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chess.md

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 # Chess
 
-Chess (from Persian *shah*, *king*) is a remarkable, very [old](old.md) two-player board [game](game.md), perhaps most famous and popular among all board games in [history](history.md). In video game terms we might sort it into the turn-based strategy genre, in [mathematical](math.md) terms it's a [zero sum](zero_sum.md), [complete information](complete_information.md) game with no element of [randomness](randomness.md), that simulates a battle of two armies on an 8x8 board with different battle pieces, also called *chessmen* or just *men* (also [stones](rock.md), pieces or juicers). Chess is also called the King's Game, it has a worldwide [competitive](competition.md) community and is considered an intellectual [sport](sport.md) but it's also been a topic of research and [programming](programming.md) (many chess engines, [AI](ai.md)s and frontends are being actively developed). Chess is similar to games such as [shogi](shogi.md) ("Japanese chess"), [xiangqi](xiangqi.md) ("Chinese chess") and [checkers](checkers.md). As the estimated number of chess games is bigger than [googol](googol.md), it is unlikely to ever get solved; though the complexity of the game in sheer number of possibilities is astronomical, among its shogi, go and xiangqi cousins chess is actually considered one of the "simplest" (the board is relatively small and the game tends to simplify as it goes on as there are no rules to get men back to the game etc.).
+Chess (from Persian *shah*, *king*) is a remarkable, very [old](old.md) two-player board [game](game.md), perhaps most famous and popular among all board games in [history](history.md). To the common folk familiar with video games it could be described as a turn-based strategy, in [mathematical](math.md) terms it's a [zero sum](zero_sum.md), [complete information](complete_information.md) game with no element of [randomness](randomness.md), that simulates a battle of two armies on an 8x8 board with different battle pieces, also called *chessmen* or just *men* (also [stones](rock.md), pieces or juicers). Chess is also called the King's Game, it has a worldwide [competitive](competition.md) community and is considered an intellectual [sport](sport.md) but it's also been a topic of research and [programming](programming.md) (many chess engines, [AI](ai.md)s and frontends are being actively developed). Chess is similar to games such as [shogi](shogi.md) ("Japanese chess"), [xiangqi](xiangqi.md) ("Chinese chess") and [checkers](checkers.md). As the estimated number of chess games is bigger than [googol](googol.md), it is unlikely to ever get solved; though the complexity of the game in sheer number of possibilities is astronomical, among its shogi, go and xiangqi cousins chess is actually considered one of the "simplest" (the board is relatively small and the game tends to simplify as it goes on as there are no rules to get men back to the game etc.). In [2020s](21st_century.md) the game received more mainstream attention and popularity, which under [capitalism](capitalism.md) means a disaster, influx of [toxicity](toxic.md) and [SJWs](sjw.md), commercialization, "chess platforms" full of [ads](marketing.md) and [microrape](microtheft.md), retarded influencers, [women](woman.md), [furries](furry.md), [trannies](tranny.md), [anticheating](cheating.md) malware, idiotic propaganda movies and much more -- this crap is to be avoided. It has to be especially stressed that chess is **NOT** an "esport".
 
 { There is a nice black and white indie movie called *Computer Chess* about chess programmers of the 1980s, it's pretty good, very oldschool, starring real programmers and chess players, check it out. ~drummyfish }
 
@@ -15,13 +15,13 @@ Chess (from Persian *shah*, *king*) is a remarkable, very [old](old.md) two-play
 - It is a source of many interesting [mathematical](math.md) and programming challenges.
 - It seems to strike the right balance of simplicity and complexity, it is very simple but not so trivial as to be ever solved in a foreseeable future.
 
-Many however see [go](go.md) as yet a more [beautiful](beauty.md) game: a more minimal, yet more difficult one, with a completely unique experience.
+Chess is a marvelous game but not a perfect one, many still perceive [go](go.md) as the supreme king of board games, yet more [beautiful](beauty.md), both more minimal and more difficult to master, with playing experience unlike any other. Thankfully there is no need to choose one or the other -- why not play both? :)
 
