Unanswered Questions
256 questions with no upvoted or accepted answers
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Highest depth ever achieved
I saw a guy that went into depth 70 with no search moves at 41, 192, 897, 168, and 184 nodes from the starting position on Stockfish a few years ago.
I would like to know if this is still a record or ...
- 979
10
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0
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161
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What’s the origin of “!” & “?”
Who first started to annotate chess moves with “!” for good & “?” for bad?!
EDIT: Two data points:
(1) 1859 "The Book of the First American Chess Congress." The annotated games have no ...
- 13.2k
9
votes
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answers
240
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Chessboard Domination from Opening
From the opening position for black (with no white pieces on the board), what is the fewest number of moves in which we can dominate the entire board, that is, reach a position so that each square is ...
- 176
8
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Chess engines missing mate in 2
After going through a long list of test positions for my chess engine, I found this simple mate in 2 puzzle that my engine failed to see even after searching to a depth of 16 ply. I checked the puzzle ...
CommunityBot
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8
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0
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A fun game (for problem composers, mostly...)
A game leading to a given position is called a proof game. Of course any proof game can be prepended with 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.Ng1 Ng8, so we defined a shortest proof game as, duh, the shortest possible proof ...
- 176
8
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Stockfish position evaluation component terms in Python?
I saw the excellent Javascript-based guide to how Stockfish evaluates (non-NNUE). Is there a python version out there, perhaps using python-chess?
What I am trying to do (in case you have other ...
- 176
7
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104
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Is "Pawn Pugilism" won for White or Black?
There might be another established word in English (in German it's "Bauernkloppe") for this training lesson for kids, but the rules are simple: Both sides have only the pawns at their usual ...
- 17.7k
7
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How much would chess change if Black always had the last move?
In a hypothetical minor variant, could White's first-move advantage be compensated for by Black's right to last move?
Normally, White wins have White play N+1 plies to Black's N. How would the game ...
- 213
6
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540
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What program/website shows the last captured piece in displaying the last move played in a position?
The following image appeared in the question Can anyone explain this sacrifice?
You can see a pawn is captured. Sometimes a position will show the last move played or whose move it is but doesn't ...
- 163
6
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How did the Omaha Gambit get its name?
I was recently playing the Vienna Gambit as white on chess.com and was surprised to see a variation called the "Omaha gambit."
[Title "Vienna Game: Omaha Gambit"]
[StartPly "5&...
- 17.7k
6
votes
0
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Real reason tournament director of Teplice Open in Czechia tried to ban Ukrainian players?
I have just seen that FIDE has stepped in and told the organisers of the Teplice Open that they may not ban Ukrainian players from the tournament. Searching for more information as to why a tournament ...
- 99.4k
6
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0
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117
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Practical play in KRPvKQ central pseudo-fortresses?
A rook and a pawn sometimes draw against a queen, if a proper fortress can be set up. These are possible to learn to defend, and it's also possible to learn how to attack these with a queen when the ...
- 176
6
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0
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289
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Strategy in Navara gambit
I am playing few years strictly 1.Nf3 with the intention to play Reti Opening. In my last OTB game I experience Navara Gambit (from a Czech GM David Navara) in Reti Advanced variation:
[FEN " &...
- 17.7k
6
votes
0
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191
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Russian chess school maxim: draw after loss (?)
I seem to remember a maxim attributed to the Russian chess school, "after two losses, draw the next game (however good the position may seem)". Does somebody know the exact saying and to ...
- 176
6
votes
1
answer
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Is it possible to connect to the Lichess database remotely from ChessBase?
Lichess has a database of over five billion blitz, rapid and classical games played on the website, that can be accessed via the opening explorer. That is extremely useful for those interested in ...
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