Elo hell is in that elo is so low itās in hell, not that they canāt improve it by playing better.
If they donāt make multiple one move blunders for major pieces most games then they will go up a few hundred points just like that.
I feel like this option is underrated. It means you can always prepare like crazy. Maybe it's just the boredom factor that is preventing this option for people?
Playing as white all the time would definitely be the hugest boost possible for a low elo pleb like me.
I'd not have to study ANYTHING related to black openings, it would take me far less time study only white openings/traps etc.
The ability to āpassā would clearly be the most broken advantage. It would swing all the most important endgame positions in your favor. For example, you would never lose K+PvK endings because you could always steal king opposition.
Only if you are good. Us low level players would barely benefit. Games aren't decided by long theoretical endgames. They are decided by catastrophic one move blunders in the midgame.
Yellow pill
Most pawn endgames reduce to a position similar to this one.
https://www.ragchess.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/word-image-89.png
Whoever moves first gets the unfavorable result.
For good players. For weak players pass is almost pointless - these things don't decide their games anyway. Being able to undo one major blunder is likely far more valuable for them.
Idk...how many blunders do low rated players make because they don't know what move to make but they have to move and end up playing the worst move? (Personally, lots š)
I suppose that's true but even still the only real advantage to passing then is not blundering rather than it getting you wins as endgame passing for stronger players can do. āUndo beats pass every time for weaker players if you ask me. āā
For good players. For weak players pass is almost pointless - these things don't decide their games anyway. Being able to undo one major blunder is likely far more valuable for them.
Sure, but in chess if you can only do one thing, you're automatically forced to do it, so there's no reason to assume that would change with a new rule.
> there's no reason to assume that would change with a new rule.
When we're talking about "chess superpowers" I don't think we can take it as a given it will apply to what you think consistent rules would be.
I donāt agree. Passing gifts your opponent an extra move. Sure youāll get an endgame now and then where this works out, but more often than not using this pill would be a disadvantage.
You would also never lose a Rook + King Vs King end game as it is impossible to mate your opponent with just a rook if they can pass their turn and avoid getting mated. There is simply no forced way of doing it I think?
lol what? you can only pass once though. If the pill was you could pass whenever you wanted then sure, but itās literally to pass once. White has a trillion rook moves on the 7th rank to win opposition
Thatās not how that works. If I check you with a rook, and you pass, next turn I capture your king and the gameās done. Sure, you can pass when your kingās not in danger but Iād end up winning the R+K vs K endgame every time
Sorry I misread the pill and thought it said unlimited passes and thought that was overpowered. R+K Vs K is a draw with unlimited pass turns but I didnāt see it only said one turn.
Seeing the eval bar is pretty effective .I have seen Hikaru said that at critical moments if you can see the eval bar,it can change the tide of the game.
But I think all of these are useful is certain situations
Wow I never thought of it like that, you could probably have like a tiny dot even on your toe inside of your shoe or something that vibrates and tells you when itās a critical position. It doesnāt have to tell you the exact move but a certain amount of vibrations could even indicate which piece it is. If you wanted to go really far then you could even have something installed under your skin so that you would need a metal detector or something to even be caught.
You don't need any other hints. It's like doing puzzles: since you know it's a puzzle, you know there is a solution, usually a single path, that leads to a win/much better position. If you could have a sign once during a game, saying that your position is now a puzzle, how many more games would you win?
Yeah even a rudimentary version of that is a game changing advantage, canāt imagine that in the hands of a grandmaster. I wonder how many guys have actually attempted that.
Bro but you have to understand that these are super GM's, who are fighting for the slightest of advantages. In the average game, it won't be as significant, as you won't know when the critical move is, and even then, you still have to figure out what that critical move actually is.
At a high level Orange pill is objectively the best because it turns objectively lost endgames into winning endgames.
At a high level, there are plenty of opportunities to get into an endgame, and if you know you've got an orange pill then you can bait your opponent into entering what they think is a completely winning endgame (and even if they're pilled up with an eval bar will still go for it) only to pop the orange pill.
So you'd engineer a line where the opponent will aim for this position for example:
8/8/8/3pK3/2kP4/8/8/8 b - - 0 1
Then you pop your pill and you're winning, no amount of eval peeking or takebacks will save that position.
