O-O, but you can just suggest to castle in the post without needing to use any algebraic notation if you are uncomfortable. LIST OF <letter of piece>: K - king Q - queen B - bishop N - knight R - rook __ - pawn (nothing) It may take some time getting used to, so it is okay to slowly take your time in using it. But when used, you can re-create entire chess games from a few letters and numbers using simply the algebraic notation. When you look at them, you may oftentimes see things like 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. c4 ... and et cetera. These are just the turns (3 shown here), showing the movement of white (first) and black (second) each turn. So here, white moved the pawn in front of the king (the pawn on e2) two spaces forward, to e4. Black mirrored the move, moving her pawn on e7 two spaces forward to e5. Next, white played the knight to square c3, and so on. Good luck.
It's not really that hard. But I'm convinced I have to make some sort of sacrifice to beat the Mac chess program.
Voted Move: Nc3 (Nova switches!) 1. d4 d5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Spoiler ACT I Enter Knight of the White Queen, Knight of the Black King The battlefield is quiet and cold. Grey pillow-like clouds spit droplets of rain onto the browned steppe-grass as each army sets forward its first front-line pawns, little emotionless robotic toys rusting at the edges but square and blocky enough to provide suitable cover. From behind a rolling hill, the Knight of the White Queen rolls forward along the steppe, crankshaft-rifle in hand and helmet sitting tightly upon her head, her face covered by a blank white mask. With a strike of the arm, she motions to her friends before her that the enemy is near. The scent of rain dangles in the air. She calls out towards the very end of the grass, beyond the deep mist, and is responded by the thick pounding of hooves upon soil. The Knight of the Black King, a wild and enormous lion-like figure, his horse covered in gears and his chest fused with smoke-billowing pipes of cold metal, yells out a curse in response as he sends himself charging forward, holding ground behind the pawn, keeping safe for cover and protection. KNIGHT WQ You've no match this time, friend. KNIGHT BK WHAT'S THIS? THE LITTLE ONE FEELS SHE CAN CHARGE ONWARDS TO VICTORY AGAIN? SAVE YOUR BREATH. The pipes blasting black smoke out of the Knight of the Black King rumble in hollow, metallic laughter. The horns on his metal helmet shake wildly in the sky. KNIGHT WQ Hold your tongue! Today is a different day. We have been graced by the voice of the gods. The Knight of the White Queen points her crankshaft-gun at the black pawn. KNIGHT WQ The voices of the many will guide us to victory. KNIGHT BK THE BLACK KING HEARS THE SAME STORY DAY AFTER DAY. AH-HAH! NO MATTER HOW FAR YOU COULD PUSH IN YOUR EFFORTS TO CAPTURE HIM, THE VOICE OF MERE GODS WHO CARE NOTHING ABOUT YOU WILL BE SILENCED BY THE NOISE OF GUNS AND FURY.
Voted Move: h4 1. d4 d5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. h4 Nc6 4. Spoiler ACT I Enter Knight of the Black Queen A horn sounds in the distance, and the Knight of the Black King turns to hold fast towards the arrival of the second commander. From upon the misty steppes comes an unearthly steed. Although the horse churns forward with blackpowder, smoke, and metal, the Knight of the Black Queen sits gallantly upon the equine contraption, nothing but a blank mannequin stitched from tattered cloth in ancient High Middle Ages armour, large trumpets and horns of black brass protruding in a crowded, forested mess from the back of the mannequin.. If it weren't for the infamous danger that the Knight of the Black Queen posed, the Knight of the White Queen would have been forgiven for thinking little of this strange creature. But this was not the case.
Last Christmas, I watched my kind of smarter than average nephew play chess with the genius son of my cousin. My nephew did horribly and then had to leave midgame*, so I took over and pretty much fixed every single mistake that he made. I couldn't totally save the game, but I did turn it around so I wasn't at a total disadvantage. *For reference, he had his king on the opposite half of the board. I only managed to fix this by getting the other guy's king into check in such a combination of ways that the entire board got switched around. From the position I was in, this was easy.
