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PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) As the city of Peorias primary election quickly approaches, WMBD is showcasing all of the candidates seeking a seat on the city council.

Aaron Chess, the youngest candidate in the race, is hoping to secure the spot representing District 1.

Ive grown up in the first district my whole life and Ive seen the good and Ive seen the bad, Chess said. I want to help bring change, help bring resources and help bring the jobs and opportunities that are needed in the community.

He said one of his focuses would be rebuilding the trust between the community and city hall.

I feel like the people have grown frustrated with the way things have been going thats why you see a lot of community members losing faith in local government and not wanting to vote in elections, Chess said.

Chess said his four main goals are investing in the youth, investing in infrastructure, public safety, and jobs and opportunity.

For our men and women who are unemployed at this time and have been unemployed for a very long time is my Buy the Block initiative, Chess said. This initiative is partnering with the trades union, is partnering with different businesses in the business community to help bring jobs and resources back to our community, revitalizing our vacant homes and vacant buildings and bringing that hope back to our community that we havent seen in a very long time.

He said he also wants to work on strengthening relationships with the community and public safety officials.

I spoke with members of the fire department, I spoke with a few police officers to bridge that gap between the community, Chess said. Making sure that were having those social events with the community where theyre able to know their officers instead of just knowing them on bad terms.

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Aaron Chess, District 1 council candidate, wants to bring hope back to the district - CIProud.com

Little Nightmares 2 took the original game to a whole new level. During Chapter 2, players will have to solve a specific chess puzzle to continue.

Little Nightmares 2 is the long await follow up to 2017's Little Nightmares. Bandi Namco knocked it clean out of the park with this 3D side-scrolling indy-like horror/adventure. The original game dialed up the freaky to a bone-shaking level. Little Nightmares 2 will have players jumping out of their seats from Chapter 1. Unfortunately, the only thing Little Nightmares 2 is missing is co-op compatibility. Don't let screenshots and video clips misconstrue that Little Nightmares 2 is still a single-player game. However, it is still a fantastic follow up to the original.

Related: How Long Does Little Nightmares 2 Take to Beat?

Little Nightmares 2 builds upon the world from the original game and the mechanics that players will use to make it from end to end. Little Nightmares 2 is full of puzzles to escape rooms, find hidden doors, and obtain keys. Players will be faced with the chess puzzle about 1/3 of the way through Chapter 2. Players do not have to be a chess savant to figure this one out. Here's how to solve the chess puzzle in Little Nightmares 2.

When players aren't fending off ravenous porcelain children or escaping the clutches of stretch-neck teachers, they'll be solving intricate puzzles to make it from room to room. Early on in Chapter 2, players will be separated from Six and will have to find her at all costs. This will bring them to a set of staircases reminiscent of multiple haunted mansions and the main lobby from Resident Evil: Biohazard.

Head up the middle staircase and then head left to find a lost soul to absorb. Head back around to the right and begin the chess puzzle. Players will notice two chess pieces on the floor, one black and one white. The top of the white piece has come detached and lays on the floor beside its base. Pick it up and place it on top to create a platform. Climb on top and jump for the doorknob. Now comes the more challenging part.

Players will enter a room with a massive chessboard (compared to the character's size) on the ground. A few black and white pieces strewn about the room will need to be assembled to solve the puzzle. Finally, a diagram on a wall to the right will show players exactly how they must set up the chessboard to complete the puzzle. That reference image is displayed above. The player's point of reference will be the black piece in the middle with a porcelain child tied to it and the three pieces surrounding it.

Step 1

Players should head back out the door they entered through and grab the top from the piece they first interacted with. Bring it back to the chessboard and place it on the piece in the back left. Then, climb up and jump to the table on the left. Pick this piece up and throw it down on the board.

Step 2

To the right of the reference image is a climbable table with a chess piece on top of it. Players don't need the piece, only the top. Climb up, remove the top, and throw it down to the floor. Bring it over to the chessboard and arrange all three pieces to match the reference image above. Players will know they've done it right when a light turns on over the table to the right.

Step 3

Climb up on the table, jump for the light and grab onto the handle. The light will pull down, and the bookshelf in the back of the room will split. Inside that room is a key on a chair.

At this point in the game, players have encountered and run from all sorts of horrifying creatures. Little Nightmare's blend of Studio Ghibli and Tim Burton-like art styles makes it one of the most artistically unique games we've seen in a while. We'll see what sort of DLC Bandi Namco has planned as they released three bundles with the original game. Will Co-op come to Little Nightmares 2? Players can only hope for now.

