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George Duke wrote on Sun, Jul 19, 2009 07:24 PM UTC:

False or True? (One of the eleven is a freebie, both true and false will do) like Whole Cloth.
(1) Aronson's Antiking is isomorphic with Parton's Contramatic. ____
(2) Binary Gray codes correspond to Hamiltonian paths on cubes of n
dimensions. ____ (3) Ferz in (2^3) triangulates 48 ways of 336 possible.
____ (4)Conway's Angel (n=5) can capture Flamingo(1,6) on 12x12 in fewer
than 20 moves. ____ (5) Falcon and King against King are checkmate in fewer than 20 moves. (6) Falcon in 10x10 moves 48 ways of 336 possible
three-steps. ____ (7) Ontogeny recapitulates philogeny. ____ 
(8) Cubic Unicorn has two bindings.     ______ 
8 ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___  (9) Tetrahedral Rook always commands 18
7 ___ ___ ___ ___ __BK___ ___   squares unblocked. ____
6 ___ ___ __WK___ ___ ___ ___ (10) A perfect number after 28 is 84.____
5 ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___  (11) To the left five pieces remain and 
4 ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___   no piece at all colourswitched in play
3 ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ __Gp___   from the starting array. I.e., no piece
2 ___ ___ __Wp___ __Wp___ ___   has moved from square of one colour to
1 ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___   square of another colour (capturees too).
 a   b   c   d   e   f   g   h  Grey Pawn (Gp) is therefore really a
/// # 11 by Raymond Smullen ///  White Pawn. ___________

George Duke wrote on Mon, Jul 20, 2009 07:18 PM UTC:

The 7 Soma Cubes (1958 Piet Hein) form 3x3x3 cube 240 distinct ways. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soma_cube
There are 27 blocks glued together, and 4 pieces are 2D, 3 3D. Since the 3D duplicate 2D patterns, just look at the 2D ones. They are as on a
chessboard 8x8: a1,a2,b1; c1,c2,c3,d1; e1,e2,e3,f2; and g1,g2,h2,h3 for
all together 15 squares. Soma Chess is 10x10 and the four Soma Pieces are
pre-placed as Blocks, in both senses, like Eight Stone Chess. (related also to Peg Chess) The four Somas are pre-put anywhere between ranks 3 and 8, and
White has the one short one like (a1,a2,b1). The Somas move by rotations of
90 degrees around either end swinging as a pivot. They cannot capture.

George Duke wrote on Wed, Jul 22, 2009 04:47 PM UTC:

Here the correct answer to #4 18.July about Conway's Angel relates to Gilman's request! Well, the ONLY leaping pieces that can elude the Angel are precisely from Rustler (11.4), Equivocator (11.6), FlyByNight (11.8), Mamel (11.9) and Irregular (11.10). No others will work. [Do they need compound between them to explain #4?] And Charles Gilman only just named those jumpers this month 29.June.2009 at M&B03:_ eleven-leapers _ This test question was constructed after Gilman's *most recent* nomenclative expansion -- deliberately thinking about application of these newest piece-types! He needs to continue so to fill in the gaps. The essential naming has value 100:1 over most tired new rules sets, being up couple levels of abstraction. Admittedly all M&Bxx may take year 2009 and 2010 (the M&B05 one comment is very preliminary) with patience for these side-topics, like Soma Chess. (Soma Chess, like Duke's Baseball Chess or Betza's Chess Unequal Armies, would have millions of permutations in brief economical presentation) I can handle duplicate naming too, as Gilman simplified systematically Knappen's clumsy names here below of Nachtmahr. We can all keep OrthoChess and nouveau-fairy Chess in separate symbiotic realms. If you please, there is all the time in the world, but little patience with -- diametrically opposite to a Gilman or a Knappen -- the Joycean group promoting superficiality in research, priority, and history, for their selfish artwork. The latter approach would mean being stuck in a rut another 15 years. //Mere Flamingo(1,6) is captured in 2 or 3 depending on position, let alone 20, so #4 is True.

George Duke wrote on Wed, Jul 22, 2009 06:54 PM UTC:

