#chess traps

[magnificentsapcaddy]

So, idk if many people on tumblr care about chess much, but I was studying some openings today and I found a very funny trap.

This is for the Ponziani Opening, so you already know some hijinks are going to be afoot, and specifically, this is for the Jaenisch Counterattack. Obviously I can't have pictures for every position, but I'll put them in for the ones that matter.

It goes as follows:

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3 Nf6 4.d4 Nxe4 5.d5 Ne7 6.Nxe5 (pictured below)

Now, if you're a fan of the Ponziani, you know that 6...d6 is a losing move because of the brilliant 7.Bb5+ and the gobbling up of pawns and eventual loss of the knight on e5 by Black. But, what I'm going to show you stems from the slightly better move 6...c6. The idea, in short, is going to be to use the light-squared bishop to defend d5, trade it off for a knight, and then enter a position where you're down material but still have a winning chance.

6...c6 7.Bc4 Nd6 8.O-O Nxc4 9.Nxc4

Now, as you can see, Black has two different attackers on the pawn on d5. If Black plays, 9...Nxd5, then you don't get to do the trap, but you can play

10.Re1+ Be7 11.Nd6+ Kf8 12.c4 Bxd6 13.cxd5 cxd5 14.Qxd5

and now you have taken away Black's ability to castle, and even though you're down a pawn, you have the open e-file, your bishop has a short diagonal, your knight is ready to leap into action, and Black's kind of just sitting on their hands in terms of development.

But, here's the hysterical part. Remember when I said Black had two things attacking d5 all the way back on turn 9? If they chose to not play 9...Nxd5, then this happens.

9...cxd5?? 10.Nd6#!

Isn't that the silliest thing you've ever seen? The king is about to die surrounded by loved ones and family. You are untouchable and unstoppable. You're about to do an Agent 47 maneuver and assassinate the one guy surrounded by a swarm of body guards. It's beautiful.

[danglovely]

Légal's Trap

Random chess diversion. This is a famous trap that a surprising number of players still fall into because the best move for white is shocking.

Nxe5. It looks like white has blundered away the Queen. It's best if black takes the Knight . . . most don't.

Three pieces working in concert. A beautiful checkmate.

[chessismyaesthetic]

Here's a variation on one of my favourite tactical traps where the queen hammers an unaware opponent.

What happens if White takes the pawn with their knight?

White pushes the e pawn to fork the bishop and knight. Of course, you might just take the pawn but then this happens...

Queen to a5 check! Now White is forced to defend their king and is completely unable to stop Black taking the bishop on the next move.

This type of trap is one all 1.d4 players should keep an eye out for, especially if your opponent is someone like me who likes an Indian set up with a pawn on e6 and an early push of the c pawn - those moves make the queen extremely mobile. In the game above, my opponent was (I think) trying to get into a London system. I think they were so focused on where they were going they forgot to really look at the board in the right now.

[mythalism]

solas: uwuuu you disrupted my ritual and trapped me!!! now im stuck here and it’s all your fault wahhh poor little old me stuck in the fade in a prison that i designed myself within my realm that i created where im supremely powerful and can “casually reshape reality” with a thought and i have an anchor that lets me open rifts physically in and out of here BUT NOW IM TRAPPED!!!!! 🥺🥺😣😣😰😰

meanwhile solas:

[kizzer55555]

DP x DC: The Most Dangerous Card Game

Ok so Danny has essentially claimed earth as his. And he is fully aware that there are constant threats to the planet. Now he can’t stop a threat that originates on earth (that’s something he’ll leave to the Justice league) but he can do something about outside threats. Doing some research on ancient spells, rituals, and artifacts, he cast a world wide barrier on the planet to protect it from hostile threats so they cannot enter. This will prevent another Pariah Dark incident. However, barriers like this come at a price. You see, there are two ways to make a barrier. Either make one powered up by your own energy and power (which would be constantly draining) or set up a barrier with rules. The way magic works is that nothing can be absolutely indestructible. It must have a weakness. The most powerful barriers weren’t the ones reinforced with layer after layer of protective charms and buffed up with power. Those could eventually be destroyed either by being overpowered, wearing them down, or by cutting off the original power source. No, the most powerful barriers were the ones with a deliberate weakness. A barrier indestructible except for one spot. A cage that can only be opened from the outside. Or that can only be passed with a key or by solving a riddle. So Danny chooses this type of barrier and does the necessary ritual and pours in enough power to make it. And he adds his condition for anyone to enter. 

