Backgammon is an old, very popular board [game](game.md) of both skill and chance (dice rolling). It often involves betting and is especially popular in countries of Near East such as Egypt, Syria etc. (where it is kind of what [chess](chess.md) is to our western world or what [shogi](shogi.md) and [go](go.md) are to Asia). Similartly to [chess](chess.md), [go](go.md), [shogi](shogi.md) and other traditional board games backgammon is considered by [us](lrs.md) to be one of the best games as it is [owned by no one](public_domain.md), highly [free](free.md), cheap, simple yet deep and entertaining and can be played even without a [computer](computer.md), just with a bunch of [rocks](rock.md); compared to the other mentioned board games backgammon is unique by involving an element of chance and being only played on [1 dimensional](1d.md) board; it is also relatively simple and therefore noob-friendly and possibly more relaxed (if you lose you can just blame it on rolling bad numbers).
Chess is a very [old](old.md) two-player board [game](game.md), perhaps most famous and popular among all board games in [history](history.md). It is a [complete information](complete_information.md) game that simulates a battle of two armies on an 8x8 board with different battle pieces (also called *chessmen*). Chess is also called the King's Game, it has a world-wide competitive 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 [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 be solved; though the complexity of the game in sheer number of possibilities is astronomical, among its shogi, go and xiangqi cousins it 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 pieces back to the game etc.).
Note on terminology: the term *piece* is sometimes used to exclude pawns or in other ways, in this article we will for simplicity call any chessman, including a pawn, a piece.
Chess is a very [old](old.md) two-player board [game](game.md), perhaps most famous and popular among all board games in [history](history.md). It is a [complete information](complete_information.md) game that simulates a battle of two armies on an 8x8 board with different battle pieces, also called *chessmen* or just *men*. Chess is also called the King's Game, it has a world-wide competitive 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 [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 be solved; though the complexity of the game in sheer number of possibilities is astronomical, among its shogi, go and xiangqi cousins it 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.).
{ 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 }
@ -12,7 +9,7 @@ Note on terminology: the term *piece* is sometimes used to exclude pawns or in o
**At [LRS](lrs.md) we consider chess to be one of the best games** for the following reasons:
- It is just a greatly interesting and deep game in which luck plays minimal role.
- **It is greatly [suckless](suckless.md)**, the rules are very simple, it can be implemented on simple 8bit computers. Of course the game doesn't even require a computer, just a board and a few pieces -- chess masters don't even need a board to play (they can completely visualize the games in memory). In the end one can in theory just play against himself in his head, achieving the ultimate freedom: the only dependency of the game is one's brain, i.e. it becomes a [brain software](brain_software.md). Chess is extremely inexpensive, doesn't discriminate against poor people and will survive even the most extreme technological [collapse](collapse.md).
- **It is greatly [suckless](suckless.md)**, the rules are very simple, it can be implemented on simple 8bit computers. Of course the game doesn't even require a computer, just a board and a few men -- chess masters don't even need a board to play (they can completely visualize the games in memory). In the end one can in theory just play against himself in his head, achieving the ultimate freedom: the only dependency of the game is one's brain, i.e. it becomes a [brain software](brain_software.md). Chess is extremely inexpensive, doesn't discriminate against poor people and will survive even the most extreme technological [collapse](collapse.md).
- **No one owns chess**, the game is hundreds of years old and many books about it are also already in the [public domain](public_domain.md). It is extremely free.
- It is a basis for other derived games, for example many different chess variants or chess puzzles which can be considered a "singleplayer chess game".
- It is a source of many interesting [mathematical](math.md) and programming challenges.
