---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+ the c2 pawn, which when we move up, it

Ron and I have a bit of a go at it...

     a   b   c   d   e   f   g   h   i   j
   +===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+
10 |   |   |   |(b)|   |(k)|(b)|   |   |(r)| 10 <--this rook here is kind of annoying
   +---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+
 9 |   |(.)|(.)|   |(.)|(.)|(.)|(.)|(.)|   |  9
   +===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+
 8 |   |   |   |(.)|   |   |   |   |   |   |  8
   +---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+
 7 |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |  7
   +===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+
 6 |   |   |   |   |(n)|   |   |   |   |   |  6
   +---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+
 5 |   |   |   |   |   |\B/|   |   |   |   |  5 <--DecaSjeng trades up knights
   +===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+
 4 |   |   |(q)|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |  4 <--and brings out its queen, threatening
   +---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+       this pawn, which when we move up, it
 3 |   |   |\o/|\N/|\o/|   |   |   |   |   |  3    predictably attacks our knight, which is
   +===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+       shakily-protected by the bishop on f5
 2 |   |\o/|   |\o/|   |\o/|\o/|\o/|\o/|   |  2
   +---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+
 1 |\Q/|   |   |   |   |\K/|\B/|   |\R/|   |  1 <--boy wouldn't it be nice to take our
   +===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+       queen and get her up to a10, backed by
     a   b   c   d   e   f   g   h   i   j         some other piece?

I figure a good sequence might be Qa10, , Qxb9, threatening his knight on e6. But then... where would it put its knight? Or... might it have something more sinister planned for us with its knight and queen in combo?

Update: 13 September 2006. I decided the game was no good. I just played a few desperation moves, but after a while, it managed to mate me. We are going to start another game up.

Next Wednesday Evening

I've started a new game against DecaSjeng. I took a few safe moves, and here's the state of the game thus far:

     a   b   c   d   e   f   g   h   i   j
   +===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+
10 |   |   |   |(b)|(q)|(k)|(b)|   |   |(r)| 10 <--curiously DecaSjeng played both
   +---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+       rooks out, which is part of what lost
 9 |   |(.)|(.)|   |(.)|(.)|(.)|(.)|(.)|   |  9    us our last game - it'll be fun to
   +===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+       see how this plays out
 8 |   |   |   |(.)|   |   |   |   |   |   |  8
   +---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+
 7 |   |   |   |   |\N/|   |(n)|   |   |   |  7 <--DecaSjeng threatens our knight,
   +===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+       we'll have to respond to this now,
 6 |   |   |   |   |(n)|   |   |   |   |   |  6    also it has that annoying one-knight-
   +---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+       protects-the-other setup going
 5 |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |  5
   +===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+
 4 |   |   |   |   |   |   |\B/|   |   |   |  4
   +---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+
 3 |   |   |   |\N/|\o/|   |   |   |   |   |  3
   +===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+
 2 |   |\o/|\o/|\o/|   |\o/|\o/|\o/|\o/|   |  2
   +---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+       this time DecaSjeng opted to
 1 |\Q/|   |   |   |   |\K/|\B/|   |\R/|   |  1 <--trade up rooks to let my queen
   +===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+       into play at a1, apparently not
     a   b   c   d   e   f   g   h   i   j         such a bad plan of action

Skynet Crashes! Forfeits the game to the Humans!

I was messing around behind my desk, and saw the plug of the computer that's been humiliating us so. I gave the plug a gentle tug, and the next thing I knew, Skynet had forfeit the game!!! That'll teach the computer to play Decachess against brilliant minds such as ours.

Okay. Actually, I need to take the Decachessboard to Super Happy Dev House to work out any further bugs with Sjeng10x10. I'll use it to play whomever wants to come and try to salvage this embarassment on behalf of the humans. We will probably resign this game and start up a new one next week. The experimental "bring out both rooks" didn't seem to do us too well.

Wednesday Morning: Humans Cautiously Optimistic

Wednesday mid-morning: Skynet Mocks us Mildly

Wednesday Afternoon: Skynet Yawns

Wednesday Evening: Skynet Puts the Hurt On

Thursday Morning: Humans Cautiously Optimistic

Thursday mid-morning: Skynet Mocks us Mildly

It seems already Skynet's got a bit of an edge on us. If we take the trade, we'll have a weak position down there in the a1 quadrant.

Thursday Afternoon: Skynet Yawns

Thursday Evening: Skynet Puts the Hurt On

To Be Continued?

Honestly it looks pretty hopeless at this point. We've made enough poorly-formed moves that Decachess Sjeng is likely to come down and stomp us nastily into the ground. Perhaps some rated master Chess player will give us some powerful opening moves to help us put the hurt back on Skynet after this (likely-to-become) embarassing defeat.

Now Ron and I have a bit of a go at it. We attack his rook with our knight, offering a trade for him to bring his bishop at h7 down to b1. Rather, the computer takes advantage of its one move ahead to bring its other rook to put pressure onto i2. It looks like our response should be to put our rook onto a1, both saving it from the h7 bishop, and pressuring his a7 bishop, which should give us a chance to save that i2 pawn as well.

