Lets play a game of Chess

[boolberry]

30. Nb3, giving up the exchange to prevent 30... Nd4 31... Nf3+.

Nb3 looks good, supporting the bishop as well

Nb3:  2 votes (foxpopup, jjacob)

Nb3:  3 votes (foxpopup, jjacob, boolberry)

I agree for the reasons above. We are losing but Foxpup is right that we would lose much faster if we move our rook and allow Nd4.

[1715145694]

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[1715145694]

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[mdgreasyjohn]

i like f3

[boolberry]

i like f3

f3 loses immediately

30.f3 Qd4+
31.Kh1 Nxa1. We are down a rook, our king is open and our bishop on d2 is still be pinned.

30.f3 Qd4+
31.Kf1 or (Ke2) Ne3+ winning our queen

30.f3 Qd4+
31.Kh2 Qf2+
32.Kh1 Rxd2 (we will lose our queen to delay checkmate)

Nb3:  3 votes (foxpopup, jjacob, boolberry)
f3: 1 vote (mdgreasyjohn)

[dre1982]

Nb3 for me too. Resign and Start over will even be better. 

[hermesesus]

Nb3

Nb3:  5 votes (foxpopup, jjacob, boolberry, dre1982, hermesesus)
f3: 1 vote (mdgreasyjohn)

[stefs]

NB3 for me too..

[SimonBelmond]

Sorry to post this here, but this is the only active thread I know about chess and Bitcoin. I used to read and reference many others to royalforkblog.com. It was an excellent blog about Bitcoin. You can find an archived snapshot here: https://web.archive.org/web/20150214051116/http://www.royalforkblog.com/

Does anyone know who ran this blog and why it is no longer online? It went down probably 2 month ago.

I am the type of learner that profits from the beautiful style. e.g. check out this (not entirely preserved with graphics and animations but still):
https://web.archive.org/web/20150216123331/http://www.royalforkblog.com/2014/08/11/graphical-address-generator

I even had e-mail contact with the guy once but it was all through the royalforkblog address.

excerpt from the about section:

It’s rather poetic. We have the king; the most important piece in the game which must be protected at all costs; and the queen; a piece stronger than the next 2 most powerful pieces combined. In the above position, the almighty king and dominant queen both find themselves unescapably ensnared by a single, lowly, well positioned knight. The royal fork reminds us that it doesn’t take an army to push around 2 towering, seemingly unassailable pieces…..just an idea and stellar execution.

I think this serves as a decent metaphor for bitcoin. Like the knight, Bitcoin has positioned itself squarely between 2 giant institutions; the State, which regulates the monetary system, and the federal banking system, which runs the monetary system. Unlike the chess analogy, I don’t think the relationship between Bitcoin, States, and banks is or should ever be adversarial. Chess has clear winners and losers; the real world can accommodate success for everyone.

The most royal post so far was this one but a it is unfortunately not preserved with all elements:
https://web.archive.org/web/20150216055120/http://www.royalforkblog.com/2014/09/04/ecc/

Sorry for interrupting the chess game. In case you know anything, please pm me.

Edit: There is now also a post about this here, in case you would like to answer of comment:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1212432.msg12721787#msg12721787

[gotmilk_]

Nb3 means we lose a Rook...

I vote for Ra2. Then next move can be b3 and we attack the Knight.

[hermesesus]

Nb3: 6 votes (foxpopup, jjacob, boolberry, dre1982, hermesesus, stefs)
f3: 1 vote (mdgreasyjohn)
Ra2: 1 vote (gotmilk_)

[hermesesus]

Harder
White to move and win:

I found the beginning of the solution:
1. c7 Rd6+
2. Kb5 Rd5+
3. Kb4 Kb2
4. c8Q Rd4+
5. Kb5

I know that the white Queen has to capture the black Rook by simultaneously putting the black King in check.
I know that the checkmate would be something like that:
http://lichess.org/editor/8/8/8/8/8/2K5/8/2k1Q3_w_KQkq_-
or
http://lichess.org/editor/8/8/8/8/8/2K5/2Q5/2k5_w_-_-

But I didn't succeed for now.

[boolberry]

Sorry to post this here, but this is the only active thread I know about chess and Bitcoin. I used to read and reference many others to royalforkblog.com. It was an excellent blog about Bitcoin. You can find an archived snapshot here: https://web.archive.org/web/20150214051116/http://www.royalforkblog.com/

Does anyone know who ran this blog and why it is no longer online? It went down probably 2 month ago.