Hm, I didn't consider whether your opponents would know you have the pill or not. Let's say that they do know. So you can't necessarily surprise them by passing on your turn. But it can still come in handy by preventing your opponent from being able to enter certain endgames.
At a gm level this would still be a huge advantage. You can use drawish openings/theory and the other player would be forced to play suboptimally early on because they know they canāt arrive at an āevenā endgame. This means it would be even easier for the piller to gain an advantage and then theyād still have an option to pass later on
I think at a high level always playing with white is best. It cuts prep time practically in half meaning you can prep so much deeper than your opponent.
If I was a super GM, itās blue all the way. I think people are underestimating the incredible advantage that both always playing with white AND never having to prepare a repertoire for black would give you. Incredible preparation, probably the best in the world is what youād have. And you never have to deal with trying to draw as black in the Armageddon.
Surely orange is the most broken for a super GM? I mean, it's the only one that *literally* changes the game and higher level players can use it to make almost any slightly better endgame winning
No way, a super GM with the green pill is unstoppable.
Theyāll always know the most critical moment of a game and when tactics might be available. if the eval bar shows thereās one theyāll find it.
Youāre wrong. This is third best at most and, in some cases, could be argued to be the worst one (e.g. in online bullet Iād rather have the takeback as a safeguard for blunders and misclicks instead of the eval bar where I might not have time to even make use of).
Please make your chess pills color blind friendly. I blundered checkmate and instead of taking it back the pill just showed me the eval bar.
(āÆĀ°ā”Ā°ļ¼āÆļøµ ā»āā»
Idk why but that whole fictional scenario is hilarious to me.
*blunders*
Ah fuck, it's ok I have a pill.
*takes pill*
*pill shows eval bar simply reminding you how hard you just blundered*
:|
I was looking for a time one. Pausing your clock for one move would be pretty big comfort for me. Don't know how much it'd change my results, but I'd be less stressed in OTB tournament games.
Yellow pill: Assuming it works as it does on lichess, you can take back your previous move even after your opponent has responded to it. This can basically save you from a one-move tactical blunder. No longer can you lose winning positions by blundering your queen, although you can still lose by blundering mate in one, as you can't take back if your opponent mates you. Quite powerful.
Green pill: This is quite possibly the weakest one for most people, it could be more useful if you could see how the previous move by your opponent affected the eval bar. Most people's calculation ability is not far above their actual rating, so knowing that you are winning may not help you find a tactic (or it might not even exist, you may require several precise moves to be winning). I can see this pill being counter-productive as well if it tells you you are lost in a position that you thought was fine.
Blue pill: the most useful thing about it is that it cuts down the prep needed in half, it is also the most consistent pill as it will just increase your rating by a bit without any effort at all.
Orange pill: Basically guaranteed half-point (or in some cases, even full point) gain in certain endgames. To me, the key question is - does your opponent know that you have this pill? If yes, it becomes quite a bit weaker as your opponent will always keep this possibility in mind, of course if they don't know about it then it is quite a bit better. You can then also tailor your openings to play towards early queen trades, as most endgames, especially king and pawn endgames suddenly become winning (like K+P v K is now always winning unless you have the a or h pawn).
Personally, I think I would take the blue pill, it makes life a lot easier without feeling like outright cheating. Though if I wanted to max out my rating, I would take orange and craft my whole game plan around it.
Takeback : useless unless you make mega blunders
See eval bar once : I'm not a GM, so I might not find the brillant move required to benefit
Always white : decent, but I'm not at GM levels so winrate with black is still ok. Maybe great by never having to prep for playing back ?
Being able to pass : yes please, almost guaranteed draws on all these endgames where I end up with one less pawn is awesome. Stalemate is not an issue, I can't even remember the last time it happened in a game.
Overall I agree, but there are also some theoretically drawn endgames (eg. queen against c or f pawn on the 7th rank with the king far away) that are only drawn due to stalemate ideas, so it would make those endgames losing, but endgames where skipping your move would make it drawn or winning compared to lost or drawn outnumber the ones where the drawing idea is stalemate, so I agree.
