ChessBase 17 - Mega package - Edition 2024
It is the program of choice for anyone who loves the game and wants to know more about it. Start your personal success story with ChessBase and enjoy the game even more.
The Black and White chess kingdoms were at war and the fight went back and forth. A smart tactician came up to the Black king with a brilliant idea.
“Dear Black King, I have a fantastic idea on how we can win the war over time against the dreadful White king”, he said enthusiastically.
The Black King was a bit sceptic at first:“Tactician, we have been at war with the white king for ages and ages without either of us succeeding. Your plan must be outstanding to say the least.”
“Oh, it is!”, the tactician answered with a smile. “My king, have you ever noticed that our newborn queens are far superior compared to the newborn rooks, bishops or even knights in almost every way? Your chess kingdom would be far better off with more queens than rooks, bishops or knights to win the battle over time!”
This DVD emphasizes the importance of training your calculation skills. Dutch IM Robert Ris made a selection of training material which he uses in lessons with students ranging from 1400 to 2400.
The king thought for a moment, stood up with wide open eyes: “Eureka! Why didn’t I ever think of this myself? You are absolutely right! The queens are really the strongest chess piece we have by far.”
With this, the Black king created a new law with immediate effect:
- All piece-bearing couples must continue to bear pieces until they have a queen!
- We have to keep in mind that the chess kingdom has its own rules though.
The chances of bearing a Queen or a Rook/Bishop/Knight is 50/50!
“But my king!”, the tactician warned, “the boards will overflow and there won’t be any squares left for pieces. We have to make a rule to avoid overpopulation and stalemates”.
“You are correct again Tactician”, the King said while he pulled his moustache back a bit. “I will make a rule adjustment”.
All piece-bearing couples must continue to bear pieces until they have a queen! Once the couples have a queen, they have to stop bearing children!
A pregnant queen
After many years have passed the King wanted to check if his plan to have more queens in his kingdom than rooks, bishops or knights was successful.
Was it though?
The solutions in the comment section were of course correct.
Once the young grandmaster put only one white pawn into one of the urns, his chances for freedom were significantly bigger. They went up to 73.33%.
But the grandmaster picked the wrong urn and grabbed a black pawn and his chess career ended. This story twist was a demonstration of the fact that even when one has good odds in life it can go downhill quickly. He should have never started to learn chess in the first place. Was this a bit too dark? Hey, I am just kidding. He got the White pawn of course! (How do I get out of this...)
Special thanks to LarsRasmussen, JoshuaVGreen, chamishavolkov, brian8871, Erdmundr, wethalon, mkkuhner, MadMox, lajosarpad, Michael Jones and melvich for contributing to the solutions, explaining and effort.