@ -26,13 +23,13 @@ Chess as a game is not and cannot be [copyrighted](copyright.md), but **can ches
Chess evolved from ancient board games in India in about 6th century. Nowadays the game is internationally governed by **FIDE** which has taken the on role of an authority that defines the official rules: FIDE rules are considered to be the standard chess rules. FIDE also organizes tournaments, promotes the game and keeps a list of registered players whose performance it rates with so called Elo system – based on the performance it also grants titles such as **Grandmaster** (GM, strongest), **Internation Master** (IM, second strongest) or **Candidate Master** (CM). A game of chess is so interesting in itself that chess is usually not played for money like many other games ([poker](poker.md), [backgammon](backgammon.md), ...).
A single game of chess is seen as consisting of three stages: **opening** (starting, theoretical "book" moves, developing pieces), **middlegame** (seen as the pure core of the game) and **endgame** (ending in which only relatively few pieces remain on the board). There is no clear border between these stages and they are sometimes defined differently, however each stage plays a bit differently and may require different skills and strategies; for example in the endgame king becomes an active piece while in the opening and middlegame he tries to stay hidden and safe.
A single game of chess is seen as consisting of three stages: **opening** (starting, theoretical "book" moves, developing men), **middlegame** (seen as the pure core of the game) and **endgame** (ending in which only relatively few men remain on the board). There is no clear border between these stages and they are sometimes defined differently, however each stage plays a bit differently and may require different skills and strategies; for example in the endgame king becomes an active man while in the opening and middlegame he tries to stay hidden and safe.
The study of chess openings is called **opening theory** or just *theory*. Playing the opening stage is special by being based on memorization of this theory, i.e. hundreds or even thousands of existing opening lines that have been studied and analyzed by computers, rather than by performing mental calculation (logical "thinking ahead" present in middlegame and endgame). Some see this as weakness of chess that makes players spend extreme energy on pure memorization. One of the best and most famous players, Bobby Fisher, was of this opinion and has created a chess variant with randomized starting position that prevents such memorization, so called *chess 960*.
**[Elo](elo.md) rating** is a mathematical system of numerically rating the performance of players (it is used in many sports, not just chess). Given two players with Elo rating it is possible to compute the probability of the game's outcome (e.g. white has 70% chance of winning etc.). The FIDE set the parameters so that the rating is roughly this: <1000:beginner,1000-2000:intermediate,2000-3000:master.Moreadvancedsystemshavealsobeencreated,namelytheGlickosystem.
The rules of chess are quite simple ([easy to learn, hard to master](easy_to_learn_hard_to_master.md)) and can be found anywhere on the Internet. In short, the game is played on a 8x8 board by two players: one with **[white](white.md)** pieces, one with **[black](black.md)** (LOL IT'S [RACIST](racism.md) :D). Each piece has a way of moving and capturing (eliminating) enemy pieces, for example bishops move diagonally while pawns move one square forward and take diagonally. The goal is to **checkmate** the opponent's king, i.e. make the king attacked by a piece while giving him no way to escape this attack. There are also lesser known rules that noobs often miss and ignore, e.g. so called en-passant or the 50 move rule that declares a draw if there has been no significant move for 50 moves.
The rules of chess are quite simple ([easy to learn, hard to master](easy_to_learn_hard_to_master.md)) and can be found anywhere on the Internet. In short, the game is played on a 8x8 board by two players: one with **[white](white.md)** men, one with **[black](black.md)** (LOL IT'S [RACIST](racism.md) :D). Each man has a way of moving and capturing (eliminating) enemy men, for example bishops move diagonally while pawns move one square forward and take diagonally. The goal is to **checkmate** the opponent's king, i.e. make the king attacked by a man while giving him no way to escape this attack. There are also lesser known rules that noobs often miss and ignore, e.g. so called en-passant or the 50 move rule that declares a draw if there has been no significant move for 50 moves.
At the competitive level **clock** (so called *time control*) is used to give each player a limited time for making moves: with unlimited move time games would be painfully long and more a test of patience than skill. Clock can also nicely help balance unequal opponent by giving the stronger player less time to move. Based on the amount of time to move there exist several formats, most notably **correspondence** (slowest, days for a move), **classical** (slow, hours per game), **rapid** (faster, tens of minutes per game), **blitz** (fast, a few seconds per move) and **bullet** (fastest, units of seconds per move).