Next: What Little Nightmares Ending and DLC means for Little Nightmares 2

Little Nightmares 2 is available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, Nintendo Switch and Last-Gen

Is Among Us A Dead Game Now

Michael Colucci is a life long video game fan based out of the greater Boston area. He's the one insistent on searching every last corner of the map for hidden items and easter eggs. A life long career in the service industry has sharpened his tongue as well. A handful of accolades for his work as a screenwriter backs his credibility when evaluating plots, characters and dialogue.

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How to Solve The Chess Puzzle in Little Nightmares 2 - Screen Rant

By Harlin Pierce

Not too long ago my mother told me about how chess has gained fresh popularity due to The Queens Gambit, a hit Netflix drama named after a fundamental opening. Im an avid chess player and like to think of myself as a somewhat formidable opponent. My main adversary is Wally, an especially gifted player with chess pieces tattooed on his knuckles. In his quest to practice enough to become a grandmaster, he beats me consistently.

I dont mind losing to Wally, but being in prison during the COVID-19 pandemic is the worst. Its like being at the center of one of those Russian nesting dollsa box within a box within a box. Social distancing policies limit our access to recreation yards, the dayroom, classes and phones. Some days we spend roughly 23 hours in our 6-by-10 cells. And on top of everything, board gamesincluding chesshave been completely banned to promote social distancing. This situation has forced us to create a new approach to a classic game.

For a few desolate days after the No Board Games Allowed sign was posted, it seemed that Wallys quest to become a grandmaster would be on hold indefinitely. But Wally and I are not the type to give up on our dreams.

Fortunately for usand unfortunately for our neighborswe live on the same row, two cells apart. Since were in shouting distance of one another, we decided to play the game in our respective cells. We both set up our chess boards and used algebraic notations to tellor yellour moves to one another. Then we moved the corresponding pieces on our boards.

To understand how our game sounded to our disgruntled neighbors, a brief explanation of the chess board is necessary. The columns on the board are referenced by the letters A to H. The rows are referenced by the numbers 1 to 8. So every square on the board has its own letter and number that we use to describe where the pieces move. So if I move a bishop to c6, I say, bishop c6. (For pawns it would just be c6.)

But prison is loud, and the letters B, C, D and E sound very similar over a ruckus. To avoid confusion Wally and I came up with a nomenclature for those letters: alligator for A, baseball for B, constellation for C, dinosaur for D, elephant for E and golf ball for G.

We became the butt of jokes because of how ridiculous we sounded yelling out moves like, dinosaur 4! But the ridicule didnt bother us. We were only deterred by the fact that playing the game this way took at least three hours.

The following day, Wally and I were sitting together at a metal table during a measly hour in the dayroom. We were reminiscing about how we used to be able to play chess at that very table, and just like that one of my most absurd ideas to date was born. Why dont we just play in our heads? I asked Wally with 50 percent sarcasm. I wasnt serious, but Wally latched on to my idea like a fish to a hook.

With a sense of joy that had been missing since the pandemic started, we began our first game of mental chess. We each made a few moves, getting our bearings. We played until an officer yelled, Rack it up! Our hour was over.

Despite the fact that Wally lives fewer than 20 feet away from me, the only other time I would have a chance to see him is when they let us out for a meal. When I caught up to him in the cafeteria later that day, the first words out of his mouth were, Do you remember where everything is? Of course I do, I replied. Its your turn.

We started playing again, and the spaced out expressions on our faces captured the curiosity of a few inmates nearby. It was obvious we were doing something together, but we werent talking. Then Wally declared, Knight captures on elephant 7, check! And I said, Man, that was a great move! I didnt even see it! The men looked at us like we were totally nuts for a split second then went about their business. It was hilarious to Wally and me. We loved transcending the literal barriers of time and space and challenging ourselves in a creative way.

Now Wally and I start our games in the dayroom, continue the next day at lunch, and finish three days later by yelling from our cells. Which leads me to our most recent game in the dayroom.

Dinosaur 4! Wally began. He was leading me into the Queen's Gambit, a very effective opening. We were sitting on a metal bench, one of many bolted to the concrete floor in front of the TV. Someone sitting on the other side of Wally asked, What movie is this? Neither of us responded. The man asked more insistently, Hey, what movie is on TV?

Giving in to the intrusion, Wally replied, I dont know, Im not watching it.

What do you mean? the guy demanded. Youre staring right at it.

Im actually playing chess, Wally said. Gesturing toward me he added, Were playing against each other in our minds.

I gave the guy a corroborating nod so my friend didnt sound totally crazy. Wally went on to describe how we visualize the board to keep track of each others moves. It turned out that the man was a chess player himself. He was interested in seeing how our game would go. So Wally and I continued playing, only talking to make our moves or to clarify our odd nomenclature for our spectator.

