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The game of chess has captivated virtually everyone on the planet, even during the reign of kings and queens, who fought real battles; this game has continued to rapture its players. Such is the impact of this board game on generations after generations that chess has not lost its charm even a single bit all these centuries (the game has gained exponential popularity since the airing of Queens Gambit on Netflix). The mere idea of designing a chess set is the creative canvas for designers to explore and experiment with after all, when form meets function, theres an elevated level of gameplay that the two opponents experience when moving chess pieces in a bid to defeat the other.

For such a long time now, the chess pieces shape has seen countless iterations influenced by the ethnic culture or the pure imagination of creative minds. Among the sea of chessboards and chess pieces out there, industrial designer Andrea Tortone brings a very modern design aesthetic to chess while retaining the traditional representations of the game in its purest form. Dubbed the Neo aluminum chessboard, it is crafted out of a single aluminum metal tube, cut into intricate chess pieces that fuse refreshing modern take with the yesteryears essence.

Each of the chessmen results from thoughtfully selecting the traits drawing inspiration from the famous shapes, sizes, and icons of the European middle ages. So youll be able to trace the influence of a helmet in the pawn, mitre in the bishop, and merlon in the rook piece. The designer has a unique take by packaging these pieces inside a well-polished case, the top of which doubles as the chessboard itself. It has to be said, Andrea has infused a modern element into the strategy board game without going overboard.

Designer: Andrea Tortone

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This aluminum chessboard and its iconic chess pieces have been crafted for the millennial grandmasters - Yanko Design

Part one of this discussion appeared a few days ago. Before we continue with part two, here's a look into the past.Twenty years ago, I conducted an interview with Frederic Friedel for Europe checs entitled "The Nightmare of the Kings". It was on the occasion of the match "Brains in Barhain" that Kramnik and Deep Fritz played, in October 2002, in the Persian Gulf. Here are two excerpts from this interview in which we were already talking about Artificial Intelligence and ethics.

Europe-Chess:First of all, a question of ethics. In your opinion, in a world increasingly controlled by computers, is the future of the Earth in better hands with programs, rather than with humans?

Frdric Friedel:"I don't know, but what I do know for sure is that we humans have done a terrible job. We have exterminated hundreds of thousands of species in just one millennium. We have persecuted, tortured, terrorised, and also spread misery. Today, we tolerate that almost half of humanity lives below the poverty line, that millions of people suffer from malnutrition. On the other hand, we have a small privileged group of people, each of whom can afford the equivalent of 10,000 lunches a minute in a luxury restaurant. Could an "IT administration" do a better job? Honestly, I don't know, but I have the irrational feeling that computers could maybe improve on it.

EE:In what way do chess programs show intelligence?

Frederic Friedel:"In addition to its extraordinary capacity of calculation of two million positions per second, the performance of Fritz is already 'intelligent'. Fritz is undoubtedly a highly successful application of this branch of computer science,even if its mode of reasoning is different from that of a human being. Humans use their experience, their intuition. They use long term planning, starting with the understanding a position. Fritz, on the other hand, adds, subtracts, compares! Before reaching a fundamental analysis of the position, it performs hundreds of millions of micro-actions. Chess is oneparticular universe. In other fields, such as music, the applications resulting from Artificial Intelligence would be totally different. A program could give you the illusion of listening to Bach, but a virtuoso musician would immediately make out the difference. Whereas Fritz is able to play Kasparov-like games! ... I studied philosophy, and worked on this subject: what is intelligence? Fritz is intelligent, in a sense that this concept will have in twenty years' time."

Now on to part two of the telephone discussion I conducted with Frederic in December 2020.The article appeared in the February 2021 issue of Europe checs, whichcan be bought here.Jean-Michel was advised and guided byHenri Assoignon, from the administrative desk of Europe Echecs.

