As a chess dilettante, I love to keep track of the game when Masters are battling over the 64 squares. So, for the past two weeks, there have been no missing reports of the ding-dong duel between Ding Liren and Ian Nepomniachtchi at the World Chess Championship. In fact, it all began just before the championship started, when the five-time World Champion Magnus Carlsen mouse-slipped to lose an online Armageddon face-off against his old rival Hikaru Nakamura.

Here are some terms related to the mind game that I have encountered over the past few days. Not an exhaustive list, it will still help those who are inclined to decipher the game in black and white.

Mouse slip is a common error committed by a player when an online match is on. It occurs when the player clicks the wrong square to move a piece and either loses it or goes into a weak position as the result. This is exactly what happened with Carlsen in his last match, as the World Champion erroneously put his queen just by the side of Nepomniachtchis king with the latter sending it off the board.

An Armageddon clash is similar to regular chess but black has draw odds, meaning if the match is drawn then the player with black pieces wins but black starts with less time on the clock than white. It is resorted to when the two players are locked in an indecisive battle for a long time. It is a type of speed chess where the players play against time constraints. Other speed chess formats are rapid, blitz and bullet with different time controls. Chess time controls refer to how much time each player receives to complete a game. They can be simple or complex.

In general English, Armageddon is used figuratively to mean a crucial conflict or battle and is derived from Hebrew Har Megiddon (Mount of Megiddo), a location of the final battle between good and evil, as mentioned in the Bible. The word could stand either for the place where this battle will be held or for the battle itself.

Flagging is the act of winning or drawing a game on time. Usually used in blitz and bullet games, a player in a losing position may resort to superficial checks to make his rival run out of time on the clock. So, the player who was in a stronger position but lost due to flagging by the rival could say he has been dirty flagged.

As a move, castling or castle is the only time a player can move two specific pieces simultaneously. The king moves over two squares in either direction and the rook occupies the square on the other side of the king. However, a player cannot castle while in check, or when the king has moved from its original square and also when the kings travel path is controlled by an enemy piece. The term indicates that the king on the board has a well-defended position.

An interesting term, in meaning and etymology, is gambit. It is an opening when a player offers to give up a piece, usually a pawn, in favour of a positional advantage. It comes from an Italian expression related to wrestling dare, il gambetto (to put a leg forward in order to trip someone). It was applied to chess openings by Spanish priest Ruy Lopez in the 16th century who traced it to the Italian word but the Spanish form was gambit. In general usage, the word retains the flavour and meaning. For example, The new tax concessions by the government are clearly an election gambit.

The term increment is the specified amount of time added to players main time each time they make a move provided their time has not run out before they completed their move. It is also called Fischer after Bobby Fischer, the first native-American who won the World Championship, who patented this time method.

Then there is pawn promotion, a crucial move in endgame, when a pawn after reaching the last rank (the numbered row) can convert itself into one of the four higher pieces queen, rook, bishop or knight.

A player finds himself in a Zugzwang (comes from German) situation, when he is compelled to move and each one of his possible moves weakens his position. This too typically happens during an endgame.

In a few days, we will know who will wear the most coveted chess crown, Liren or Nepo. The World Championship so far has been exceptionally engaging with both going for the kill in every match and rightly so. Probably they remember what Mikhail Tal, the Magician from Riga, once said: If you wait on luck to turn up, life becomes very boring.

Wordly Wise is a weekly column by Amitabh Ranjan published every Saturday in the Explained section. Please tweet your feedback to @ieexplained

First published on: 22-04-2023 at 15:08 IST

Continued here:

In chess season, putting Armageddon, gambit, mouse-slip in black and white - The Indian Express

Kevin Bordi, also known as BlitzStream, is France's most-watched chess streamer. As one of the earliest adopters of playing chess on Twitch, he has over a decade of experience creating chess content and has witnessed monumental shifts in the popularity of online chess. With 173,000 followers on Twitch and 190,000 YouTube subscribers, he is one of the biggest chess content creators outside of the English-language sphere.

We spoke to Kevin to find out more about how he got started, his famous move against GM Magnus Carlsen, the similarities between chess and poker, and more.

