The 2,000,000th post game · The Off-Topic Forum

I don't agree with the comments on the one; I'm reasonably familiar with the fighting game scene and know nearly exactly the type of action the South Korean gamer is responding to.

bluewaterrider Senior Member

Podcast. CGP Grey on the 7 Habits. I actually haven't listened to it yet but am familiar with Grey and Stephen R. Covey, and generally like the work of both.

bluewaterrider Senior Member

Maria Daria.

bluewaterrider Senior Member

I'd wager at least 60% of visitors to this site know exactly who this is and where this is from.

bluewaterrider Senior Member

Maria Daria. Capable and willing to help a man fight Death in the time-honored way CGP Grey suggests, I have no doubt ...

bluewaterrider Senior Member

Latvian Gambit.

Accepted ...

... and with more on offer.

bluewaterrider Senior Member

A bishop's kamikaze unbalances White's king ...

... and Black's Queen puts him away.

bluewaterrider Senior Member

The Latvian Gambit is rarely seen (arguably for good reason), and so can catch even experienced players off-guard. Notice how much higher ranking my opponent (who is playing as White) is, and that he still got caught.

riv6672 Senior Member

The Tempest

In the final scene of Shakespeare’s romance The Tempest, Ferdinand is found to be playing a game of chess against Miranda. Chess is an important symbol in the play. Prospero has moved the characters around his island much like a chess player might move pieces. Likewise, Prospero is, in a way, trying to capture a king—Ferdinand’s father, Alonso.

riv6672 Senior Member

The Chessmen of Mars

Edgar Rice Burroughs was an avid chess player, going so far as to invent his own variant, called Jetan, in his 1922 novel The Chessmen of Mars.

riv6672 Senior Member

Unicorn Variations

Here’s how Unicorn Variations came about: author Roger Zelazny was asked to contribute to two different anthologies. One anthology asked for a story featuring a unicorn. The other anthology wanted a story set in a bar. Zelazny’s friend, George R.R. Martin, mentioned a third anthology with a chess theme, and suggested that he save himself a lot of work and just write a story about a unicorn playing chess at a bar. Zelazny went on to win a Hugo for the story.

riv6672 Senior Member

The Seventh Seal

In the 1957 Ingmar Bergman film The Seventh Seal, a knight challenges Death to a game of chess as a way of delaying his own demise. This film totally ripped off Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey.

riv6672 Senior Member

X-Men

At the very end of the first X-Men movie (the only good one), Professor X and Magneto play a game of chess. The pieces are, of course, made of glass.

riv6672 Senior Member

Superman II

In Superman II, Lex Luthor creates a hologram of himself playing chess, and uses it as a distraction for him to escape prison. Had Michael Bolton actually gone to a minimum-security prison in Office Space, he probably would have thought of this plot device and used it to make his own escape.

riv6672 Senior Member

Jason and the Argonauts

In the 1963 film Jason and the Argonauts, the unfolding tale of Jason’s pursuit of the Golden Fleece is depicted as a chess game between Zeus and Hera.

riv6672 Senior Member

Discworld

In Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, the Ankh-Morpork Assassins' Guild plays a variation of chess called Stealth Chess. Two files, one on each side, widen the chessboard and these squares—called “the Slurk”—are colored red and white (as opposed to black and white). Only one piece moves on the Slurk: the assassin.