@ -103,14 +100,14 @@ You can try to derive your own stats, there are huge free game databases such as
Besides similar games such as [shogi](shogi.md) there are many variants of chess, i.e. slight modifications of rules, foremost worth mentioning is for example chess 960. The following is a list of some variants:
- **antichess** ([suicide](suicide.md), ...): The goal is to lose all pieces or get stalemated, rules are a bit changed, e.g. castling and checks are removed and taking is forced.
- **antichess** ([suicide](suicide.md), ...): The goal is to lose all men or get stalemated, rules are a bit changed, e.g. castling and checks are removed and taking is forced.
- **chess 960** aka **Fisher's random**: Starting position is randomly modified by shuffling the non-pawn rows (with these rules: king must be between rooks, bishops on opposite colors and black/white's positions are mirrored). The rules are the same with a slight modification to castling. This was invented by Bobby Fisher to emphasize pure chess skill as opposed to memorizing the best opening moves, he saw the opening theory as harmful to chess. Chess 960 is nowadays even advocated by some to become the "main" version of chess.
- **[chess boxing](chess_boxing.md)**: Chess combined with box, players switch between the two games, one wins either by checkmate or knockout.
- **crazyhouse**: When a player captures a piece, it goes into his reserve. From the reserve a piece can be dropped (as a piece of the current player's color) to an empty square instead of making a normal move.
- **different pieces**: Some variants use different pieces, e.g. empress (moves like rook and knight) or amazon (queen/knight).
- **crazyhouse**: When a player captures a man, it goes into his reserve. From the reserve a man can be dropped (as a man of the current player's color) to an empty square instead of making a normal move. This is a rule taken from [shogi](shogi.md).
- **different men**: Some variants use different men, e.g. empress (moves like rook and knight) or amazon (queen/knight).
- **duck chess**: After each move players place a duck on an empty square, the duck blocks the square. The duck cannot be left on the same square, it has to be moved. There are no checks, players win by capturing the king.
- **fog of war**: Makes chess an incomplete-information game by allowing players to only see squares they can immediately move to (this is similarly to some strategy video games).
- **horde chess**: Asymmetric starting position: large number of black pawns vs a white army of traditional pieces. Rules are slightly modified, e.g. black can only be defeated by having all pawns captured (there is no black king).
- **horde chess**: Asymmetric starting position: large number of black pawns vs a white army of traditional men. Rules are slightly modified, e.g. black can only be defeated by having all pawns captured (there is no black king).
- **infinite chess**: Infinite chessboard.
- **minichess**: Smaller chessboard, e.g. 4x4, 4x8 etc. Some are already solved (e.g. 3x3).
- **more players**: E.g. 3 man chess or 4 player chess allow more than two players to play, some use different boards.
@ -127,7 +124,7 @@ Programming chess is a [fun](fun.md) and enriching experience and is therefore r
The core of chess programming is writing the [AI](ai.md), everything else, i.e. implementing the rules, communication protocols etc., is pretty straightforward (but still a good programming exercise). Nevertheless one has to pay a great attention to eliminating as many bugs as possible; really, the importance of writing automatic tests can't be stressed enough as debugging the AI will be hard enough and can become unmanageable with small bugs creeping in.
The AI itself works in almost all cases on the same principle: firstly we implement so called static **evaluation function** -- a function that takes a chess position and outputs its evaluation number which say how good the position is for white vs black (positive number favoring white, negative black). This function considers a number of factors such as total material of both players, pawn structure, king safety, piece mobility and so on (in new engines this function is often a learned [neural network](neural_network.md), but it may very well be written by hand). Secondly we implement a **search** algorithm -- typically some modification of [minimax](minimax.md) algorithm -- that recursively searches the game tree and looks for a move that will lead to the best result, i.e. to position for which the evaluation function gives the best value. This basic principle, especially the search part, gets very complex as there are many possible weaknesses and optimizations.