How long have you been streaming chess, and what made you decide to start?

I think I've been streaming on Twitch for 10 years already. I started at the very beginning, but it's so long ago that I don't remember the exact year, whether it's 2012, 2013, or 14... its very long ago and its hard to find the archives from when I started! But I started streaming right at the start of Twitch.

I started because I was watching a guy on YouTube, Jerry from ChessNetwork. He was a big inspiration for me because I liked his content. I really enjoyed watching it, and I had some time at night and I wanted to play chess. So I thought, wait, let's try to do something like what this guy is doing. And then I discovered Twitch existed and so it was possible to do it live.

That was really what made me decide to start because the thought of recording myself playing chess and then posting it on YouTube was not the thing I wanted to do... even though I liked Jerrys content. When I heard that it was possible to do it live on Twitch, I decided that sounded right. So that's how I started streaming.

How long did it take you to start getting an audience?

Strangely enough, my channel became quite popular very quickly. I think after 4-5 months I had 30 or 40 viewers, which was a lot for Twitch at the time! That really looked like a lot of viewers back then.

Then I got very lucky, and I would again say thank you to ChessNetwork, because one day I saw that he had made a post on Twitter saying something like Check out this guys stream, great channel. This was maybe six months after I started. From that time onwards, I never had less than 100 viewers on Twitch! That was really a lot at the time; it was one of the big streams that existed back then. I started with a channel in English and it was really amazing for me that the guy who inspired me to start was encouraging people to check out my channel.

Why do you call your community Sharks?

We were playing sub battles against other streamers' teams. The first five we played, we lost! And I was desperate. With all these losses, I started to play a type of character, like a sports coach. Except it was a coach who was absolutely crazy because he lost every match, you know?

So I started to find some speeches by amateur rugby coaches on the internet, of teams in like the third or fourth division, and I would deliver a speech in that character to my viewers before every sub battle. Its not the inspirational stuff youd hear on TEDx or something. Its a bit more aggressive.

One day, I found a speech by a very famous coach, who was one of the best basketball players France had; he had a crazy Olympic Games where we got a silver medal in the Olympics and he was the key player. So hes like a great man in French basketball, and he said From a dolphin, you cant make a shark. He was basically explaining why his team was losing and said he can't do anything because there are only dolphins on the court and he cant turn them into sharks. From this we kind of started a running gag, like whenever guys started to lose the game, wed say, "You can't turn a dolphin into a shark." And well, the thing started like that and it stayed.

What is the ZEvent, and can you tell the international audience more about it?

So the ZEvent is an event created by ZeratoR, who is one of the biggest French streamers. It's one of the biggestmaybe it's the biggestcharity events worldwide for Twitch. He's inviting top French streamers to gather together in a place organized specifically for the stream, and you have the top 40 or 50 French streamers there getting together to raise money for charity. This year it was for environmental protection.

My community raised like 118,000 euros for charity, which is really a lot by French standards! All together, the 50 or so streamers in the event raised something like 10 or 11 million. Its one of my favorite events. The energy there is very positive and its nice to raise money for charity to help other people, so it was really very cool.

How about the B Cup?

The B Cup is another special event. It was the first edition last year in December. The event is played on the internet, but to get in the tournament you need to play from a certain place; in this case, we played from the biggest e-sports location in France, next to the Louvre. So we gathered together like 120 people to play in the tournament on Chess.com. Its the first event of this kind, where people meet together in one place to play online chess.

Our goal, our big dream, would be to organize more in the future. Were going to organize the next B-Cup on June 17 as the second edition, but our dream would be to make it an international event one day and to create international online events, like having people from Paris, New York, Los Angeles, Berlin, everywhere, all meeting in an e-sports place and having a worldwide tournament. Not just from home, but playing from actual places so the chess community can gather together and really spend time in one location. Its not like the usual chess tournament where you cant speak! It was a lot of fun to have people in one place, sometimes screaming that they lost their queen or things like that.

Around the world, were seeing young people pick up chess and a general mainstreaming of chess as a hobby. How have you seen chess grow in France in recent years?

