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This is just bouncing around in my head as an interesting topic to think about, that I have a few thoughts on. Recently in a vote chess game player A posted a sequence of 3 moves. Another player B pointed out that this sequence had been given already in the Archives by another vote chess player (C). I think the intention was to correctly attribute precedence, thus awarding C some credit for the intellectual achievement of having stated the sequence in the record. This kind of process is an essential feature of literature and scholarly work. I don't believe I ever studied it intentionally. I recall I first encountered it in a history course in about 7th grade. My parent had argued with the teacher and she may not have taught us well, but I was to learn different citation styles. It's something of an artificial measure, as the experience and result of discovering and sharing a thing is somewhat independent of what has been stated previously in some less accessible form. Anyway, it definitely seems like an interesting area for discussion; does anybody want to write more about it? What are some good sources on this topic? What kind of academics understand it best, historians or philosophers or scientists?

As March Madness is currently underway (and I have filled out a bracket for the chess.com bracket pool), I though all of us intellectuals could try and solve this problem (regardless of whether or not you like college basketball): How many possible brackets are there? For those who don't follow March Madness, a preliminary 4 games are played (the First Four) to determine the 4 of the 64 teams playing in the main tournament. From there, the tournament is single-elimination. I don't even know how to start going about solving this problem, as the final number must be huge, but I hoped the group might be able to solve (or approach solving) the problem. And please, no looking up the answer. It spoils all of the fun.

Many mathematical problems that orginally appear in a non-abstract form (for example geometric ones) can be brought down to an abstract one and can be understood better this way. Is this also possible in chess, in an extreme case, having one formula with one variable for each piece that has certain values for certain squares, and the mathematical result can be translated to the chess result (with optimal play). In evaluating positions, determining the evaluation on material, as it is taught to new players, could be a very rough approximation that helps in a few cases, but there are exceptions and in most positions there are multiple moves to preserve the same material count. Another example could be tablebases, but they rather work as generalized "if->then" and cover all cases. In mathematics they would be the equivalent to a brute force proof, but not to an elegant proof. There are multiple generalizations that work for a very specified set of positions, let's take the square rule for pawn promotion or the Troitsky line in the rare NNvP endgame (although the Troitsky line already has some exceptions) It is the case that chess is too complex to have a simple method for all scenarios, but to solve chess, it could be more realistic to have a general method for an "elegant proof" than a 32-piece-tablebase. There will also be cases that could simplify the general method, and while tablebases get simpler with decreasing piece amount, this wouldn't necessarily be the case for other methods, which would then be more efficient in certain scenarios with high piece amount but other factors that simplify the method.

Hello all! This small survey is geared toward US chess players. Some small notes; Your indenity will be anonymous. There are no questions that can lead back to your identity. It can be taken on phone or pad. Your time is appreciated. It should take no more than 2-3 minutes to complete. https://byui.az1.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_55wIN7lgEOOwuJ7

So, who were they? There was one behind the chair in the corner, little devil of pure evil. He was black and small, body was a stick and hands were also sticks, only head wasn't, it had a little dress. On the balcony, two big dudes with huge noses and wings that were not pure evil, but had evil deeds in mind, murdering me included. Later on, when I moved to a new place, there were all sorts of animals under the couch and the floor was like poisonous sea. All mentioned above was a problem during the dark and solitude, which was often when I was a kid. But I had a daily 'friend' as well. As I moved one of the two balcony dudes left while the other transformed drastically and became a constant pest in my mind, that stayed with me for years and years, until I finally managed to banish him. What about you?

Title is self-explanatory

http://youtu.be/2seue4ybugQ?list=P

It's always nice to pull out a nice, corny joke at the right time. Share some of your favorite ones here. What's red and smells like blue paint? Red paint.

