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From	Message
caro-kann 10/23/2008 01:36:03 [ report abuse ]	Subject: Puzzle Contest (3) Message: Today's was interesting. I have never learnt how to checkmate with king, bishop and knight before, so it was a tough challenge for me. However, for those who have learnt it, it was probably a piece of cake. I was wondering if it is actually OK to use Wikipedia as an aid for solving these puzzles, and for GK games in general, because I was only able to figure out how to checkmate from one of the diagrams on the relevant page, so morally, I'm feeling a bit uneasy. Most frustrating, then satisfying solve so far!
chessnovice 10/23/2008 02:54:21 [ report abuse ]	... Message: I don't think it hurts when you know what you're supposed to be looking for. There have been two or three squeeze mates in this month's contest, but someone who might not know exactly how to pull it off could reasonably apply lessons learned from other puzzles. With actual games, I think that goes into grayish territory. But if you were my opponent and you were learning generalities on a certain type of endgame rather than just seeking move-by-move advice from an outside source, I know I wouldn't mind it.
easy19 10/24/2008 15:19:50 [ report abuse ]	Message: I found the checkmate with king, bishop and knight not that easy. I am familiar with the corner version of the checkmate so i needed to use a other perspective to solve it. took me about 12 min to solve but that is much longer then i usally need for these puzzles.. One of my hardest puzzles with only 2 moves is stil the Nabokov mate in 2 chess ridle. The first time i encounterd it it took me almost a day to see it.
heinzkat 10/26/2008 06:43:22 [ report abuse ]	Message: Tough cookie today with many alternative solutions.
wanstronian 10/26/2008 10:00:25 [ report abuse ]	Message: Yep - and today's made even more difficult by not allowing me move the rook, then suddenly telling me that I'd failed to solve the puzzle. Think the technology could do with some work!
throneseeker 10/26/2008 20:26:13 [ report abuse ]	Message: It took me less than two seconds to recognize today's contest puzzle (partly because I have been reviewing and renumbering my postings) and another 30 seconds to remember a solution for it (since my injury in 2005 my memory is somewhat less than it use to be). I do find most of the contest puzzles to be fairly interesting and certainly a good mental exercise (a therapy my doctors recommended as part of my rehabilitation).
caro-kann 10/27/2008 00:01:20 [ report abuse ]	Today's Message: I found it a nice challenge. FOr fun, I estimate around 53 - 61% to get it (since I had a viola examination today, I'm trying to be optimistic). Also, I wonder what next month's prize will be - perhaps a heap of Silman books, a mobile phone, a DVD player, a high value chessboard, who knows? I, for one, am certainly enjoying this, and to remain in my temporarily happy mood, I will guess 1617 people attempted yesterday's puzzle, and 1763 will attempt today's.
easy19 10/27/2008 00:41:12 [ report abuse ]	Message: I like the Reward for winning the prize puzlle chess releated. Like A Wooden chessboard with some cool wooden pieces A Set of damn good chess books A software box with Chess tools A wild Card to a big tournament just some idea,s but the camera is also real nice :P
throneseeker 10/27/2008 08:02:19 [ report abuse ]	Message: Personally, I would prefer a three year Platinum membership but I am pretty sure my wife would go for the camera and since she is the better half we would do what she wants. Rather mute point anyhow - the odds being what they are and my luck being what it is!
throneseeker 10/27/2008 21:51:24 [ report abuse ]	Stupid me!! Message: Almost blew today's puzzle. I set it up on my chess table at home to work out the solution. Then after I had it, I logged back into GameKnot, looked at my games in progress, and then logged out without entering my solution. Had to log back in to do it!!!!
heinzkat 10/28/2008 02:22:15 [ report abuse ]	Message: We are approaching the end of the month... who is still on 28/28 points?
throneseeker 10/28/2008 09:33:51 [ report abuse ]	Message: I have 28 entries so far this month. No anniversary in October (although it was 40 years ago this month when Gloria and I first met; she still refers to it as Black Saturday!!) so missed no puzzle days. And I tried to take extra care this month to set the puzzles up correctly on my table although I must confess that there were 4 or 5 occasions when my first setup was wrong (including today's) which make solving the things a little easier when you go back and get the right position.
easy19 10/28/2008 11:05:49 [ report abuse ]	Message: i am on 28/28
chessnovice 10/28/2008 16:33:10 [ report abuse ]	... Message: So far, so good. 28/28.
heinzkat 10/28/2008 16:36:39 [ report abuse ]	Message: It would be about time for some really fiendish ones to close the month then!!:)
rallyvincent 10/29/2008 13:22:52 [ report abuse ]	Bah. Message: I have only 25/29. Maybe I should use a board, too - instead of trying to do it "en passent"...
