The multiple computer chess world champion comes in a new and yet more powerful version. Thanks to co-author US Grandmaster Larry Kaufman, Komodo is the strategist among the top chess programs!
Before I learned any chess history from school or books, I was made aware of its migration out of India via Persia from the original 1984 concept album of the musical CHESS, which I listened to, as a child, countless times on double LP, lying on the floor of our ChessBase-red carpeted living room on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The "Story of Chess" is a high-speed tour through the history of our game which comes amid the musical's epic finale. (Incidentally, the prior track is how I learned the order of the classical World Champions, through Karpov.)
But for the present moment, the second song from the first act provides a more poignant sound track:
"The man is utterly mad! You're playing a lunatic."
"That's the problem. He's a brilliant lunatic — you can't tell which way he'll jump. Like his game, he's impossible to analyse. You can't disect him, predict him — which of course means...he's not a lunatic at all." -CHESS, the musical
One man's genius may be another's madman, and the cover of the current issue of New Scientist magazine features a pair who — depending on whom you ask — are considered both, with each also regarded as a maniacal, psychopathic, self-absorbed man-child, plagued by an inability to admit error.
Our cover this week: End Game
— New Scientist (@newscientist) September 21, 2017
Get it on newsstands, in-app or at https://t.co/raoiaVtagB
🖌️ @Crackedhat pic.twitter.com/dQgfdHB9Rb
"End Game" you say? Looks more like the very early days of a curious opening. Let's take a closer look:
Detail of 'End Game' by Robert Carter | Source: @Crackethat on Twitter
A few things jumped out at me right away:
It's difficult to make out the pieces considering they are all some version of the Little Boy bomb (appropriate considering the players), but just in varying sizes. But as far as I can tell it's something like this:
Or maybe the rooks are there after all — on g1 and g8 — and we have something more like this?
It sure looks to me like there's no piece on the b8 square, and don't ask me what sequence of moves it would take to reach these positions — if it can be done at all.
The analogue clocks show about 1:12 for Kim and about 6:25 for Trump. Being charitable I speculated that perhaps it was a reference to the disparate times zones, but Pyongyang is 12½ hours away from Washington DC, so that's a no-go.
It's all such a waste of an opportunity. Here we have the game which has become synonymous with geopolitical intrigue almost to the point of cliché, and all they can think up is big bombs for pieces.
First of all, for a story entitled "End Game", how about showing one? Next, the relative power imbalance in the respective militaries of the USA and North Korea could also be easily represented; have Trump playing with most of his army, while Kim has but a few pieces remaining. Instead of all pieces being the same boring bombs, they could also signify something more complex, perhaps each side reflecting its cultural heritage in some way.
Or, if that's too involved, then just give Kim one bomb — as his nuclear deterrence — to Trump's massive arsenal, only the catch is he's one move away from stalemate — with Trump reaching to make precisely the wrong move that lets victory slip away.
The clocks should presumably have their flags either hanging by a thread, or in some other way indicating the pressure in the situation — that time is running out! Otherwise what are they there for? Window dressing?
Trump didn't even know America had any grandmasters, or rather "grand chess masters" — as he put it! He'd be liable to lose focus and move on to something else in about the time it takes to fire off this tweet:
Kim Jong Un of North Korea, who is obviously a madman who doesn't mind starving or killing his people, will be tested like never before!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 22, 2017
Or, maybe he'd be 'clever' and hide his mobile phone under the table, alternating between tweeting, trying to kill Obamacare, and checking out the position on Komodo.
Top the image off with Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping whispering moves into the players ears while simultaneously grinning at each other.
Speaking of which, have you noticed the Chinese President in Tbilisi accompanying Ding Liren!? Now that's some national support!
Just kidding...it's Ding's coach GM Xu Jun on the left, and Xi Jinping on the right
But let's get real here: Trump's not playing white? That would never fly! Are they trying to imply that Kim Jong Un is bound to make the first move? Clearly they need help.
It could be a position from a suitable historical game, culled from MegaBase or the live database, or something of your own creation.
Paste your position as a FEN string in the comments, where it will expand into a chess diagram automagically.
Next Friday we'll pick our favourite submission, with the winner receiving a DVD of Fritz 11 autographed by Viswanathan Anand, Vladimir Kramnik, Anatoly Karpov and Judit Polgar!
The runner-up will receive three free months of our ChessBase Premium account.
Anyone can register a free account in order to comment, and a free trial upgrade to a Starter account is also available to all.
