Chess theory

Abstract: Teaching chess to students with learning disabilities has been shown to benefit their school performance in unrelated domains. At the same time, chess involves skills that are highly correlated with dyslexia, such as visuospatial and calculation abilities. In this paper, we created a online chess game designed for people with dyslexia and seek to understand whether people with dyslexia learn and play chess online in ways that differ from other students and whether such differences may be leveraged to improve classroom performance. To test how people with dyslexia learn to play chess we carried out a within-subject experiment with 62 participants, 31 of them with diagnosed dyslexia. Participants used an instrumented web-based chess learning platform that we developed to (i) complete lessons on how to play chess and about chess theory, (ii) work through exercises designed to test and reaffirm their skills, and (iii) play chess against a computer opponent. We could not find significant differences on four dependent measures out of the twelve measures we collected. Therefore, dyslexia might have an impact on how people learn and play chess using a computer, suggesting that chess may be useful as a fun way to help people with dyslexia improve their abilities.

Abstract: This paper proposes a method for tuning the weights of the evaluation function of a chess program whose search engine is based on evolutionary programming. In our proposed approach, each individual in the population of the evolutionary algorithm represents a virtual player with specific weights of its evaluation function. This differs from most of the previous approaches reported in the literature, in which normally a tournament between virtual players is held, and the final result (win, loss or draw) is used to decide which players will pass to the following generation. The selection mechanism of our proposed algorithm uses games from chess grandmasters to decide which virtual player will pass to the following generation. Our results indicate that the weight values obtained by our approach are similar to the values known from chess theory. Additionally, the standard deviation from the different runs performed, are lower than those reported by authors of previous related approaches.

Abstract: This paper aims to investigate the methodological framework in the communication sciences through a metadiscoursive approach. The approach focuses on the qualitative research methods, especially the new ethnography. We identify the advantages of using the autoethnographic method, the subjectivity and the alternative options, which turn around life, texts, game or authenticity. In a narrative manner, the approach brings forward our critical view on the academic life. The paper also takes over the task of answering some classical methodological objections that may be raised against this pedagogical and research approach. It is impossible not to evaluate. 1. Preamble. About chess openings and scientific research methods We would like to start with an analogy between the chess opening theory and the research methods in communication sciences. From the very beginning we have to mention that this analogy seems a powerful one to us. The powerful "pole" is represented by the chess opening research rather than the one in the communication methodology field. At present there are plenty of specialized books analyzing the starting movement of one opening. Thus, we may find books of hundreds of pages dealing only with certain openings such as: the Spanish opening, the queen's gambit accepted opening, etc. (if accent is laid on white) or the Sicilian defence, King Indian defence etc (if we want to highlight the movements of black) In chess theory the dogma according to which you have to occupy the centre with the pawns and the pieces is well known. This positional advantage may transform in a decisive one as the chess pieces placed in front of the table may reach the desired direction more easily: the king's side or the queen's side. Furthermore, the control of the centre by one of the parties restrains the possibilities of the other, who has to be satisfied with a more "peaceful" position. The opening laying the stress on control of the centre, with the very first movement (e.g. 1. e4 or 1. d4), may resemble the quantitative research methods. It is a well- known fact that the quantitative research methods follow measurements, statistics, and forecasts as exact as possible. As the openings counting on control of the centre fiercely dominate the researches in chess opening theory, the quantitative researches dominate the investigations in the field of communication sciences. Altogether with the hypermodern movement in chess, the centre control dogma was disputed. The main idea was in the first phase of the game one does not have to aim at occupying the centre with pawns or pieces, but to control the centre from the distance. Most of the times this happened either by flanking one or both bishops, or by

Abstract: Urban forms emerge from the interplay of social, economic, political and cultural forces, which are partly attributed to decision-making processes of urban planning and design. However, decision-making involves the everyday life of using and navigating in the built environment to the management of urban space. This paper seeks to understand the basic notion of how pedestrian movement is related to land use choices in the built form. The hypothesis is that movement itself involves a choice; that is, a decision-making of direction and destination, of passing through or of static behaviour. The density of movement flow is seen as a result of locations that potentially become attractors that have a rich distribution of land use. How we accommodate and modulate movement is thus important in helping us understand the multiple effects of everyday use that arises from decision-making processes and its subsequent effectuation in the configuration of urban space. Therefore, two key questions are addressed: first, how the types of movement choices influence and are influenced by the spatial layout; and second, how the distribution of land uses is affected by such choices. The paper uses Space Syntax and Game theory as a combination of theoretical frameworks that study independent and interdependent decision-making processes in urban space, to answer these questions. Taking the River Thames Path as an example, the research project focuses on the unconnected section of the river walk between London Bridge and Southwark Bridge. In analogy with a game of chess, the results demonstrate how different kinds of choices are ruled primarily by the location of commercial uses in the urban grid.