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George Duke wrote on Tue, Dec 16, 2008 06:12 PM UTC:
John Smith asks the puzzle, ''How many extra moves for a bare FIDE King...to balance a game?'' As he points out, 7 as (6+1) is plenty because on the first move Sayonara Black King. Now what about 4 as (3+1)? Of course, same thing on move two after e1-e5, sayonara, whatever Black chooses in one chance to respond. That eliminates 5 and 6 too of course, and only leaves 2 and 3. That means either one(1) or two(2) extra moves. Let's try two extra moves, and the opening is still the most likely venue to make the decision which balances best. Try White opening e1-e4. Now any one of rank 5 squares b5, c5, d5, e5, f5, g5 and h5 is checkmate. White cannot cover all of those in one move, and Black can reach any of them on move two. So, it is checkmate on White's second move. (If Black tries opening a square in front of King, Black just stays put (null move) or steps one.) That shows enhancement of 2 to 3 (as 2+1) is pretty unbalanced in favour of White, as they say, busted, cooked. Is enhancement of one only to (1+1) very balanced? Two-moving bare King as (1+1) is the best we can do in this game, and that is the answer with Smith's logical rules (13.Dec.08), but which way is it tilted now, for follow-up? Should Black win, as against Maharajah? Or should White with the powerful King?

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