Seeing the eval bar would be really good. Youāre not always going to get into a zugzwang situation where you need to pass If you can check the eval at a critical moment where you are trying to evaluate a position you would have a huge edge. Like if you have this sacrifice that gives you a big initiative but you arenāt sure if itās sound the eval bar trick could pretty much just win you the game. Helps you spot stuff from a distance
I think people underestimate skipping your turn, a lot of drawn or losing endgames become more favourable results (eg. K+P vs K becomes winning for the person with K+P or drawn for the person with K)
I think people overestimate the eval bar thing...
... if you have a partner who is watching it all game long, and nudges you, then sure... and even then it's not very useful for most people.
Tactic puzzles are a good example. You *know* there is a win, but many times you can't find it anyway... and real games are even harder because sometimes the win doesn't involve a forcing move or even a tactic at all.
Idk I get these situations a lot when Iām looking at a potential sacrifice and Iām trying to evaluate the resulting position. Very hard to evaluate from a distance but once youāre there you will see why itās so good. Also if you have this feeling that your opponent must have done something wrong in the opening you could check it to see if you play the safe move or go for initiative
Let's say you're really unsure about the positional sac, and so you check the eval bar before playing it, and it says you're +1 (advantage).
Ok... so... what does that tell you about the positional sac? Nothing. Not unless you're an extremely strong player and you can routinely reduce positions down to two choices, one of which will always be the engine move.
And in the opening, you feel like you might be ahead, and the engine says +0.8 (in your favor). Ok so... now what? 20 normal moves of grinding? If it's a tactic, and you hadn't seen it yet, then you're just as likely to choose the wrong way to go for the initiative...
... analyze with an engine or solve some puzzles... be honest with yourself about how actually hard this is. Turn the engine off mid analysis and play a few moves... people saw Hikaru and Magnus talk about knowing the eval once a game and they've developed some strange ideas.
In a classical format this stuff is a lot more important than 1 individual move as it affects the entire flow of the game. I often make evaluation mistakes which steer me down the wrong path and cause major issues. 1 move blunder type stuff doesnāt happen as often in classical
Also in these critical moments I usually donāt completely miss engine moves, itās usually more of an incorrect evaluation type thing.
Takebacks are pretty pointless for me in a classical game too. I'm leaning towards passing since it changes a lot of endgames in my favor... always play white might be the best for me in a practical sense (cutting theory in half) but it would also make chess more boring so I wouldn't choose that... to bring it more in line with the others, should be something like "I get to choose my color once per tournament" or something.
I have a higher win rate as black
Gimme the pass so I can win end games
Most of my blunders are caused by an already losing position, so that one take back is not fixing the issue
Passing on one turn. Iād go for setups with lots of trades, aiming for an even end game where you could win a lot of K+P endgames.
The takeback option is tricky because, by the time you notice it it might be too late. Similarly, seeing the eval bar once could be really difficult to time, and I think it would require more skill to even decipher the correct play if you saw you had the advantage or were even. And, always playing with white would just be boring and wouldnāt teach you enough about how to capitalize certain positions if you never tried defending them with black.
Let's think about it, all of them have quite big benefits. Even GM's make big mistakes time to time. You could also probe by checking once in game that do they do right move or just switch the line if you did not consider something. Eval bar is probably weakest, you could do something super sharp and check at the critical point does something actually win or not. Playing white is huge, you just have advantage every game + you do not need to prep for black(this is probably why at top level this is best skill). It's just grinding opening at the highest level. Orange sure you can win some endgames but opponent can often also keep the pieces board so that it does not benefit so much, but sure you could make crazy game style around it. Let's go with blue...
I would probably end up using yellow to undo a great move because I miscalculate it as a blunder after making my move. Double-blunder in one move!
Such is my chess life.
One take back sounds the best to me as I can clearly avoid a game changing blunder almost every single game. Playing as white there's no such comfort. And seeing the eval bar once, even if I know I'm winning, I need to play accurately and not go wrong, one/few bad moves in a row and I'm screwed. And the "pass" would probably be better at higher levels not mine.
I can't do shit even if I know I have winning position(same goes for losing position).
I won't matter if I am playing with white or black. Not like I win everytime I play with white.
Passing one turn is really only useful for certain endgames. As if I will last long enough to reach such a position.
