Weekly REport: The Impossible Checkmate
Added 2015-02-19 06:05:34 +0000 UTCHeyJ Encounterers! Take a look at some behind-the-scenes planning for our newest video!
Comments
I used to be, though I always preferred positional tactics to memorizing opening and endgame libraries. I could beat most casual players, but I'd lose to any serious tournament player. Freshman year of college, I even took a seminar called Chess and Math. I haven't played much in the last few years though - not a lot of opponents.
Kevin Orfield
2015-02-20 18:37:39 +0000 UTCSo Kevin are you particularly into Chess??
Alvin Franco
2015-02-20 10:48:05 +0000 UTCOh my goodness gracious!! What a coincidence... I swear I know that feeling! Chess people can be absolutely INSANE and are able to identify whether a board has been falsely set up or if it had an actual logical progression. (Have you ever watched "Searching For Bobby Fischer?") Apologies in advance. I know I always ramble, and I've been making active efforts not to do it so much, but this one I can't hold my tongue. XP For a Digital Media project in college I had this idea of an "Edible Chess Game." The dinner table is a giant chess board, the pieces are all fancy foods and h'ourderves... Castles were goblets, chicken leg bishops, prawn-pawns, big ol' ice cream parfait Queen with a cherry on top, etc. you get the idea. The payoff comes at the end when the game is over, and most of the pieces have been "eaten." The phrase to indicate the end of the meal/game is "CHECK, please!" ^_^ (Silly pun? Whatever, I'M quite proud of the idea. ;P) I had to turn all that into a cohesive image in Adobe Illustrator... It was far more ambitious than my skills and technology would allow... And it would definitely be better as a 3D project... But I did it well enough for assignment credit. The part that haunted me beyond its completion is that I couldn't think how to display a proper end to the game. I wanted it to be positioned in a way that was obviously checkmate. I also needed it to be a game in which each of the variety of pieces had been eaten. But still, I couldn't have ONLY kings left on the board, or that would have been a terribly unrealistic game! So how could other pieces be left on the table in a logical way that didn't interfere with the picture's composition?? I seriously tried to figure this out by playing games to the end with friend and fellow patron Alec, researching famous chess tournament games, and even looking through an "Encyclopedia of Chess Openings" at the used bookstore where I work! Can you believe it? There's actually an ENCYCLOPEDIA of chess openings! And it was bloody expensive, like $60. Nothing about ENDINGS though, which is what I needed. The book sold the very next day to a guy from Austria I believe... There was actually demand for it!!! So I couldn't use that resource anymore. It's just as well! I would've only been entertaining an unhealthy level of insanity at that point... But I do remember reading about an "Orangutan Defense" or something like that... (I know Crystal isn't an orangutan, but I WOULDN'T BE SURPRISED if there's a "Monkey" titled strategy. Sorry, it's probably too late for you to implement THAT! :P) Anyway! All I mean to tell you AJ is that there's no shame in playing Chess by yourself for the sake of Art! ;D (You'll probably still get quite a few comments about it though...)
Alvin Franco
2015-02-20 10:38:41 +0000 UTCFilming them singing while remembering which pieces to move where is going to be a great little behind-the-scenes. Wonder how many shots it will take? Also, mmmm shirts. I'd love one of them. Good luck filming! Chookas!
Emily Hickson
2015-02-19 11:12:10 +0000 UTC*pauses video to look at the chessboard* That rook had quite a trip, didn't it? :P And all for a modified fool's mate. The question is, can the cat beat AJ at chess?
Kevin Orfield
2015-02-19 07:12:45 +0000 UTCYay for chess! And music! And kitties! Yay!!!
Ocean & Dylan McIntyre
2015-02-19 06:18:46 +0000 UTC
