All Questions
8,656
questions
2
votes
0
answers
67
views
A different hashing algorithm for chess positions
This is not a question, it is a curious discovery I wanted to share
The most common hashing algorithm in chess programming is, I believe, Zobrist hashing.
However, I may have found a different way of ...
0
votes
0
answers
50
views
Promote a piece to queen by moving back aside of king?
As I was trying out different chess applications I received a hint from the Lucas Chess virtual tutor, showing me I had a better option:
Move piece C2 to C1. When I did that, the piece promoted to ...
- 101
0
votes
1
answer
48
views
Why does stockfish think this knight outpost from a Semi-Slav is an inaccuracy?
[fen "rn1qk2r/4bppp/p1p1pn2/1p4B1/3P4/2NQPN2/PP3PPP/R3K2R w KQkq - 0 12"]
I played Ne5 which I thought was reasonable as it targets c6. But Stockfish 14+ goes from +1.1 to +0.2. What is the ...
- 3,545
4
votes
4
answers
2k
views
Overkilling the opponent
Every chess player has experienced this at least once in his life: An opponent who refuses to resign, even though being bare-kinged against a rook and 5 pawns...
Usually, kids are told to not be ...
- 5,786
4
votes
0
answers
50
views
Are there any recent resources on this variation of the Exchange Caro-Kann?
The variation I'm talking about is:
e4 c6
d4 d5
exd5 cxd5
Bd3 Nc6
c3 g6!? .
[FEN ""]
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Bd3 Nc6 5. c3 g6!?
I found it in an old book about the Exchange ...
- 41
1
vote
0
answers
25
views
Creating Tactics to practice in Arena chess
This is a two part question.
I have over 2000 tactics from books I would like to create in Arena chess (using Stock Fish), to practice.
How do I load and save these tactics in the Arena Chess GUI/...
- 11
3
votes
4
answers
224
views
En passant capture - statistically advantageous?
If anyone is doing chess score analysis (on say, last 10 years of competitive games), I wonder if it's identifiable how many times en passant (EP) capture could have been played vs how many times it ...
- 31
9
votes
3
answers
4k
views
"Premove" in OTB game
Lately, a player of mine caused a minor kerfuffle by his habit of touching a piece to counter blitz even when the opponent had not finished the move.
Interestingly, I found nothing in the rules (...
- 15k
-3
votes
0
answers
143
views
When can 'il vaticano' be played?
I have found that il vaticano can be played when two bishops have two pawns of the other color inbetween them, where they can capture one pawn each and then swap locations.
Can the move be played both ...
0
votes
1
answer
70
views
Trying to improve
I have a question hopefully someone can help me out.
3 days ago I won a tournament (25+5) semi-rapid section under 1450 OTB. I scored 5/5 beating some high rated players.
My rating OTB semi-rapid ...
- 101
0
votes
1
answer
159
views
What's wrong with the way white is playing?
I have played an opening I can't find anywhere online. So I'm guessing it's wrong. Can someone tell me what are the weaknesses in white's strategy? Or is it simply a matter of black not being able to ...
- 103
0
votes
0
answers
62
views
Good response to the french defense [duplicate]
I am rated 1840 rapid(10+0) chess on chesscom and 1500 semi rapid (25+5) OTB.
I am preparing for a tournament and I want a suggestion regarding an approach to the french defense.
I tried playing the ...
- 101
2
votes
1
answer
81
views
Boden–Kieseritzky Gambit vs. Morphy Gambit
I just got an ad for the book Taming Wild Chess Openings by Watson & Schiller. I'm not planning to buy the book, but I was intrigued by the table of contents, especially the two lines quoted below ...
- 3,722
4
votes
3
answers
201
views
Tricky sidelines against the French?
In my experience, the French is my weakest opening after e4. I used to play the advance variation against it but found that black gets really nice pressure in the center and by the middlegame white's ...
- 159
-1
votes
0
answers
60
views
Is chess loseable for one side given your opponent wants to lose and plays perfectly towards it? [duplicate]
I watched this german video, where they use the strongest engine and make a bot which executes the strongest engine worst recommendation. Even if you do not speak german, watch the end, the human ...
- 37
2
votes
0
answers
25
views
Feritztrainer on Mac, Install conflict
I have installed 3 Fritztrainers on the Mac, with the native Mac program included in the modern Fritztrainers.
After having activated and used them without problems, starting a second one of the ...