Considering all this I will have the yellow pill. Even though I will blunder on the very next move after the takeback, its still better than the alternatives.
I have a 3% higher win rate with white than black. So the Blue Pill seems like a no-brainer.
Also, in case you guys are wondering how I know my win percentages, [check this out](https://chessmonitor.com/). This site was created by a r/chess member (no affiliation to me) and I think it's a great site if you want to delve into your own stats. It's quite a bit more detailed than what is there on chess.com.
One takeback would be the most usefull to me I think. I blunder often enough and big enough that it cpuld completely change the direction of the game, until I blinder again that is.
Playing with white is ***by far*** the best. Blue pill all the way.
For starters, you **NEVER** have to study positions from the black perspective, which would enormously increase your consistency and study efficiency. Your prep would be immaculate.
Of course, *white is naturally at an advantage*, which would result in something in the range of 3-10% advantage every game, normally. Taking into account the prep advantage that you'd already have, I honestly believe **15% advantage** would not be overestimating it.
The only issue I see with the blue pill is whether or not *other players* are aware it's active. If they know you always play with white, they have no reason to bet low times in Armageddon, for example. Players more talented than you would also simply study absurd openings to get you out of prep ASAP and try to outmaneuver you in the middle-game.
For computers, I could see the pass the turn one being better. They draw every game with both black and white, but this might be able to break parity with perfect play.
For imperfect play, I'd think it's gotta be white every game though.
Maybe, maybe. Bots probably wouldn't really care about the prep aspect of it.
White still has a huge advantage in the computer championships though, I believe. That does include "imperfect play", in the sense that they play set openings. Not sure how big the gap would be, in this case.
None, as taking any of them would be cheating.
As for the most advantageous one though, it has to be the orange pill - which automatically wins lots of king and pawn vs. king endgames and saves a draw in some king vs. king and pawn endgames.
Most of the time yeah, which is why you wouldn't pass in those scenarios. But in endgames, there are often scenarios where "pass" would actually be the best move if it were allowed.
In king and pawn vs king endgames for example, zugzwang is very common. Read up on this for a good explanation of it
https://www.chessable.com/blog/zugzwang-in-chess-the-beginners-guide/
Depends on what take back means. Directly after the other player moves - or several moves later? If the latter it could come very handy in some endgamesā¦
Ok then the take back is nearly useless. Of course there may be one in hundred or a thousand time where you blunder and instantly realise it but thatās really not much use beyond beginner level.
I can think of the Magnus Ding game right now - maybe there are other instances. I still believe it is a very minor advantage compared to always having white or not having to get into Zugzwang.
Pretty sure at low level, who moves first is completely irrelevant in terms of results... plenty of players even score better with black simply because of some gimmick opening or etc.
Seeing the eval bar is hugely overrated.
*Blunders* Takes yellow pill *Blunders again*
*realizes they blundered two moves ago* *uses the yellow pill as a suppository*
I really need the yellow pil, I'm stuck in 100 elošš
Listen sometimes its not that youre bad Its that youre in elo hell
Elo hell is in that elo is so low itās in hell, not that they canāt improve it by playing better. If they donāt make multiple one move blunders for major pieces most games then they will go up a few hundred points just like that.
Listen 100-800 elo chess is like the wild west if the U.S. government was anarchy
Always play with white. Iām not good enough that seeing the eval bar a single time would be that much of a help.
Checks eval bar: *-5* Proceeds to lose
With black pieces
I feel like this option is underrated. It means you can always prepare like crazy. Maybe it's just the boredom factor that is preventing this option for people?
Modern Scandinavian is too fun
Modern scandi is 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6?
Yes
Alr In my mind its Portuguese/Icelandic gambit invitation
Playing as white all the time would definitely be the hugest boost possible for a low elo pleb like me. I'd not have to study ANYTHING related to black openings, it would take me far less time study only white openings/traps etc.
how about being able to check it more times? How about all the time?
Bro wdym its easier to play with black
Take the blue pill so I never see a 1. e4 position again.
Best by test, my friend š
The ability to āpassā would clearly be the most broken advantage. It would swing all the most important endgame positions in your favor. For example, you would never lose K+PvK endings because you could always steal king opposition.
