[chessmind] Dennis Monokroussos: This post brought to you by Rob Bernard

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Posted by Dennis Monokroussos:
This post brought to you by Rob Bernard
http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1186555666.shtml


   Actually, it's written by your usual blogger, but the content comes
   from regular reader and sometime student [1]Rob Bernard.
   First, he wrote to let me know about a wonderfully articulate [2]essay
   by Emma Pierson. I second Rob's [3]comment : "While I don't agree with
   everything she said, she does say it wonderfully."
   Second, here's an ad I'm happy to transmit: his better half, Nadine
   Bernard, has written and is directing the play "In the Shadow of My
   Son", which opens this week at the New York International Fringe
   Festival. The story "draws on the experiences of three mothers who
   underwent postpartum depression", so if you live in that area and know
   someone close who has experienced that hardship, want to support a
   fellow chess player, or wish to annoy Tom Cruise, check it out.
   The show takes place at the SoHo Playhouse (15 Vandam Street near 6th
   Ave., NYC), and the first performance takes place this upcoming
   Saturday (8/11) at 2 p.m. More info about tickets and show times
   [4]here, and plenty more about the play [5]here.
   Third, returning to chess, there's a [6]post on Rob's blog about a
   small gap in the ICC's programming. It's true, of course, that one
   can't give checkmate with king and bishop against a bare king, so if
   the bare king's side runs out of time, it would be silly for the
   bishop side to get a win. It's logical, therefore, ICC's server stops
   a game when neither side has mating material and prevents a player
   from winning on time when he lacks enough material to mate a bare
   king.
   Logical, yes, but flawed. To see this, let's first suppose a position
   where each side has a bishop. If both bishops are either light-squared
   or dark-squared, mate is impossible and the insta-draw is appropriate.
   But what if the bishops are opposite-colored? Then a mate is possible.
   It's extremely unlikely, yes, but there are positions where it could
   happen without one side's making a catastrophic blunder. (E.g. after
   one side makes a sac to set up a mating net.)
   That's Rob's example, but the problem is even worse than he suggests.
   Consider this position:
   [n_vs_p_mate_1.jpg]
   As an ordinary chess problem, with White to move, it's very simple:
   1.Nf1 h2 2.Ng3#. As an ICC problem, however, it's far more
   interesting. White has two equally good "moves" here: the first,
   already given, is 1.Nf1, while the second will be discussed in the
   context of Black's reply.
   Okay, White has played 1.Nf1. What should Black play, at least if he
   wants to achieve the best available result? The answer: absolutely
   nothing! He should stare at his screen, or get a cup of coffee, use
   the restroom, go jogging - whatever, just as long as he doesn't move.
   The point isn't to frustrate his bored opponent but to take advantage
   of the server's mistaken application of the no-mating-material rule.
   Remember, if Black "loses" on time, the server declares the game
   drawn.
   That said, the tricks are not over, unless the players have agreed to
   a no-disconnect game. If White realizes what's happening, or if he
   wants to preempt this possibility in the first place, he should
   disconnect and then submit the game for adjudication. Maybe the server
   won't give him a win, but a human being can.
   Isn't chess already sufficiently complicated?

References

   1. http://bioniclime.blogspot.com/
   2. http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/2007/08/why-i-play-chess-by-emma-pierson.html
   3. http://bioniclime.blogspot.com/2007/08/why-emma-pierson-plays-chess.html
   4. http://www.fringenyc.org/basic_page.asp?ltr=I#IntheS
   5. http://www.outoftheshadowproductions.com/
   6. http://bioniclime.blogspot.com/2007/07/server-error-on-internet-chess-club.html