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A mathematician from Harvard University named Michael Simkin has (basically) solved the n queens problem, a chess puzzle thats some 150 years old. The mathematical challenge was created by chess composer Max Bezzel in 1848 and essentially asks How many queens can you place on a chess board so that none are attacking each other? Using complex linear algebra, the puzzle has been solved for up to 27 queens, but beyond that mathematicians have been stumped. As Caroline Delbert writes for Popular Mechanics, Consider this: for eight queens, there are just 92 solutions, but for 27 queens, there are over 200 quadrillion solutions. Its easy to see how solving the problem for numbers higher than 27 becomes extremely unwieldy or even impossible without more computing power than we have at the moment. Simkin outlines his solution across 50 pages in a self-published research paper and although it offers an estimate, its impressive none-the-less.Read more about this breakthrough at Popular Mechanics.

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150-Year-Old Chess Puzzle Solved COOL HUNTING - Cool Hunting

By Ian Haupt

After sweeping Meridian in scoring with five out of five points, the Blaine High School varsity chess team booked a spot at the Washington High School Chess Associations state championship tournament in Stanwood this weekend.

Freshmen Carson Roesch and Shawn Waters, sophomores Maddy Reiss and Xander Hodges, and junior Owen Millsap will compete in Stanwood Friday, March 4 and Saturday, March 5.

First, I would like to say how proud I am of our entire team, coach Jeremy Roesch wrote in a community message. We started the season with a very young team, no returning students and pretty much our entire team was new to the game. The prospects of making the state tournament looked slim as we needed to build a strong foundation. We entered our final meet with the pressure on as we were just one point out of state contention.

Roesch said the team won three of five games against Sehome, forcing them out of the competition.

With their confidence boosted, the varsity then went on to sweep Meridian scoring an impressive five out of five points and solidifying a spot in the state championship! he wrote. Great job, go Borderites!

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Blaine varsity chess team sends 5 to state championship - Blaine Northern Light

"This is already World War III," says Garry Kasparov, former world chess champion and one of Vladimir Putin's most vocal critics as Russia continues its invasion of Ukraine.

In a series of tweets on Thursday, Kasparov has warned the NATO countries that Putin will bring upon them "an even greater catastrophe".

"We are witnessing, literally watching live, Putin commit genocide on an industrial scale in Ukraine while the most powerful military alliance in history stands aside... This is already World War III. Putin started it long ago & Ukraine is only the current front," said Kasparov, one of the most-feared chess players of all time.

Now retired from active chess and living in New York for the last nine years for fear of retribution from the Kremlin, Kasparov has though never shied away from attacking Putin.

"There is no waiting this out. This isn't chess; there's no draw, no stalemate. Either Putin destroys Ukraine and eventually hits NATO with an even greater catastrophe, or Putin falls in Russia. He cannot be stopped with weakness," Kasparov tweeted.

Kasparov, who is Russian, has reiterated that "Putin vows to exterminate Ukrainians while we watch".

"As I said in 2014 and a fateful week ago, the price of stopping a dictator always goes up. What would have been enough to stop Putin 8 years or 6 months or 2 weeks ago is not enough today, and the price will rise again tomorrow. Fight. Find a way."

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'This is already World War III,' says chess genius & renowned anti-Putin voice Garry Kasparov - Onmanorama

Back in the 1990s, the Master Chess Roadshow was formed by GM Nigel Davies and IM Andrew Martin. We toured England, giving training weekends and in order to create an elite experience for our customers, even making lunches for them! The Master Chess Roadshow sandwich was certainly something to behold. Nobody got poisoned, as far as I am aware.

Some 30 years later, the project has been reborn as the Master Chess Web Show. During that time Nigel and I have both acquired the FIDE Senior Trainer title. We have three weekly shows on Twitch TV and a newly-formed YouTube channel. The band is back together!

Our shows are a mixture of instruction, fun, current news and answering questions from our listeners, as long as they are submitted in advance. We plan live commentaries on major events.