Falcon tours are known worldwide now thanks to the perspicacity of the
CVariantP, and Knight tours have been known for centuries. Bishop
partial-tours are uninteresting for obvious reasons. Moreover, the neglected fourth force, Rook tours are much appreciated once understood.    Specifically closed 
4  __ __ __ 4  tours, meaning return to originating square.  Especially,
3  __ __ __ 3  closed tours that visit every cell along the
2  __ __ __ 2  way, each once, are the norm. Take 4x4. Rook tours include
1  __ __ __ 1  a1-a2-a3-a4-b4-b3-b2-c2-c3-c4-d4-d3-d2-d1-c1-b1-a1, having
  a  b  c  d   no pass-over squares. That's sixteen steps, and they will
all have sixteen steps in 4x4, because there is no counting the pass-over
squares at all or the starting square twice. But lengths can vary, if say
starting a1-a4 rather than a1-a2. For example, on 2x3 size instead, you can stretch the Rook total distance to 8 by going a1-c1-c2-a2-b2-b1-a1, squares 6, length 8. You have to visit each square and end where started. Maximum length Rook tour on 2x3 is 8. (1) What is maximum length Rook tour on 4x4? (2) 4x5? (3) 5x5? (4) 5x6? (5) 6x6? (6) 6x7? (7) 7x7? (8) 7x8? (9) 8x8? (10) 8x9? 9x9? 9x10? 10x10? 10x11? 11x11? 11x12? 12x12? [One answer: on 11x12 closed Rook Tour maximum is 996 distance reaching all 132 squares.] Actually, there is a formula now for maximum length, but not an algorithm for how many such maximum-length tours there are altogether beyond the lower sizes. Is a maximum-length tour necessarily closed? All the above exclude reflections and rotations. (11) What does the formula n(n+1)(2n+2)/6 have to do with square chessboards? For 8x8 with n=8, the answer is 204. What is that signifying? #11 is not about Rook tours.

George Duke wrote on Thu, Jul 23, 2009 06:54 PM UTC:

8  __ __ __ __ __ __ __   You see things and you say ''Why?'' But I
7  __ __ __ __ __ __ __   dream things that never were and say ''Why
6  __ __ __ __ __ __ __   not?''--George Bernard Shaw 'Man & Superman'
5  __BR_ __BB_ __ __ __
4 WB_ __ __ __ __ __ __   Also by Raymond Smullyan ('Chess Mysteries
3  __ __ __ __ __ __ __   of Sherlock Holmes').  The premier variantist,
2  __ __ __ __ __ __ __   when chess variations were equal to regular 8x8
1  __ __ __BK_ __ __ __   chess, T.R. Dawson had many retrograde analyses
  a  b  c  d  e  f  g  h  like this one. Here somebody, or something,
tipped the chessboard, and the White King FELL on the floor. The other 4
pieces are all correctly positioned in this endgame. WHITE HAS JUST MOVED. (a) Where was the White King? Pick him up and place him so the game can go on without interruption. (Suppose time is a factor) (b) What was White's
last move?                               [I added the details.]

George Duke wrote on Thu, Jul 23, 2009 07:38 PM UTC:

The thin King is thinking. --Anonymous
//The excuse for this is we recently looked at Parton's Alice fetish.//
The puzzle begins here. March Hare and Mad Hatter sipped eggnog and watched the crowd when Alice happened to glance in the Hare's direction and ask, ''Why are you giving me such an angry look?'' ''I'm not giving it to you. I'm giving it back,'' replied the Hare. ''I didn't look crossly at you.'' ''Well somebody did,'' the Hare said, turning to glare at the Hatter. ''Guess who!'' said the newcomer in a thin
flat voice. The Mad Hatter froze a moment and declared, ''I have no use
for practical jokers. ''Ha! Neither have I,'' retorted the stranger,
keeping his hands over the Hatter's eyes. At that the Hatter took up the
challenge of the game and asked series of questions. 
Q: Ahem. Would you by chance be in a black suit this evening?
A: I would, but not by chance, by design.
Q: I presume you're a member of all the posh clubs?
A: Afraid not. Never even been invited.
Q: Surely you're better than average?  ____A: Yes indeed!
Q: Not spotted, I hope?  ____A: Knock wood.
Q: Married? A: No happy.    _____________Who is behind the Mad Hatter?
--John Collins in 'Word Ways' August 1968

Joe Joyce wrote on Thu, Jul 23, 2009 11:07 PM UTC:

Your second question's answer should be the Jack of Spades. Now, the chess
problem is a horse of a different color. With the setup, black is in check,
therefore, something must have blocked the check. That something should
seemingly be the white king, which, in the b3 position, would have blocked
the white bishop's check of the black king. In that position, white, king
in double check, would have only 2 moves to relieve check, one to c3 and
the other to a3. Since the king fell off the board, and no other piece did,
it is logical to assume the king could not be any farther from the edge
than pieces that did not come off the board. Thus the king moved
b3->a3->floor. 

The question then becomes: how did white get into this position? Before
the king moved, it was in check from both the bishop and the rook. How did
that happen? 

If the white king was on b1, and the black bishop moved from b3->d5,
discovering check, that bishop and the black king force the white king to
the corner, a1, a more logical square from which to fall alone. However,
this would require a blocking piece on c2, a piece misplaced in the initial
problem, or some non-FIDE rule(s), no? 

So, I'll bite. What piece of information, in front of me or not, am I
missing? 