-**Where to play chess online?** There exist many [servers](server.md) such as https://chess.com or https://chess24.com -- however these ones are proprietary and toxic, NEVER use them. { The cocsuckers from chess.com just started to hardcore spam my mail when I registered there lol. ~drummyfish } A much better one is **Lichess** ([libre](libre.md) chess) at https://lichess.org which is not only [FOSS](foss.md), but also gratis, without [ads](marketing.md) and is actually superior in all ways even to the proprietary sites, allowing users to run their own bots, offering [public domain](public_domain.md) database of all the games and positions, [API](api.md), analysis board, puzzles, chess variants, minigames, TV and much more -- however it requires [JavaScript](js.md). Another server, a more [suckless](suckless.md) one, is **Free Internet Chess Server** (FICS) at https://www.freechess.org/ -- on this one you can play through telnet (`telnet freechess.org 5000`) or with graphical clients like pychess. Online servers usually rate players with Elo/Glicko just like FIDE, sometimes there are computer opponents available, chess puzzles, variants, analysis tools etc.
+**Where to play chess online?** It won't come as a surprise that many chess [servers](server.md) exist, such as https://chess.com or https://chess24.com -- however these ones are [proprietary](proprietary.md), shitty, cancerous and unusable, NEVER touch them. { The cocsuckers from chess.com just started to hardcore spam my mail when I registered there lol. ~drummyfish } A much better one is **Lichess** ([libre](libre.md) chess) at https://lichess.org which is not only [FOSS](foss.md), but also gratis, without [ads](marketing.md) and is actually superior in all ways even to the proprietary sites, allowing users to run their own bots, offering [public domain](public_domain.md) database of all the games and positions, [API](api.md), analysis board, puzzles, chess variants, minigames, TV and much more -- however it requires [JavaScript](js.md). Another server, a more [suckless](suckless.md) one, is **Free Internet Chess Server** (FICS) at https://www.freechess.org/ -- on this one you can play through telnet (`telnet freechess.org 5000`) or with graphical clients like pychess. Online servers usually rate players with Elo/Glicko just like FIDE, sometimes there are computer opponents available, chess puzzles, variants, analysis tools etc.
 
 Chess as a game is not and cannot be [copyrighted](copyright.md), but **can chess games (moves played in a match) be copyrighted?** Thankfully there is a pretty strong consensus and precedence that say this is not the case, even though [capital worshippers](capitalism.md) try to play the intellectual property card from time to time (e.g. 2016 tournament organizers tried to stop chess websites from broadcasting the match moves under "trade secret protection", unsuccessfully).
 
-**Chess and [IQ](iq.md)/intelligence** (a quite comprehensive summary of the topic is available here: http://www.billwallchess.com/articles/IQ.htm): there is a debate about how much of a weight general vs specialized intelligence, IQ, memory and pure practice have in becoming good at chess. It's not clear at all, everyone's opinion differs. A popular formula (Levitt equation) states that *highest achievable Elo = 1000 + 10 * IQ*, though its accuracy and validity are of course highly questionable. All in all this is probably very similar to language learning: obviously some kind of intelligence/talent is needed to excel, however chess is extremely similar to any other sport in that putting HUGE amounts of time and effort into practice (preferably from young age) is what really makes you good -- without practice even the biggest genius in the world will be easily beaten by a casual chess amateur, and even a relatively dumb man can learn chess very well under the right conditions (just like any dumbass can learn at least one language well); many highest level chess players admit they sucked at math and hated it. As one starts playing chess, he seems to more and more discover that it's really all about studying and practice more than anything else, at least up until the highest master levels where the genius gifts a player the tiny nudge needed for the win -- at the grandmaster level intelligence seems to start to matter more. Intelligence is perhaps more of an accelerator of learning, not any hard limit on what can be achieved, however also just having fun and liking chess (which may be just given by upbringing etc.) may have similar accelerating effects on learning. Really the very basics can be learned by literally ANYONE, then it's just about learning TONS of concepts and principles (and automatizing them), be it tactical patterns (forks, pins, double check, discovery checks, sacrifices, smothered mates, ...), good habits, positional principles (pawn structure, king safety, square control, piece activity, ...), opening theory (this alone takes many years and can never end), endgame and mating patterns, time management etcetc.
+**Chess and [IQ](iq.md)/intelligence** (a quite comprehensive summary of the topic is available here: http://www.billwallchess.com/articles/IQ.htm): there is a debate about how much of a weight general vs specialized intelligence, IQ, memory and pure practice have in becoming good at chess. It's not clear at all, everyone's opinion differs. A popular formula (Levitt equation) states that *highest achievable Elo = 1000 + 10 * IQ*, though its accuracy and validity are of course highly questionable. All in all this is probably very similar to language learning: obviously some kind of intelligence/talent is needed to excel, however chess is extremely similar to any other sport in that putting HUGE amounts of time and effort into practice (preferably from young age) is what really makes you good -- without practice even the biggest genius in the world will be easily beaten by a casual chess amateur, and even a relatively dumb man can learn chess very well under the right conditions (just like any dumbass can learn at least one language well); many highest level chess players admit they sucked at math and hated it. As one starts playing chess, he seems to more and more discover that it's really all about studying and practice more than anything else, at least up until the highest master levels where the genius gifts a player the tiny nudge needed for the win -- at the grandmaster level intelligence seems to start to matter more. Intelligence is perhaps more of an accelerator of learning, not any hard limit on what can be achieved, however also just having fun and liking chess (which may be just given by upbringing etc.) may have similar accelerating effects on learning. Really the very basics can be learned by literally ANYONE, then it's just about learning TONS of concepts and principles (and automatizing them), be it tactical patterns (forks, pins, double check, discovery checks, sacrifices, deflections, smothered mates, ...), good habits, positional principles (pawn structure, king safety, square control, piece activity, ...), opening theory (this alone takes many years and can never end), endgame and mating patterns, time management etcetc.
 