The AI itself works in almost all cases on the same principle: firstly we implement so called static **evaluation function** -- a function that takes a chess position and outputs its evaluation number which say how good the position is for white vs black (positive number favoring white, negative black). This function considers a number of factors such as total material of both players, pawn structure, king safety, men mobility and so on (in new engines this function is often a learned [neural network](neural_network.md), but it may very well be written by hand). Secondly we implement a **search** algorithm -- typically some modification of [minimax](minimax.md) algorithm -- that recursively searches the game tree and looks for a move that will lead to the best result, i.e. to position for which the evaluation function gives the best value. This basic principle, especially the search part, gets very complex as there are many possible weaknesses and optimizations.
Exhaustively searching the tree to great depths is not possible due to astronomical numbers of possible move combinations, so the engine has to limit the depth quite greatly. Normally it will search all moves to a small depth (e.g. 2 or 3 half moves or *plys*) and then extend the search for interesting moves such as exchanges or checks. Maybe the greatest danger of searching algorithms is so called **horizon effect** which has to be addressed somehow (e.g. by detecting quiet positions, so called *quiescence*). If not addressed, the horizon effect will make an engine misevaluate certain moves by stopping the evaluation at certain depth even if the played out situation would continue and lead to a vastly different result (imagine e.g. a queen taking a pawn which is guarded by another pawn; if the engine stops evaluating after the pawn take, it will think it's a won pawn, when in fact it's a lost queen). There are also many techniques for reducing the number of searched tree nodes and speeding up the search, for example pruning methods such as **alpha-beta** (which subsequently works best with correctly ordering moves to search), or **transposition tables** (remembering already evaluated position so that they don't have to be evaluated again when encountered by a different path in the tree).
@ -137,7 +134,7 @@ Many other aspects come into the AI design such as opening books (databases of b
The exact rules of chess and their scope may depend on situation, this is just a sum up of rules generally used nowadays.
The start setup of a chessboard is following (lowercase letters are for black pieces, uppercase for white pieces (though many dislike this, for simplicity let's call pawns "pieces" too), on a board with colored squares A1 is black):
The start setup of a chessboard is following (lowercase letters are for black men, uppercase for white men, on a board with colored squares A1 is black):
```
_______________
@ -155,30 +152,30 @@ The start setup of a chessboard is following (lowercase letters are for black pi
files
```
Players take turns in making moves, white always starts. A move consists of moving one (or in special cases two) of own pieces from one square to another, possibly capturing (removing from the board) one opponent's piece -- except for a special *en passant* move capturing always happens by moving one piece to the square occupied by the opposite color piece (which gets removed). Of course no piece can move to a square occupied by another piece of the same color. A move can NOT be skipped. A player wins by giving a **checkmate** to the opponent (making his king unable to escape attack) or if the opponent resigns. If a player is to move but has no valid moves, the game is a draw, so called **stalemate**. If neither player has enough pieces to give a checkmate, the game is a draw, so called **dead position**. There are additional situation in which game can be drawn (threefold repetition of position, 50 move rule). Players can also agree to a draw. A player may also be declared a loser if he cheated, if he lost on time in a game with clock etc.
Players take turns in making moves, white always starts. A move consists of moving one (or in special cases two) of own men from one square to another, possibly capturing (removing from the board) one opponent's man -- except for a special *en passant* move capturing always happens by moving one man to the square occupied by the opposite color man (which gets removed). Of course no man can move to a square occupied by another man of the same color. A move can NOT be skipped. A player wins by giving a **checkmate** to the opponent (making his king unable to escape attack) or if the opponent resigns. If a player is to move but has no valid moves, the game is a draw, so called **stalemate**. If neither player has enough men to give a checkmate, the game is a draw, so called **dead position**. There are additional situation in which game can be drawn (threefold repetition of position, 50 move rule). Players can also agree to a draw. A player may also be declared a loser if he cheated, if he lost on time in a game with clock etc.
