Editing 1287: Puzzle

{{comic
| number    = 1287
| date      = November 6, 2013
| title     = Puzzle
| image     = puzzle.png
| titletext = Prediction for Carlsen v. Anand: ...25. Qb8+ Nxb8 26. Rd8# f6 27. "...dude." Qf5 28. "The game is over, dude." Qxg5 29. Rxe8 0-1 30. "Dude, your move can't be '0-1'. Don't write that down." [Black flips board]
}}

==Explanation==
The game of {{w|Go (game)|Go}} (also called Weiqi, Baduk or Igo) is usually played on the 19×19 intersections of a grid, but sometimes a faster, simpler version is played on the 9×9 intersections of a grid; which thus has 8×8 squares, as a chessboard, though they are not colored in an alternating pattern – {{w|White and Black in chess|introduced to chess in the 13th century}}. In the comic, White has chess pieces and plays against Black, who uses Go stones.

In chess, particularly in puzzles, the phrasing "White to move" indicates that it's the White player's turn; "White to play and win" indicates that it's White's turn and if White plays correctly, the next series of moves will result in an advantageous position or possibly outright win for White. The caption "White to continue insisting this is a chessboard" is a play on this traditional phrasing. The same kind of phrasing is also used in {{w|Tsumego|Go puzzles}}. In Go puzzles the objectives are often of a local or tactical character, such as "White to capture four black stones" or "White to live in the corner".

The comic originally displayed three white bishops at positions c1 (to the left of the queen), f1 (to the right of the king), and e4 (three squares in front of the king). The same day the comic was posted, it was updated to have only two white bishops, replacing the ones at c1 and e4 with a single bishop in d2 (one space in front of the queen). On both boards, White has none of their pieces captured (likely because Black isn't playing chess), and therefore having three bishops would be impossible without having {{w|Promotion (chess)|seven or fewer pawns}}.

It is unclear who has gone first. In Go it is traditional for Black to go first, while in chess it has been traditional for White to go first for about a century. Indeed, both players have made five moves, although the caption/"punchline" implies it is the start of White's sixth turn; though if Black did go first, none of their pieces are in the 3-3 handicap positions marked on a 9×9 Go board.

The title text refers to the (at the time) upcoming {{w|World Chess Championship 2013|2013 World Chess Championship}} between Carlsen and Anand. {{w|Magnus Carlsen}} is (at publishing of this comic) a 23 year old Norwegian chess grandmaster. {{w|Viswanathan Anand}} is (at publishing time) a 44 year old Indian grandmaster. Both have been (and as of 2019 are) among the world top chess players.

The game transcript in the title text refers to the ending of the famous {{w|Morphy versus the Duke of Brunswick and Count Isouard|Opera Game}} between Paul Morphy and the Duke of Brunswick and Count Isouard. That game ends with 16. Qb8+ Nxb8 17. Rd8#. In the title text, Black continues to make moves as if he has not been checkmated, over White's protests. After White uses his rook to capture Black's king to emphasize the checkmate, Black defiantly writes "0-1" (the notation symbolizing a Black victory) on his scoresheet. When informed that his move cannot be to declare victory, he flips the board. "0-1" may also represent a position on a Go board (first down on the top left corner) in [http://senseis.xmp.net/?Coordinates certain coordinates systems].

The game transcript is written in standard {{w|Algebraic notation (chess)|algebraic notation}}. The destination square is represented by a lowercase letter (a-h, on the x-axis) and a number (1-8, on the y-axis), with the bottom-left square from White's perspective being a1 and the top-right square being h8. The uppercase letters refer to the piece that is moving to that square (e.g., Q = queen, K = king, N = knight, R = rook), so Qa1 would mean moving the queen to White's bottom-left square. The absence of an uppercase letter refers to a pawn's move (e.g., "f6" means moving a pawn to f6). If the move captures a piece, an "x" is inserted between the piece and the destination (e.g., Nxb8). Checks are indicated by +, and checkmate by #.

==Transcript==
:[A game board with 8×8 white squares and black borders, like a go board or an all white chessboard, there are white chess pieces in starting position on the bottom after e3, d4, Nf3, Nc3, Bd2 and five black Go pieces on the vertices in the center of the board at d4 d5 c6 g4 g6.]
:[Caption below the frame:]
:White to continue insisting this is a chessboard

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Chess]]
[[Category:Board games]]