You are most welcome to follow us on Twitch and become one of our YouTube subscribers. We have also created a website for your enjoyment, which will flesh out as time goes by.

Nigel Davies and Andrew Martin have produced well over 50 DVDs for ChessBase. Some more information about us follows, along with a couple of annotated games by each of us, to show that we can actually play good chess!

Most of my working life these days is involved in teaching chess to kids, in schools or with individuals and groups. I write books and make DVDs as well. Family reasons have not permitted me to play chess on a regular basis over the past 15 years or so, but I do play online and enjoy the contest. I was the commentator at the British Chess Championships for 20 years and intend to carry over that experience into this new era. It's a great pleasure to get the Master Chess Web Show project underway with my old friend Nigel Davies and we plan to have a lot of fun doing so. For us, it important that the show doesn't scream 'old'. We want to keep up with the times and make some new moves ourselves.

Nigel has been an International Grandmaster since 1993 and is a former British Open Quickplay and U21 Champion. Besides his playing accomplishments he is an experienced chess coach with a unique understanding of club level chess. Accordingly he knows just what is likely to succeed.

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The band is back together! Nigel Davies and Andrew Martin start Master Chess Web Show - ChessBase

Anwesh Upadhyaya, the Indian chess IM who is stranded in war-torn Kyiv, has to decide whether to risk traveling to the Polish border through the siege or stay home and await the consequences. His coach, Grandmaster Georgy Timoschenko, has joined the swelling number of Ukraine civilian fighters who've volunteered to take up arms against the invading Russians. For now, he says he is on his own.

The situation on-ground is complicated. There have been several reports of Indians facing a torrid time at the hands of Ukrainian border guards while trying to cross over to neighbouring European Union countries. "It's a bit tricky and emotional for them I believe," Anwesh told ESPN. "When their brothers and sisters are dying, here we are asking them to help us leave. A few people I know have left for smaller cities nearby and some others who were trying to make it to Poland are stranded midway."

The 30-year-old is a resident doctor at city hospital No 8, apprenticing in gastroenterology and has been living in the Ukrainian capital city. He had moving to have better tournament opportunities. Now, he is unsure of his next step.

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In an advisory on Sunday, the Indian Embassy informed its citizens that they would be arranging 10 buses on the Ukraine side of the Polish border from Monday. For Anwesh, the dilemma of how he'd make it to the pick-up points, several blocks away by road through a city that's under siege, remains. "The Indian embassy has asked us to manage our own transportation to the nearest EU borders or to stay home, if we feel unsafe. I have to decide whether to risk it outside trying to cross the border or stay home risk being collateral damage. Right now, it appears that we are on our own."

In an interview to the Associated Press, when asked if there are plans to evacuate citizens if Russian troops manage to take Kyiv, the once heavyweight boxing world champion and current Kyiv mayor, Vitali Klitschko replied - "We can't do that because all ways are blocked. Right now we are encircled."

Back in Bhubaneshwar, Anwesh's father Netaji is an understandably anxious man. A retired Zoology professor, he speaks haltingly, worried when he will be able see his only child. "I'm in constant touch with Anwesh. The Indian embassy's directions haven't been clear, I think," he said.

Before leaving for the battlefront, his coach Timoschenko had a request for his Indian student. "He asked me to take care of myself and check on his wife and kid in the bomb shelter and his daughter who lives in a flat." Not just Anwesh's trainer, national team coach GM Oleksandr Sulypa too has taken up arms and shared a picture of himself from the west Ukrainian city of Lviv, about 70 kms from Polish border, on social media.

For now, part of staying alive involves staying alert. Anwesh sleeps light and keeps his ears pricked to sounds of alarm as Russian air raids pummel Kyiv. He can't get himself to play any chess and re-watching Netflix shows serves as an occasional distraction. He is grateful that the power and heating systems at home are still functional and he spends a large part of his day refreshing news feeds on social media, searching for a sliver of hope. Some of it is pinned on the peace talks that are scheduled to take place on Monday between both sides on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border.

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Indian chess IM in Ukraine is safe in Kyiv but faces tough call on trek to border - ESPN