The Queen-Knight Game

 

Watching the Trump 2.0 administration's obviously carefully-choreographed dance reminded me of something from my youth.  When I attended college in 19-mumble, chess was all the rage, and various people came up with odd and amusing variations†.  One such variation was "The Queen-Knight Game" in which one player had the full panoply of 16 pieces arrayed against a single Queen that also had the power to move as a Knight.  You might think that this would be unfair to the Queen, and (generally speaking) you would be wrong.  Make that 'dead wrong'.  A single piece with such power will (generally speaking) ransack the opposing force in short order, leaving the stunned loser wondering what just happened.

One of my classmates, observing such a ransacking, wondered whether it might be possible to beat the seemingly-unbeatable Queen, and set out on a singular quest to find a way (or the way).  I suppose it will come as no surprise that after some serious work, he did.  He (some reader of this will recognize himself instantly) developed a 'script' that simply required the player to follow it religiously unless...  unless at some point the Queen should accidentally place herself in a vulnerable position and be captured.  And that being the only piece of that color, the game would end there.  The only alternative being that the Queen would be forced into an ever-shrinking section of the board until there remained no option.

The 'game' required certain moves to happen in a certain order such that no piece would ever be unguarded.  That is, none of them could be safely captured; with only one piece, the notion of 'trading' is unavailable to the Queen.

That's what Trump's team is doing.  Each move is carefully planned and timed.  Move 'M' must happen before move 'N', and 'N' must be completed before move 'O' can proceed.  The Establishment Queen is being squeezed into ever more restricted territory, and right about now is sensing that something horrid is about to happen, even if she doesn't yet quite know what that 'something' is.

Regarding Trump's cabinet nominees, the Democrats in Congress (and some Republicans) are threatening to stall the required Senate consent.  But Trump has already placed 'Acting Directors' at the head of those departments as placeholders, and the Acting Directors are firing people left and right.  The nominated Directors would normally be under a 90- or 120-day moratorium on 'cleaning house', but an Acting Director has no such limitation.  If Senators want to stop the bleeding, their only counter-move is to approve the nominees.  No approval?  The firings will continue until morale improves.

Oh, and by the way, the money spigot has been turned off...

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(†) Another such was Kriegspiel

 

Kriegspiel

 

Reflecting on something I heard about Hillsborough County (Tampa, FL, mostly) diverting kids from after-school mischief via a chess club, I remembered a chess variation from my own youth called 'Kriegspiel'.  Kriegspiel is a German word meaning "war game", and it's unlike any other form of chess you've ever seen.

Whereas ordinary chess (and even Wizard's chess) is played by two players, one board, and one set of pieces, Kriegspiel needs three boards, two sets of pieces, and a referee.

The players sit with their backs to the center board (which has a full set of pieces), each with a board containing only the pieces of their own color.  As each player makes a move, the referee replicates that move on the center board.  Usually the referee merely announces "white/black has moved".  Occasionally, this is followed by "capturing" or "giving check".  Sometimes the referee announces "illegal move" because that move cannot be made on the center board, as when an attempted move passes through an occupied square or moving the piece exposes a check.

When a player captures an opposing piece, that piece is removed from the opponent's board.  "White has moved, capturing."  White knows that a capture has taken place but not which piece.  Black knows which piece was captured, but not which piece did the deed or where it came from.  Should I recapture?  Is it worth risking that Knight since it might also be immediately recaptured?

As with standard chess, the game ends when checkmate or stalemate occurs, but with Kriegspiel the game also ends when any player leaves their board or sees the center board.  Of course, the audience, if there is one, must be silent for fairness.  No groans or laughs may be allowed to give away bad moves or good.

Some referees will be more specific with their comments, e.g.: "Black has moved giving check on the long diagonal".  Such announcements may be made for a lower-ranked player but not her higher-ranked opponent.  That's local custom and agreed before the match.

While it sounds terribly odd, most games of Kriegspiel are hilarious to watch, and it's a real chore for the audience not to give away valuable information.  The games are also fairly educational because we often do not understand how much value information has until we don't have it.  Because of this, it's a good idea to have someone transcribing the game so that it can be re-played for the essentially-in-the-dark participants after the game concludes.

Try it; you'll like it.