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On one level, chess seems like a simple game: 64 individual black or white squares, 16 pieces per side, and two competitors striving for conquest.

Dig a little deeper though, and the game offers incredibly complex possibilities, posing challenges to chess theorists and mathematicians that can go unsolved for decades or even centuries.

In July 2021, one such challenge was finally solved at least, up to a point. Mathematician Michael Simkin, from Harvard University in Massachusetts, put his mind to the n-queens problem that has been puzzling experts since it was first imagined in the 1840s.

If you know your chess, you know that the queen is the most powerful piece on the board, able to move any number of squares in any direction. The n-queens problem asks this: With a certain number of queens (n), how many arrangements are possible where the queens are far enough apart so none of them can take any of the others?

For eight queens on a standard 8 x 8 board, the answer is 92, although most of these are rotated or reflected variants of just 12 fundamental solutions.

But what about 1,000 queens on a board that's 1,000 x 1,000 squares? What about a million queens? Simkin's approximate solution to the problem is (0.143n)n the number of queens multiplied by 0.143, raised to the power of n.

What you're left with is not the precise answer, but it's as close as it's possible to get right now. With a million queens, the figure comes out as a number with five million digits after it so we won't reproduce it for you here.

It took almost five years for Simkin to come up with the equation, with a variety of approaches and techniques used, and a few barriers on the way to a solution. Ultimately the mathematician was able to calculate the lower bounds and the upper bounds of possible solutions using different methods, finding that they almost matched.

"If you were to tell me I want you to put your queens in such-and-such way on the board, then I would be able to analyze the algorithm and tell you how many solutions there are that match this constraint," says Simkin.

"In formal terms, it reduces the problem to an optimization problem."

Early on, Simkin and colleague Zur Luria at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich collaborated on a variation of the n-queens problem known as the torodial or modular problem. In this one, the diagonals wrap around the board, so a queen could move diagonally off the right edge of a board and reappear on the left, for example.

This grants each queen symmetry of attack, but it isn't how a normal chessboard works: a queen in the corner of the board doesn't have as many angles of attack as one in the center.

Ultimately, the pair's work on the toroidal problem stalled (although they published some results), but Simkin ended up adapting some of the fruits of that labor into his final solution.

As the boards get bigger and the number of queens increases, the research shows that in most allowable configurations the queens tend to congregate along the sides of the board, with fewer queens in the middle, where they are exposed to attack. This knowledge enables a more weighted approach.

In theory, a more precise answer to the n-queen puzzle should be possible but Simkin has got us closer than ever before, and he's happy to pass the challenge on to someone else to study further.

"I think that I may personally be done with the n-queens problem for a while, not because there isn't anything more to do with it but just because I've been dreaming about chess and I'm ready to move on with my life," says Simkin.

Simkin's paper on the solution is available on the preprint server arXiv.

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A Harvard Mathematician Has Basically Solved an Epic, 150-Year-Old Chess Problem - ScienceAlert

When it came time to plan an exhibition celebrating the World Chess Hall of Fame's first decade in St. Louis, even chief curator Shannon Bailey, who has been at the WCHOF since it moved in 2011, found herself surprised by all the museum has accomplished.

"Fifty exhibitions...that was theshocker," she laughs. "We realized we had done 50 shows."

Those shows have included artworks by Keith Haring and M.C. Escher, explorations of chess' place in politics and history, artifacts from great games and players, and incredible chess sets from all over the world. And until July 17, pieces of each of the 50 previous exhibitions will be on display throughout the WCHOF as part of Mind, Art, Experience: 10 Years of Chess & Culture in Saint Louis, the museum's first-ever museum-wide exhibition.

"We realized that it was so hard to whittle down into one gallery what we've done in 10 years," Bailey says. "So we decided to do it in the entire museum, which is the first time that we've done it on all three floors. We thought, let's pick some of the highlights from some of the shows, things that had been talked about a lot over the years."