This is difficut to write because I need to recognize so many I know I can't do it and not leave out some important people. But in spite of that I will write a short note about how this group went from losing the first three vote chess (vc) games they played to winning the next 9 in a row. I like to play vote chess. I was invited to join this group and joined, so I quickly looked at the vote chess games. We had lost the first two (the group was new only two had been completed) and a third was hopelessly a few moves away from another loss. There were 8 other games under way. All were 24 hours per moves games. None of the games had very much discussion between players - no comments, just moves. The typical game had only 8 to 10 players for us and most moves had only 4 or 5 or 6 votes. What was happening was that a strong players were suggesting good moves, but not necessarily explaining why they were good moves, and most players weren't reading or understanding. The strong players were getting out voted by bad moves and getting frustrated and then quitting the games. Some even quite the group. So I launced a campaign based on begging. First I begged people to talk to each other. Then I begged them to stop voting before they talked to each other. Then I went to group main page members list and, through messaging, started begging strong players to join and play. I did NOT ask any weak players to join. We were lucky that Awesomechess had already started a forum about vote chess. That gave us a place to explain good practices. You can look back in the vote chess forum and read most of this stuff. LongIslandMark was one of the first strong players to jump in a game. He also pushed people to talk andread before you vote. PortugaltheMan, SpiritLancer, Computo200, and Zobral came along soon. FiveOfSwords was a strong player here before I came along and he stayed and led the way on a lot of comlicated positions. Same for W-Luke and Arildto. We got help from f_babee_a and MindWalk. Then we had two or three strong players who helped a lot before their accounts were closed - cheaters. Of course we didn't know they were cheating. We were just looking at the moves they suggested. Other early players were Doktor_Oleg, ProfessorFacepalm, Camberfoil, asknotax, Cavatine, and others too many to name. Once we established the culture of talking before you vote and once the strong players led the way, we won our first game, then the second. Before you know it we were having 30 to 40 players in each game. Some moves started to have more than 30 commments - some almost 50. That is almost 50 comments for a single move in less than 24 hours! So we won and won again and won 9 in a row after losing the first 3. That is a real brief look at how it happened.

Following f_b sugestion I am creating this thread. The idea here is anyone of us to post our own games that present some move / situation we can benefit and enjoy. It is not necessary to show a victory. A defeat can also be enjoyable, make us learn from our errors. I am posting the online game some of you have already seen, that ended with a underpromotion of a pawn to a Knight with check. Game can be seen at http://www.chess.com/echess/game?id=103743188 I look forward to seeing here games of your own. Go, Corinthians !

Greetings, fellow Intellectuals. This is a thread intended for the purpose of sharing nerdy humor, ideally of an intellectully-complex nature.

Hi! I was asked by JustADude to start a topic on archaeology as I'm an archaeologist. I'm primarily interested in the local Bronze Age (Eastern Sweden) but have more general interests also, but maybe not that much knowledge if going outside the Swedish Archaeology. The primary thing of interest within my reasearch field that have happend in the last year is that it have been determined from lead-isotop analysis that the copper in almost all Bronze-Age Bronze in Scandinavia is from the Meddeterrean and just a small portion from the Alps. None is from the geographically closer Lusatians areas, the Ural or the Carpathians. But the most interresting is that none is domestic, as Sweden during the sevententh centuary stood for two thirds of the worlds production (that is not my subject though).

I know most of you will say it pretty much depends on the position but - generally speaking - what do you prefer: to be up an exchange or two pawns? Go, Intellectuals !!

What day of the week will May 12, 2034 be? What day of the week was May 12, 1298? The following algorithm will tell you. (Note: all divisions, except where noted otherwise, are integer divisions, in which remainders are discarded.) First figure out the values for \(a\), \(y\), and \(m\) -- variables to be plugged into a formula. \(a = \frac{14 - month}{12}\) (month = # of month, 1 for Jan, 2 for Feb, etc) \(y = year - a\) (year = the 4 digit year) \(m = month + 12a - 2\) Next, plug the values of y and m into the following formula to calculate the day: \[ d = (day + y + \frac{y}{4}-\frac{y}{100}+\frac{y}{400}+ \frac{31m}{12}) \:mod \:7 \] (Note: mod 7 means "modulo division." That is, take the remainder instead of the quotient as your answer. For example, 20 mod 3 = 2, because the remainder is 2.) The answer you get for \(d\) will correspond to a day of the week as such: 0 = Sunday 1 = Monday 2 = Tuesday 3 = Wednesday 4 = Thursday 5 = Friday 6 = Saturday Example: What day of the week will April 5, 2020 fall on? First figure out \(a\), \(y\), and \(m\): \(a = \frac{14-4}{12} = 0\) (remember, it's integer division so remainders are discarded. 4 represents the month of April since it's the fourth month of the year.) \(y = 2020 - 0 = 2020\) \(m = 4 + 12(0) - 2 = 2\) Now plug \(y\) and \(m\) into the \(d\) formula to calculate the day: \[ d = (5 + 2020 + \frac{2020}{4} - \frac{2020}{100} + \frac{2020}{400} + \frac{31(2)}{12}) \: mod \: 7\] \[ d = (5 + 2020 + 505 - 20 + 5 + 5) \: mod \: 7 \] \[ d = 2520 \: mod \: 7 \] \[ d = 0\] Note: 2520/7 = 360 with a remainder of 0. Recall from above that 0 = Sunday. So April 5, 2020 will be a Sunday.