The individual pieces and their movement rules are:
The individual men and their movement rules are:
- **pawn** (`P`): Moves 1 square forward (white towards 8th rank, black towards 1st rank), unless that square is occupied by any piece (even enemy piece, pawns cannot capture going forward). From its start position a pawn can optionally move 2 squares if neither of the 2 forward squares are occupied. Pawn can capture enemy pieces 1 square diagonally forward (i.e. 1 square forward right or 1 square forward left).
- **rook** (`R`): Moves any number of squares either horizontally or vertically, but cannot jump over any pieces, however can capture (i.e. land) on a square occupied by enemy piece and capture it.
- **knight** (`N`): Can jump over pieces (both friendly and enemy), moves in "L" shapes, i.e. from its square a knight can jump to (with a possible capture) a square 2 squares in one direction and 1 square in the perpendicular direction (e.g. 2 squares down and 1 square right, or 2 squares right and 1 square up etc.).
- **pawn** (`P`): Moves 1 square forward (white towards 8th rank, black towards 1st rank), unless that square is occupied by any man (even enemy men, pawns cannot capture going forward). From its start position a pawn can optionally move 2 squares if neither of the 2 forward squares are occupied. Pawn can capture enemy men 1 square diagonally forward (i.e. 1 square forward right or 1 square forward left).
- **rook** (`R`): Moves any number of squares either horizontally or vertically, but cannot jump over any men, however can capture (i.e. land) on a square occupied by enemy man and capture it.
- **knight** (`N`): Can jump over men (both friendly and enemy), moves in "L" shapes, i.e. from its square a knight can jump to (with a possible capture) a square 2 squares in one direction and 1 square in the perpendicular direction (e.g. 2 squares down and 1 square right, or 2 squares right and 1 square up etc.).
- **bishop** (`B`): Moves like rook but diagonally, i.e. a bishop will only ever be able to move on squares of one color (the one it starts on).
- **queen** (`Q`): Can move both like bishop and rook.
- **king** (`K`): Can move (and capture) to any of the 8 immediately neighboring squares.
**Check**: If the player's king is attacked, i.e. it is immediately possible for an enemy piece 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.
**Check**: If the player's king is attacked, i.e. it is immediately possible for an enemy men 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!
**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 pieced 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.
**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.
**Promotion**: If a pawn reaches the 1st or 8th rank, it is promoted, i.e. it has to be switched for either queen, rook, bishop or knight of the same color.
**Checkmate**: If a player is in check but cannot make any move to get out of it, he is checkmated and lost.
**En passant**: If a pawn moves 2 squares forward (from the start position), in the immediate next move the opponent can take it with a pawn in the same way as if it only moved 1 square forward (the only case in which a piece captures a piece by landing on an empty square).
**En passant**: If a pawn moves 2 squares forward (from the start position), in the immediate next move the opponent can take it with a pawn in the same way as if it only moved 1 square forward (the only case in which a men captures another man by landing on an empty square).
Threefold repetition is a rule allowing a player to claim a draw if the same position (piece positions, player's turn, castling rights, en passant state) occurs three times (not necessarily consecutively). The 50 move rule allows a player to claim a draw if no pawn has moved and no piece has been captured in last 50 moves (both players making their move counts as a single move here).
Threefold repetition is a rule allowing a player to claim a draw if the same position (men positions, player's turn, castling rights, en passant state) occurs three times (not necessarily consecutively). The 50 move rule allows a player to claim a draw if no pawn has moved and no man has been captured in last 50 moves (both players making their move counts as a single move here).
## Playing Tips
@ -187,18 +184,18 @@ Some general tips and rules of thumb, mostly for beginners:
- Try to control the center of the board (D4, D5, E4, E5).
- 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 pieces before attacking, usually knights go out before bishops, bishops are well placed on the longest diagonals as "snipers".
- Learn basic tactics, especially forks and pins.
- 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 piece.
- 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).
- 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.
- Pawn structure is very important.
