Ain’t It Funny How the Knight Moves?
January 25, 2023 10:20 AM Subscribe
Got as far as targeting a7, 6 minutes in, before I called it. I was just bouncing around with little strategy. Bet it's good practice for those with the patience though.
posted by solotoro at 10:51 AM on January 25, 2023
posted by solotoro at 10:51 AM on January 25, 2023
Oh, that's a target square. Game makes much more sense now. Knights are funny.
posted by crossswords at 10:56 AM on January 25, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by crossswords at 10:56 AM on January 25, 2023 [1 favorite]
The interesting thing about this exercise, as the linked video explains, is that (1) it doesn't represent any actual chess skill but (2) it is completely correlated with chess skill.
The better you are at chess the better you will perform at this, and vice versa. It's not something you train as a player, and it's not something you need advanced concepts to understand. It's just the capacity to project more than one move ahead.
And somehow it's the most important thing in the world. Kind of reminds me of chefs chopping onions -- the speed you chop onions isn't going to affect the quality of the meal, but somehow it's enough to reveal your ability to cook well.
posted by rollick at 11:49 AM on January 25, 2023 [4 favorites]
The better you are at chess the better you will perform at this, and vice versa. It's not something you train as a player, and it's not something you need advanced concepts to understand. It's just the capacity to project more than one move ahead.
And somehow it's the most important thing in the world. Kind of reminds me of chefs chopping onions -- the speed you chop onions isn't going to affect the quality of the meal, but somehow it's enough to reveal your ability to cook well.
posted by rollick at 11:49 AM on January 25, 2023 [4 favorites]
It does represent a chess skill? Being able to see where the knight moves using less thought.
If you can see where a knight/queen moves (and not just 1 step, but N steps) without having to think about it, it is insanely cheaper to do _everything_ in chess. The cheaper, the better.
The same way that knowing how to add/multiply/etc is a trivial step in higher level math, but not having to think about addition and multiplication makes that higher level stuff less work. If 57x6 just pops out as an answer, that same speed and low attention costs make (x^2-1)/(x-1) faster, and even extend to formal proofs or physics mathematics.
This is on top of the fact that this is a skill you pick up when you play, it also helps play.
posted by NotAYakk at 12:32 PM on January 25, 2023 [1 favorite]
If you can see where a knight/queen moves (and not just 1 step, but N steps) without having to think about it, it is insanely cheaper to do _everything_ in chess. The cheaper, the better.
The same way that knowing how to add/multiply/etc is a trivial step in higher level math, but not having to think about addition and multiplication makes that higher level stuff less work. If 57x6 just pops out as an answer, that same speed and low attention costs make (x^2-1)/(x-1) faster, and even extend to formal proofs or physics mathematics.
This is on top of the fact that this is a skill you pick up when you play, it also helps play.
posted by NotAYakk at 12:32 PM on January 25, 2023 [1 favorite]
It would really help if the target square was marked!
posted by the antecedent of that pronoun at 1:06 PM on January 25, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by the antecedent of that pronoun at 1:06 PM on January 25, 2023 [5 favorites]
I can’t help hearing the post title in Bob Seger’s voice. Perhaps from a discarded verse about high school chess club.
posted by mubba at 2:04 PM on January 25, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by mubba at 2:04 PM on January 25, 2023 [4 favorites]
I got an itch and had to do this: A map of all possible moves.
posted by Hamusutaa at 2:08 PM on January 25, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by Hamusutaa at 2:08 PM on January 25, 2023 [6 favorites]
Here's my map:
posted by The Tensor at 2:20 PM on January 25, 2023 [8 favorites]
- Q for the Queen
- X for squares threatened by the Queen
- Lines showing possible moves:
- Purple lines for "dead ends" that only reach one square
- Blue and Green lines for two overlapping "circuits" that make it quick to traverse the board
- Black lines for the places you can do a little dance to switch from Blue to Green
posted by The Tensor at 2:20 PM on January 25, 2023 [8 favorites]
Slightly off-topic, someone pointed out that the knight moves three spaces and changes direction in each move. The knight waltzes.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 3:54 PM on January 25, 2023 [8 favorites]
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 3:54 PM on January 25, 2023 [8 favorites]
Your map is amazing and it changed my life!
(I still got bored and walked off around halfway through, but at least I felt like I understood what I was doing.)
posted by box at 3:56 PM on January 25, 2023
(I still got bored and walked off around halfway through, but at least I felt like I understood what I was doing.)
posted by box at 3:56 PM on January 25, 2023
The knight waltzes.
And of course Henry the Horse dances the waltz.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:00 PM on January 25, 2023 [3 favorites]
And of course Henry the Horse dances the waltz.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:00 PM on January 25, 2023 [3 favorites]
I had never heard that the knight isn't allowed to take the queen before.
posted by HypotheticalWoman at 7:56 AM on January 26, 2023
posted by HypotheticalWoman at 7:56 AM on January 26, 2023
At the very least they need to be a little discreet about it.
posted by cortex at 8:47 AM on January 26, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by cortex at 8:47 AM on January 26, 2023 [3 favorites]
The knight isn't allowed to take the queen until the Cromwell is off the board.
Slightly off-topic, someone pointed out that the knight moves three spaces and changes direction in each move. The knight waltzes.
The eight squares that the knight can move to are the eight squares in a 5x5 grid that the queen cannot, which struck me as very elegant once I saw it:
Slightly off-topic, someone pointed out that the knight moves three spaces and changes direction in each move. The knight waltzes.
The eight squares that the knight can move to are the eight squares in a 5x5 grid that the queen cannot, which struck me as very elegant once I saw it:
oXoXo XoooX oo*oo XoooX oXoXoposted by thecaddy at 11:31 AM on January 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
For what it's worth, a knight on a white square always lands on a black square after a single move, and vice-versa. Therefore, moving to a square of the same color as its initial position always requires an even number of moves. Conversely, any odd number of moves puts a knight on a square of the opposite color from where it began.
So, to move from any square to an adjacent square in the same row or column takes a minimum of three moves because the two squares will have opposite colors, but going to an adjacent square on a diagonal can be done in two (or some other even number) of moves.
posted by TwoToneRow at 12:50 PM on January 26, 2023
So, to move from any square to an adjacent square in the same row or column takes a minimum of three moves because the two squares will have opposite colors, but going to an adjacent square on a diagonal can be done in two (or some other even number) of moves.
posted by TwoToneRow at 12:50 PM on January 26, 2023
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posted by cortex at 10:46 AM on January 25, 2023 [11 favorites]