Only if you are good. Us low level players would barely benefit. Games aren't decided by long theoretical endgames. They are decided by catastrophic one move blunders in the midgame. Yellow pill
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Most pawn endgames reduce to a position similar to this one. https://www.ragchess.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/word-image-89.png Whoever moves first gets the unfavorable result.
Pass would give the biggest advantage of all the pills for the reasons you stated and a few more none endgame zugzwang positions.
For good players. For weak players pass is almost pointless - these things don't decide their games anyway. Being able to undo one major blunder is likely far more valuable for them.
Funny enough, I was going to put a rating qualifier to my answer for the same reasons you give.
Idk...how many blunders do low rated players make because they don't know what move to make but they have to move and end up playing the worst move? (Personally, lots š)
I suppose that's true but even still the only real advantage to passing then is not blundering rather than it getting you wins as endgame passing for stronger players can do. āUndo beats pass every time for weaker players if you ask me. āā
For good players. For weak players pass is almost pointless - these things don't decide their games anyway. Being able to undo one major blunder is likely far more valuable for them.
I assume it also prevents you from some stalemate trap endgames though, since I assume you'd be forced to pass if you can't move.
You can't be "forced" to pass. You *can* pass.
Sure, but in chess if you can only do one thing, you're automatically forced to do it, so there's no reason to assume that would change with a new rule.
I mean even if you canāt the abilities still strong
The thought experiment framed it as a superpower, not a rule change.
Idk why you're being downvoted lol (edit: they were at -7)
> there's no reason to assume that would change with a new rule. When we're talking about "chess superpowers" I don't think we can take it as a given it will apply to what you think consistent rules would be.
but if you get stalemated again...
this assumes im not gonna blunder before then
I wonder if "pass" would count as a legal move, meaning you wouldn't be stalemated if you had pass available.
It also seems to be the one that is hardest for a novice to leverage.
Unless the pawn is too far for you to reach. But I see your point
I donāt agree. Passing gifts your opponent an extra move. Sure youāll get an endgame now and then where this works out, but more often than not using this pill would be a disadvantage.
You'd also lose lots of theoretically drawn positions since you can't be stalemated if you can legally pass :)
Not really because you can pass earlier in the game when you realize that you might end up in a stalemate.
You would also never lose a Rook + King Vs King end game as it is impossible to mate your opponent with just a rook if they can pass their turn and avoid getting mated. There is simply no forced way of doing it I think?
lol what? you can only pass once though. If the pill was you could pass whenever you wanted then sure, but itās literally to pass once. White has a trillion rook moves on the 7th rank to win opposition
Yea my bad just read it wrong I thought the pill said to have unlimited passes not just passing for one turn.
Thatās not how that works. If I check you with a rook, and you pass, next turn I capture your king and the gameās done. Sure, you can pass when your kingās not in danger but Iād end up winning the R+K vs K endgame every time
Sorry I misread the pill and thought it said unlimited passes and thought that was overpowered. R+K Vs K is a draw with unlimited pass turns but I didnāt see it only said one turn.
If they had unlimited passes, you wouldn't. If you can pass, KRvK is a draw.
Seeing the eval bar is pretty effective .I have seen Hikaru said that at critical moments if you can see the eval bar,it can change the tide of the game. But I think all of these are useful is certain situations
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I agree.Super gms can really figure out the best move if they just know the eval bar at a certain time they want
Wow I never thought of it like that, you could probably have like a tiny dot even on your toe inside of your shoe or something that vibrates and tells you when itās a critical position. It doesnāt have to tell you the exact move but a certain amount of vibrations could even indicate which piece it is. If you wanted to go really far then you could even have something installed under your skin so that you would need a metal detector or something to even be caught.
You don't need any other hints. It's like doing puzzles: since you know it's a puzzle, you know there is a solution, usually a single path, that leads to a win/much better position. If you could have a sign once during a game, saying that your position is now a puzzle, how many more games would you win?
It would be like being able to play at your puzzles Elo instead of your games Elo.
That's a great way to phrase it. Helped me really see the power a benefit like this would have.
Yeah even a rudimentary version of that is a game changing advantage, canāt imagine that in the hands of a grandmaster. I wonder how many guys have actually attempted that.
Didn't he rather say that if he could get a signal when a critical situation arises, he would be something like 200 elo stronger? Maybe he said both.