I am the type of learner that profits from the beautiful style. e.g. check out this:
https://web.archive.org/web/20150216123331/http://www.royalforkblog.com/2014/08/11/graphical-address-generator

I even had e-mail contact with the guy once but it was all through the royalforkblog address.

excerpt from the about section:

It’s rather poetic. We have the king; the most important piece in the game which must be protected at all costs; and the queen; a piece stronger than the next 2 most powerful pieces combined. In the above position, the almighty king and dominant queen both find themselves unescapably ensnared by a single, lowly, well positioned knight. The royal fork reminds us that it doesn’t take an army to push around 2 towering, seemingly unassailable pieces…..just an idea and stellar execution.

I think this serves as a decent metaphor for bitcoin. Like the knight, Bitcoin has positioned itself squarely between 2 giant institutions; the State, which regulates the monetary system, and the federal banking system, which runs the monetary system. Unlike the chess analogy, I don’t think the relationship between Bitcoin, States, and banks is or should ever be adversarial. Chess has clear winners and losers; the real world can accommodate success for everyone.

The most royal post so far was this one but a it is unfortunately not preserved with all elements:
https://web.archive.org/web/20150216055120/http://www.royalforkblog.com/2014/09/04/ecc/

Sorry for interrupting the chess game. In case you know anything, please pm me.

Interesting blog. I did 60 seconds of research and found these which I assume are related:
https://github.com/royalfork?tab=repositories  (google image search of his face only leads back to github)
https://twitter.com/royalforkblog

Here is one more chess thread in case you want to ask there:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1190988.0
It is worth noting that one of the 52 accounts https://twitter.com/royalforkblog follows is https://twitter.com/hashbreaker who is someone important to those that follow CryptoNote

Good luck!

[boolberry]

Nb3 means we lose a Rook...

I vote for Ra2. Then next move can be b3 and we attack the Knight.

Ra2 loses to Nd4 and the deadly threat of Nf3+ cannot be stopped.

[boolberry]

Harder
White to move and win:

I found the beginning of the solution:
1. c7 Rd6+
2. Kb5 Rd5+
3. Kb4 Kb2
4. c8Q Rd4+
5. Kb5

I know that the white Queen has to capture the black Rook by simultaneously putting the black King in check.
I know that the checkmate would be something like that:
http://lichess.org/editor/8/8/8/8/8/2K5/8/2k1Q3_w_KQkq_-
or
http://lichess.org/editor/8/8/8/8/8/2K5/2Q5/2k5_w_-_-

But I didn't succeed for now.

The line you gave is winning, but not forced. Look back in this thread for more clues about the problem. Kb2 is not the best defense for black on the 3rd move. Instead Rd4+ should be played.

[funnyman21]

Nb3 for me too. Resign and Start over will even be better.  

I agree with the resign option. If this was a real life game (other than blitz) I bet his opponent would resign here.

[letsplayagame]

Nb3

Nb3:  5 votes (foxpopup, jjacob, boolberry, dre1982, hermesesus)
f3: 1 vote (mdgreasyjohn)

Your move bitcointalk. You have the white pieces

The current position is updated below:

30.Nb3    Nxa1



Here is the answer to the Saavedra position I posted:


1.c7       Rd6+
2.Kb5     Rd5+
3.Kb4     Rd4+
4.Kb3     Rd3+
5.Kc2     Rd4
6.c8=R   Ra4
7.Kb3 and white cannot both save the rook and prevent Rc1#

Any other second move for white would allow black to sacrifice his rook for the c pawn with Rd7 (if the king moves to b7 or a7) or play Rd1 followed by Rc1+ (if Kc5).

6.c8=Q   Rc4+
7.Qxc4 is stalemate

[Morecoin Freeman]

Nxa1: 1 votes (Morecoin Freeman)

[hermesesus]

I vote Nxa1

Nxa1: 2 votes (Morecoin Freeman, hermesesus)

[hermesesus]

Here is the answer to the Saavedra position I posted:


1.c7       Rd6+
2.Kb5     Rd5+
3.Kb4     Rd4+
4.Kb3     Rd3+
5.Kc2     Rd4
6.c8=R   Ra4
7.Kb3 and white cannot save both the rook and Rc1#

Any other second move for white would allow black to sacrifice his rook for the c pawn with Rd7 (if the king moves to b7 or a7) or play Rd1 followed by Rc1+ (if Kc5).

6.c8=Q   Rc4+
7.Qxc4 is stalemate

If I understand: underpromotion to Rook to avoid stalemate. I couldn't find it myself. For me, queening was obvious

[languagehasmeaning]

I vote Nxa1

Nxa1: 2 votes (Morecoin Freeman, hermesesus)

Nxa1: 3 votes (Morecoin Freeman, hermesesus, languagehasmeaning)

[boolberry]

Nxa1: 4 votes (Morecoin Freeman, hermesesus, languagehasmeaning, boolberry)