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Jerry Mayor of Smellville
One day Jerry Mayor from Smelliville was visiting the neighbouring country of Madadia and was sitting in the Penistone mainline railway station. He was sitting very uncomfortably in the waiting room and was staring intently at two doors that were at the opposite end of the room. Jerry Mayor was not a happy man at that point. In fact he was in dire distress. He then noticed a young man enter one of the doors. Instantly Jerry, with a great smile, followed the young man through the door and after a few moments he returned with an even bigger smile on his face.
Why would Jerry Mayor be so happy after following a young man through the door?
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White to Play
Our third example of nice attacks out of the c3 Sicilian in the 1.e4 c5 2.c3 Nf6 line is from Stripunsky-Vigorito, New Hampshire, 2000. Alex has been a popular grandmaster in NJ and a fine chess teacher as well.
View solutionA Great King
Five hundred begins it, five hundred ends it,
Five in the middle is seen;
First of all letters, the first of all figures,
Take up their stations between.
Join all together, and then you will bring
Before you the name of an eminent king.
Hint: Bible Verses readers will love this riddle.
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Can you decipher this phrase:
friends
standing
miss
friends

White to Play
We're looking at c3 Sicilian positions. When things go right, White gets wonderful attacking positions like this one. This position is taken from a great new book of 2020 (!) miniature games by Carsten Hansen. If you like short games to play over here are over 2000 of them! Miniatures are like a chess dessert: small but delicious and brings a ...
View solutionDogs
There are two dogs, a black one and a white one. One is male. What is the probability they are both male?
View full teaser and answerAcquainted
You and your spouse invite four other couples to a party. During the course of the conversation, it is discovered that, prior to the party, each person except you was acquainted with a different number of the people present. Assuming the acquaintance relationship is symmetric (i.e., if you are acquainted with someone, that person is also acquainted with you), then how many people did your spouse know prior to the party? How many people did you know?
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White to Play
For the next few weeks, we’re going to look at a line against the dreaded Sicilian Defense that is good for amateurs to use. It’s fairly straightforward and allows for lively play. It’s called the c3 Sicilian, and its goal is to get a strong center presence with opportunities for attack. You’ll see some samples this week of the “Nf6”...
View solutionThree Creatures
There were three creatures outside a building. One of the creatures did not move itself but entered the building and knew that it was in the building. The second creature moved itself, entered the building, and knew that it was in the building. The last creature did not move itself but entered the building, and the creature did not know that it was in the building. What are the three creatures?
View full teaser and answerWorld Series Gamble
The winner of the World Series is the first team to win four games, so the maximum number of games that could be played is 7. You want to place a $100 bet (even money) on your team to win the whole series. A bookie says he will not take bets on the whole series, but would be willing to let you bet on each individual game. Is there a betting strategy you could put in place to replicate your $100 bet?
View full teaser and answerFred and Ethel
Fred and Ethel go to the golf course. They meet 3 other couples there, and everybody gets introduced. After introductions, Fred asks everyone how many hands they shook. He gets seven different answers. Presume that no one shook their partner's hand
How many hands did Ethel shake?
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White to Play
We are going to look at a Smyslov composition because a great new book has come out: "The Life and Games of Vasily Smyslov, Volume 1" by Andrev Terekhov (Russell Enterprises, Inc.) Deeply annotated games and a detailed history of the champions life, and, indeed, Soviet chess life, make this a remarkably interesting book. What’s fascinating ...
View solutionEven So
What's the secret to the sequence? What's the next number?
4, 5, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14...
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White to Play
We are looking at some early Smyslov games this week because a great new book has come out: "The Life and Games of Vasily Smyslov, Volume 1" by Andrev Terekhov (Russell Enterprises, Inc.) Deeply annotated games and a detailed history of the champions life, and, indeed, Soviet chess life, make this a remarkably interesting book.
View solutionLost City of Kebabylon
Once again, Madadia's insipid explorer, Wigan Smith is on the trail of lost treasure. He has come across a map showing that somewhere in the middle of the Chillivalley desert, there is the lost city of "Kebabylon". To reach it, he will have to travel overland by foot from the coast. On a trek like this, each person who goes on the journey can only carry enough rations for one person for five days and the farthest Wigan Smith and his group can travel in one day is 30 miles. Also, "Kebabylon" is 120 miles from the starting point.
What Wigan Smith is trying to figure out is the fewest number of persons, including himself, that he will need in his group so that he can reach the "Kebabylon", ...
View full teaser and answerToday or Tomorrow
When the day before yesterday was referred to as the day after tomorrow, the day that was then called yesterday was as far away from the day we now call tomorrow as yesterday is from the day which we shall now be able to speak of last Monday as a week ago yesterday. What day is it?
View full teaser and answerChess Board
You have a 5 x 5 chess board. You must place 5 queens so that you can place three pawns on the board and they will not be taken.
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Black to Play
This position arose with Smyslov to play against Bronstein at Groningen, 1946.What is the best way for Black to win here, which Black, btw, missed! Time to do better than the late world champion.
View solutionSatellite Depression
What expression is represented below?
depressed 111111 satellite
View full teaser and answerMovie Star
Name the famous movie star from the rebus below.
Srintn
Hint: Not all movie stars are human!
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