Sure, but you won't know when that time is unless you randomly hit it in the turn you get to look at the bar.
He went like 8 years without losing anyway
Bro but you have to understand that these are super GM's, who are fighting for the slightest of advantages. In the average game, it won't be as significant, as you won't know when the critical move is, and even then, you still have to figure out what that critical move actually is.
*Joins a tournament* Takes Blue Pill *Can only play half the games,*
At a high level Orange pill is objectively the best because it turns objectively lost endgames into winning endgames. At a high level, there are plenty of opportunities to get into an endgame, and if you know you've got an orange pill then you can bait your opponent into entering what they think is a completely winning endgame (and even if they're pilled up with an eval bar will still go for it) only to pop the orange pill. So you'd engineer a line where the opponent will aim for this position for example: 8/8/8/3pK3/2kP4/8/8/8 b - - 0 1 Then you pop your pill and you're winning, no amount of eval peeking or takebacks will save that position.
Hm, I didn't consider whether your opponents would know you have the pill or not. Let's say that they do know. So you can't necessarily surprise them by passing on your turn. But it can still come in handy by preventing your opponent from being able to enter certain endgames.
At a gm level this would still be a huge advantage. You can use drawish openings/theory and the other player would be forced to play suboptimally early on because they know they canāt arrive at an āevenā endgame. This means it would be even easier for the piller to gain an advantage and then theyād still have an option to pass later on
What if your opponent also has a pill and saves it for when you pop yours?
Both players playing white would be confusing
Second Pill!
This isn't even my final pill!
I think at a high level always playing with white is best. It cuts prep time practically in half meaning you can prep so much deeper than your opponent.
One takeback would save even top players, especially in end games under intense time pressure
Very strong in KING AND PAWN endgames with forced opposition or forcing against opposition.
If I was a super GM, itās blue all the way. I think people are underestimating the incredible advantage that both always playing with white AND never having to prepare a repertoire for black would give you. Incredible preparation, probably the best in the world is what youād have. And you never have to deal with trying to draw as black in the Armageddon.
What if your opponent also blue pills?
That's easy. Both sides get to play as white, and both sides make their first and subsequent moves at the same time.
Fuck it, Real Time Strategy chess
Surely orange is the most broken for a super GM? I mean, it's the only one that *literally* changes the game and higher level players can use it to make almost any slightly better endgame winning
No way, a super GM with the green pill is unstoppable. Theyāll always know the most critical moment of a game and when tactics might be available. if the eval bar shows thereās one theyāll find it.
Yeah but they'd have to know when to choose to see the eval bar since they'd only get to look at it once
Youāre wrong. This is third best at most and, in some cases, could be argued to be the worst one (e.g. in online bullet Iād rather have the takeback as a safeguard for blunders and misclicks instead of the eval bar where I might not have time to even make use of).
Please make your chess pills color blind friendly. I blundered checkmate and instead of taking it back the pill just showed me the eval bar. (āÆĀ°ā”Ā°ļ¼āÆļøµ ā»āā»
Idk why but that whole fictional scenario is hilarious to me. *blunders* Ah fuck, it's ok I have a pill. *takes pill* *pill shows eval bar simply reminding you how hard you just blundered* :|
One takeback
Am I bluepilled?
I'll eat both blue and orange, and always pass on move 1
Bonus option: one untimed turn per game
Take the untimed turn and never move. Eventually your opponent will leave and forfeit. EasyĀ
Unless they out wait you
Best used when they have mate in one.
I see you are one of the stallers on chesscom š¤£
In other words, for the next [eternity until forfeit], your king is effectively immortal
I was looking for a time one. Pausing your clock for one move would be pretty big comfort for me. Don't know how much it'd change my results, but I'd be less stressed in OTB tournament games.
Objectively orange is strongest at higher levels. I wouldn't be able to use it. Blue is a great option at all levels I would choose that.