- Watch out for back rank checkmates, make an escape square for your king.
- Rooks want to be on open files, you also want to CONNECT them (have both guard each other). Also a rook in the opponents second row (2nd/7th rank) is pretty good.
- Bishops are generally seen a bit more valuable than knights, especially in pairs -- if you can trade your knight for opponent's bishop, it's often good. If your opponent has two bishops and you only have one, you want to trade yours for his so he doesn't have the pair. A knight pair is also pretty powerful though, especially when the knights are guarding each other.
- "Knight on a rim is dim" (knights are best placed near the center).
- An extremely strong formation is both rooks and the queen on the same open file.
- Blocking the opponents piece so that it can't move is almost as good as taking it. And vice versa: you want to activate all your pieces if possible.
- Blocking the opponents man so that it can't move is almost as good as taking it. And vice versa: you want to activate all your men if possible.
- Don't play "hope chess", always suppose your opponent will play the best move he can.
- If you can achieve something with multiple pieces, usually it's best to do it with the weakest one.
- If you can achieve something with multiple men, usually it's best to do it with the weakest one.
- TODO: moar
## How To Disrespect Your Opponent And Other Lulz In Chess
@ -216,11 +213,11 @@ Chess is only mildly [bloated](bloat.md) but what if we try to unbloat it comple
- No castling.
- No en passant.
- Promotion is always to queen.
- No checks or checkmates, king is just another piece.
- No checks or checkmates, king is just another man.
- Whoever takes the opponent's king first wins.
- If a player has no available moves, he loses.
- Only a single draw rule: if game doesn't end in 1024 half moves or fewer, it is a draw. I.e. there are no weird draw rules (50 move, repetition, ...). Of course players may still agree on draw anytime.
- Random: optionally random variant of LRS chess can be played. Here we randomly shuffle the white player's back row pieces in the starting position and mirror it for black (no weird conditions on piece positions like in chess 960).
- Random: optionally random variant of LRS chess can be played. Here we randomly shuffle the white player's back row men in the starting position and mirror it for black (no weird conditions on men positions like in chess 960).
@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ Type A and type B fails are two very common cases of failing to adhere to the [L
- **type A fail**: Is anticapitalist, anticonsumerist, may incline towards minimalism, supports [free software](free_software.md) and [free culture](free_culture.md), may even be a vegan, [anarchist](anarchism.md), [C](c.md) programmer etc., however falls into the trap of supporting [pseudoleft](pseudoleft.md), e.g. [LGBT](lgbt.md) or [feminism](feminism.md) and things such as censorship ("[moderation](moderation.md)", [COCs](coc.md)), "just violence and bullying" (violence against fascists, e.g. [antifa](antifa.md)), falls for memes such as "[Rust](rust.md) is the new [C](c.md)".
- **type B fail**: Is against [pseudoleft](pseudoleft.md) bullshit and propaganda such as political correctness, is a [racial realist](racial_realism.md), highly supports [suckless](suckless.md) software, hacking and minimalism to achieve high freedom, usually also opposes [corporations](corporation.md) and state, however falls into the trap of being a [fascist](fascism.md), easily accepts violence, believes in "natural selection/wild west as a basis of society", supports and engages in [cryptocurrencies](crypto.md), believes in some form of [capitalism](capitalism.md) and that the current form of it can be "fixed" (["anarcho" capitalism](ancap.md) etc.)
Both types are furthermore prone to falling a victim to [privacy](privacy.md) obsession, [productivity](productivity_culture.md) obsession, [diseases](disease.d) such as [distro hopping](distro_hopping.md), [consuerism](consumerism.md) and similar defects.