One easy picks for that list wasLiliya Lifnovas performance art pieceAnatomy is Destiny, which has been in storage since 2012, when it was last shown through WCHOF and performed at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis.

"[Lifnovas work was placed]among like Barbara Kruger and Tom Friedman and Yoko Ono, some of these artists that you study in art history," says Bailey. "These are artists who exhibit atmajor international museums. And the visitors almost unanimously picked her piece of their most favorite piece in the show...the whole thing was just magical, and we've been talking about that piece for 10 years."

Mind, Art, Experience is a rare opportunity for visitors to see pieces they missed or revisit old favorites. It also gives the WCHOF the chance to share new works by artists featured in previous shows. Bill Smith, whose work was featured in a solo show in 2013, had since sold or repurposed the pieces from that exhibition. The plan was to show one new piece of his as part of the retrospective. Instead, he arrived in St. Louis with three.

"He brought them in the other day and I was like, 'Oh my gosh, they're amazing. I can't pick.' We really only had room for two, but they're fabulous. So we havea couple of new, fresh [pieces]that are representing shows that had been here before," says Bailey.

As the World Chess Hall of Fame looks back at its decade on Maryland Avenue, Bailey hopes this retrospective, like all their shows, provides something for everyone, from those who have never picked up a pawn to Grand Masters.

"What I think I'm most proud of about the show is that, our mission, we're obviously a hall of fame, we're a cultural institution, we're a chess museum. But I always like to say that we're here to kind of show how chess has survived for 1500 years. It hasencompassed all cultures, all groups of people, all ages...my whole thing is just:come in, have fun, and learn something."

Mind, Art, Experience is on view through July 17.Areceptioncelebrating the exhibition along and the World Chess Hall of Fame's 10-year anniversary in Saint Louis will be held April 14.

January 28, 2022

10:39 AM

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World Chess Hall of Fame celebrates 10 years with "Mind, Art, Experience" - St. Louis Magazine

Patrick Murphy

Chess pieces on a chess board stand ready to be played. Students have created a chess club to connect with like-minded players around the community.

DeKALB The NIU Chess Club edged the top-seeded Baylor University Bears Chess Club to take first place in division seven of the Collegiate Chess League tournament.

The nail-biting championship match took place on Nov. 21, after 160 teams from around the world entered for their chance to battle their way to the top of the collegiate chess mountain.

The tournament was full of surprises and thrilling matches and the championship game certainly lived up to its name.

Theres 16 points up for grabs and it came down to the last round and we were tied 6-to-6, said Vice President Ace Frieders. And we ended up winning the whole thing in the last round 8 1/2 to 7 1/2, so we were pretty ecstatic to get that win over a very good Baylor team.

The Bears, who were undefeated throughout the entire regular season earned the number one overall seed in the bracket as well as a first-round bye. After beating University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in round two, the Bears narrowly dodged an upset bid by this years Cinderella team in UNLV by winning 8-to-7 in the semifinals to advance to the championship game.

The Huskies, likewise, were one of the divisions top teams earning a 3 seed and first-round bye. The dogs were left unchained as they came out ferociously in the first two rounds taking down in-state rival UIUC 9-to-6, and routing UCSB 11-to-5 in the semifinals.

A lot of us were former high school players so we kind of had that tournament mentality already, Freiders said. Everything is ordered in order of strength. So we want to get our best players on the team, so our best players are playing other universities best players.

The club earned a $300 prize for taking the division seven crown, according to the tournament website.

Despite the club having minimal time to practice and strategize with each other at practice, they rose to the occasion and trusted their instincts to come together and etch their name into history.

As for practice, everything we did was on our own or our own free time, Freiders said. We never got to, as a team, get together and practice. We meet every week but thats more of a casual thing. So it was really just us studying our own openings and trying to find ways to get an advantage in the start and just keep it until we won.

The bar has been set for this next year, and the culture of winning and togetherness has been cemented with the club. Since the championship, the number of new members has skyrocketed.

Were coming up on a year of being a club, and about a year ago there were only six or seven of us and now theres about 60, its really nice to see how big its grown, Freiders said.

I definitely look forward to every Monday when we meet, senior chess club member Sean Quirke said. Theyre really nice people and very welcoming to everyone to get involved into the tournaments and playing chess in general.

Looking forward, the Huskies are ready to take the program to the next level.

Weve got the same league, it starts Feb. 12 and 13 and its going to be every Saturday from noon to 1 p.m. And then on Feb. 5 and 6, we have another tournament thats online for college students, so looking to do well on both of those, Frieders said.

See original here:
Check mate: NIU outlasts Baylor to win chess championship - Northern Star Online

Dazed from having caught a stray punch I shuffled over to the line of chess boards and stared at the pieces.

I could barely remember whos go it was, let alone think about how I might protect my king.

Squinting I tried to ignore the middle-aged man behind the table taking out what looked like some serious frustrations on a heavy punch bag.

READ MORE: Teen went from taking drugs and carrying a knife at 18 to being saved by boxing

Sweat dripped onto the plastic table as the digital clock on the side showed time was running out.

Calculating the least risky move based on my limited knowledge of chess would be hard enough, but it was almost impossible with the boxing combination Id just practiced still swimming in my head.

But thats the point because this is chess boxing.

The sport, where opponents alternate between rounds in the ring and time on the chessboard, is one of North Londons more unusual workouts.

Im one of nearly 20 people who came down on a cold Saturday morning to a training session in Islington.

Its not the typical crowd youd see pounding leather at your local gym, but that doesnt mean you should underestimate them.

Its normally chess fans who want a bit more, one of the organisers, Gavin, told me. Lots of people in the boxing community kind of think were taking the p***s out of their sport.

Although Gavin and his friends are definitely not making fun of the sport you can understand why people might be sceptical.

And the row of tables lined up with chess sets and clocks against one wall of the gym attracts some quizzical looks from those whove turned up to box.

But you shouldnt knock it before you try it.

Because, as I found out quite quickly, your appreciation for both skillsets is only elevated when you give it a go.

Like many people, I didnt believe chess boxing was an actual thing when I was first told about it by a friend.

He said that the venue, attached to a pub across the road from our school famous for 3 pints and free pool, also held these strange bouts once in a while.

You can win either by knockout or checkmate, he added.

It sounded ridiculous, but it turned out to be true.

Events have been taking place at the Dome club in Tufnell Park for years and the chessboxers practice not far away at Islington Boxing Club.

Their training sessions on a Saturday are always welcome to newcomers who want to Get fit! and Get smart!

The session begins with a quick pair of laps around the park the boxing club is in.

Its absolutely freezing, but not too strenuous.

That wasnt a sign of what was to come.

Back inside the group are throwing jabs and hooks as the boxing coach, Zowie, takes us through a series of ever more complex combinations.

If youve never done boxing before, you might think that you just have to throw your arms around, perhaps youve watched two fighters grappling in the ring and wondered whether its all about brute strength.

But, as anyone who's been tasked with throwing a combination will know, the sport requires as much brainpower as it does muscle.

It might be because its early on a Saturday, but it takes a while to get the routines down.

But just as soon as that is crystallising in the head, theres a shout of Chess.

As soon as that shout is made everyone has to leave the spot where they were throwing punches and pair up to play someone for a quickfire chess match.

Those familiar with the Netflix series The Queen's Gambit will know that in chess circles there are faster versions of the game which can be just as intense and exciting as the traditional format.

But being about as fresh to chess as they come Im just hoping I remember where the pieces move.

Thankfully my opponent realises that Im far from an experienced player and spends most of the time coaching me on how best to protect my pieces.

The most striking thing about it is that especially when the chess clock is ticking down the intensity of the game is on the same level as the boxing.

You are filled with equal anxiety about how to protect yourself.

Just like when you are boxing and an ill-timed slip leaves you with a punch in the face, the wrong move of a pawn suddenly lose a more valuable piece or worse.