 { NOTE (speculative): I think I've heard some research suggested that it's not so much the spatial/visual part of the brain that's responsible for playing chess but rather the language part, it really seems like learning chess might be more similar to learning a foreign language -- it takes about the same time to become "fluent" at chess and the key to being good at it is starting at young age. I.e. the relationship of chess and intelligence is probably similar to that of language learning and intelligence. ~drummyfish }
 
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ Fun fact 2: in 2022 a chess playing robot took and broke a finger of a 7 year ol
 
 **How to play chess with yourself?** Should you lack a computer or humans to play against, you may try playing against yourself, however playing a single game against oneself doesn't really work, you know what the opponent is trying to do -- not that it's not interesting, but it's more of a search for general strategies in specific situations rather than actually playing a game. One way around this could be to play many games at once (you can use multiple boards but also just noting the positions on paper as you probably won't be able to set up 100 boards); every day you can make one move in some selected games -- randomize the order and games you play e.g. with dice rolls. The number of games along with the randomized order should make it difficult for you to remember what the opponent (you) was thinking on his turn. Of course you can record the games by noting the moves, but you may want to cover the moves (in which case you'll have to be keeping the whole positions noted) until the game is finished, so that you can't cheat by looking at the game history while playing. If this method doesn't work for you because you can keep up with all the games, at least you know you got real good at chess :) { This is an idea I haven't tried yet, I'm leaving it here as a note, will probably try it one day. ~drummyfish } Also check out single player chess variants.
 
-**Is there any luck or [randomness](randomness.md) in chess?** Not in the rules of game itself of course, there is no dice rolling and there is no hidden information, however luck and randomness is present in the meta game (playing as white vs black may be decided randomly, your opponent may be assigned to you randomly etc.) and then [de facto](de_facto.md) in the fact that although no information is hidden, no one can ever have a complete information due to the sheer complexity of the game, so in practice playing chess involves risk, intuition and educated guessing at any human and superhuman (computer) level. So chess players do commonly talk about luck, outcome of a game is always a matter of probability which is however given by the relative skill of both players. Probability of a hobbyist beating professional in a fair game, unlike e.g. in some card games, can effectively be considered [zero](zero.md).
+**Is there any luck or [randomness](randomness.md) in chess?** Not in the rules itself of course, there are no dice and hidden [information](information.md), but still luck and randomness is present in the meta game (playing as white vs black may be decided randomly, your opponent may be assigned to you randomly etc.) and then [de facto](de_facto.md) in the fact that although no information is hidden, no one can ever have a complete information due to the sheer complexity of the game, so in practice playing chess involves risk, intuition and educated guessing at any human and superhuman (computer) level. So chess players do commonly talk about luck, outcome of a game is always a matter of [probability](probability.md) which is however given by the relative skill of both players. Computer chess engines evaluate positions probabilistically, i.e. telling the probability of white versus black winning, even though in theory a perfect play from any given position has a strictly determined outcome: win, loss or draw. So not even best computers can consider chess completely determined. In human play probability of a hobbyist beating professional in a fair game, unlike e.g. in some card games, can effectively be considered [zero](zero.md), which indeed proves chance plays a minimal role.
 