Type A/B fails are the "great filter" of the rare kind of people who show a great potential for adhering to LRS. It may be due to the modern western culture that forces a [right](right.md)-[pseudoleft](pseudoleft.md) false dichotomy that even those showing a high degree of non-conformance eventually slip into the trap of being caught by one of the two poles. These two fails seem to be a manifestation of an individual's true motives of [self interest](self_interest.md) which is culturally fueled with great force -- those individuals then try to not conform and support non-mainstream concepts like free culture or sucklessness, but eventually only with the goal of self interest. It seems to be extremely difficult to abandon this goal, much more than simply non-conforming. Maybe it's also the subconscious knowledge that adhering completely to LRS means an extreme loneliness; being type A/B fail means being a part of a minority, but still a having a supportive community, not being completely alone.
However these kinds of people may also pose a hope: if we could educate them and "fix their failure", the LRS community could grow rapidly. If realized, this step could even be seen as the main contribution of LRS -- uniting the misguided rightists and pseudoleftists by pointing out errors in their philosophies (errors that may largely be intentionally forced by the system anyway exactly to create the hostility between the non-conforming, as a means of protecting the system).
*Sufficiently advanced stupidity is indistinguishable from feminism.* --[drummyfish](drummyfish.md)'s law
Feminism is a [fascist](fascism.md) [terrorist](terrorism.md) [pseudoleftist](pseudoleft.md) movement aiming for the establishing female as the superior gender, for social revenge on men and gaining political power, e.g. that over [language](political_correctness.md). Similarly to [LGBT](lgbt.md), feminism is violent, [toxic](toxic.md) and [harmful](harmful.md), based on [brainwashing](brainwashing.md), mass hysteria, [bullying](bullying.md) (e.g. the [metoo](metoo.md) campaign) and [propaganda](propaganda.md).
Feminism, also feminazism, is a [fascist](fascism.md) [terrorist](terrorism.md) [pseudoleftist](pseudoleft.md) movement aiming for the establishing female as the superior gender, for social revenge on men and gaining political power, e.g. that over [language](political_correctness.md). Similarly to [LGBT](lgbt.md), feminism is violent, [toxic](toxic.md) and [harmful](harmful.md), based on [brainwashing](brainwashing.md), mass hysteria, [bullying](bullying.md) (e.g. the [metoo](metoo.md) campaign) and [propaganda](propaganda.md).
[LMAO](lmao.md), this just sums up the feminist ways: **a supposed woman writer who won 1 million euro prize turned out to actually be three men writers**, see Carmen Mola :)
@ -4,12 +4,19 @@ Shogi, also called *Japanese chess*, is an old Asian board [game](game.md), very
{ Lol apparently (seen in a YT video) when in the opening one exchanges bishops, it is considered [rude](unsportmanship.md) to promote the bishop that takes, as it makes no difference because he will be immediately taken anyway. So ALWAYS DO THIS to piss off your opponent and increase your change of winning :D ~drummyfish }
**Quick sum up for chess players:** Games are longer. When you get back to chess from shogi your ELO will bump 100 points as it feels so much easier. Pawns are very different (simpler) from chess, they don't take sideways so forget all you know about pawn structure (prepare for bashing your head thinking a pawn guards something, then opponent takes it and you realize you can't retake :D just write gg and start a new game). The drop move will fuck up your thinking initially, you have to start considering that opponent can just smash his general literally in front of your king and mate you right there { still fucking happens to me all the time lol :D ~drummyfish }. Exchanges and sacrifices also aren't that simple as any piece you sacrifice YOU GIVE TO THE OPPONENT, so you better not fuck up the final attack on the king or else the opponent just collects a bunch of your pieces and starts his own attack right in your base by dropping those pieces on your king right from the sky. You have to kill swiftly and precisely, it can turn over in an instant. There is no castling (but king safety is still important so you castle manually). Stalemate is a loss (not a draw) but it basically never happens, Japanese hate draws, draws are rare in shogi.
