CryptoNote technical discussion and Chess Challenge

[languagehasmeaning]

Rc7 (boolberry)

Rc7 (boolberry, languagehasmeaning).

I now see a concrete plan for opening a file for our rook:)

40...Rc7 41.Bd5 b5

I have several plans in mind depending on how white responds.

[languagehasmeaning]

Speaking of IP address privacy and CryptoNote I found this interesting:
https://github.com/monero-project/bitmonero/pull/539
https://www.reddit.com/r/Monero/comments/3wuls1/add_a_bit_of_info_about_using_bitmonerod_with_tor/

Maybe the following should be could with the pros and cons of I2P over double OpenVPN servers and other solutions.
https://forum.getmonero.org/1/news-announcements-and-editorials/208/why-we-chose-i2p-over-tor?page=&noscroll=1#post-4452
https://forum.getmonero.org/1/news-announcements-and-editorials/208/why-we-chose-i2p-over-tor

I like the fact that different options are available to users depending on their needs.

[funnyman21]

Speaking of IP address privacy and CryptoNote I found this interesting:
https://github.com/monero-project/bitmonero/pull/539
https://www.reddit.com/r/Monero/comments/3wuls1/add_a_bit_of_info_about_using_bitmonerod_with_tor/

Maybe the following should be could with the pros and cons of I2P over double OpenVPN servers and other solutions.
https://forum.getmonero.org/1/news-announcements-and-editorials/208/why-we-chose-i2p-over-tor?page=&noscroll=1#post-4452
https://forum.getmonero.org/1/news-announcements-and-editorials/208/why-we-chose-i2p-over-tor

I like the fact that different options are available to users depending on their needs.

I have never used whonix but began researching it more after reading that comment and it sounds great for privacy.

https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Main_Page

"Whonix consists of two parts: One solely runs Tor and acts as a gateway, which we call Whonix-Gateway. The other, which we call Whonix-Workstation, is on a completely isolated network. Only connections through Tor are possible. With Whonix, you can use applications and run servers anonymously over the internet. DNS leaks are impossible, and not even malware with root privileges can find out the user's real IP."

Are there any potential negatives for using this approach? Is "DNS leaks are impossible" truly accurate?

[galdur]

Rc7 (boolberry, languagehasmeaning, galdur)

[smooth]

Speaking of IP address privacy and CryptoNote I found this interesting:
https://github.com/monero-project/bitmonero/pull/539
https://www.reddit.com/r/Monero/comments/3wuls1/add_a_bit_of_info_about_using_bitmonerod_with_tor/

Maybe the following should be could with the pros and cons of I2P over double OpenVPN servers and other solutions.
https://forum.getmonero.org/1/news-announcements-and-editorials/208/why-we-chose-i2p-over-tor?page=&noscroll=1#post-4452
https://forum.getmonero.org/1/news-announcements-and-editorials/208/why-we-chose-i2p-over-tor

I like the fact that different options are available to users depending on their needs.

I have never used whonix but began researching it more after reading that comment and it sounds great for privacy.

https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Main_Page

"Whonix consists of two parts: One solely runs Tor and acts as a gateway, which we call Whonix-Gateway. The other, which we call Whonix-Workstation, is on a completely isolated network. Only connections through Tor are possible. With Whonix, you can use applications and run servers anonymously over the internet. DNS leaks are impossible, and not even malware with root privileges can find out the user's real IP."

Are there any potential negatives for using this approach? Is "DNS leaks are impossible" truly accurate?

I think the DNS leaks being impossible is likely accurate if I understand correctly how Whonix works. I don't think it is possible for the VM to communicate at all except through Tor.

As for downsides of Tor, without good end-to-end methods, Tor connections are susceptible to MITM attacks via hostile exit nodes. It is also possible to get all of the exit nodes banned from a p2p network in which case Tor users wouldn't be able to connect at all. Support can be added for hidden services as it was recently in Bitcoin, which would solve that somewhat, but has other issues.

Establishing Tor sessions can be quite slow, although once established, the performance is very good (I measured around 0.15 seconds added latency receiving Monero blocks over Tor, and that includes some extra time since the local connection on that system is slow).

Opinions differ as to the security of the Tor network overall.

[boolberry]

Rc7 (boolberry, languagehasmeaning, galdur)

Unanimous so far. Voting closes in 2 hours.

[boolberry]

Current position
Based on the votes in this thread Team Boolberry has chosen to play Rc7. Now it is time for Team Monero to respond. I will plan to count votes again tomorrow at approximately 0:00 UTC.

Team Monero (white pieces) vs. Team Boolberry (black pieces)
white to move


Game PGN:

Code:

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4 a6 5.c4 Nc6 6.Qe3 g6 7.Nc3 Bg7 8.Be2 Nf6 9.O-O O-O 10.h3 Nd7 11.b3 Nc5 12.Bb2 f5 13.exf5 Bxf5 14.Rad1 Qa5 15.Rd2 Rf6 16.Nd5 Re6 17.Qf4 Ne4 18.Bxg7 Kxg7 19.Rb2 Nc3 20.Nd4 Re5 21.Bf3 Nxd5 22.Bxd5 Qc3 23.Nxf5+ Rxf5 24.Qd2 Qxd2 25.Rxd2 Rb8 26.a3 e5 27.Be6 Rf6 28.Bd5 Nd4 29.b4 b6 30.Rb2 g5 31.a4 Rff8 32.Rfb1 Rfc8 33.f3 Kf6 34.g3 Rc7 35.Rf1 Nf5 36.Kf2 h5 37.Rd1 Rg7 38.Be4 Nd4 39.Rg1 Rf8 40.Ke3 Rc7

[8XMR]

Bd5

[ArticMine]

41. Rc1 The bishop could be overworked trying to defend two pawns at the same time.

[LucyLovesCrypto]

41. Rc1 The bishop could be overworked trying to defend two pawns at the same time.

Rc1: ArticMine, LucyLovesCrypto
Bd5: 8XMR

[XMRpromotions]

41. Rc1 The bishop could be overworked trying to defend two pawns at the same time.

I agree that Bd5 has some drawbacks after b5 (potentially opening the c file) but I think black will play b5 against Rc1 anyway in which case the pin will be annoying. Rc1 remains ahead on tiebreaks.