- 21
1
vote
2
answers
185
views
Official knight move rule definition
Not a trivial question: How would you define the knight move rule on a d-dimensional chessboard (say an 8 X 8 X ... X 8 board) by extending the official knight move rule that states how a knight moves ...
- 241
-2
votes
1
answer
113
views
Castling on King side [closed]
This is a quiz from a chess website. The challenge is to castle on King Side. White to play. How can we do this ?
0
votes
0
answers
38
views
How to use chessbase to find moves that produce "only winning sequences" if present?
A lot of times you may find yourself in a losing position, and with best play surely, you'll stay losing, but there is a possibility that you make a move which is not necessarily considered the best ...
0
votes
1
answer
107
views
Albin countergambit question about a line
In the albin countergambit, after this line:
d4 d5 2. c4 e5 3. dxe5 d4 4. e3 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 dxe3 6. fxe3 Qh4+ 7. g3 Qe4 8. Qf3 Bxd2+ 9. Nxd2 Qxe5
Why is the position better for black? Is it the fact ...
1
vote
0
answers
90
views
Literature on chess engines' playing style
I'm aware of Matthew Sadler and Jozarov's outputs, do you have any other suggestions?
Any first-hand attempt of trying to describe engines' playing main themes would also be welcome.
- 73
2
votes
2
answers
98
views
Timeout vs Insufficient Material
This is not a new topic but it did happen in my game at chess.com. I was playing white and played the only legal move h7 and was checkmated on the next move.
My question is: What will happen if I just ...
- 8,769
2
votes
0
answers
84
views
My FIDE Initial Rating Calculation Problem
I’m working on path to get my initial FIDE rating. I joined 8 local FIDE rated tournaments with result as follow.
Rating = Result
Rapid Ratings November 2022
1083 = 0
Rapid Ratings March 2023
1142 =...
- 21
7
votes
1
answer
2k
views
How do arbiters handle touch move complains where players deny?
So, two cases. Player A (A) and Player B (B)
Case 1
B touches a piece. A sees it. B plays something else. A complains to arbiter that B didn't play the touched piece. Arbiter didn't see that B ...
- 2,296
6
votes
3
answers
969
views
g4 pawn push to remove bishop pin - why is it good sometimes? (specific example below)
In the following position, why is g4 so powerful (+4.1 according to stockfish), when g4 is normally considered a weakening move?
[Title "Why is g4 so powerful here?"]
[fen ""]
[...
- 61
0
votes
1
answer
86
views
Why is d5 better than dxe5 in this position?
I tried looking at a few lines with the engine but still couldn't quite understand how white managed to obtain a better position in some of the lines. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
[Title &...
- 159
0
votes
2
answers
148
views
Can black win (or even draw) after 3. Qxf7 Kxf7?
Recently I've been watching a streamer who plays chess. He's been using an aggressive opening with 3. Qxf7 (when he's white). The opponent is forced to respond with Kxf7. And the streamer always wins ...
- 13
0
votes
1
answer
77
views
I am only good in bullet. Why? [closed]
I am 2100 in lichess bullet (1+0) and 1500-1700 to anything else. Why does it happen?
- 197
3
votes
1
answer
176
views
Every longbow-wielding peasant's finest hour?
It's called the English opening - some reference to Howard Staunton and the perambulations of the mid to late 19th Century; but, does the variant name refer to the Ancien Regime charging up a muddy ...
user35277
25
votes
4
answers
5k
views
Is there a recourse when a player does not resign in a clearly lost position?
I manage a chess club. Two 1900+ players A and B were playing. They reached a position where A had K+Q, and B had only K. They each had about an hour left on their clocks. B just waited the full hour, ...
- 411
3
votes
1
answer
104
views
Problem with tablebases
I hope this is the right forum for my question.
So, I have all 5 men files on my HDD and the two files
KRPPvKR.rtbz
KRPPvKR.rtbw
In the position here (8/2K2k2/3R3P/5P2/8/8/8/r7 w - - 0 10) everything ...
- 63
-1
votes
1
answer
104
views
Why is 11...Qg6 the best move in this line of the italian?
In the following position:
2kr3r/ppp1bppp/2nq4/1N2pb2/8/3PBN2/PPP2PPP/R2Q1RK1 b - - 4 11
The engine (Stockfish 14) suggests 11...Qg6 as the best move for black. It evaluates 11...Qg6 -3.4 compared to ...
- 599
11
votes
6
answers
8k
views
Is it okay to use Scholars mate against strong players?