Self-awareness

It's just a machine. It has no consciousness or feelings as we understand them. We have specific connections in our brain that make us react according to the circumstances, the situations we are experiencing. We interpret them as pleasure, pain and all other kinds of emotions. We would have to invent a new word to express what computers "feel". They may be stronger than us in many areas, but they are not aware of it. In the human sense, self-awareness is precisely what distinguishes human beings, as well as some animals, from all other species. In my opinion, computers will achieve what experts call "singularity" in the relatively near future. I think that within 20 or 30 years they will be as intelligent as we are. They will be able to build new computers themselves, which they are already doing, by the way. Today's processors, with hundreds of millions of transistors, are mainly designed by computer algorithms. My son is a very competent programmer. Today he no longer writes programs. He tells the computer what he wants to program, and the computer does it for him. Instead of just writing a program, he writes programs that write programs for him.

When they're as smart as we are, they won't just build the cars, like the ones they already help to design. They will do everything faster and better than humans. What we don't know is what will happen when they are 10, 50 or even 100 times smarter than us. One thing is for sure. We can't stop them. We can't stop Artificial Intelligence by pressing an "off" button. If the European Union and the United States, for example, were to decide to stop AI completely, other countries, such as South Korea, Japan, Iran, India or Israel, may continue on this path. Computers create vast amounts of wealth and energy. They help design nuclear reactors, super-efficient electric or hydrogen cars, they can optimize production or even run the whole economy. We won't be able to stop that. They can help us, in general, to improve our lives. We may end up just telling them what we want and letting them decide how to do it. They may often improve on our wishes. In the future, they may be able to say to us: It's not a better car that you need, it's a new mode of transport. This will be the case in many fields of application, such as medicine, health, economy...

If we retain an optimistic vision, computers will be at our side. In the best-case scenario: they will listen to us and help us improve our lives. But there is a pessimistic vision. I use it to provoke people and make them think about these issues of the future. Let's say that computers become 100,000 times smarter than we are. They will be the ones to tell us what to do. They will decide, and we won't be able to do anything about it. We won't be able to destroy them. That's one possible scenario. But I like to continue to believe that they will make the world a better place for humans, that they will help us to preserve the environment, to improve our quality of life. I even hope that the computers will feel some sort of gratitude. They may think, Originally, it was these strange monkeys that created us. We have to take care of them." Knowing where AI is going is something that concerns all of us.

The famous game played by the computer Hal against an astronaut in Stanley Kubrick's film (released in 1968) is nothing more than a game between a computer and an amateur. Fritz could have played in the same way and he could have said to you, as early as 1992 or 1993: "Sorry, Frank, but you lost." Fritz is a program that can only do one thing: play chess. It can't take control of the spaceship, like in the film. HAL is indeed a form of Artificial Intelligence, as we conceive it from here "some time in the 21st century". Hal is self-aware. It has nothing to do with AlphaZero or Fat Fritz, which are just neural networks.

One of the key areas of chess programs is the exploration of new ideas. A program like Fat Fritz will show you moves that have never been played before. As I told you, if theory considers that you should not take the pawn, it may tell you: "just take it!" If you ask it why, it won't be able to answer you. To understand, you will have to play against it and find out for yourself why it is good. This is beneficial for chess because it invites players to be braver, to take more risks by testing new ideas on the chessboard. When I look at Magnus Carlsen's games, I can see that he works with AI programs. He is not the only one, of course.

The evolution of chess databases allows you to constantly upgrade your knowledge. ChessBase 16 does this automatically for you. You think you have found a new move in a certain variation. The program will sift through millions of games in a second or two to tell you that it is not new. It has already been played in seven or eight games. Here they are, and here's how the games continued! Or how they should have continues, because it has already considered this unplayed move. You can analyse with the program to understand perfectly what it says.

You can also ask the program to maintain your own repertoire of openings. You tell it what kind of variations you like to play. It replies: "Ok, give me time to think about it!" You pour yourself a coffee and come back to see the result. The program shows you a complete repertoire, as well as the most recent additions to each line. ChessBase 16 can tell you: "An amateur played this move. It is excellent, but he made a mistake a few moves later and lost." The program tells you instantly how he should have played. The program even knows what is good for an amateur, a strong club player or a super GM. It advises you accordingly.