The coaches never gave us too long to dwell the board, however, youd be catching your breath when the shout suddenly goes up that you need to do 20 burpees.

Its like trying to do a maths exam and having it interrupted by an overly enthusiastic PE teacher.

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The boxing side of the class gradually ratchets up in intensity until at the end everyone is wearing headguards and doing some light sparring.

As pairs of fighters jostle for space in the gym, circling each other and throwing combinations of punches the contrast from the stillness of the chess is more pronounced.

But even then the similarities between the two are there to see, the timing and strategy of boxing can be just as nuanced.

Although theres not getting away from the fact that if your heads not in it you might catch a punch in the face.

If you leave your head on the chess table, you might be in trouble and after an hours hard work its a real test of endurance.

I was flagging by this stage and forgetting where to put my hands. So much of boxing is about co-ordination and when you are tired you might know you need to raise your right elbow to block a hook, but its your left one that comes up.

As the session comes to a close I was a sweaty mess, but also my brain was tired.

It was hard to know which hurt my head more, the boxing or the chess.

Do you take part in an unusual sport? Contact zak.garnerpurkis@reachplc.com with your stories

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Inside London's brutal chess club where you have to punch each other between games - My London

In an essay for TheArticle published on December 7 last year, Jay Elwes posed here a provocative question: who was the greatest artist of the twentieth century? Ella Fitzgerald was Jays answer. I would prefer to nominate Marcel Duchamp, about whom I have also written previously in this column. Duchamps reputation is based on both his art and his chess, and the key link between the two was the incorporation into his art of a maxim of the sublime chess strategist, the Latvian Grandmaster Aron Nimzowitsch: that beauty resides, not in optical appearance, but in the pressure of thought behind what is openly visible, audible or perceptible by any of our senses.

This brings me to that celebrated poem by Charles Baudelaire, in which he extols the possibility of trans-sensory perception, in other words: Synaesthesia. I have examined various translations of Baudelaires Correspondances, without finding any of them particularly adequate to convey his message of a carnival of variegated sensual resonance, criss-crossing and liberated from borders or barriers.

Here then is my own stab at rendering the spirit of the original.

Baudelaires Correspondances

Of living pillars is all nature madeThis temple resonates with words we find confusedSymbolic forests line our strange paradeThe trees watch us, not hostile, not bemused.

Then mingling echoes reach us from afarA shadowy abyss, a mystic unityVast as the darkness, yet shining with lights clarity.Scents, colours, sounds, converse without a bar.

The perfumes fresh, like stroking infant skinSweet tones of oboes, verdant as the plainsAnd others, rich, triumphant, corruptingAn infinite expanse tempts us at no expenseAmber, musk, incense, balsam and, yes, myrrhAll chant in transport of the spirit and the sense.

John Cage, the avant garde composer of the utterly silent piano piece Four minutes thirty three seconds, learned chess so that the man of silence might better communicate with Duchamp, the artist of invisible thought. In 1968, Cage and Duchamp played chess, with a board wired up, connecting chess with music, to reflect each move as a musical note. The manifestation was called Reunion. I knew Cage well, and in conjunction with Barry Martin, I organised a birthday party for him at the Chelsea Arts Club. Teeny Duchamp, Marcels widow, was a guest of honour and the cake was created in the shape of La Fontaine, Duchamps notorious inverted urinal (pictured above). One of the wittiest cartoons I ever saw was a picture of a public lavatory, with the urinal missing, having been violently wrenched off the wall. The caption proclaims: Duchamp was here!

For a man of silence, Cage was consistently accompanied by raucous, noisy and dramatic events. Once, while playing chess with him in my Kensington flat, a burglary took place in the apartment beneath us, during the course of which the front door was hacked open with an axe. On another occasion, during a performance at the Tate Gallery of Cages String Quartet, the cellist suffered an epileptic fit. I questioned Cage afterwards. Surely this was a Duchampian chance event, demanded at some random moment by the musical score? Cage denied this and put the incident down to genuine chance.