I am comfortable using scholars mate opening in my game. If it does not work then I can always transform it into a good offense/defense.
- 111
4
votes
1
answer
732
views
Which openings have a 0-0-0 long castle as white and as black?
Long castling is not very common. Are there any statistics as to how many games have long castle? And how many of them are won?
Which openings can one typically play where there is a long castle, as ...
- 41
0
votes
1
answer
52
views
Output A List of final positions
I have a .pgn database. I like to extract all of the final positions into a new pgn database. I do not have ay programming skills. What is the best way to do this?
- 1
1
vote
0
answers
145
views
where can i play chess online without extra rules?
i tried both chess.com and lichess, but both have their own made up rules for chess which are not part of common chess rules and i don't want to play by them, namely the auto-resign. i never want to ...
- 111
0
votes
0
answers
60
views
What is the maximum theoretical (and practical) limit to an engines Elo? [duplicate]
If I'm not wrong, Chess #1 is at 2800 something, (Magnus) And the #1 Engine is Stockfish, with something of 3200-ish.
What I'm asking that is there any theoretical limit to the elo?
yes, I know, Elo ...
-1
votes
2
answers
106
views
What are some decent books that explain the Cochrane Gambit from White's perspective?
I'm looking for a book that explains how the gambit works.
- 43
1
vote
1
answer
83
views
what happens if my initial rating is below 1000?
so I play 5 games against rated players all rated 1000 and I score half a point
1.will my rating still be calculated but shown as unrated?
2.what if I play more games and I still have a below 1000 ...
1
vote
2
answers
65
views
Search returns PV that has depth reduced by null move reduction
I was running my program on a couple test positions earlier, and I came across a problem where the PV would be shorter than the max search depth. I am now pretty sure this is due to null move ...
- 159
1
vote
1
answer
93
views
Can Rook pawn still get win when opponent clock run out?
White has Rook pawn and King vs Black king just jumping from corner and back. But the game played on clock and black king clock run out. White avoided threefold and stalemate and moved his king to ...
- 11
3
votes
2
answers
326
views
Is there any program which I can use to train custom tactics puzzles?
Essentially, I would like to have the following features/workflow:
I obtain a .pgn file with (puzzle) positions and moves (the solutions)
I load that .pgn into the program and then solve (...
- 529
1
vote
1
answer
84
views
Why is Nf6 a blunder here?
With Nf6, I'm trying to bring my Knight out. If the Bishop takes it, I can take the Bishop with by g7 pawn. Why is this a blunder?
- 137
1
vote
1
answer
82
views
Could castling ever be proven to be legally allowed for sure if the first move is required to be a pawn move?
In retrograde analysis problems, castling is assumed to be allowed unless it could be proven that either the king or the rook has previously moved.
It is well known, of course, that one could never be ...
- 119
0
votes
1
answer
39
views
Opeing trainer similar to Chesstempo?
Is there a similar web site that teaches Openings like Chesstempo.com in a sense that you can train and verify lines, etc. I find the Chesstempo user interface confusing and overal user experience isn'...
- 193
0
votes
1
answer
45
views
Ruy Lopez exchange variable [duplicate]
In the exchange variation of Ruy Lopez, why doesn't black capture using the B-pawn? As per good strategy shouldn't we capture towards the center of the board?
- 101
3
votes
1
answer
111
views
why is ...Bg4 not so popular in this Ruy Lopez line?
[FEN ""]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 Bg4
in this line of the Berlin variation, 8 ...Bg4 is not popular among chess masters (it has been ...
-1
votes
0
answers
80
views
Fastest blitz speed
Assume you are down to only making moves. No thinking. Blitz sharks now even move pieces in clock vicinity. How many moves/sec can a human with proper dexterity achieve? For clarity, assume standard ...
- 15k
1
vote
1
answer
117
views
What is the easiest way to win this endgame in a blitz game?
Say you're in a blitz game and you and your opponent both have 45 seconds left.
[Title "White to move"]
[fen "6k1/3p2pp/p7/1pPq4/1P6/P5RP/6PK/8 w - - 0 45"]
My question is how ...
- 159
1
vote
1
answer
99
views
How many former Russian players have moved from RUS or FID registration to another country since the May 2023 offer?
"most are likely to do so Do you have any sources for this? "
The quote comes from a comment made by Allure to this post of mine where I claimed:
FIDE have made it possible for Russian ...
- 93.7k