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Chess (lemmy.world)

Source unknown, some sites assign it to Oppressive Silence comics by Ethan Vincent. But that website in the corner is shady

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[-] Eiri@lemmy.ca 71 points 2 weeks ago
[-] OwlPaste@lemmy.world 183 points 2 weeks ago

Queen moves into a space that stops king from moving as you cannot move into a check. It's a forced draw.

[-] Shiggles@sh.itjust.works 48 points 2 weeks ago

What’s the benefit to the game of this being a draw instead of an obvious loss to white?

[-] Evolith@lemmy.world 149 points 2 weeks ago

"You didn't win correctly." - Chess (The original Dark Souls-themed tactical grid-based roguelike war game)

[-] SkyezOpen@lemmy.world 53 points 2 weeks ago
[-] ZoopZeZoop@lemmy.world 12 points 2 weeks ago

Or in one of the paid dlcs.

[-] absGeekNZ@lemmy.nz 8 points 2 weeks ago

Na the last patch to chess was 400 years ago. I don't think it is being actively developed anymore.

[-] KuroiKaze@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

David Sirlin actually made chess 2 years ago, you can go try out its different armies

[-] gloog@fedia.io 73 points 2 weeks ago

Stalemate rules mean that a player in a heavily disadvantaged position still has the opportunity to play for a draw, whether that comes from their own clever play or a mistake from their opponent (what happened in the comic).

[-] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 40 points 2 weeks ago

Depends.

If the goal is to just play a game with a clear winner and loser, there's no benefit at all.

But that isn't what chess is. It's more like a strategy game where there are multiple outcomes that would reflect degrees of skill and thinking.

If you're already behind, but you can pull off a stalemate, that's hard. In some ways, it's harder than winning in the first place. It means that you and the other player are well matched. I've heard serious players rattle on about difficult draws the way football (both types) fans will talk about decisive victories of their favorite team. They'll pick the moves apart and use those moves and tactics in their own games.

I was never a serious chess player at all. I simply don't have the willingness to study it the way you have to to be really good at it. It felt too derivative for my preferences. But I can still remember more of my close games and draws than I can my wins because it took more of the kind of gameplay I enjoy, where you're kinda winging it and calculating based on your own way of thinking instead of relying on a body of research and theory.

Mind you, there's nothing wrong with that at all. The folks that play high level chess are amazing, and I fully respect the work they put into grokking chess at that level. I'm just saying that isn't fun for me, and I play board games of any type for fun and companionship, not personal improvement or a sense of competitiveness.

Which, going back, is why I can recall my draws better than my wins or losses. They were me having fun and managing to hang with smarter, better players by dint of sinking into the play of it.

But when one of those players pulls off a draw from disadvantage? That's fucking art, it's mastery of a complicated but finite set of possibilities.

[-] jmcs@discuss.tchncs.de 20 points 2 weeks ago

It forces players to focus on the game no matter how much of an advantage they have.

[-] Vigge93@lemmy.world 19 points 2 weeks ago

In a competitive setting, it would mean that both players get 0.5 points instead of white getting 0 and black getting 1 points.

[-] Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca 15 points 2 weeks ago

I don't know anything about chess but I imagine one benefit would be to give the losing player one last opportunity to avoid a loss by being strategic and give the winning player the need to still think about their moves instead of just randomly moving around since they know they will win otherwise.

[-] dragonlobster@programming.dev 0 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

In theory black could play poorly and give the queen away by placing it next to the white king, then if the white king takes the black queen it would be a draw. Why would black do such a thing? Well playing poorly also means stalemating your opponent in an obviously winning position, which also happened here.

You can argue it's an "obvious win", just like I could argue if I'm a piece up it's an "obvious win" for me. But just because it's obvious doesn't mean the result is guaranteed to happen.

Also I guarantee you not everyone can actually checkmate a king with just a queen and king. So in fact it's not so obvious for a super beginner.

As for the benefits of the actual mechanism itself, in some positions you can actually force a draw or stalemate where you'd either otherwise be losing, or you are unclear of your advantage. For example in one of my games I was chasing the King around with my Rook where if the king took my rook, it would be stalemate, and if they didn't take my rook I would keep checking the king (while making sure the distance between my rook and their king is 0).

[-] GoodEye8@lemm.ee -1 points 2 weeks ago

Never liked that rule. The king should be a capturable piece and be allowed to step into checks. It might make the game harder at a beginner level but it gets rid of the anticlimactic stalemates. It won't get rid of draws because the repetition rule still applies.

[-] Gladaed@feddit.org 16 points 2 weeks ago

This + no other piece is allowed to move

[-] Eiri@lemmy.ca 6 points 2 weeks ago

Huh? I thought having no valid moves that wouldn't lead to the king's death was a loss. How DO you lose then?

[-] smeg@feddit.uk 20 points 2 weeks ago

That would be the case if the king was currently in check, but as he's currently on a safe space then it's stalemate

[-] PunnyName@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Have to put him in check, while also preventing him from moving into another spot that could also put him into check.

This would likely have been a stalemate anyway.

Edit: the bishop's existence didn't even register to me when I made this comment. More pieces are better, and yes, King and Queen are sufficient to mate. However, the fewer the pieces you have, the lower your chances of success.

[-] AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works 11 points 2 weeks ago

King and queen is fully sufficient to checkmate

[-] PunnyName@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

I said likely. I know it's sufficient, but it's not inevitable.

[-] AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 weeks ago

It is inevitable, there's no maybe about it

[-] PunnyName@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

It's possible to stalemate, too.

[-] AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 weeks ago

Not if the player with the queen has any idea at all what they're doing. By your logic, it's also possible to lose your queen by making a stupid move.

[-] SomeoneSomewhere@lemmy.nz 8 points 2 weeks ago

It's been a long time since I played, but king+queen+bishop should be pretty achievable?

[-] AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works 9 points 2 weeks ago

It is, king and queen is all you need

[-] gnutrino@programming.dev 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

This would likely have been a stalemate anyway.

How come? I'm not very good at chess personally but I was under the impression that queen-bishop-king was generally sufficient to force a mate.

[-] PunnyName@lemmy.world 0 points 2 weeks ago

Somehow I didn't even register the existence of the bishop. It's possible to mate with just king and queen, but more pieces the better.

[-] trolololol@lemmy.world -3 points 2 weeks ago

How is it a draw is both black bishop and king are still playing? Queen moves back, white king moves anywhere it wants and for good sake do a proper check mate

An I over analysing?

[-] turbulentMagma@lemm.ee 11 points 2 weeks ago

How can the queen move back when it's the white king's turn and he can't move

[-] OwlPaste@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago

It's black move for the queen, the next turn is white and the king is blocked but not in check

[-] CaptnNMorgan@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago

Under analyzing.

[-] AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works 12 points 2 weeks ago

Wrong move, stalemate (white has no legal moves). White gets off with a draw.

this post was submitted on 04 Feb 2025
475 points (98.6% liked)

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