Rc1: ArticMine, LucyLovesCrypto
Bd5: 8XMR, XMRpromotions

[ArticMine]

41. Rc1 The bishop could be overworked trying to defend two pawns at the same time.

I agree that Bd5 has some drawbacks after b5 (potentially opening the c file) but I think black will play b5 against Rc1 anyway in which case the pin will be annoying. Rc1 remains ahead on tiebreaks.

Rc1: ArticMine, LucyLovesCrypto
Bd5: 8XMR, XMRpromotions

I will switch my vote to Bd5. So

Rc1: LucyLovesCrypto
Bd5: 8XMR, XMRpromotions, ArticMine,

[languagehasmeaning]

Question for languagehasmeaning, if he is willing to answer. Or anyone who can offer an insight for me.

I am curious. How many moves ahead can you calculate all the possibilities? And is that even a useful computation in playing the game, or is the useful computation probabilistic? Apologies I am ignorant and I am curious about from someone of your caliber, what you can actually do mentally that enables you to win. I suppose I could learn this from books and I haven't researched it.

I know I already answered this question, but here is an answer from someone whose opinion will hold much more weight. World Champion Magnus Carlsen:
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/12/16/sport/magnus-carlsen-chess-world-number-one/index.html

    #AskMagnus How many moves you see ahead of time and how often? overall and your record..?
    — Daniel Pittaluga (@DaniPittaluga) December 3, 2015

MC: "Most of the time the variations that are most relevant are four or five moves ahead, because for the next four or five moves you can calculate every reasonable possibility.

But if it goes much further the possibilities are too diverse and it's just too time-consuming. And also the probability of mistakes are very high.

But if the position is simple, then I can calculate as many moves as I want."

[boolberry]

Current position
Based on the votes in this thread Team Monero has chosen to play Bd5. Now it is time for Team Boolberry to respond. I will plan to count votes again tomorrow at approximately 0:00 UTC.

Team Monero (white pieces) vs. Team Boolberry (black pieces)
black to move


Game PGN:

Code:

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4 a6 5.c4 Nc6 6.Qe3 g6 7.Nc3 Bg7 8.Be2 Nf6 9.O-O O-O 10.h3 Nd7 11.b3 Nc5 12.Bb2 f5 13.exf5 Bxf5 14.Rad1 Qa5 15.Rd2 Rf6 16.Nd5 Re6 17.Qf4 Ne4 18.Bxg7 Kxg7 19.Rb2 Nc3 20.Nd4 Re5 21.Bf3 Nxd5 22.Bxd5 Qc3 23.Nxf5+ Rxf5 24.Qd2 Qxd2 25.Rxd2 Rb8 26.a3 e5 27.Be6 Rf6 28.Bd5 Nd4 29.b4 b6 30.Rb2 g5 31.a4 Rff8 32.Rfb1 Rfc8 33.f3 Kf6 34.g3 Rc7 35.Rf1 Nf5 36.Kf2 h5 37.Rd1 Rg7 38.Be4 Nd4 39.Rg1 Rf8 40.Ke3 Rc7 41.Bd5

[boolberry]

I now see a concrete plan for opening a file for our rook:)

40...Rc7 41.Bd5 b5

I have several plans in mind depending on how white responds.

b5 according to this plan

[galdur]

b5

[languagehasmeaning]

b5: boolberry, galdur, languagehasmeaning

[boolberry]

Current position
Based on the votes in this thread Team Boolberry has chosen to play b5. Now it is time for Team Monero to respond. I will plan to count votes again tomorrow at approximately 0:00 UTC.

Team Monero (white pieces) vs. Team Boolberry (black pieces)
white to move


Game PGN:

Code:

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4 a6 5.c4 Nc6 6.Qe3 g6 7.Nc3 Bg7 8.Be2 Nf6 9.O-O O-O 10.h3 Nd7 11.b3 Nc5 12.Bb2 f5 13.exf5 Bxf5 14.Rad1 Qa5 15.Rd2 Rf6 16.Nd5 Re6 17.Qf4 Ne4 18.Bxg7 Kxg7 19.Rb2 Nc3 20.Nd4 Re5 21.Bf3 Nxd5 22.Bxd5 Qc3 23.Nxf5+ Rxf5 24.Qd2 Qxd2 25.Rxd2 Rb8 26.a3 e5 27.Be6 Rf6 28.Bd5 Nd4 29.b4 b6 30.Rb2 g5 31.a4 Rff8 32.Rfb1 Rfc8 33.f3 Kf6 34.g3 Rc7 35.Rf1 Nf5 36.Kf2 h5 37.Rd1 Rg7 38.Be4 Nd4 39.Rg1 Rf8 40.Ke3 Rc7 41.Bd5 b5

[ArticMine]

42. cb5

[XMRpromotions]

42. cb5

42.cxb5 (ArticMine, XMRpromotions)

After 42.cxb5 axb5 43.a5 created a passed pawn for us. Black will get counter play with the c file but we should be fine.