throneseeker 10/29/2008 13:37:59 [ report abuse ]	Value of a Board Message: I think, for me at least, that setting the puzzle up on a board at home is far preferable to trying to solve it on-line. That way I can experiment with various moves until I find the proper first one without using up my three chances on GameKnot. I can't tell you how many times the site has used a different defense than I contemplated but usually if my first move was accepted the rest of the solution falls into place regardless.
chessnovice 10/29/2008 15:20:09 [ report abuse ]	... Message: I use the analysis option for every puzzle before I try to solve, even when the answer seems obvious. The benefit that the analysis gives is that I can click on the enemy king to easily visualize where he's being blocked from moving. Makes it easier to see the patterns that way. But there's also the benefit that I do the daily puzzles as well. Seems like they choose a lot that happen to come from there.
caro-kann 10/29/2008 23:41:04 [ report abuse ]	Actually, Message: I think it may be the other way around - I've noticed some competition puzzles appear as the main page puzzle several days later. I'm at 25/29, I think. I just solved today's, after using up 3 guesses about 18 hours ago! Most challenging, but obvious once I did solve it. The interesting thing was I actually figured out what the final checkmating position with regards to the where Queen and Black King were, but couldn't get there until I tried a move I had previously discredited! A really interesting case of. . . shall we say ldgnlkk ugg Lhpe'v nnxcpbrp un pog tpwyub. The hint of this code is in the message above
easy19 10/30/2008 01:05:16 [ report abuse ]	Message: Nice today we have a mate in 7 puzzle at first view i think this wil be a hard one for most people.. aldo the starting move is easy
caro-kann 10/30/2008 02:11:31 [ report abuse ]	Deceptively devious Message: IT does look hard when first glanced at. I tried two or three moves that seemed perfectly logical, but failed. However, I think with enough analysis, after the first few moves, the solution becomes quite intuitive, I think the challenge is in getting to that stage!
chessnovice 10/31/2008 01:01:13 [ report abuse ]	... Message: Another perfect month. :]
heinzkat 10/31/2008 05:56:57 [ report abuse ]	Message: Thanks to GameKnot for hosting another puzzle contest month and may the luckiest participant win! :o)
throneseeker 10/31/2008 08:23:42 [ report abuse ]	A Cat's puzzle Message: My thanks to my cat who knocked the key piece off the board while I was analyzing and gave me the idea for the solution!
chessnovice 11/01/2008 00:24:17 [ report abuse ]	... Message: "Win Garmin GPS Navigator!" I don't know what that is quite yet, but I'll do my best to try!
chessnovice 11/01/2008 00:34:49 [ report abuse ]	... Message: Congrats to mfeeney93 for winning the camera, by the way. :]
caro-kann 11/01/2008 02:36:27 [ report abuse ]	COngrats Message: to mfeeney93, well done! I'll try to get all of these correct as a challenge, but I do not live in North America, so I don't quite see how the Garmin GPS Navigator will help me, unless I can program it in Australia, and even so, I don't get out much. Perhaps I can request the 3 yrs of Platinum membership - and enter 36 GK tournaments and continue as a premium member - or will I lose 216 games instantaneously?
throneseeker 11/01/2008 10:23:53 [ report abuse ]	Congratulations!!! Message: to mfeeney93 -- keep solving!! A GPS navigator? Don't travel all that much but that could change - so I'll keep plugging away!!
mfeeney93 11/04/2008 18:19:46 [ report abuse ]	Thanks! Message: Thank you for the congrats. I look forward to receiving the camera. Good luck to all for November!
mfeeney93 11/08/2008 09:59:20 [ report abuse ]	GK Devliers! Message: Fellow GKers: Just a quick note that the camera arrived within a few days of submitting my address to GK. It was well packaged and the camera works well. Just another nod to GK. Regards, Matt
easy19 11/12/2008 23:28:49 [ report abuse ]	Message: GK can handle the things very well. Hope you have loads of joy using the camera Matt... Ow the puzzle of today the bishops, easy solution but there are about 8 mate in 2 solutions so that can be tricky
heinzkat 11/13/2008 03:22:45 [ report abuse ]	Message: ...only one solution.
chessnovice 11/13/2008 08:46:16 [ report abuse ]	... Message: Technically, four solutions. But they were all there.
chessnovice 11/26/2008 03:54:05 [ report abuse ]	deja vu? Message: I think today's is a repeat from another month...
heinzkat 11/26/2008 10:02:15 [ report abuse ]	Message: It was the front page daily puzzle on 25 March 2008. Then it became apparent too that there were multiple solutions... [a.o. chessnovice gave alternatives] and still, not all alternatives have been covered.
heinzkat 11/26/2008 10:04:01 [ report abuse ]	Message: Oh, I see that gameknot_com already added the alternatives, so now finally the solution is complete.