 ## Chess In General
 
@@ -56,11 +56,11 @@ At the competitive level **clock** (so called *time control*) is used to give ea
 
 Currently the best player in the world -- and probably best player of all time -- is pretty clearly Magnus Carlsen (born 1990), a [white](white.md) man from Norway with Elo rating 2800+. He just keeps beating all the other top players effortlessly, he was winning the world championship over and over before giving up the title out of boredom.
 
-During the [covid](covid.md) pandemic (circa 2020) chess has experienced a small boom among normies and [YouTube](youtube.md) chess channels have gained considerable popularity. This boosted chess as such and gave rise to [memes](meme.md) such as the bong cloud opening popularized by a top player and streamer Hikaru Nakamura; the bong cloud is an intentionally [shitty](shit.md) opening that's supposed to taunt the opponent (it's been even played in serious tournaments [lol](lol.md)).
+During the [covid](covid.md) pandemic (circa 2020) chess has experienced a small boom among [normies](npc.md) and [YouTube](youtube.md) chess channels have gained considerable popularity. This boosted chess as such and gave rise to [memes](meme.md) such as the bong cloud opening popularized by a top player and streamer Hikaru Nakamura; the bong cloud is an intentionally [shitty](shit.md) opening that's supposed to taunt the opponent (it's been even played in serious tournaments [lol](lol.md)).
 
 **White is generally seen as having a slight advantage over black** (just like in [real life](irl.md) lol). This is because he always has the first move -- statistics confirm the claim as white on average wins a little more often (even in the world of computers which is spared of psychological factors). The advantage is very small, estimated by engines to be around a very small fraction of a pawn, and this slight imbalance doesn't play such as big role in beginner and intermediate games but starts to become apparent in master games where the play can be very equal. How big the advantages is exactly is a matter of ongoing debate, most people are of the opinion there exists a small advantage for the white (with imperfect, human play, i.e. that white plays easier, has more choices, tolerates slightly less accurate play), though most experts think chess is a draw with perfect play (pro players can usually quite safely play for a draw and secure it if they don't intend to win; world championships mostly consist of drawn games as really one player has to make a mistake to allow the other one to win). Minority of experts think white has theoretical forced win. Probably only very tiny minority of people think white doesn't have any advantage or even that black is in a better overall position. Some argue that even if black doesn't have an overall advantage, he still has a number of smaller advantages over white, as it's true that sometimes the obligation to make a move may be a disadvantage (this is called [zugzwang](zugzwang.md)). It's for example true that the theoretical fastest possible checkmate is delivered by black, not white. Probably no one thinks black has a forced win though, but as that's not disproved yet so maybe someone actually believes it.
 
-**Blindfold play**: it's quite impressive that very good players can play completely blindfold, without any actual chessboard, and some can even play many games simultaneously this way. This is indeed not easy to do and playing blindfold naturally decreases one's strength a bit (it seems this is more of a case on lower level of play though). It is however not the case that only an exceptional genius could play this way, probably anyone can learn it, it's just a matter of training (it's a matter of developing an efficient mental representation of the board rather than actually exactly remembering the whole board -- in psychology called *chunking*). Probably all masters (above FIDE ELO 2000) can play blindfold. They say the ability comes naturally just by playing countless games. How to learn playing blindfold then? Just play a lot of chess, it will come naturally -- this is the advice probably most often given. However if you specifically wish to learn blindfold play, you may focus on it, e.g. by training blindfold against very weak computer. Some software chess boards offer a mode in which one can see the position and color of all men but not which type they are -- this may perhaps be a good start. It may possibly also be done very gradually -- for example start by covering just part of the board and every week cover yet more squares; eventually you'll have them all covered.
+**Blindfold play**: it's quite impressive that very good players can play completely blindfold, without any actual chessboard, and some can even play many games simultaneously this way. This is indeed not easy to do and playing blindfold naturally decreases one's strength a bit (it seems this is more of a case on lower level of play though). It is however not the case that only an exceptional genius could play this way, probably anyone can learn it, it's just a matter of training (it's a matter of developing an efficient mental representation of the board rather than actually exactly remembering the whole board -- in psychology called *chunking*). Probably all masters (above FIDE ELO 2000) can play blindfold. They say the ability comes naturally just by playing countless games. How to learn playing blindfold then? Just play a lot of chess, it will come naturally -- this is the advice probably most often given. However if you specifically long with your whole heart to just learn blindfold play as a cool party trick, you may focus on it, e.g. by training blindfold against a very weak computer { Smolchess is IDEAL for this :] ~drummyfish }. Some software chess boards offer a mode in which one can see the position and color of all men but not which type they are -- this may perhaps be a good start. It may possibly also be done very gradually -- for example start by covering just part of the board and every week cover yet more squares; eventually you'll have them all covered.
 