I know chess is getting bigger all over the world. I see it from the stats, I see it from events, and a lot of other metrics. In France as wellbut I cant say much about that! I just see it from these metrics. I see there are more people playing chess, but I cant say I have a concrete example of something that made me feel like there are so many people playing chess nowadays. I would say we had a very big buzz in France during the Candidates tournament with GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave playing very well; its definitely getting bigger, but maybe less than the big boom were seeing in other countries right now.

You have your own bot on Chess.com. How do you feel like your bot compares to your real-life playing style?

My bot definitely plays differently than me! Its more of an homage to my Grob against Magnus, which is a move that kind of made me famous. So its playing a lot of unsound openings, which is not something I do much of.

Im very bad at openings for my level at least, and so Im always finding myself in difficult positions, but I usually try to play quiet and technical positions if I can, trying to get to the endgame and simplify but my bot is going crazy!

I would say my bot is definitely a tribute to the Grob against Carlsen, which is probably my best chess memory, so I like that the bot is set up like that, but I wouldnt say it plays like me. I havent played a match against it, so I don't know if the bot is stronger than me what I can say, and this is a message for Danny, is that I could beat his bot. So if Danny wants to give mine a try, lets see!

Youre a titled chess player and obviously have lots of over-the-board experience - but is it true that you learned how to play chess on a Game Boy?

Yes, totally true. My dad had a game, I think it was called Chessmaster, and I had a few games on the Game Boy like Mario and things like that... but my dad had the chess game. I really wanted to play this game, I dont know why but I wanted to, so I put the game in the Game Boy many times and tried to learn by playing. I was moving the pieces and learning step-by-step how they move to be able to play a game.

My dad said it was too complicated because I was six years old and said itd be more fun to play Mario, but I wasnt stopping, and really wanted to know how to play this game! One night my dad decided to teach me the rules so that I could play against the Game Boy. Then I had chess at school, and eventually, I went to the chess club after that. Thats how I started to become really serious about chess, but at first, I was really just fascinated by this game on the Game Boy.

Youre also a tennis fan. If you could pick any tennis player to join you on stream, who would it be, and why?

I would pick Gael Monfils. I know him a bit, and he has a very nice Twitch channel as well. He doesnt have many streams in English unfortunately, but his streams are amazing and hes really cool. He has such good energy and explains the game really well. For sure I'd pick him.

And then Im hesitating between Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer Federer is such a great attacking player. I had a debate not long ago with a friendobjectively Djokovic has achieved more than Federer, but people put Federer in front because of his playing style, which is so immaculate and clean. But I really think that Djokovic might even be a class above... his movement on the court, his vision, and his defense are crazy good. But I would pick Federer anyway because you just cant pick anyone else, hes a legend.

For a while you were a professional poker player. Many pro chess players are also big poker fans. What do you think the overlap between poker and chess is? What are some of the similarities that draw so many people into both games?

I cant say I love poker, honestly, but I do love earning money! One of the reasons chess players love poker is that its a game, like chess, and when you play chess you feel like you might have an edge on a simpler game. At least at the time, it was seen that way. By now poker has become more difficult as people are getting stronger and stronger, like at chess.

But in the past, it was seen as a slightly easier game and you felt you had an edge because you were already good at a game that involved deep calculation. And so it was a good way to make money! I think many chess players love poker for that reason; they can play a game, and they can feel like they may be better than others... which is often an illusion by the way since a lot of chess players are losing money at poker!

Also, poker is the kind of game where everybody thinks they are winning for some reason; I think all those things together are why chess players often love to play poker.

We often see a majestic dog on your social media. Can you tell us more about them?

My dog is called Misha, shes a little girl! A little Shiba. Every time I finish my stream we go to take a walk together; shes like my closest partner after my wife and my kid. Shes definitely part of my family. Im always very happy when she comes up to see me on the stream. Sometimes shell come up and ask me for some pats or a head massage when Im live on stream if Im streaming a bit late.

Do you have any advice for people who are thinking of starting to stream or create chess content?

