Level Headed

Unfortunately, I broke a perfectly good losing streak this week at the club. I kept my cool, didn't play any cowboy moves and worked on small advantages, being flexible in my plans and following through. This time, I had the right plan!

This is the game:

( sorry I can't quite figure out how to properly format the chess publisher)

Chess in the 10th dimension

Me back in a day during my Blundergraduate degree. I had my hair cut for the graduation.

This was for those who asked. See, not quite like Bob Seger... only BS. I couldn't find one with BS- like hair.


Professor Blunder has been pondering :

I’ve been reading a non-chess book that I got from my son on my birthday last month titled Imagining the Tenth Dimension, Rob Bryanton. I must say that my Brane hurts ( as in M-brane and string theory). I was playing a game of chess the other night and couldn’t help thinking about how the concepts of chess could also be represented multi-dimensionally.
Let me see if I can do this any justice but I do recommend cheching out the java script video on this web-site
http://www.tenthdimension.com/medialinks.php


Chess Dimension 1:
In 1 dimension we only go from point A to Point B ( a line). A pawn is a one dimensional piece in it’s purest form. If you don’t consider direction, most of the pieces movements are are 1D with the exception of the knight.

Chess Dimension 2:
In 2-D we now add the X-Y directions. This now shows allows the knight’s movement as long as there are no obstacles. It also gives a sense of direction as we have Kings, Bishops and queens that move in 45 degree angles from the straight line. Castling cannot be considered in 2D since the Rook has to be lifted to get on the other side of the King given the 64-square universe we are referencing.

Chess Dimension 3:
In 3-D, the piece movement can now be fully represented. Castling can take place because in essence we can “fold” 2-D and displace the rook next the king. Likewise with the knight, it can jump over pieces. According to Bryanton, 3D is represented as a Fold.

Chess Dimension 4:
Up until now, the board was static representations of the pieces and its relative movements. In 4-D we move that form in time linearly. We have a source and destination square. There is a logical sequence. White first moves followed by Black. A game is recorded as a sequence in time.

Chess Dimension 5:
According to the author, In 5-D we add another path for time like we did going from 1-D to 2-D. Divergent paths in time can occur. Here, the same game above can now take divergent paths. Here, we can look at variations of our opening, different strategic paths in the middlegame, different calculations for tactics and endgames. The Possibilities for one game are endless and in constant flux until we actually make the move. Brytanton explains this as probabilities of possible existence in the forms of waves. Particles exist only in waves and plasma fields. It is when we actually observe them, the field of probability collapses and we observe the reality. The actual move played in the game, is reality.

Chess Dimension 6:
Suppose you make a move, and realize that it was a blunder. Then you are allowed to undo the move and try a different one. This is like how 6-D warps Space time so that now we can go from one linear time trunk to a different time trunk. This goes back to a fold of time.

Chess Dimension 7:
Since every move in a game can propose a new variation, 7-D is a manifestation of all these time variation trunks from beginning to end ( a new linear path… infinity point A to infinity point B). This cloud of infinite probability of openings ending in an infinite probabilities of endings becomes a line again.

Chess Dimension 8:
Now, suppose we have several chess variants. Fisher Random on one, Bug house on another, etc. 8-D is where we realize that that the single game we once thought of as the universe is now a multiverse and allows for branches into these other multiverse paths.

Chess Dimension 9
A fold in the linearity paths from Chess variant infinity A and chess variant infinityB allows pieces to be swapped and shared. 9-D allows us to move from one multiverse to the next non linearly in 8-D

Chess Dimension 10:
If that doesn’t confuse you, then try this one, 10-D is taking all the Chess Multiverse as a whole… and bang! We have a single point of reality to observe. In Bryanton’s manual, the 10-dimensional strings vibrating in this dimensions is what creates the sub-atomic particles seen in the lower dimensions. This is the same as the concepts of the movement of the pieces can be transpired to the subsequent universe.

It still doesn’t help my game, but chess does allow me to imagine the 10th dimensions.

Working on the Knight Moves

“I woke last night to the sound of thunder… how far off I sat and wondered.”
- Bob Seger

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Then and now

OK, showing my age again… probably another music reference that LEP won’t get.

My last therapy session at the chess club had me paired with a 1780 player. I was black and into a Caro-Kann again. Determined not to repeat last week’s 7 move wonder, I paid attention. On my move 12 in the game below. I wanted to play a Knight out. I was faced with the choice of either one. The queen knight looked like it was meant to put pressure on the center as it was allowed to move to the 3 rank. The King knight only moving to the second rank would have been purely defensive but allowed for castling. What to do? I made the wrong choice. The King knight would also have allowed me to defend the king side attack that followed in the game.

I hung on after the positional blunder as long as I could. I even tried to castle my king “manually” after I felt forced to move him to f7. Ugly.

Interesting how all this could have changed if I moved 12… Nge7 as opposed to Nc6.