The funniest thing I've ever read about chess.

Jorge Luis Borges wrote a very funny short story in the 1940s called "Pierre Menard, Author of Don Quixote." In it he describes a fictional scholar who among a list of about 20 other things writes

"a technical article on the possibility of enriching the game of chess by means of eliminating one of the rooks' pawns. Menard proposes, recommends, disputes and ends by rejecting this innovation."

If you don't play chess at all, this really isn't funny. If you do play, it's hillarious.

I dispute the hypothesis put forth in your final statement.  And I say this as both a chess player and a Borges enthusiast.

Woody Allen's Gossage-Vardebedian Papers, however, were hysterical.

I'm checking out the Gossage-Vardebedian Papers. Skimming them, yeah, they do look pretty funny. Woody Allen probably couldn't have written that without Borges in the world.

I'd dispute the hypothesis in that final statement as well, but I'd hate to sound like a broken record.

Literature, like Obamacare, is in the eye of the beholder.

Eye operations can be expensive. Get insurance.

Aye, operations can be expensive.

I operate to shun Obamacare.

White obviously has advantage, if you remove one set of rook pawns: