Editing 1112: Think Logically

{{w|Chess}} is a centuries-old board game in which two players take turns moving one of their 16 pieces to try and checkmate the other player's king (one of the pieces). When one player is in a position to capture his or her opponent's king on their next move, and the opponent has no legal move available to avoid such capture, the opponent is said to be in "checkmate", and by definition immediately loses.

The game, with origins around the 6th century, and with the modern rules being essentially set in the late 15th century, has a significant amount of history. The rules and traditions are well established. The knight is a piece that can only move in an L-shaped pattern (two squares in one direction, and one square perpendicular), but has the unique ability to jump over other pieces.

The comic highlights two mistakes players often make in chess: complete fixation on the king at the cost of their other pieces, and failure to take advantage of the knight's movement patterns. At the same time this is a jab at how people sometimes oversimplify an argument when confronted with a topic they are not familiar with. Previously this was depicted in [[675: Revolutionary]] and [[793: Physicists]]. See also the {{w|Dunning–Kruger effect}}. The units in chess are widely agreed to be well-balanced, and [[Cueball|Cueball's]] criticism of the knight shows an obvious lack of knowledge of the knight's potential.

Given the long history of chess, a significant amount of writing and research has been dedicated to the game and its strategies. This is inadvertently mocked by Cueball who naively suggests it would be trivial to make a list of all situations in which a piece would move backwards (called a "retreat" in chess). Such a list — at least a partial one — certainly does exist, as do lists of numerous other chess moves and situations.

Cueball's friend, a guy with a {{w|knit cap}} (see the [http://xkcd.com/1112/info.0.json official transcript]) proceeds to demonstrate Cueball's lack of knowledge by beating him in four moves, which typically would only occur when an experienced player plays a novice. The checkmate depicted is likely the {{w|Scholar's mate|scholar's mate}}, or the {{w|Fool’s mate|fool’s mate}}, with both being classic checkmates in chess. It is in fact extremely easy to defend against both checkmates, moving your knights in the two knight defense would do, thus proving Cueball's inexperience. Although the scholar’s mate occurs often among amateurs, the fool’s mate is rare even among rank beginners.

Cueball, instead of admitting he underestimated the game, believes the failure is in the game itself. The title text indicates that Cueball attempted to suggest revisions to the rules of chess. Given that Cueball has no experience as a chess player, it is likely many of the changes are illogical or ridiculous. In the face of hundreds of years of history, it is not surprising that the chess community is ignoring them. The last major changes to the rules of chess occurred more than 400 years ago when, among other things, the pawn was given its two-space starting move and the queen was made into the most powerful piece (previously it was the weakest). The chess community's ties to the traditions of the game and their refusal to accept Cueball's suggestions are written off by Cueball as "{{w|emotional bias}}" suggesting his changes are logical, but that the community is letting their emotions cloud their rational decision making abilities, while in reality it is he who is being affected. If that can make Cueball feel any better, it could be pointed out to him that dozens and dozens of {{w|Chess variants|chess variants}} do exist out there.

The guy with the knit cap could either have been a man or a woman as from the drawing, but the [http://xkcd.com/1112/info.0.json official transcript] calls him ''knit hat guy''. In the two other cases (after this comic) where a person with hair has been shown with a knit cap, they have been women. The first was [[Randall|Randall's]] wife after chemotherapy in [[1141: Two Years]] and the second time it was [[1350:_Lorenz#Knit_Cap_Girl|Knit Cap Girl]] in [[1350: Lorenz]]. Two Cueballs have also been shown using knit caps in [[1321: Cold]].

:[A guy wearing a knit cap over short black hair is sitting down at a computer touching the keyboard with one hand. Cueball is standing behind watching the screen.]

:[Knit cap turns around and rests an arm on the chair looking at Cueball who holds out both arms.]

:[Knit cap is leaning back in chair facing Cueball, panel is so slim that the lap top is not included.]

:Knit cap: Have you ever ''played'' chess?

:Knit cap: Wanna?

:[Knit cap sitting and Cueball standing is playing chess with a board standing between them on a very small table or a four legged stool. The board extends quite far out on either side. Their moves are indicated above with four towards knit cap and three towards Cueball. It is clear both from this and from the pieces visible on the board that knit cap is playing white]

:Knit cap: Checkmate.

:[In a panel without frame Cueball is standing staring at the chess board, where there clearly are more pieces on his side of the board.]

:[Knit cap has turned back to the laptop with both hands on the keyboard. Cueball is standing behind the chess board holding a finger up in the air.]