We've all seen them. The patzers who thing they're so sophisticated when they play the Grob or the Durkin. Post a noobish opening you have seen, made up, or even played.

Take the 25 Intellectuals (or any other group of 25 people) that participate in the Intellectuals Chess Tournament, promoted by Cavatine. What is the probability that at least two of them were born in the same day and month (forget the year of birth)? Go, Intellectuals !

Have fun my dear intellectual chess friends! Mind Reading Have someone pick a number between 1 and 9. Have someone pick a number between 1 and 9. Now have him use a calculator to first multiply it by 9, and then multiply it by 12,345,679 (notice there is no 8 in that number.). Have the person show you the result so you can tell him the original number he selected. How? If he selected 5, the final answer is 555,555,555. If he selected 3, the final answer is 333,333,333. The reason: 9 x 12345679 = 111111111. You multiplied your digit by 111111111. (By the way, that 8-digit number (12,345,679) is easily memorized: only the 8 is missing from the sequence.) The 421 Loop Pick a whole number and enter it into your calculator. If it is even, divide by 2. If it is odd, multiply by 3 and add 1. Repeat the process with the new number over and over. What happens? The sequence always ends in the "loop": 4.....2.....1.....4.....2.....1... Example: Start with 13. 13 is odd, so we multiply by 3 and add 1. We get 40. (\(13 \times 3 = 39 + 1= 40\)) 40 is even, so we divide by 2. We get 20. (\(40 \div 2 = 20\)) 20 is even, so we divide by 2 and get 10. 10 is also even so we divide by 2 again and get 5. 5 is odd so we multiply by 3 and add 1. We get 16. 16 is even, so we divide by 2 and get 8. 8 is also even so we divide by 2 again and get 4. 4 is even so we divide by 2. We get 2. 2 is even, so we divide by 1 and get 1. 1 is odd, so we multiply by 3 and add 1. We get 4. 4 is even so we divide by 2. We get 2. And so we begin the loop 4.....2.....1.....4.....2.....1... Have someone secretly select a three-digit number and enter it twice into her calculator. (For example: 123123) Have her concentrate on the display. You will try to discern her thoughts. From across the room (or over the phone), announce that the number is divisible by 11. Have her verify it by dividing by 11. Announce that the result is also divisible by 13. Have her verify it. Have him divide by his original three-digit number. Announce that the final answer is 7. You can use this to predict Good Luck for him. If you wish to predict Bad Luck, have him divide by 7 in step 3; the final answer will be 13. Why does this work? Entering a three-digit number twice (123123) is equivalent to multiplying it by 1001. (\(123 \times 1001 = 123,123\)). Since \(1001 = 7 \times 11 \times 13\), the six-digit number will be divisible by 7, 11, 13, and the original three-digit number. The Secret of 73 For this trick, secretly write 73 on a piece of paper, fold it up, and give to an unsuspecting friend. Now have your friend select a four-digit number and enter it twice into a calculator. (For example: 12341234) Announce that the number is divisible by 137 and have him verify it on his calculator. Next, announce that he can now divide by his original four-digit number. After he has done so, dramatically command him to look at your prediction on the paper. It will match his calculator display: 73 Why does this work? Entering a three-digit number twice (12341234) is equivalent to multiplying it by 10001. (\(1234 \times 10001 = 12341234\)). Since \(10001 = 73 \times 137\), the eight-digit number will be divisible by 73, 137, and the original four-digit number. The 6174 loop Select a four-digit number. (Do not use 1111, 2222, etc.) Arrange the digits in increasing order. Arrange the digits in decreasing order. Subtract the smaller number from the larger number. Repeat steps 2, 3, and 4 with the result, and so on. What happens? Let's try 7173 Arrange the digits in increasing order. 1377 Arrange the digits in decreasing order. 7731 Subtract the smaller number from the larger number. 7731 - 1377 = 6354 Repeat the process with 6354 6543 - 3456 = 3087 8730 - 0378 = 8352 8532 - 2358 = 6174 7641 - 1467 = 6174 7641 - 1467 = 6174 7641 - 1467 = 6174 (we're in a loop.) Amazingly, all four-digit numbers (not multiples of 1111) end up in the 6174-loop.