Its very simple: just enjoy it, enjoy what you do and the content you make. Make it for fun, for your own pleasure. Be authentic, be yourself, and enjoy the content youre making.

The internet is full of inspirational people who say to follow your dream and your passion and everything will work out well, chess is my passion and streaming is my passion, but at some point, you also need to have some luck. Earlier I mentioned that I was inspired by ChessNetwork; this guy is the reason I started, and he helped me out a lot with the tweet he made. People who succeed in stuff are also a bit lucky sometimes, you know?

I always feel that its a bit unfair to say that if you follow your dreams and work a lot it just works out; sometimes it doesnt. Behind success is always some part of destiny, of luck, or whatever you want to call it, so just enjoy what you are doing. At the end of the day, the most important thing is just to be happy. If it works out, great, if it doesnt work out but you had a lot of fun and enjoyed making the content, then thats already a success in its own way.

Catch BlitzStream live on his Twitch channel, or follow his content on YouTube, Discord, Instagram, Twitter, and his official website. Want to see your favorite streamer here? Let us know in the comments. A special mention goes to @HasteCeler for nominating BlitzStream in the very first comment someone ever left on this series!

Previous Streamer of the Month articles:

See the article here:

Chess.com Streamer of the Month: BlitzStream - Chess.com

Titled Tuesday on April 18 featured several storylines beyond GM Tuan Minh Le winning the early event and GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave winning the late event. GM Igor Kovalenko, who has been on the front lines in Ukraine's attempt to fight off Russia's invasion, finished in third place in the early tournament. Then, in the late tournament, Vachier-Lagrave outlasted an eight-way scrum on nine points, including GM Magnus Carlsen in second and GM Alireza Firouzja in third, to claim victory.

506 players contested the early tournament, and Le was perfect through nine rounds, reaching 9/9 with this performance:

The bid at perfection ended in round 10, however, with a loss to eventual second-place finisher GM Abhijeet Gupta.

However, after Gupta agreed to a draw with GM Artem Timofeev after one move in the last round, Le was still in prime position to win the event outright, and he beat IM Renato Terry to do just that.

But the highlight of the tournament was Kovalenko.

Yes, it's true, he beat Nakamura on the way. With Black, and despite bad pawns early.

(Full final standings here.)

Le won $1,000 for his first Titled Tuesday victory of 2023 after two the year before. Gupta won $750 in second place. Kovalenko won $350 in third place. Nakamura finished fourth for $200, Timofeev fifth for $100, and GM Olga Girya was the highest-scoring woman in the tournament with 7.5/11, earning $100.

Vachier-Lagrave jumped out to the late lead among 409 competitorsa group that included five former world number-twos or better in Nakamura, Carlsen, GM Fabiano Caruana, Firouzja, and GM Vladimir Kramnikby scoring 8.5/9 to begin the event, then held on despite only scoring 0.5/2 at the end of the tournament.

Vachier-Lagrave's early dominance culminated with a four-game win streak against Firouzja, GM Bogdan-Daniel Deac, Caruana, and Nakamura.

However, that run could not survive an encounter with Carlsen.

Suddenly, four playersVachier-Lagrave, Carlsen, Firouzja, and GM David Paravyanhad 8.5 points. Carlsen vs. Firouzja, of course, was the anticipated world championship matchup that did not happen in 2023, so for now we settle for their highly combative draw here:

Vachier-Lagrave also drew with Paravyan, leaving the seven players on eight points with a chance to catch up. Four of them did: GMs Christopher Yoo, Aram Hakobyan, Dmitry Andreikin, and Raunak Sadhwani. It was enough for Yoo and Hakobyan to join the top five, while in the 8.5 group only Paravyan was unfortunate enough to drop out of the paid positions.

April 18 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)

(Full final standings here.)

Vachier-Lagrave won the $1,000 first place prize. Carlsen won $750 in second place and Firouzja $350 in third place, Yoo scored $200 in fourth and Hakobyan $100 in fifth. GM Alexandra Kosteniuk won the $100 women's prize for the third time this year, scoring 6.5/11.

Titled Tuesday is a weekly 11-round Swiss tournament for titled players that Chess.com holds twice every Tuesday. The start times are 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time/17:00 Central European and 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time/23:00 Central European.