Good luck!
Here's the original image sans overlayed magazine print :
'End Game' New cover illustration for @newscientist thx to Craig Mackie for the great AD'ing. #Trump #KimJongUn #War #NorthKorea #Nuclear pic.twitter.com/MxALYot5w2
— Robert Carter (@Crackedhat) September 21, 2017
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A position which fits this difference in material is from the interesting study of the hungarian chess composer Ottó Bláthy (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ott%C3%B3_Bl%C3%A1thy):
Here black despite his material advantage is immobile to move (please note that the black pawns move downwards and most of them are one step away from promotion!).
White wins after 1. Qa5+ Kb1 2. Qxd8 Ka2 3. Qa5 + Kb1 4. Qd5 Ka2 5. Qa8 Kb1 6. Ka7! Ka2 7. Kb6+ Kb1 8. Ka5! Ka2 9. Kb4+ Kb1 10. Ka3! Ka1 11. Kxb3+ Kb1 12. Qa2 # mate
Final position:
But of course we would not like that Mr. Kim Jong Un wins. So next idea would be to take an attractive position which would popularize chess in general.
First to my mind comes the 16th game of the world championship match in Moscow 1985 between Karpov and Kasparov:
One of the most beautiful games in history, with the final tactics Rc1!!:
But then black wins!
So maybe we should take a position that corresponds to the title "endgame", and leads to a stalemate. The topic of stalemate had been covered here in a recent article by Johannes Fischer (http://en.chessbase.com/post/having-fun-with-the-mega).
One option would be the following position of the game James Adams Congdon vs Eugene Delmar 5th American Chess Congress (1880), Manhattan, New York USA:
White achieves a draw with 1. Qg8+! which leads to stalemate after 1.-Kxg8.
As the attacker, Kim is making all the empty threats, but the powerful USA isn't bluffing. The game would be recorded as: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Nc6 4. Nxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bc5 and we have our position right after Kim executes the Dotard Attack with 6. Bg5, and Trump ponders, finally taking on ...Nxe4. Kim may celebrate briefly by detonating a hydrogen bomb in the Ocean, and taking the queen with 7. BxQ, but the prize will mean nothing as Trump will totally destroy North Korea when that happens ...Bxf2+ 8. Ke2 9. Bg4# 0-1.
That's when Kim will look at China and say, "I thought you were going to help me." China looking down will reply, "Bu xie. I'm just the Arbiter!" And the Russian commentators though criticizing some of the earlier strategic choices, will be fully supportive of the end result, as it will validate the Russian Defense, nevertheless.
Material advantage is huge but it is turn to move of the weaker side. Only pawn push is the legal move, and it delivers checkmate.
Sorry!
Head-line: "Mate in one - but who is to move?"
What about this position for a "Nuclear Game" between Kim and Trump:
White: Kh5, Qa1
Black: Ke7, Qd8, Ra8, Rh8, Bb7, Bf8, Nb8, Ng8, pawns a7, b6, c7, d7, f7, g5 and h6
illustrating not only the diffenence in physical strength, but also reminding us a bit of the seriousness of the situation.
Head-line? What about "Mate in one - but he is to move?"
Sture Olsson, Uppsala, Sweden
Does the author have nothing else worthwhile to do than writing articles on anything that just remotely mentions anything about chess..!??
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1986960351
They have both moved the h pawn!?
Un vs Trump could go something like this: 1 e4 d5, 2 ed e6, 3 de Be6, 4 d4 Nf6, 5 Nf3 Bb4+, 6 c3 Bc3+, 7 Bd2, Bb4, 8 Nc3 Ke7, 9 Bd3 Re8, 10 Ke2 Kf8, 11 Re1 Bc8+ 12 Kf1 Re1+ 13 Ke1 Ke8, 14 Be3 Bf8, 15 Ng1 Ng8, 16 Nb1 Nd7, 17 Bf4 Ndf6. Interesting in that the final retreating moves could be a sign that peace negotiations will prevail.
@susiep, why do you think Trump is his idol? He criticized a lot of Trump positions.
Now like then, the players are caught in a "chicken dilemma", as defined by game theory, which should end in a "draw" when both parties manage to find a way to take a step back from their aggressive rhetoric without losing face.
The resulting chess position should then be a draw by stalemate and, talking about nukes, an ending with "heavy" pieces seems logical. I would like to propose the historical Bernstein-Smyslov 1946 game which is actually quite actual as the same theme just appeared in the world cup between Erdos and Amin: