Free Range by Bill Whitehead for October 02, 2023

Last “ditch” effort.

My dad hated losing. He was like Trump – he always won no matter what. When I checkmated him he tried to checkmate me on the next move and claim it was a tie. He refused to admit he lost.

makes castling a bit difficult

Agnes is going to play chess today, don’t give her any ideas.

Too absurd.

Well, since the King is in check, I think there is a problem? But, as he says, there isn’t a mote-rule, so, I think this will be a stalemate?

If he’s allowed to do that then it’s only fair that a couple of pawns be replaced with trebouchets.

Shouldn’t you do that to the castle?

Waterboarding.

If you castle, you’ll have to move the moat. And probably build a second one. Remember, for tournament play you’ll probably have to document every move (both players) and I don’t recall a universally approved entry for ‘moat’.

The Queen doesn’t need a moat – it’s the King who needs the most protection!

My response would be, “Fine. Then you can show me where it specifically says that a moat on the board somehow functions as a protective device.”