Grob spike-attack, Santasiere's folly, and the vulture defense

December 4, 2006 10:43 AM

Chess has a long, if somewhat shrouded, history, with beautiful chess pieces found dating from the 5th century. It has spawned hundreds of fascinating stories, and many interesting names for moves. For the last five decades, the history of chess and computers have been intertwined in many ways. Chess continues to adapt to a new age, with controversies around computer-assisted cheating, attempts to sex-up chess books, thousands of variants, and an amazing online database that can search through recorded games for the last 200 years.
posted by blahblahblah (5 comments total)

One of the more physically demanding variants: Chess Boxing.
posted by PenDevil at 10:50 AM on December 4, 2006

There's great potential for an illustrated "Pawn Star" t-shirt.
posted by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese at 1:09 PM on December 4, 2006

Talking about variants, LoveChess (NSFW)
posted by darkripper at 1:25 PM on December 4, 2006

Thanks for this post, blahblahblah. I always enjoy your contributions. Thanks. I am intrigued by the variants link. I like chess, but I am just an occasional player. The variants look like they are neat, but they intimidate me. I barely have a good grasp on traditional chess!
posted by dios at 3:07 PM on December 4, 2006

The online database has a slew of Marcel Duchamp's games.
posted by StickyCarpet at 5:05 PM on December 4, 2006