Been a busy spring and summer; haven't been able to do this much at all.
Heck, I've only designed one game all year, and it's just now about to be
playtested to see if it's anything at all, or a colossal flop. Recently
I've been a poor excuse for a prolificist, George. I'll try to do better
in the future. ;-) Enjoy

George Duke wrote on Fri, Jul 24, 2009 12:11 AM UTC:

[Try the Smullyan retrograde 19.July] Congratulations to Joe Joyce for Jack of Spades 23.July. The other one 23.July close try. 
 But here's the deal:
8  __ __ __ __ __ __ __ On b3 as Joyce experiments, how could King be
7  __ __ __ __ __ __ __ in double check by the last move of Black? In
6  __ __ __ __ __ __ __ two words, IM-POSSIBLE, except one way.
5  __BR_ __ __ __ __ __  [Retrograde analysis of which T. R. Dawson has
4 WB bp_ __ __ __ __ __  thousands in heyday of modest CVs 1910-1950]
3  __WK_ __ __ _BB__ __  What must have happened is ...Bishop -d5 check.
2  __ _wp__ __ __ __ __  2. Pawn c2-c4; Pawn b4xc3 (en passant) double
1  __ __ _BK__ __ __ __  check (!)    3. King b3xc3...
  a  b  c  d  e  f  g  h   So King should be put back on c3, and Black's
                           move now.  If King goes to -a3 in Joyce's scenario, we would still have to be seeing the black pawn on c3. So he must have taken on c3. [Maybe White knocked it off on purpose thinking the only way he is going to win is on time.]

George Duke wrote on Mon, Jul 27, 2009 06:16 PM UTC:

Before extreme CVs themselves under proliferation were becoming the butt of
jokes, OrthoChess was the only butt of them. CVs were inspiring 20-15-10
years ago and Gridlock was inspiring satire 5 yrs. ago. You remember in the
1990s mainstreamers saying uppitily all the time OrthoChess 64 was
sancrosanct. Change nothing in FIDE 64, and we laughed. People were
brainwashed then, so I would hear that in the street and at the market. He
might be Catholic and OrthoChess at the same time. She might be Jewish and
OrthoChess at the same time. So they laughed, before FRC and CVPage. FIDE
GMs sanctimoniously intoned 10 -- and 50 -- years ago that there are as
many Orthodox Chess game scores possible as atoms in universe. After FRC
was announced in 1996 by Fischer, we heard that 10^80 atoms business even
more often. Actually, GMs know only the referent, not the approximate value
10^80. These are chess people who giddily would not know Centaur(BN) and
Champion(RN) are not 20th-century innovations. These are Chessists half of
whom would not know that their transitional Chess-64 evolved from the weak-Queen version only centuries back.
Now this number is more than #atoms in Universe, 2^2^2^2^2, with the convention in ladder of exponents right to left. 2^2^2^2^2 looks innocent, but it far exceeds # atoms everywhere. 2^270 is beyond atoms in Universe by one order of magnitude. 65536 is 2^2^2^2 done properly. And 2^65536 is overflow in your hand calculator. You may have to use several parentheses to get the computer to do math and not just calculation. A sneeze could be said to have millions of millions of permutations (projectile sneezing...) In the time elapsed for any sneeze, you come up with a new CV, or one OrthoChess score, take your pick (euphemism), computer aided.
Or instead of sneezing (euphemism), do something worthwhile: PAINT BY NUMBERS, gained by thumbers, plain dry rummers, chained my hummers, pained by dumbers, feigned by mummers, quaintly chummers, lain-dry gummers, reigned-high drummers, brained by glummers, strained by slummers, rainy summers, sprained by bumblers, crane-pried stumblers, slain by dumpsters, pain-try tumblers, main-sty jumblers, taint by fumblers, plaint-wry rumblers, trained high jumpers, grain-high dumpers, gray ant by some burrs, grey auntie encumbers, sane tri-bumpers, stained-tie umbers, waned by humblers, twain bi-stumpers, saintly bummers, faintly slumbers, dainty plumbers, plane-high lumbers, ain't by crumbers. PAINT BY NUMBERS.
http://www.chessvariants.org/piececlopedia.dir/taxonomy.html

George Duke wrote on Fri, Aug 7, 2009 05:24 PM UTC:

Alphanumeric is a new CV. Board is 6x6. Starting array is randomly
http://www.chessvariants.org/index/msdisplay.php?itemid=MSgeneratingrand
generated, except '4' is at ay-six and 'F' is at ef-one.
six *4__3__u__p__1__d The object is to get your King to opposite corner.
five t__2__m__j__h__r White's King is '4' and Black's 'F'. All tiles
four v__6__o__g__i__c except 4 and F are jointly owned, and there is no
thre e__w__s__9__b__z moving opponent's 4 or F. There is no capturing,
two 7__5__a__y__q__0 and board stays 100% occupied the duration. Moves
one x__n__l__k__8__F* are always by switching two tiles along Knight
ay be ce de ee ef distance or along Falcon distance as if by leaping. Win is by ARRIVAL, F to ay-six or 4 to ef-one. 26 letters and 0-9 number the 36 pieces. In the sequence, ABCDE*F*GHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123*4*56789, the *4* and *F* are symmetrically positioned. Black, having *F*, can only switch any two of 'a' through '3' that are spaced a Knight's distance apart. White, owning *4*, can only switch any two of 'g' through '9' that are spaced a Knight's distance apart. Or for any two tiles a Falcon move apart instead, White requires at least one of them to be a,b,c,d,or e and Black correspondingly at least one of them to be from 5,6,7,8,9. Sometimes moves appear to be waiting moves with apparently minor effect. On the other hand, the board's being only 6x6 means there are as few as TWO steps to victory in favourable circumstance. That's the luck of the draw, and a series should be at least 4 wins of 7 games played. No backswitching the same two tiles just moved, but at 1 1/2 turns it is okay again. White moves first, and both first moves must permanently remove 'F' and '4' from their initial position, or at the earliest opportunity. Afterwards any legal tile-pairs switched -- along either knight- or falcon-distance with appropriate numbering/lettering -- constitute a move. After Move 1, moving 4 and F on a turn is purely optional, but many or most moves involve them. [ALPHANUMERIC version one here does not distinguish among for example {ghi...xyz0123} which could be represented instead by just one single symbol. However, other versions can make finer distinctions, involving up to all 36 ordinally; and challenge of version one partly is to see through the ''noise'' for good pathways. Just don't play computers who won't be bothered in the least.] Sample first move: 1. 4-ce,five + m-ay,six;... your move

George Duke wrote on Thu, Aug 13, 2009 06:54 PM UTC:

''Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?'' --RCA
executive in year 1920, early radio
Chess holds its master in its own bonds, shackling the mind and brain so
that the inner freedom of the very strongest must suffer. --Einstein
St. Augustine was surprised when St. Ambrose (337-397) read books silently and not
out loud. --writings of St. Augustine(354-430)
''A thought that sometimes makes me hazy: Am I--or are the others
crazy?'' --Albert Einstein jingle he wrote on a signed photograph
''...Print-out...'' -- Garry Kasparov on IBM Deep Blue chess-player in 1997 before and after dismantling
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_chess

George Duke wrote on Fri, Aug 14, 2009 10:09 PM UTC:

There was one huge difference between a brain and a computer. And that's
that a computer, if you poured a bucket of water on it, would short out,
whereas the brain is wet.... --Miles Herkenham, neurologist, in 'Mapping
the Next Millennium' 1992
Chess is like war on a board. --Bobby Fischer
It is difficult to play against Einstein's theory. --Mikhail Tal, on loss to Fischer

George Duke wrote on Sat, Aug 22, 2009 06:33 PM UTC:

Of odds, calculations, some mis-applications as well as other
irrelevancies that should be organized better:
(1) A normal human lifetime may be around 2.5 billion seconds. So you say
your odds of dying are 1/2500000000 in some sense. It has to be explained
better, and your eventual death is (practically: well it hasn't happened
yet) certain.
(2)They like to say there are more possible game scores than atoms, but
that is true of any sizable CV.
(3) Aristotle quotes Agathon that ''it is probable that the improbable
will sometimes happen.''
(4) Newton was born the same year Galileo died, and Bobby Fischer was born
under the sign of Pisces, the Fish. ''Fish'' means bad chess player. In
Fischer-Spassky Iceland 1972, Fischer blundered the first game and said,
''I'm a fish. I played like a fish.''
(5) Call out cards in a random 52-card deck without looking. 1/52 chance to be right each time, but go through all 52 and 2/3 is probability that one happens to be called exactly right.
(6) 50 trillion solar nutrinos pass through human body every second, but they have to have the right angle to make it through Earth to the other side before another second elapses, and it so depends on the time of day. If night, they still go through you but not then to the other side, that they already visited.
(7) Astronomical Sun/Moon 400/400 Size/Distance. Pure coincidence unless someone comes up with some explanation. Volcanoes, gamma rays. Hey shoots happen.

Joe Joyce wrote on Sat, Aug 22, 2009 09:57 PM UTC:

The coincidence in #7 is that we are alive to see the moon and sun appear
to be the same size in the sky. Since the moon is slowly spiralling away
from the earth, in the past it was closer, and appeared larger, and in the
future, it will be further away, and smaller. The annular eclipses
demonstrate this is already starting to happen.

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