 On **perfect play**: as stated, chess is unlikely to be ever solved so it is unknown if chess is a theoretical forced draw or forced win for white (or even win for black), however many simplified endgames and some simpler chess variants have already been solved. Even if chess was ever solved, it is important to realize one thing: **perfect play may be unsuitable for humans** and so even if chess was ever solved, it might have no significant effect on the game played by humans. Imagine the following: we have a chess position in which we are deciding between move *A* and move *B*. We know that playing *A* leads to a very good position in which white has great advantage and easy play (many obvious good moves), however if black plays perfectly he can secure a draw here. We also know that if we play *B* and then play perfectly for the next 100 moves, we will win with mathematical certainty, but if we make just one incorrect move during those 100 moves, we will get to a decisively losing position. While computer will play move *B* here because it is sure it can play perfectly, it is probably better to play *A* for human because human is very likely to make mistakes (even a master). For this reason humans may willingly choose to play mathematically worse moves -- it is because a slightly worse move may lead to a safer and more comfortable play for a human. This fact has also recently been demonstrated by a modified Leela engine that specifically focuses on handicapped play (playing without one knight or rook) against humans -- even though Stockfish is objectively a better engine than Leela, this specific Leela version achieves better results under stated conditions, i.e. it more often beats human grandmasters in odds games, and that's because it learned to play moves that are not objectively methematically best, but rather best AGAINST HUMANS, i.e. creating confusion, tension, tricky and unusual situations and psychological pressure that favor precise engines.
 
@@ -166,7 +166,7 @@ The individual men and their movement rules are (no man can move beyond another,
 
 **Check**: If the player's king is attacked, i.e. it is immediately possible for an enemy man to capture the king, the player is said to be in check. A player in check has to make such a move as to not be in check after that move.
 
-A player cannot make a move that would leave him in check!
+A player cannot make a move that would leave him in check! This also implies that the two kings on the board can never stand right next to each other (this can be remembered by reminding oneself the kings aren't [gay](gay.md) and don't want to touch each other).
 
 **Castling**: If a player hasn't castled yet and his king hasn't been moved yet and his kingside (queenside) rook hasn't been moved yet and there are no men between the king and the kingside (queenside) and the king isn't and wouldn't be in check on his square or any square he will pass through or land on during castling, short (long) castling can be performed. In short (long) castling the king moves two squares towards the kingside (queenside) rook and the rook jumps over the king to the square immediately on the other side of the king.
 
@@ -440,7 +440,7 @@ Some general tips and rules of thumb, mostly for beginners:
 - Don't bring the queen out too early, the opponent can harass it and get ahead in development.
 - Learn some universal setup openings or "systems" to play, e.g. London, King's Indian, the hippo etc.
 - Develop your men before attacking, usually knights go out before bishops, bishops are well placed on the longest diagonals as "snipers".
-- Learn basic tactics, especially **forks** (attacking two or more men at once so that one of them cannot escape capture) and **pins** (attack one man so that if he moves out of the way he will expose another one to be captured), but also other things like double checks, sacrifices etc.
+- Learn basic tactics, especially **forks** (attacking two or more men at once so that one of them cannot escape capture) and **pins** (attack one man so that if he moves out of the way he will expose another one to be captured), but also other things like double checks, sacrifices, deflections etc.
 - Learn basic types of checkmates and mating patterns, for example mating with two rooks, with king and queen, back rank mates (especially dangerous when starting, always make an escape square), smothered mates, how not to stalemate etc.
 - Watch out for hanging pieces! You usually want to have everything guarded.
 - King safety is extremely important until endgame, castle very early but not extremely early. In the endgame (with queens out) king joins the battle as another active man.