I was later fortunate enough to acquire a recording of the music created at Reunion. When trying to play it back, the disk was utterly silent. I should have seen that coming.

Who now bears the banner of Duchamp in both art and chess? I can think of two contemporary artists who do. Patrick Hughes combines the two and its impossible to avoid the detection of checkered patterns in his thought provoking reversals of Renaissance perspective.

Then there is Barry Martin (above left), official artist for the world chess championships of 1993 and 2000, involving Garry Kasparov, Nigel Short and Vladimir Kramnik, has acquired an official FID (World Chess Federation) rating and packs thought even into the vacant interstices of his works. Some of his work depicts the protagonists of the chess championships, others flood the canvas with abstract shapes, pyramidical, vertical, hinting both at nature, the passing of the seasons, even cities, such as Venice, and monumental human constructions.

Barry describes his own work thus: Rhythm, colour sensation, application, amount, proportion, composition all play their part, but against theorising comes the felt! Its here that the unknown begins to form and the conduit of the artist starts to unmask the amorphous shapes from the shadows; rhythms create contrapuntal movement, as in music. Stand-out colours, such as vertiginous green, resonate a distinct chord that gives a key to how further colours in juxtaposition appear to inform and enrich the viewers experience. Peripheral vision plays a firm hand in keeping this dialogue going!

In keeping with Baudelaires trans-sensory celebration, and in the Duchamp / Cage tradition, Barry has now teamed up with the chess-loving concert pianist, Jason Kouchak (above right), originator of the giant outdoor chess board in Holland Park, to create a combined chess / music collaboration. Jason writes:

The paintings by Barry Martin, which I first saw at the Waterhouse Dodd Gallery in Savile Row last year, inspired me most deeply. Imagining four seasons in one day as an opportunity to combine colour and music as a performance art performance. When I first saw Barrys work, I felt lost between the spaces on a chromatic keyboard. A sense of being suspended between colours while searching for invisible light on the dark keys.

He continues: In my accompanying score, I am searching for colours within a black and white music framework. The concept of Chiaroscuro, the contrast between light and dark, is present in all of the musical pieces incorporating the shifts in tone, texture, and timing, as the piano moves from major to minor chords: a journey of adventure, discovery and individual expectations through colour and music. The use of silence in all the piano compositions demonstrates that the spaces between the colours, or the notes, are as important as the colours/notes themselves.

To conclude, here is Baudelaires Correspondances in the original, synaesthetic French. It is a somewhat mystical creation from the advocate of the artist as the depictor of modern life, a critic who so enthusiastically predicted the bourgeois pleasures of Manet, Monets steam driven trains at St Lazare, or the plebeian weekends of Renoirs vacationers at La Grenouillre.

From: Les Fleurs du Mal by Charles Baudelaire

Correspondances

La Nature est un temple o de vivants piliersLaissent parfois sortir de confuses paroles;Lhomme y passe travers des forts de symbolesQui lobservent avec des regards familiers.Comme de longs chos qui de loin se confondentDans une tnbreuse et profonde unit,Vaste comme la nuit et comme la clart,Les parfums, les couleurs et les sons se rpondent.II est des parfums frais comme des chairs denfants,Doux comme les hautbois, verts comme les prairies, Et dautres, corrompus, riches et triomphants,Ayant lexpansion des choses infinies,Comme lambre, le musc, le benjoin et lencens,Qui chantent les transports de lesprit et des sens.

Our game of the week is from Round 2 of the Tata Steel Masters, at Wijk aan Zee in Holland , between world champion Magnus Carlsen and his habitual opponent, Anish Giri, which started on Saturday 15th.

Raymond Keenes latest book Fifty Shades of Ray: Chess in the year of the Coronavirus, containing some of his best pieces from TheArticle, is now available from Blackwells.

The rest is here:
The colour of silence: art, chess and synaesthesia - TheArticle