A man farther down the bench asked our spectator, What are you doin, bro? He responded, Im watching them play chess. The other man looked at us, and then back to his homeboy. Youre what? It took a serious effort for me to suppress my laughter and stay focused. By the end of the hour, I was humbled and encouraged to see that several more guys had become intrigued by our idea and wanted to try their handor should I say their brainat a game.

It may be wishful thinking to say that well have a mental chess tournament anytime soon, but with the quirky square names and the sheer challenge, its certainly trending. More importantly, this intellectual oasis we created in the middle of a lonely desert brings people from diverse cultures and backgrounds together. At the heart of our mental chess game lies a profound lesson: It is easy to play the victim in life, to allow your circumstances to dictate your disposition. But the difference between being content or distraught is a matter of perspective. Every one of us has the ability to cultivate the perspective we want for ourselves and apply it to our experience. While we have been forced to relinquish our physical freedom, we dont have to give up control over our minds. And who knows? Maybe one of these days Ill finally beat Wally.

Harlin Pierce, 24, is a singer, songwriter, visual artist and writer. The Santa Fe, New Mexico, native became incarcerated shortly before he was due to graduate from high school. Pierces passion for learning continues, with independent studies in math, languages and physical fitness. He also teaches fellow incarcerated people music and participates in a book club he founded. Pierce is serving 33 years for murder at the Jim Ferguson Unit, Texas.

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When The Prison Banned Board Games, We Played Chess In Our Minds - The Marshall Project

With an aim to popularise the sport, the newly elected office-bearers of the All India Chess Federation (AICF) announced plans, including an Indian Chess League and a schools programme.

The vision document of the AICF was released following the Annual General Body Meeting attended by 33 state units.

We have been keen on starting the Indian Chess League to popularise the game. The first edition, which will be a franchise model, will be organised this year, Dr Sanjay Kapoor, the president of the AICF said. At the AGM, it was also decided to host the Womens Grand Prix, Kapoor confirmed. The AICF will also be bidding for the next available Chess Olympiad.

The AICF also has plans to give a push to the schools programme, which secretary Bharat Singh Chauhan said would be focussed on government schools and will involve up to 700 teachers, who will be trained by experts to teach children the game.

Before April we plan to start the chess in schools programme. We will be using a slightly modified version of the Fide curriculum, Chauhan added. The AICF has had a Chess in Schools (CIS) project, but Chauhan said there will be greater emphasis on spreading the reach.

Other decisions taken at the AGM were to have a single registration system for players, which will need an annual renewal, starting a centre of excellence, and organising a super tournament.

The super tournament will see many top players in action. It will give our Grand Masters an opportunity to compete with the best in the business at home, Kapoor said. Our plan is to make India a superpower in chess.

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AICF to start Indian Chess League - The Indian Express

Frederic Friedel was a science journalist when he co-founded ChessBase in 1987 in Hamburg. It's still the headquarters of the German firm, which has become the world leader in chess software. His partner, the programmer Matthias Wllenweber, created the architecture of the first professional chess database in history: ChessBase 1.0. The iconic Fritz was born in 1991, developed under DOS by Frans Morsch and brought to light under Windows by Mathias Feist.

The "guru" of ChessBase is now 75 years old. He believes that Artificial Intelligence can be the key to the future, so that humans can live better on earth. He is as optimistic and enthusiastic as ever. He expresses his hopes, but also his fears and doubts. How will we coexist with computers of a new type when they have become as intelligent as we are, and even more so?

The following article was based on a telephone discussion conducted in December 2020 by Europe-checs editor Jean-Michel Pechine.

The article appeared in the February 2021 issue of Europe checs, which can be bought here.

Jean-Michel was advised and guided byHenri Assoignon, from the administrative desk of Europe Echecs.

This "general public" game program started modestly, but its computing power developed exponentially. In 2002, Deep Fritz drew a classic match against Kramnik (4-4), as did X3D Fritz against Kasparov in 2003 (2-2). In 2006, Kramnik lost 4-2 to Deep Fritz, and the taste for man-machine matches was over. The German firm continued to improve its flagship programme. Version 15 was developed by Vasik Rajlich, the creator of Rybka. Last November, it launched version 16 of ChessBase. That ushered in a new era by integrating specific revolutionary applications. Artificial Intelligence is in vogue. Frederic Friedel's new child prodigy, Fat Fritz, was launched a year earlier. It is a neural network program. Unlike its predecessors, it was not taught to play chess by human masters. It plays millions of games against itself and draws its own conclusions from them, becoming stronger and stronger. In one year, the prototype has gone from an absolute beginner's level to an Elo rating flirting with 3600 points!