    Player: e3g1
Sjeng10x10: a6i6

     a   b   c   d   e   f   g   h   i   j
   +===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+
10 |   |   |   |   |(q)|(k)|   |   |   |(r)| 10
   +---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+
 9 |   |(.)|   |(.)|(.)|(.)|(.)|   |(.)|   |  9
   +===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+
 8 |   |   |(.)|   |   |   |   |(.)|   |   |  8
   +---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+
 7 |(b)|(n)|   |   |   |   |   |(b)|   |   |  7
   +===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+
 6 |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |(r)|   |  6
   +---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+
 5 |   |\R/|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |  5
   +===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+
 4 |   |\N/|   |\o/|   |   |   |   |   |   |  4
   +---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+
 3 |   |\B/|\o/|   |   |\o/|   |   |   |   |  3
   +===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+
 2 |   |\o/|   |   |\o/|   |\o/|\o/|\o/|   |  2
   +---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+
 1 |   |\R/|   |   |   |\K/|\Q/|\N/|   |   |  1
   +===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+
     a   b   c   d   e   f   g   h   i   j

It seems already skynet's got a bit of an edge on us. If we take the trade, we'll have a weak position down there in the a1 quadrant.

We finally decided against taking the trade of rooks, and moved our rook back into place. It used that opportunity to pull out its rook and pull out his white bishop, pushing our other rook out of the J file.

A few moves later, the computer managed to trick us into letting it fork our queen/bishop, which we really didn't want. We tried our best to forestall it, but some clever moves with its knights and rook kept us from foiling its plan.

    Player: d1b3
Sjeng10x10: i10j10

     a   b   c   d   e   f   g   h   i   j
   +===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+
10 |   |   |   |   |(q)|(k)|   |   |   |(r)| 10 <--we moved our bishop to b3
   +---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+       then he responded with his
 9 |   |(.)|(b)|(.)|(.)|(.)|(.)|   |(.)|   |  9    rook @j10, which was poor
   +===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+       planning on our part - j1
 8 |   |   |(.)|   |   |   |   |(.)|   |   |  8    looks pretty attractive
   +---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+       now. we were hoping to castle
 7 |   |(n)|   |   |   |   |   |(b)|   |   |  7    queenside on this move, but
   +===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+       have already moved the queen's
 6 |(r)|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |  6    rook
   +---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+
 5 |   |\R/|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |  5
   +===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+
 4 |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |  4
   +---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+
 3 |   |\B/|\o/|\N/|\Q/|\o/|   |   |   |   |  3
   +===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+
 2 |   |\o/|   |\o/|\o/|   |\o/|\o/|\o/|   |  2
   +---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+
 1 |   |\R/|   |   |   |\K/|   |\N/|   |   |  1
   +===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+
     a   b   c   d   e   f   g   h   i   j

The computer's got a strong position, and we have a weak one. We can't move our rook up to b6, nor our king to g1, both have a counter of his bishop to a7. Having j2 covered both by its bishop and rook annoys us. It looks like we need to shore up our defenses, but given our positional weakness and the knight-for-bishop trade we were forced to take, it isn't looking good. We will ponder how to fix our problems on the a1/j1 quadrants, hopefully at the same time bringing the queen out of that somewhat dangerous position she's in.

The game begins with Mike and I (timeless) doing some simple opening moves against the computer. Now the computer has offered up a trade of its rook with mine in order to get his queen in play. I suspect we'll take the trade. If we move our rook back, he has his rook in play, and we've lost a move. If we protect the rook with our knight, and he trades, then our knight is all the way in the corner. If we move our knight in front of the rook, then our knight and rook are both pinned for several moves.

It seems already skynet's got a bit of an edge on us. Once we take the trade, we'll have a weak position down there in the A1 quadrant.

    Player: j1j5
Sjeng10x10: b10a10

     a   b   c   d   e   f   g   h   i   j
   +===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+
10 |(r)|   |   |   |(q)|(k)|(b)|   |(r)|   | 10 <--offers rook trade@a10 to get
   +---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+       its queen into play
 9 |   |(.)|(b)|(.)|(.)|(.)|(.)|(.)|(.)|   |  9 <--general idea is to try to get
   +===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+       our pieces in over here to
 8 |   |   |(.)|(n)|   |   |   |   |   |   |  8    put the hurt on skynet
   +---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+
 7 |   |   |   |   |(n)|   |   |   |   |   |  7
   +===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+
 6 |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |  6
   +---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+
 5 |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |\R/|  5 <--keep its annoying knight off
   +===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+       f5 to fork our queen/bishop
 4 |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |  4
   +---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+
 3 |   |   |   |   |\B/|\o/|\Q/|   |   |   |  3
   +===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+
 2 |   |\o/|\o/|\o/|\o/|   |\o/|\o/|\o/|   |  2
   +---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+
 1 |\R/|   |\N/|\B/|   |\K/|   |\N/|   |   |  1
   +===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+===+---+
     a   b   c   d   e   f   g   h   i   j