Now the Justice league? Find out about the barrier when Trigon attempts to attack, they were preparing after he threatened what he would do once he got to earth. How he would destroy them. The Justice league tried to take the fight to him first but were utterly destroyed, so they retreated home to tend to their injuries, and fortify earth for one. Last. Stand. Only when Trigon makes his big entrance…he’s stopped.

The Justice league watch in awe as this thin see-through barrier with beautiful green swirls and speckled white lights like stars apears blocking Trigon and his army’s advance. The barrier looks so thin and fragile yet no matter how hard the warlord hits, none of his attacks can get through and neither can he damage said barrier. That’s when Constantine and Zatanna recognizes what this barrier is. Something only a powerful entity could create. For a moment, the league is filled with hope that Trigon can’t get through yet Constantine also explains that it’s not impenetrable. And clearly Trigon knows this too for he calls out a challenge. 

And that’s when, in a flash of light, a tiny glowing teenager appears. He looked absolutly minuscule compared to Trigon and yet practically glowed with power (this isn’t a King Danny AU though).

And that is when the conditions for passing the barrier are revealed. And the Justice realize that the only thing stopping Trigon and his army from decimating earth. The only way he can get through….is by beating this glowing teenager in a card game. 

Not just any card game though. The most convoluted game Sam, Danny, and Tucker invented themselves. It’s like the infinite realms version of magic the gathering, combined with Pokémon, and chess. And Danny is the master. So sit down Trigon and let’s play.

(The most intense card game of the Justice league’s life).

After Danny wins, this happens a few more times with outer word beings and possibly even demons attempting to invade earth, yet none have been able to beat the mysterious teenager in a card game. Constantine might even take a crack at it and try to figure out how to play. He’s really bad though. Every time this happens, the Justice league worry that this might be the time the teenager looses. Yet every time, he wins (even if only barely). 

Meanwhile, Danny, Sam, and Tucker have gotten addicted to the game and play it almost daily. Some teachers might seem them playing the game are are like ‘awww how cute’ not realizing this game is literally saving the world. Jazz is just happy they aren’t spending as much time on their screens playing Doomed.

[harpuiaa]

(person that has never seen saw but has read yugioh voice) yeah? so he traps people in evil puzzle rooms? sounds a lot like a guy i know

[unloneliest]

in the lonely hearts club job leverage asks the question "does romantic love exist?" and answers it by having eliot buy parker a venus fly trap on hardison's behalf, expecting no recognition and revealing eliot remembers a throwaway comment parker made on their second job together.

we all know this.

but was anybody going to tell me hardison already had a browser window open looking for restaurants to buy eliot in portland in response at the start of the episode immediately after that? or was i supposed to figure it out on a rewatch all by myself?!

[thespoonisvictory]

GOD the Jaime-Cat Dungeon Scene (tm) is so good. We spend chapter after chapter watching Cat in utter conflict with herself, torn in different directions. She wants to find her daughters in King's Landing, to go to Winterfell and parent her sons, to stay with her dying father, to mourn her recently dead husband, to be an advisor to her son and brothers that they actually listen to. She is trying to be a mother, a daughter, a sister, to both nurture and council Robb. But it's too much, she can't do all of it.

Meanwhile, Jaime is locked in a dungeon for the entire book (very wife in the attic of him) and yet scarcely goes a chapter without his name being referred to by one person or another. He's practically present in conversations with Cersei and Tyrion, for how much they evoke his name to try to convince the other of something. Others think of his battle prowess, or want him dead, or share the story of his evil deeds, and Cat isn't excluded from this. He's a symbol more than he's a person, a token, a bargaining chip. Never to be harmed for fear of the Stark daughters' lives, but completely trapped by his own status.

So this makes it all the more satisfying to see Cat, in a fit of rage and grief, go downwards to question him at last, after hundreds of pages of this evocation of his name. She's tired of the lack of movement, of the posturing of the men around her, of all that she has lost and had to shrug off to keep going. And what does he tell her? That there are too many vows, too many promises that conflict. He says that honor is too much, that he could never have kept all the plates spinning. That it's too much!!

After a whole year of endless loss and fear and feeling completely alone, one visit to this symbol of a person and he completely and transparently spells out her entire deal, so much of her internal anguish. And then he looks at her and says that there are no men like him, that no one else would get it. like oh my god. george!!!

[villruu]

Fake amnesia with Alex and Jay?

send me a reverse trope and MH characters & I'll write something for it

On AO3

At first struggled w this one (couldn't decide between who was the fake amnesiac) and then this came to mind and i may do another oneshot about this lmao?

⸻

Alex woke up, for once, not wanting to die.

