asgardmeridiem | (OPEN!) ... Nc5xb3

Entry tags:

(OPEN!) ... Nc5xb3

Who: Hanako (

burntviolet) and YOU!
What: After this network post was made, three days passed indeed. There will be lots of chess playing and the general cute stuff that happens when a girl named Hanako is involved.
When: Day 80, from morning to late afternoon.
Where: Sigyn House's yard.
Rating: PG, just to be safe.
Note(s): It's not only about the chess itself, and you don't need to have commented to the network post if you want to play/chat with her. You could be a passer by and spot her, or watch the game as a third party, or just enjoy drinking tea with her. Anything goes!

Also, since I really can't chess for the life of me, it's ok if we keep the game vague with the moves and all that stuff. |Dc

[When Hisao went to pick Nashi up for the daily jogging session, Hanako took a shower, dressed herself casually, and prepared herself psychologically for what's to come shortly later.

And there she is, sitting by a round table in the garden, with her precious and finely carved chess set laying in front of her. The pieces are still inside, waiting to be used. She knows that people might have preferences with either black or white, so she's going to wait before setting them on the board.

She even thought of bringing a tray with a teapot, sugar, milk, and a small pile of beakers. If the guests will be more than one, it wouldn't be convenient to bring tea cups and wash them in-between encounters. She hopes they like black tea. And she also hopes they like those chocolate chip cookies that she's put on a plate next to the tea, as well.

It looks like she's trying to do her best to make her opponents feel comfortable.

So while she waits, you can find her leaning back on her chair, fingers entangled together nervously on her lap as she looks down at the chessboard. Are you the one who accepted her challenge? Are you just passing by? Whoever you are, come on and talk to her~]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"If I can say one thing for the rook, it's that being able to attack from the far side of the board can be a good surprise attack if your opponent's focus is elsewhere." Hisao said with a shrug.

"Good barriers for the king." Satella said thoughtfully. That was almost what they were, at least some of them anyways, the Pandora.

This game was proving to be more interesting and she was eager to learn more.

"I see, they are good units then."

"They're pretty decent." Hanako confirmed, before taking another of her pieces.

"This is a Bishop. They move exclusively in diagonal patterns, backwards and forward, and have no squares limit either, making them even better than the rooks for sneak attacks." She moved the piece around, to picture her point.

"The bishop is my favorite piece second only to the Queen." Hisao said, picking one up and doing the same as Hanako. "Something about those diagonal movements makes it so much more dynamic and versatile."

Satellizer looked interested, paying attention then looking back to the rook. After a few moments, she took into consideration the game table.

"Wouldn't that make them limited though? Judging from the game board, one is in each color, and if they can only move diagonally, that limits them to a single color the entire game..."

"It's true that they only have one color square the entire game. But it hardly matters, actually." Hanako explained. "Bishops are more flexible than rooks instead, I'd say."

"That's true, but then again there are a lot of opportunities to use that diagonal motion from the back of the board, and oftentimes, people don't think about the square color before moving a piece with a rigid moveset. Well, like the knight..."

He picked up a knight and moved it in it's characteristic L shape.

"That's how the Knight moves - You can see easily how if I move it here, it could be captured by a bishop placed here, or here, or here..."

He demonstrated each move in turn, three times attacking his own poor knight, and from places well away from where it had been placed to begin with.

"One should always keep the battlefield in mind, losing sight of where a unit is can be detrimental to the entire troop. That's the only reason I say limiting a unit to a single color isn't too versatile. But I suppose if people don't pay much attention to those in the game, then it would make them assassin class."

She eyed the knight with interest. "That's an odd movement, I can see that piece being all over the board providing cover and making traps."

Hanako looked at her, a little weirded out. "Uhm... well, it's still best not to treat this as a serious battlefield. There's quite a difference, being that military knowledge is not required to play this game." She'd rather not turn this into a discussion about things she... really didn't know about, and sound stupid when she was the one teaching about a board game. That'd make her more nervous.

"The Knight's moveset is odd, but it guarantees imprevedibility if the opponent doesn't pay attention to where it could land."

"Yeah, that added turn in their move makes them harder to predict than some of the other pieces, but they can still only move five squares." Hisao said, nodding. "That's why they aren't my favored piece."

Satellizer nodded and took note of the game board. There were now only two pieces left and she had heard both Hanako and Hisao make passing mentions of them during the conversation. So that meant that one was the queen, and the other the king.

"So the remaining pieces; are they the most important?" she asked curiously, judging from the names of the pieces.

"Pretty much. This piece here is the Queen." Hanako put her finger on top of the tallest one. "It's the most powerful of all, and can practically move in any way possible without limits. Horizontally and vertically like the rook, and diagonally like the bishop." She picked it up and made various patterns, exactly resembling an eight-way asterisk. "The more you manage to keep it in the game, the more chances you have to win."

"Yeah, the queen is pretty much the best piece in the whole game. If used correctly, she's untouchable. Almost any piece that moves into place to take her can usually be taken by her too, meaning the best tactics to take the queen involve multi-pronged offensives."

~~Stop making her think of the Queen as herself Hisao, adding 'Untouchable' to the context!~~

Satellizer seemed incredibly interest in the piece, paying extra attention to what both of them were saying and thinking up of different ways to use her on the table in conjunction with the other pieces.

"That's incredible, but... What of the King then? If the Queen's the most powerful piece..." Usually in movies and media, the King is the strongest, recalling the medieval times movies based on knights and kings and conquest.

"The King is quite the contrary. He's the weakest piece." Hanako declared, eventually. "He has the same moveset as the Queen, but he can only be moved one square per turn. The point of this game is, after all, to protect the King by using the other pieces."

~~Satella, I see you see what I did there.~~

"Yeah. The King's ability to either attack or escape is almost non-existant. The Queen covers him from close by, but once your queen is gone, you have to build a strong defense with your other pieces."

Satella thought for a few moments before tilting her head curiously.

"But if the point of the game is to protect the king, then the king is the initial target, wouldn't that make him the most important piece? Regardless of their strength?"

"It's the most important, but also the least piece you have to move, and therefore not as relevant. For most people, the importance of a piece depends on how much you can play with it. We rely on the other pieces to win, the King is just a goal I guess."

"Yeah, it's like the goal in Soccer, but you can shift it just a little bit." Hisao joked. "A soccer goal with a small army of goalies."

"I see."

There was more to the game than she had originally thought, but that made it more fun did it not?

She remained in thought for a few moments before nodding.

"I think I understand."

"This is all you need to know about this game." Hanako said finally. "If you have anymore questions, please ask... otherwise, we can start playing now."

Hisao just wanted to see if Satellizer had anything new to add to the list of questions.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

(OPEN!) ... Nc5xb3

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