See more here:

Ukrainian Surprise In Early Titled Tuesday, Eight-Way Tie In Late - Chess.com

Young South Coast chess players have been capturing attention, and trophies, at State-wide competitions.

A group of twenty South Coast chess players spent the weekend at the Portland Expo Center to compete in the Chess for Success State Championships earlier this month.

Another group are set to compete at the Oregon Scholastic Chess Federation state championships this upcoming weekend. It will determine the high school individual, middle school individual, elementary school individual and the girl individual who will be nominated to participate in the USCF National events.

Local chess players already had success at the first competition in Portland.

Three of the South Coast players came home with trophies and medals and they all had fun and are even more motivated to work hard and advance their chess skills, said Dr. Nancy Keller after the Chess for Success State Championships.

Some of the South Coast elementary chess players having fun between rounds.

Keller played chess as a child and eventually became a class-3 chess player. She never lost her passion for chess. In her retirement, she enjoys teaching young South Coast community members how to play.

With chess for me it's my sneaky way of making them smarter, Keller said.

They are having fun and they don't know they are getting smarter at the same time. Chess is problem solving, pattern recognition and gracefulness because you have to be gracious whether winning or losing. There's team elements involved so you've also got collegiality and sportsmanship. She said.

The local chess teacher said chess clubs on the South Coast have been really taking off this year, and she has her hands full teaching local community members from preschool-aged to adult.

Members of the Bandon chess team.

Keller is getting ready to take twenty-seven South Coast chess players to Seaside for the Oregon Scholastic Chess Federation State Championships.

The young players must be supervised by their parents. While it is a fun and unique opportunity for up-and-coming chess players to travel and compete it is also an expense.

A Coquille family set up a go-fund me account to make the trip possible for 7-year-old chess player Miles Jennings.

"I'm hoping to raise enough money to cover our room and board, food, and gas so that our family and Miles may attend the state tournament," his father Joshua Jennings wrote on GoFundMe.

Miles has been working very hard for the last couple years and it's finally paying off for him, Joshua said.

Nancy Keller and the entire Coquille chess club have all been working very hard, he added.

Chess teacher Keller said she thinks its great that Miles family is supporting his passion for chess.

Miles is doing great and he loves the game. He has potential and we will see where it goes. No matter what, he is going to learn a lot of life lessons, Keller said.

Miles Jennings' family is raising money for him to compete in the upcoming state championship in Seaside Oregon.

Keller said she has several players who have real talent and could go far.

I love finding those hidden gems, she said.

More than anything, Keller said she enjoys giving local youth a chance to explore and find out what they are good at all while making great friends with each other.

Chess for Success State Championships local winners:

K-4: Noah Ish-Shalom (Winter Lake Elementary) won third place losing only one game to the first place winner. PMisha von Dassow (Lighthouse Coos Bay) won second place. 7th grade: Tyler LeBrun (Coquille Jr/Sr High ) won third place.

Visit link:

Photos: South Coast chess players making their best moves - Coos Bay World

To keep his racing mind in check, Edmonton goaltender Stuart Skinner sometimes turns to the chess board. Anything to unwind and not constantly dwell even obsess on stopping shots.

In an effort to escape a bit from their high-pressure jobs, goalies take different approaches. It could be picking up chess (Skinners move), reading a good book (a novel approach by Colorados Alexandar Georgiev ), binging a Netflix show (Carolinas Antti Raanta ) or just taking the dog for a walk (Seattles Philipp Grubauer).

The point is to find a way to slow things down to make sure their dreams arent haunted by high-speed shots flying at them from the likes of Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon or David Pastrnak.

Because at this time of year, every save or non-save takes on greater importance. Replaying the goals in the mind can become an occupational hazard.

That balance between not being 24/7 hockey is really important for their mental health because they need to learn to manage the stress, explained Aimee Kimball, a mental training consultant whos spent 16 seasons working in the NHL and is currently the Washington Capitals director of organizational development. If all you ever did was eat, sleep and dream about hockey, then when your career ended, or maybe you had an injury, its harder to transition into that next phase of life. Having their hobbies, having other interests, is really important not just for now, their playing days, but when their playing days are done.