It was a novel feeling, to be honest. Waking up without having that deep dread rooted inside him, eating him from the inside out, without feeling like he was being observed, like he was about to become prey. Waking up and just feeling… nice.

He could hear the sound of someone in his kitchen, the sound of pots being moved and the old fridge being opened and closed and opened and closed. And, while usually, that would be enough to make him grab the gun he hid underneath his pillow, today, it just merely made him snort fondly and get up, pausing to even yawn and stretch.

How could he be worried, when he knew exactly who was inside his house? He had been the one to invite him yesterday.

The mere memory of yesterday was enough to make Alex smile, feeling giddy and happy in a way he hadn’t felt in ages.

This was the perfect opportunity, the perfect chance to at least make sure nothing bad happened, to at least keep one person alive. He just had to make sure the other didn’t find his computer or where he had been staying, and it would be okay. With no clues, the other would have no other option but to leave.

When Alex entered the kitchen, he couldn’t help the amused snort upon seeing Jay startled and fumble with something at his appearance, probably a pan or a mug knowing how clumsy Jay was.

“You slept okay?” He asked, leaning against the counter.

“Oh! Uh, yeah,” Jay nodded nervously, turning around to pour himself some coffee, “Thanks, by the way, for letting me stay. I, uh, I didn’t know where I would have gone.”

“Of course you could stay,” Alex said, grabbing a mug to pour himself coffee too, “Didn’t have any luck with your phone?”

“Uh, no, not really,” Jay mumbled, fidgeting with the shirt Alex had loaned him, frowning nervously at his shoes.

“Damn, that’s a shame dude,” Alex commented mildly, like he hadn’t been the one to crack open the phone and carefully pry away parts of the hardware so it wouldn’t work, “Was the chip okay, at least?”

“I don’t, I don’t think so,” Jay grimaced, clutching tightly his mug, “I, um, I have no idea why. Maybe I broke it, um, broke it before you found me?”

“Probably,” Alex said, satisfied as a smug cat internally, “Guess you’ll have to get a new one.”

“I, um, I guess so.” Jay frowned even more.

He looked pale under the white light of his kitchen, eyes sunken and bruised with eyebags.

But, Alex thought to himself, if he were in Jay’s situation he doubts he would have been any better.

…Actually, when it had been him, it hadn’t been any better, to be honest. Alex shuddered as he remembered how it had been almost a year ago, waking up one day without a single idea as to what had happened, to where he was, where was Am—

Alex shook his head, and tried to focus on Jay, who now looked at him with some strange expression.

“Any idea what you will do?” He asked, taking a sip of his coffee, “Since you, um, don’t remember the last…?”

“Four years,” Jay reminded him quietly, fidgeting, looking unnerved, “And, um, I don’t know? I thought maybe, um, walking around and trying to find clues? As to why, um, why am I here?”

Hm. 

No, that would be far too… dangerous. The probabilities of Jay remembering something would be too high. No. That wouldn’t do.

“Maybe you should try contacting your family?” Alex suggested gently, carefully laying a hand on Jay’s shoulder, “Maybe they have an idea as to what you’ve been up to.”

“I… Uhm. I hadn’t, uh, I hadn’t thought of, of that,” Jay stuttered, looking uncomfortable, “I…”

“From what I remember you used to call your parents every weekend back in college,” Alex said, “They probably have an idea. I doubt you have changed much since then.”

“I…um, I’ll think about it,” Jay promised him, avoiding his eyes.

Good. 

The sooner he got Jay out of here, the better for everyone. 

If Jay left, then Tim would forget as well. And everything would be just fine.

And if not… Well, it would be easier to catch Jay off guard if he didn’t remember the last time they had seen each other.

Alex left the kitchen, and did not notice the knowing and weary look Jay pinned on his retreating back.

[sunburstsky]

So in this last episode we had confirmed:

1. Indri, who 2/3rds of the party is infatuated with, is Big BAD Lady in a very real way and can call down the memories of stars, including the ones shining into her library

2. If you “flee” (and i just feel that the definition of that might be a little squishy in this specific scenario) *within a mile* of Grimore, you are as good as dead

oh this is DELICIOUS

[aleng-neng]

My favorite flavor of vegaspete is domestic with a kinky sex life. Because I find the irony of Vegas having the most normal-ish relationship out of all the Theerapanyakuls hilarious.

[francisforever2014]

the thing is that it’s NEVER just two guys standing next to each other . i’ve never in my life seen a situation where people claim it’s a “two guys just standing next to each other�� “two pale coconuts” thing and it actually is . chances are they’re doing insane cocomelon shit to each other in every episode . interview with the vampire hannibal level gay shit is happening in tv shows that are filmed like target commercials i promise .