The game's disadvantage and a barrier for entry, especially for westeners, is that the **traditional design of the shogi pieces sucks big time**, for they are just same-colored pieces of wood with Chinese characters written on them which are unintelligible to anyone non-Chinese and even to Chinese this is greatly visually unclear -- all pieces just look the same on first sight and the pieces of both player are distinguished just by their rotation, not color (color is only used in amateur sets to distinguish normal and promoted pieces). But of course you may use different, visually better pieces, which is also an option in many shogi programs -- a popular choice nowadays are so called *international* pieces that show both the Chinese character along with a simple, easily distinguishable piece symbol. There are also sets for children/beginners that have on them visually indicated how the piece moves.
## Rules
TODO
As with every game, rules may slightly differ here and there, but generally they are in principle similar to those of [chess](chess.md), with some differences and with different pieces. The **goal** of the game is to deliver a checkmate to the opponent's king, i.e. make him unable to escape capture (same as in chess). The details are as follows.
Shogi is played on a 9x9 rectangular board: the squares are not square in shape but slightly rectangular and they all have the same color. There are two players: **sente** (plays first) and **gote** (plays second); sente is also sometimes called black and gote white, like in chess (though unlike in chess black starts first here), but the pieces actually all have the same color (as they can be exchanged).
The pieces are weird pentagonal arrow-like shapes that have on them written a Chinese character identifying the piece; on the other side there is a symbol representing the promoted version of the piece (i.e. if you promote, you turn the piece over). The arrow of the piece is turned against the enemy and this is how it is distinguished which player a piece belongs to.
The table showing all the types of pieces follows. The movement rules are same as in chess, i.e. pieces cannot jump over other pieces except for the knight. (F, R, B, L mean forward, right, bottom, left.)
|p. rook (dragon)| 龍 | +R | 17 | like both king and rook | |
| king | 王 | K | inf | any neighboring 8 squares | same as king in chess, can't promote |
At the beginning the board is set up like this:
```
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
_________________
|L N S G K G S N L| a
|. R . . . . . B .| b
|P P P P P P P P P| c
|L N S G K G S N L| a gote promotion
|. R . . . . . B .| b (white) zone
|P P P P P P P P P| c ----------------------
|. . . . . . . . .| d
|. . . . . . . . .| e
|. . . . . . . . .| f
|p p p p p p p p p| g
|. b . . . . . r .| h
|l n s g k g s n l| i
|p p p p p p p p p| g ----------------------
|. b . . . . . r .| h sente promotion
|l n s g k g s n l| i (black) zone
"""""""""""""""""
```
So called *furigoma* is used to decide who starts (has the black pieces): one player throws 5 pawn pieces, if the number of unpromoted pawns ending up facing up is higher than the number of promoted ones, the player who tossed starts.
Then the players take turns in making moves, one can either:
- Move one own piece (according to its movement rules), possibly **capturing** (taking) one enemy piece by landing on it. If a piece is captured, it goes to the hand of that who captured it. After making this move the moved piece MAY (or may not) be promoted if: it can be **promoted** (as some pieces can't promote) AND its movement path went through the enemy promotion zone (his three starting rows, for example if the piece entered the zone or left it or moved within it). Promotion is mandatory if otherwise the piece would be unable to ever move again (e.g. a pawn entering the last row has to be always promoted). OR
- **Drop** one of the held pieces (captured from the enemy's army) anywhere on an empty square as a new piece of the player who drops it. After a drop the piece CANNOT be immediately promoted (it has to move to be promoted). One only cannot drop a piece so that it wouldn't ever have any legal move (e.g. a pawn to the last row), also a pawn mustn't be dropped into a column where there already is an unpromoted friendly pawn (there may only ever be at most one unpromoted pawn of each player in any column) AND one mustn't deliver an immediate checkmate by dropping a pawn (but can deliver a check etc.).
If a piece is immediately endangering the enemy king (so that it could capture it the next turn), a **check** happens. The player in check has to immediately avoid it, i.e. make a move that makes his king not be endangered by any enemy piece. If he cannot do that, he got **checkmated** and lost.
TODO
## Playing Tips
TODO
- Opening: moving the pawn right-up from your bishop seems to be the best first move, also most commonly played on top level.
