I honestly had no idea I was such a chess geek, but ... isn't the queen supposed to go on her color when the board is set up? Seems to be opposite in the game above. Also, the Turk seems to be missing a pawn. Just after his first move (king's pawn to e4) there appear to be two empty spaces in his pawn row (in the inset showing his hand having just placed the piece. The missing pawn is visible in the POV panel in the bottom row though.)
Just out of curiousity, are you using an actual chess game as reference here? Nothing wrong with just making one up, but I'm curious. I'm loving the story so far, but I've always been a fan of the Turk ...
On June 9, 2008, Janer said:
Ah, Crap!
No, you're exactly right, and I'll have to fix that. Thanks so much for pointing it out; it's a serious error in a book about chess nerditry.
See, I had a bit of trouble with logistics when I was first getting the board drawn in. I wound up setting up my chessboard in my office and I thought I'd fixed all the errors, but I guess this one slipped by.
Yes, I am using a real game for this one (with a couple of changes made to drive the elements of story) but I'm not going to link to it until the game's over, otherwise I'll spoil the ending. If you're interested, a quick google search will turn it up.
Thanks again, Stew! Kisses to Leah and Patrick!
On June 9, 2008, Janer said:
There, all fixed. Thanks again, and if you see any other mistakes, for heaven's sake point them out. ;)
On September 11, 2008, Odd-rationale said:
Nice webcomics! I am really enjoying it.
I just thought I'd point out that the Algebraic Chess Notation (e4, Nf3, etc.) was probably not very popular at the time this story takes place.
Although the Algebraic Chess Notation is now the "standard" chess notation use in almost all chess tournments around the world, before the mid-1900's the most popular chess notation was the Descriptive Chess Notation (P-K4, N-KB3, etc.) - also known as the English Notation. The Descriptive Chess Notation was used in early chess literature, like Howard Staunton's "The Chess-Player's Handbook" in 1847.
Using this notation, they would have most likely said something like, "The automaton moved his pawn to King's forth." Or "Knight to King's Bishop three."
The Descriptive Chess Notation is no longer used much anymore, but in light of the historical nature of this account, I would think that this notation would be more nearly accurate.
In anycase, great webcomics! I can hardly wait for the next update!
Hey, that's really good to know, thanks for the information! I'll probably stick with the modern notation for the same reason that I updated the Regency-style chess pieces to look more like the commonly-recognized Staunton set -- it's not 100% historically accurate, but it is easier for readers to parse. I *will* probably make a footnote about this, though. Thanks!
I honestly had no idea I was such a chess geek, but ... isn't the queen supposed to go on her color when the board is set up? Seems to be opposite in the game above. Also, the Turk seems to be missing a pawn. Just after his first move (king's pawn to e4) there appear to be two empty spaces in his pawn row (in the inset showing his hand having just placed the piece. The missing pawn is visible in the POV panel in the bottom row though.)
Just out of curiousity, are you using an actual chess game as reference here? Nothing wrong with just making one up, but I'm curious. I'm loving the story so far, but I've always been a fan of the Turk ...
Ah, Crap!
No, you're exactly right, and I'll have to fix that. Thanks so much for pointing it out; it's a serious error in a book about chess nerditry.
See, I had a bit of trouble with logistics when I was first getting the board drawn in. I wound up setting up my chessboard in my office and I thought I'd fixed all the errors, but I guess this one slipped by.
Yes, I am using a real game for this one (with a couple of changes made to drive the elements of story) but I'm not going to link to it until the game's over, otherwise I'll spoil the ending. If you're interested, a quick google search will turn it up.
Thanks again, Stew! Kisses to Leah and Patrick!
There, all fixed. Thanks again, and if you see any other mistakes, for heaven's sake point them out. ;)
Nice webcomics! I am really enjoying it.
I just thought I'd point out that the Algebraic Chess Notation (e4, Nf3, etc.) was probably not very popular at the time this story takes place.
Although the Algebraic Chess Notation is now the "standard" chess notation use in almost all chess tournments around the world, before the mid-1900's the most popular chess notation was the Descriptive Chess Notation (P-K4, N-KB3, etc.) - also known as the English Notation. The Descriptive Chess Notation was used in early chess literature, like Howard Staunton's "The Chess-Player's Handbook" in 1847.
Using this notation, they would have most likely said something like, "The automaton moved his pawn to King's forth." Or "Knight to King's Bishop three."
The Descriptive Chess Notation is no longer used much anymore, but in light of the historical nature of this account, I would think that this notation would be more nearly accurate.
In anycase, great webcomics! I can hardly wait for the next update!
P.S. Wikipedia has a nice article on chess notation if you are interested:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_notation
Hey, that's really good to know, thanks for the information! I'll probably stick with the modern notation for the same reason that I updated the Regency-style chess pieces to look more like the commonly-recognized Staunton set -- it's not 100% historically accurate, but it is easier for readers to parse. I *will* probably make a footnote about this, though. Thanks!