[danglovely]

Stafford Trap

Another Chess trap! This one is pretty famous due to International Master Eric Rosen. It comes out of his favorite gambit, the Stafford.

Stafford is just good for White (there's a very educational Daniel Naroditsky video explaining why). However, Bg5 is an easy to make blunder and it gives Black an amazing resource.

Free queen?

No. Somehow Black makes checkmate with a knight and both bishops. Respect the minor pieces.

[direwombat]

i need. to find a way to incorporate a scene in katc where jacob and joseph are playing chess...

[fisherkn1ght]

random studies !!

I have a perfect color palette for my pawn and I'm STICKING. WITH. IT.

[trashlie]

Shinae the Light vs Yui the Shadow

This post heavily discusses episode 138 but also pulls from 170, 179, and 180 and discusses things up to 214, but nothing from the FP epsiodes! 

Earlier today I read this post and it got me thinking a LOT - and trust me that I’m going to ramble about something else shortly outside of this lol - regarding shadows and lighting!

One of the episodes that most deliberately plays with lighting and shadows in a very in your face way is episode 138, where Shinae speaks to Rand about wanting to renegotiate her contract. It’s an interesting episode, because Shinae is met with another side of Rand than the man (the father) who was trying to help Nol. This version of him shuts her down immediately and informs her that he has no jurisdiction over her contract.

As readers, we can deduce that he is speaking this way because Yui is around and he cannot divulge any bit of knowledge that he has been working with Shinae, that there is any sense of relationship there. But also, he isn’t lying in that he can do nothing about her contract. Interestingly, he is in the light where she is in the shadow. He’s not the focus of this moment, but I find that very interesting regardless - Rand is unable to help because he doesn’t have that power. They aren’t on equal footing here. One is in the dark, one has the power of illumination - he knows more intimately than Shinae who and what Yui is.

But my thought is not about Rand but rather Shinae and Yui.

Throughout their conversation, Shinae is in the shadow. She is part of Yui’s trap, in a pit she cannot crawl out of. Yui wields power over her both in the sense of her employer and also as a person who has played with her as prey. Yui, too, is in the shadow. While some light casts on her, she faces away from it and it doesn’t reach her face.

I’ve wondered a lot about Yui and what her situation is, why she is the kind of person she is. I don’t think she’s without reasons - I just think we don’t know enough about her to really know yet. One of the popular theories is that of the Mukoyoshi Theory - that is, that a Japanese family with no male heirs will “adopt” the husband of (one of) their daughter, who will take their last name, rather than she take his. In this case, Yui comes from a Japanese family with a family business and it is deducible that there is no male heir. Hansuke’s family name is Shishido - not Hirahara, which means he’s related by his aunt (and Yui has mentioned her before to him). Rand, who we know is not Japanese, married into the Hirahara family and adopted their name and became a part of their family. Thus, his affair with Nessa is even more of a blight - he has a duty to the Hirahara family. It is his responsibility to not mar their name and upkeep their prestige.

We could do a whole think piece about this, and it really gets into my thoughts on Rand and Yui’s relationship, but to sum it up: it is clear that Yui wants to be the one in control, but must defer to Rand, and that she resents it. This is HER family business. I think she wishes that she was the one in control, and that she could wield that control without having to go through Rand. Yui harbors resentment for a patriarchal society in which she wields no power. There’s a lot to read into re: the way she wields her femininity as a tool, but that’s a whole other post. The point is: Yui resents that she does not have the power she thinks she deserves, the power that she’s capable of, and that fully plays into Shinae.

But, for the sake of this post at this time, it’s essentially that Yui, too, exists in the dark, in the shadows. She can only run this company through others - through her marriage to Rand, through Kousuke, the sole heir. But as powerful and intimidating as she is, she, too, is trapped. She, too, is relegated to the darkness, because it is only from the shadows that she can operate. Yui wears a constant mask, always putting on the front of a concerned mother, a feeble frail lady, a sweet simpering maternal woman. The real Yui lives in the shadows. She’s not allowed to freely be the person she wants to be, she puts on a front for society, for the patriarchy, for the sake of being able to move in the shadows.

Shinae’s objective is to escape the shadow, the prison, the dark. She longs to escape poverty, she longs to escape the prison she turned herself into, she longs to escape the job in which she feels unsafe, the contract that she signed, the agreement she made under false premises. She longs to escape Yui’s reach. And while she can’t escape most of those yet, she still works towards the light. unlike Yui, who has accepted that she belongs to and operates in the shadows and pulls people into them with her, Shinae strives for the light at all times. She wants to be a better daughter, a better friend. She strives to be able to help out her father and create a better life for them. And especially since the black and white formal, Shinae’s inclination towards the right side, the side of light, has grown stronger.