chessnovice 11/27/2008 03:38:07 [ report abuse ]	... Message: Maybe that's where I remember it from. It was instantly familiar to me...
tugger 11/27/2008 12:55:58 [ report abuse ]	Message: I enjoyed yesterday's, took me a good half an hour to find the move. There are so many potential sacrifices, I used up my three guesses for the first time this month. The idea came to me eventually, as every time I tried a sac, there was one piece or another stopping me. How to stop them both? Eureka!!
almoosle 11/29/2008 01:35:18 [ report abuse ]	Message: puh, that's it with my clean slate - puzzle 28 got me. By the way, does anybody know how to add another move for black. Seems to be one missing. After 1. Nb4 c2 2. Qc1 b1=B - still seems possible. Anyway let's go for number 29!
chessnovice 11/29/2008 04:41:17 [ report abuse ]	... Message: Looks like heinzkat was right that the puzzle didn't take into account the bishop promotion. It still rightfully allows Nb4 as the only true answer, though. So at least there's that...
markb56 11/29/2008 07:19:46 [ report abuse ]	Message: While I managed to solve 11/28, I fail to see the difference between Nb4 and Ne7. What's the refutation for Ne7?
heinzkat 11/29/2008 07:23:44 [ report abuse ]	Mark Message: The stalemate trick: 1. Ne7? c2 2. Qc1 b1=B and now White has no good reply.
markb56 11/29/2008 10:59:15 [ report abuse ]	Message: Yes, a very clever tick. Now I appreciate this problem even more. My complaint with being given three tries, however, is it allows solving by trial and error rather than true analysis. Puzzle 283 could also use some fixing-up as b1 always promotes to a Q. Also, having every possible reply entered into the database sometimes diminishes a problem's beauty in that the most elegant response is not always the response picked by the computer. In other words, I'd prefer leaving the silly replies as an exercise for the solver and have the computer reply with the more challenging responses.
chessnovice 11/30/2008 05:54:24 [ report abuse ]	... Message: It's been a perfect month. :] Good luck to all...
markb56 11/30/2008 11:03:10 [ report abuse ]	Message: It's only a perfect month if you win the GPS!
tugger 11/30/2008 13:45:49 [ report abuse ]	Mark... Message: <<Puzzle 283 could also use some fixing-up as b1 always promotes to a Q.>> I have reposted the puzzle, with an extra pawn so the application allows it as a "different" puzzle, so that 2... b1=B! is considered. See #7748. <<Also, having every possible reply entered into the database sometimes diminishes a problem's beauty in that the most elegant response is not always the response picked by the computer. In other words, I'd prefer leaving the silly replies as an exercise for the solver and have the computer reply with the more challenging responses. >> This is something I have thought about for a while. Perhaps the best solution is for the application to allow the author to select a preferred line.
chessnovice 12/01/2008 04:31:37 [ report abuse ]	... Message: Looks like it's a perfect month for jberman840. Congrats :D This month is an iPod Nano. It's like September all over again, but less bulky. And almost in time for Christmas...
tugger 12/02/2008 00:25:19 [ report abuse ]	Message: In case anyone's interested, I had this of GK in response to some feedback... "We already have the puzzle application set up to favor the line (or the solution branch) that players make most mistakes with. It obviously doesn't work for the first few players who try to solve a newly added puzzle, until enough statistical information is gathered. " In theory, over time, the ridiculous moves that make the solution easier should be filtered out, leaving the trickier positions. I guess it's just the ones that get selected for the main page or puzzle contest that will clock up enough solves to make any real difference.
markb56 12/02/2008 10:13:42 [ report abuse ]	Message: Having never entered a puzzle into the database I don't know exactly how it works, but does GK force you to enter a reply for every possible response? Or can the puzzle creator simply ignore the "silly" responses and only enter the preferred lines? I also wish that besides rating a puzzle's difficulty that it was possible to rate a puzzle's quality. As a matter of principle I rate every contest puzzle with 1* difficulty so as to counter-balance those who would rate every puzzle a 3* or 4. The only puzzle having a "quality" rating higher than 2 from last month was on 11/28.
sodiumattack 12/02/2008 10:46:57 [ report abuse ]	I was wonder... Message: ... how the puzzles are chosen? Just a random pick in the set of puzzles which were not used yet?
heinzkat 12/02/2008 11:01:49 [ report abuse ]	Sodium Message: Yes, a bit too random in my opinion, but it's OK. I would filter out puzzles that have alternative solutions entered [after they had been saved already] as they tend to be erroneous and incomplete, but apparently GK_com just finds that OK in a chess problem. MarkB you should just try setting up a problem position and then follow the instructions. It's a fun application to use. Indeed you have to respond to ALL possible moves, and it will only allow you to save it when you have given all lines towards checkmate. => gameknot.com
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