rhinoceros
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The Knight's Tour
« on: 2003-02-28 20:05:23 » |
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[rhinoceros]
Here is something to keep you busy during the weekend
http://www.chessbase.com/columns/column.asp?pid=163
In February 2003 a nine-year-old boy cause a minor sensation on German TV. It was on the show "Wetten dass..?", which translates approximately to "Want to bet..?" The format is that a series of candidates propose to be able to do impossible feats, live and in front of the camera. For instance uncork a bottle of wine using a corkscrew attached to the landing gear of a helicopter.
The boy on the show was Xaver Neuhäusler from the state of Bavaria, and the bet was that this young lad could complete a "knight's tour" of the chessboard, completely in his head, starting from any square on the board.
A "knight's tour" is a sequence of 64 knight moves executed in such a way that each square of the board is visited exactly once. Xaver was blindfolded and a starting square was called out to him. Without much ad the lad dictated a sequence of 64 squares that comprised a perfect knight tour.
The reaction to this feat in Germany was overwhelming. Newspapers were full of it, people discussed it on trains and busses, in offices and schools, and we received dozens of calls asking us to tell the story on our web site.
Well this is what we are doing. And it leads to a small dilemma. Should we not simply report the story, one that has produced such universal interest for a chess-related subject? Should we join the speculation that we might have encountered a future chess world champion, or at least been witness to an prodigious feat of pure genius? Or should one look deeper? Even if it detracts from a moment of glory for a nine-year-old child? Will anyone cheer if we shoot down a legend that has moved a nation? Our decision can be seen at the end of the article. But first let us take a look at the mechanics of the knight's tour.
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[rhinoceros]
If you want to know if you can do it, read the article to find out.
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