To forget about facing slapshots, Avalanche goaltender Pavel Francouz took up flying the friendly skies. He earned his pilots license during his playing days in the Czech Republic and it became his ticket to tranquility.

You realize when youre that high up how small things are, Francouz said. It gives you a different view on things.

His license, though, has lapsed since moving to Colorado. These days, family time with his young daughter keeps him grounded.

If you show up at home, she doesnt care if youve just won or lost. She just loves you the same and wants to play, Francouz said. Thats the best way for me now to just not think about hockey.

Skinner, too, has a young one at home and his son, Beau, provides a welcome distraction from the game. Skinner also began learning chess about a year ago when he was playing in the AHL with the Bakersfield Condors. He saw some of the boys with a board and wanted to take part so he could find a little bit of calmness.

I always thought (chess) looked too complicated, Skinner said. Now Im just having a blast with it.

Skinners not looking to be the next Bobby Fischer, just for some mind relief. Its been a game changer.

A little reset, Skinner said. Anything besides hockey, just to get your mind off either that save you made or save that you didnt make. Little things like that.

Kimball had a tip for turning it off.

I usually tell them, whenever they change their shoes or their skates, in this situation, change their focus, she said. If youre either on the ice or off the ice, when you take your shoes off, youre home now. Thats a quick, easy way people can transition from one aspect of their life to the other.

Georgiev grabs a novel to get away from hockey. His goal is to read or listen to 24 books this year. Hes already finished five.

Ive always read so much. But it usually was either newspapers or just wasting time on Reddit or Instagram or listening to a lot of podcasts, Georgiev said. Then I decided, OK, I really want to have a goal and try to finish a few books. Its like a game. You set a goal for yourself and track your progress. It keeps you accountable and competitive.

Fittingly, he recently was reading a book about the benefits of sleep and how it sparks creativity.

I feel like reading helps to relax and get your mind off of everything, Georgiev said. So you dont think about hockey.

Vegas goaltender Laurent Brossoit relaxes in the comfort of his backyard. He also likes to cook and watch shows such as Formula 1: Drive to Survive.

Anything to decompress, he said, and step away from the game. He pays close attention to mental health.

Ive kind of gone too far on the one end of the spectrum, he said of maintaining a healthy balance. I thought, work hard, and do as many reps as you can. Be as diligent as you can at the gym, and on the ice and at home, with stretching and what-not and ended up not having a lot of downtime.

Raanta is a fan of movies and shows. Plays some Xbox, too, if the kids arent running around.

For Grubauer, something like taking the dog for a stroll can help put in proper perspective what he does for a living.

Obviously, its important and its business and its our job, Grubauer said. But in the end, its just a hockey game.

___

AP Sports Writers Aaron Beard, Tim Booth and Mark Anderson contributed to this report.

___

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

See the rest here:

Chess, books, Netflix: Hockey goalies try anything to unplug - The Associated Press

Alan Cowan started playing chess when he was in middle school.

The rising chess player says often times people get overwhelmed at the thought of playing the game because of the level of critical thinking that they think is involved.

Cowan further explained that its a mind over matter.

Its definitely a matter of being confident, said Cowan on Fridays edition of Closer Look.

Cowan, a student at Morehouse College and the CEO and co-founder of The Black Odyssey Society, was accompanied on the program by Maurice Ashley, the first African-American Grandmaster.

They discussed key strategies for winning a chess match and the first-ever HBCU Chess Classic.

The inaugural event is being held at Morris Brown College on Saturday. Students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities from across the country are expected to compete in the one-day Swiss-style chess tournament.

Its going to be a serious chess party for the HBCUs, said Ashley.

Read the original here:

Local college students organize the first-ever HBCU Chess Classic ... - WABE 90.1 FM

Throughout the Resident Evil 2 Remake, Leon and Claire find themselves in some of the most oddly-designed locations ever. This is because these places are filled with unusual puzzles that no real architect would ever implement.

