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No. 525: White to play and lose

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White to play and lose

First | Previous | 2021-08-10 | Next | Latest

Permanent URL: https://mezzacotta.net/itoons/?comic=525

Strip by: Conor

Man: Hey, want to play chess?
Woman: Sorry, I'm not in the mood ever again.
Woman: I created a machine intelligence, and it solved chess.
Woman: The outcome of an encounter can now be predicted entirely. Chess is now pointless.
Man: But solved games are only solved if both competitors engage in perfect play.
Man: And imperfect play... happens to be my forté.
Woman: Why... you might do anything.
{Later, the woman and the man are both lying in bed.}
Woman: So, what was playing 1. g4 supposed to do?
Man: Get you out of book. Duh.

The author writes:

Inspired by a chess thread I recently read discussing Grob's Opening (1. g4), which claimed based on computer-assisted analysis that this move very likely loses by force for White (assuming best play for both sides). However proving this is nearly impossible and between strong human opponents the opening remains playable though hardly ideal (the sequences of moves to reach a winning advantage for Black are long and somewhat arcane, and if the White player is more familiar with the key positions they may well be able to outplay their opponent).

Original Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal: Sex has been solved (slightly NSFW).