This is the magic of technology and Fredric Friedel is delighted. He views his programs like his own children. How could he have imagined, 34 years ago, that his company would revolutionize the world of chess like no other player or theorist had done before? His meeting with Garry Kasparov in 1985 was decisive. The world champion became involved in the process of creating ChessBase. Kasparov's brute force helped to finish the job. It was the time of the computer pioneers, from Atari to Windows. Like Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, Frederic Friedel's desire was to democratise access to high technology. This was also Kasparov's wish, he stresses in his interview. ChessBase offered everyone the opportunity to acquire state-of-the-art tools to prepare themselves, at an affordable cost. Chess became globalised.

This "general public" game program started modestly, but its computing power developed exponentially. In 2002, Deep Fritz drew a classic match against Kramnik (4-4), as did X3D Fritz against Kasparov in 2003 (2-2). In 2006, Kramnik lost 4-2 to Deep Fritz, and the taste for man-machine matches was over. The German firm continued to improve its flagship programme. Version 15 was developed by Vasik Rajlich, the creator of Rybka. Last November, it launched version 16 of ChessBase. That ushered in a new era by integrating specific revolutionary applications. Artificial Intelligence is in vogue. Frederic Friedel's new child prodigy, Fat Fritz, was launched a year earlier. It is a neural network program. Unlike its predecessors, it was not taught to play chess by human masters. It plays millions of games against itself and draws its own conclusions from them, becoming stronger and stronger. In one year, the prototype has gone from an absolute beginner's level to an Elo rating flirting with 3600 points!

With this program we carried out an experiment in Artificial Intelligence" explains Frederic Friedel. We used the same strategy as Google DeepMind with AlphaZero, which was developed by my old friend Demis Hassabis. We created our own program, which we called Fat Fritz. How did we do it? In December 2017, a DeepMind Artificial Intelligence project manager, Thore Grpel, came to see us in Hamburg. He revealed all his secrets to us, and we used the same basic techniques. After that, for a year, I had this very powerful computer right here under my desk. It was playing against itself, all the time, nearly 90,000 games a day in total tens of millions of games. A similar computer in Brazil was retrieving the games and learning from them. This project was led by my friend and colleague Albert Silver.

The only thing we did at the beginning was to teach it the basic rules. How the queen, a rook, a knight move, what is allowed or not allowed (like castling conditions), and the purpose of the game. After its first hundreds of games it played like an absolute idiot. After a few thousand, it started to play at the level of a beginner, and after a few million, Fat Fritz became really strong. It learned what it takes to win. It knew how to evaluate a position. It knew the value of the pieces, the value of a bishop, a knight. It understood that a queen is generally worth eight or nine pawns, depending on the situation. It knew which strategy to adopt. It went on to become the strongest entity that had ever played chess, stronger than Fritz or Komodo.

So Fat Fritz learned all on its own. Chess programmers are among the first human beings to directly experience the power of this new programming technique. The applications are infinite and will develop in all spheres of life. They will touch all fields, science, technology, writing and even the legal world. We can show billions of legal decisions to AI and, again, it learns from each of them. In the end, it may render more competent and fairer verdicts than human judges.

There has been nothing comparable to this revolution since the dawn of humanity. It is as if an alien lifeform had landed on our planet, coming from a distant galaxy. Suddenly we have a machine that may not think like a human being, but it acts in a similar. It may not be able to tell you how it arrives at its decisions. Take the example of chess: if you ask the AI program why one move is better than another, it will tell you: "Because statistically it is 1% better than the next best move." It cannot explain its "reasoning" in human terms. However, this mysterious way of thinking has already made it considerably stronger than the best player in the world.

Fat Fritz's current classification is around 3500 to 3600 Elo. Nobody can beat it, but chess players can use it to try ideas and see how it reacts. You test a novelty or a specific move in a known position and see how it responds. You think, "Oh, that's interesting, it takes the pawn or, on the contrary, why didn't it take it?" I'll explain it to you differently. Fat Fritz can leave a piece hanging. A GM who is analysing this position may say that the program is playing a really rotten move, and will try to demonstrate why. Five moves later, the GM will say: okay, maybe it wasn't a losing move, but whatever it was, it wasn't good. And five moves later, he'll see that it's a winner, that it was a brilliant move!

In the openings, Fat Fritz likes to play 1.e4 and 1.d4, which remain the best moves, according to it. The program will not play 1.h4, for example. Now, we have no idea about its strategy in the openings. It has played millions of games and prefers certain starting patterns. Then we started to show it the games of the best players in history, contained in MegaDatabase. With them, it learned the different styles of play of the humans: aggressive, tactical, positional, strategic, etc. It changed its style in a way that we find very interesting. But it continues playing against itself, to discover things that no human had discovered before. It learns to evaluate positions differently. It also has to discover elementary things, for example that three queens win against zero queens, a situation that never happens in games between humans.

Part two of the interview to follow soon...

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Chess and Artificial Intelligence (1) - Chessbase News