RELATED: Every Weapon In Resident Evil 2, Ranked

For example, while down in the sewers, you find a locked door that can only be opened by placing chess-piece-inspired plugs into six separate panels. And you can't just put them in randomly. Each plug has to go in a specific panel. So, it's a typical wacky Resident Evil puzzle. In fact, it's one of the more head-scratching ones in the game. As such, this is everything you need to know to complete it.

When you first reach the room with the chess puzzle, you won't have all the plugs required to complete it.

You need to continue on with your adventure to get them.

To reach the missing plugs, you need the T-Bar valve, which is sitting next to the cable car.

Both the King and Queen plugs are in the Supplies Storage Room. To get there, you must go through the Bottom Waterway, which you gain access to with the T-Bar Valve.

The Supplies Storage room is one big puzzle in its own right.

To start, go down the stairs, turn left, head through the opening, and turn left again to find the Queen Plug.

Once you do, the gate you entered will close. So, head the only way you can go.

You will find another panel close by, and you must insert the Queen Plug into it. This will open another gate.

Walk through it and go up the stairs where you will find the King Plug. Grab it and then drop down to the area below using the opening nearby.

When you're down there, run through the gate already opened by the Queen and look for another panel on the left.

Put the King Plug in it to gain access to a new weapon.

Then go back the way you came and pick up both the King and Queen Plugs on the way.

Return to where you originally acquired the Queen Plug and put it back there.

Then go through the gate it opens, and put the King Plug in the panel near the stairs where you originally entered.

Head through the gate opened by the King to go back around and grab the Queen. Following that, go back and get the King before heading back up the stairs to leave.

Thankfully, the Rook Plug is much easier to reach than the King and Queen ones. You simply need to reach the Workroom Lift with the help of the T-Bar Valve.

The lift will take you to the Workroom. Go through that room to find the Rook on the other side of it, plugged into a panel.

RELATED: Resident Evil 2 Remake: All Costumes Ranked And How To Get Them

The solution to this puzzle is different depending on whether you're on your first or second run. Here's how to solve them both:

If you can't tell which plug is which from looks alone, examine them in your inventory to find out their names.

The clue found on the notice board on the first run says:

"Pretty Sure The Rook And Knight Are On The Same Wall And The Bishop And Queen Aren't Next To Each Other. The Queen And Rook Were Opposite Each Other, Too."

The answer is:

The clue found on the notice board on the second run says:

"The Rook's Next To The Kinght, But Not Facing The Queen. The King Ain't Next To The Queen, But Facing The Knight, Right At The End, And The Knight Ain't Where The Case Marking Says."

The answer is:

NEXT: Resident Evil 2: Every Safe Room In The Game

Read more from the original source:

Resident Evil 2 Remake: How To Solve The Chess Puzzle - TheGamer

The interview was published on World ChessYouTube channel. Find below transcripts of three fragments, followed bythe embedded video.

On his reasons for retirement:

After playing the Candidates Tournament in 2018, where I really gave a lot on the chessboard and played a lot of exciting games, it was quite a performance. Actually, that was a turning point. After this tournament, I felt I had nothing left to give to chess. I dont know how to explain it, its a kind of feeling, that I felt empty after that. So I played a few more tournaments, and the feeling was still there and growing. [...] I stopped feeling that it was an important part of my life.

Master Class Vol.11: Vladimir Kramnik

This DVD allows you to learn from the example of one of the best players in the history of chess and from the explanations of the authors (Pelletier, Marin, Mller and Reeh) how to successfully organise your games strategically, consequently how to keep y

On playing against Kasparov, Anand and Carlsen:

Im very happy that I was part of Kasparovs generation, I played with Kasparov a lot. [...] And also, of course, Viswanathan Anand, who is also absolutely great maybe a little bit underestimated, but I consider from the pure talent [point of view], the most talented player in the last fifty years. And, then, also such a great player like Magnus Carlsen, who is also completely unique.

[...] Im not trying to be polite, but I dont consider myself of the same level. Im good, of course, very good, but Im not Kasparov, not Carlsen, and also by talent not Vishy Anand.