It’s not a bad vs good kind of thing so much as Shinae chooses to work honestly. She’s trying to address the things that scare her - the insecurity she felt about Maya and Rika’s friendship, the quiet plaguing fear that maybe Minhyuk also just tolerated her. She’s had difficult conversations with her father, she has had difficult conversations with her friends. Instead of shirking into the shadows, Shinae moves towards enlightenment. Even if things end, isn’t it better for them to end on good terms, with understanding? Even if she gets hurt, isn’t it better than she gets hurt being honest, than never progress at all? Even if she fails, isn’t it better to make effort than live with regret?

Shinae leaving Yui by way of the light is pointed. Yui’s goal is to pull everyone down with her. If she lives in the shadows, so, too, must everyone else. And the thing about this scene is - I think Yui means it, genuinely. She has a very different way of seeing the world than Shinae and even much of us as readers. Shinae believes in working hard; Yui understands that privilege and connections are more powerful. Yui can see in Shinae the makings of a strong, powerful woman - but power doesn’t have to look one way. For Yui, power is controlling those around her, especially the ones who are meant to have power over her. In a world where men are the all-power, Yui feels powerful when she can manipulate and push them around.

But when she tells Shinae she doesn’t want her to make the “wrong choices” I believe her. It’s just... what does Yui consider to be the wrong choices? Much in the same way that so much of ILY changes based on whose perspective you view it through re: Nol and Kousuke, we the same of Shinae and Yui. Yui is a woman who knows how to make the world yield to you, how to get what you want out of it.

This is a whole other tangent, but because I’m trying to validate my Yui views lol, I believe this is part of what Yui has done with Meg and Alyssa. In fact, I feel like Yui has absolutely treated Meg and her obsession with Kousuke as a joke - what woman demeans herself in such a way for a man? It’s the complete opposite of Yui’s power. Men yield to HER, not the other way around. Is Alyssa a test of her will, to see how much she will bend before she can break? Does Yui hope to find a hidden spine in her, someone who will eventually push back? I think that’s why she has shifted to Shinae - she has the fight and the spirit that Yui wants to mold. Shinae is strong and faces her fears. But she also stands for the complete opposite of Yui, which makes her a fun challenge.

As Shinae moves into the light and leaves Yui to the shadows, Yui makes an attempt to pull her back into them. Or maybe, rather, she’s planted the seed? It’s an ominous moment, Yui’s certainty that there will be a time when Shinae will go running to her, will want her help, her step up in the world. But at this moment, Yui is unsuccessful. Though Shinae cannot renegotiate her contract like she wanted, she still makes the choice to deny Yui’s offering. She will continue her path in the light. She refuses to let Yui pull her down into her shadows.

As much as we view this story as a game of chess between the white and dark side, so much of it gets told through the shadows and the light. Who else spends his time illustrated in the shadows, existing outside of peoples’ view, wearing a mask out in the light? Nol is one of Yui’s prey - he’s learning how to stand on his own feet as himself, but so much of his imagery has been enshrouded in shadows, a victim of Yui for so long that he’s forgotten how to make his way out of the dark, until now.

Shinae has the ability to bring him out of the shadow, to give him the eventual courage to exist outside of the shadows, to allow himself to enjoy the light. Every time he turns away, he finds himself drawn back in. Every moment he’s angled himself away from her in effort to stay where he thinks he belongs, to skulk in the dark, he still ends up moving towards her.

And every time that Nol choose to go towards Shinae, he moves towards the light.

Like literally lol. In the pool, he basked there in the dark, willing to finally throw in the towel accept that peace, but because of Shinae, because of his penance, he chose to move towards the light once again. Maybe he thought it would be for the last time, but we’ve seen better.

Shinae guides him back out of the shadows.

And that brings us to my next post: how Shinae is the true adversary of Yui. 

Really, go read @denjidomination​’s post! It’s got me going off on a whole different tangent than I planned to this week, but I think I’ll be able to get to it before the next update. I’ve said for so long now that Shinae is very likely meant to help bridge Nol and Kousuke, but I think more than that, Shinae is the guiding light for them - that in very different ways, both Nol and Kousuke exist in the shadows and are imprisoned by their circumstances and experiences, and Shinae, I think, is the one who will be able to help them fight back against that darkness. I don’t mean this in a “She will save/fix them” kind of way as much as her presence in their lives, what she means to them, will help them to move from that which holds them down. 

But I have a headache so I have to work on that another time lol