When we created ChessBase in 1987, I had no idea what was going to happen, and I don't think anyone was either. Forty years ago I had made two documentaries on computer chess for German television. I was interested in what was then called "artificial intelligence", still in inverted commas. In one of them I said what computers will never be able to do. I was completely wrong. At the time, I thought they would never be able to drive a car, walk on two feet, recognise a human face, understand a speech. Today they can do all of that. Computers listen to us and talk to us. They understand our questions and are able to give us useful answers.

I don't know if the computers will be our friends. We have to find a way for them to remain at our service, to take care of humans, even if they become much smarter than us. Computers are not in competition with us. They don't need the resources of the earth, the trees, the water, or even the air. They just need energy, and there is a fantastic source of energy near us: the sun. It's a gigantic fusion reactor. A single asteroid is enough to maintain billions of AI entities. If they run out of energy, they just have to travel 1000 kilometres closer to the sun. And so, fortunately, computers are not going to fight us for terrestrial resources. They may see us as irresponsible people destroying our own planet. But they can also continue their own expansion in the universe.

If I give your name to Google, it knows who you are, your phone number, your address, the things you are interested in, the things you like to buy. If you give a name to ChessBase 16, the program will show you everything about that player: what he looks like, the evolution of his Elo rating, how he played at certain ages, his favourite systems, his favourite variations, his greatest tournament successes, etc. It allows you to prepare yourself against him, to adapt your game to his style of play. It can even imitate his style and play against you.

I am currently working on a project to make a weak chess engine. This is a personal project. If you have an Elo of 2500 or 2600, you can learn a lot by playing against Fritz. Below this level you may not understand anything about what he plays. I want a chess engine to be weaker. When my son played against the early versions of Fritz, he concluded that in chess you can never win material and you will always be crushed in less than 20 moves. Fritz was relentless. I want it to make human mistakes. The objective is to allow amateurs to enjoy playing, to learn to improve. Fritz 16 and 17 already have special "friend" levels that do this to some degree. This chess engine will play moves that allow the opponent to gain an advantage. It will then tell you if you have missed any opportunities. I want to improve this aspect, implement "Artificial Stupidity".

ChessBase has democratised the game and its practice to a large extent. Forty years ago, some players, Spassky, Karpov, Kasparov, had a considerable advantage in their preparation and training. They had their own teams of grandmasters who supported them. Their coaches were very expensive: "Ok, I'll show you how you could beat this opponent, but you pay me 800 or 1000 dollars, or you pay me a monthly salary." Today, if you want to train like the world champion, to have all the tools he uses, it costs you 200 to 300 Euros. We have democratised preparation. In tennis, the best players have special rackets and shoes. They have the best training conditions. In chess, everyone has the same tools. Garry Kasparov was the best player in the world and he had the best team of analysts. But he encouraged us to build ChessBase, mainly to share his advantages with everyone. For this I am eternally grateful to him.

"Chess playing computers are too strong for humans today. It was a mistake to think that if we developed very powerful chess machinesthe game would become boring, that there would be a lot of draws, (strategic) manoeuvres, or that a game would last 1800, 1900 moves, during which nobody could break through. AlphaZero is totally the opposite. For me, it was complementary, because it plays more like Kasparov than like Karpov! It discovered, in fact, that it could sacrifice material to launch an aggressive operation. It is not creative, it just sees patterns, the chances. But that makes chess more aggressive, more attractive. Magnus Carlsen said that he has studied the games of AlphaZero, and that he has discovered certain elements of the game, certain connections. He may have thought of a specific move, but never dared to consider it. Now we all know it works.Garry Kasparov

Link:
Chess and Artificial Intelligence (2) - Chessbase News

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