On Magnus Carlsen:

I fully understand what a great player, if we are talking about Magnus, is here. Maybe after fifty years or a hundred years he will be a god, you know, a god of chess, like now Morphy. When you live in this era, when you see him every day, then maybe you dont measure it. But I understand that this is a player whichis born once in a century. [...] He just changed chess. Chess is him in the last ten to fifteenyears. Chess is Magnus Carlsen.

The rest is here:

Kramnik on life after chess, young talents and Magnus Carlsen - ChessBase

Sports Reporter

SANSKAR Gaigore, with eight points, emerged champion of the All India Open Below 1600 FIDE Rating Chess Tournament which concluded at 7 Vacchan Hall in Wardhaman Nagar. The tournament was organised by Jai Sai Welfare Foundation.In the ninth and final round, 17th seed Gaigore drew with city-mate Sumedh Ramteke who was seeded 14th in the tournament. Nagpurs Mradul Yadav ended with eight points after he drew with Chhattisgarhs Yashsva Kanholkar, to take the second spot. Another Nagpurian second seed Nilay Kulkarni defeated Tamil Nadus NS Bhaskar to finish third. Gaigore won a glittering trophy and a cash purse of Rs 50,000 while Yadav collected Rs 35,000. Kulkarni got richer by Rs 21,000. Sushant Jumde was the tournament director while IA Bansod Swapnil was the chief arbiter and IA Chavan Deepak was his deputy. Prizes to the winners and top finishers were distributed by Pratik Parekh, Sushant Jumde, Nilesh Channwar, IA Swapnil Bansod and IA Deepak Chavhan.

Results Round 9: Sanskar Gaigore(8) drew with Sumedh Ramteke (7), Yashsva Anil Kanholkar (7) drew with Mradul Yadav ((7), Nilay Kulkarni 7 bt Bhaskar NS (6), Pavan C (7) drew with Kush Agarwal (7), Prateek Chandwani (7) bt Ayush Ramteke (6), Saket Atul Kumar (7) drew with Atharv Sadawarte (7), Suravarapu Jayanth (6) lost to Sagar G Shenoy (7), Aradhya Tikam (7) drew with Aryan Deogade (6), Gurudutt Goswami (7) bt Saikat Nath (6), Bhavik Chaudhary (6) lost to Devanshi Gawande (7). TOP TEN: Sanskar Gaigore, Mradul Yadav, Nilay Kulkarni, Yashsva Kanholkar, Sumedh Ramteke, Prateek Chandwani, Sagar Shenoy, Abhishek Mishra, Tikam Aradhya, Aahana Pachchigar.

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Citys Gaigore wins all India chess crown - The Hitavada

1,251 players from 35 states competed in Round Rock, Texas near Austin to determine the nations top middle school chess players

ROUND ROCK, TEXAS: The 501(c)3 US Chess Federations 2023 National Middle School (K-8) Championship took place from April 21-April 23, 2023 at the Kalahari Resort in Round Rock, Texas. A total of 1,251 players from 35 states competed. This tournament was formerly known as the National Junior High School (K-9) Championship until becoming the National Middle School Championship in 2022.

The individual K-8 Co-Champion is:

Eric Liu at the start of the final round. Photo: Randy Anderson

Eric Liu with his championship medal.

In the team championships, the K-8 Champions are:

Image Caption

Millburn Middle School with their championship award. Photo by Randy Anderson

Many other winners in multiple sections below the championship section were also determined. These winners are properly identified as, Winner of the section at the National Middle School Championship. For a full list of winners, please see here: http://www.uschess.org/results/2023/ms/.

US Chess Executive Director Carol Meyer also notes, This year we were delighted to have Hamilton Chess from Novato, California attend as part of our Title I School Grant initiative. This program reflects US Chess goals and delivers on our mission toempower people, enrich lives, and enhance communities through chessas we bringchess to students who might not be able to access the game without this support. Our donors generosity underscores the chess communitys commitment to meeting the needs of students who come from underserved communities.

We will have a full round report posted tomorrow.

See the article here:

FLASH REPORT: Eric Liu of Frisco, Texas is the 2023 National ... - uschess.org