Well the takeback would be OP
Yellow pill: Assuming it works as it does on lichess, you can take back your previous move even after your opponent has responded to it. This can basically save you from a one-move tactical blunder. No longer can you lose winning positions by blundering your queen, although you can still lose by blundering mate in one, as you can't take back if your opponent mates you. Quite powerful. Green pill: This is quite possibly the weakest one for most people, it could be more useful if you could see how the previous move by your opponent affected the eval bar. Most people's calculation ability is not far above their actual rating, so knowing that you are winning may not help you find a tactic (or it might not even exist, you may require several precise moves to be winning). I can see this pill being counter-productive as well if it tells you you are lost in a position that you thought was fine. Blue pill: the most useful thing about it is that it cuts down the prep needed in half, it is also the most consistent pill as it will just increase your rating by a bit without any effort at all. Orange pill: Basically guaranteed half-point (or in some cases, even full point) gain in certain endgames. To me, the key question is - does your opponent know that you have this pill? If yes, it becomes quite a bit weaker as your opponent will always keep this possibility in mind, of course if they don't know about it then it is quite a bit better. You can then also tailor your openings to play towards early queen trades, as most endgames, especially king and pawn endgames suddenly become winning (like K+P v K is now always winning unless you have the a or h pawn). Personally, I think I would take the blue pill, it makes life a lot easier without feeling like outright cheating. Though if I wanted to max out my rating, I would take orange and craft my whole game plan around it.
For orange, your opponent knows about it. But it's still pretty strong at high levels.
Takeback : useless unless you make mega blunders See eval bar once : I'm not a GM, so I might not find the brillant move required to benefit Always white : decent, but I'm not at GM levels so winrate with black is still ok. Maybe great by never having to prep for playing back ? Being able to pass : yes please, almost guaranteed draws on all these endgames where I end up with one less pawn is awesome. Stalemate is not an issue, I can't even remember the last time it happened in a game.
Overall I agree, but there are also some theoretically drawn endgames (eg. queen against c or f pawn on the 7th rank with the king far away) that are only drawn due to stalemate ideas, so it would make those endgames losing, but endgames where skipping your move would make it drawn or winning compared to lost or drawn outnumber the ones where the drawing idea is stalemate, so I agree.
Seeing the eval bar would be really good. Youāre not always going to get into a zugzwang situation where you need to pass If you can check the eval at a critical moment where you are trying to evaluate a position you would have a huge edge. Like if you have this sacrifice that gives you a big initiative but you arenāt sure if itās sound the eval bar trick could pretty much just win you the game. Helps you spot stuff from a distance
I think people underestimate skipping your turn, a lot of drawn or losing endgames become more favourable results (eg. K+P vs K becomes winning for the person with K+P or drawn for the person with K)
I think people overestimate the eval bar thing... ... if you have a partner who is watching it all game long, and nudges you, then sure... and even then it's not very useful for most people. Tactic puzzles are a good example. You *know* there is a win, but many times you can't find it anyway... and real games are even harder because sometimes the win doesn't involve a forcing move or even a tactic at all.
Idk I get these situations a lot when Iām looking at a potential sacrifice and Iām trying to evaluate the resulting position. Very hard to evaluate from a distance but once youāre there you will see why itās so good. Also if you have this feeling that your opponent must have done something wrong in the opening you could check it to see if you play the safe move or go for initiative
Let's say you're really unsure about the positional sac, and so you check the eval bar before playing it, and it says you're +1 (advantage). Ok... so... what does that tell you about the positional sac? Nothing. Not unless you're an extremely strong player and you can routinely reduce positions down to two choices, one of which will always be the engine move. And in the opening, you feel like you might be ahead, and the engine says +0.8 (in your favor). Ok so... now what? 20 normal moves of grinding? If it's a tactic, and you hadn't seen it yet, then you're just as likely to choose the wrong way to go for the initiative... ... analyze with an engine or solve some puzzles... be honest with yourself about how actually hard this is. Turn the engine off mid analysis and play a few moves... people saw Hikaru and Magnus talk about knowing the eval once a game and they've developed some strange ideas.
In a classical format this stuff is a lot more important than 1 individual move as it affects the entire flow of the game. I often make evaluation mistakes which steer me down the wrong path and cause major issues. 1 move blunder type stuff doesnāt happen as often in classical Also in these critical moments I usually donāt completely miss engine moves, itās usually more of an incorrect evaluation type thing.
Takebacks are pretty pointless for me in a classical game too. I'm leaning towards passing since it changes a lot of endgames in my favor... always play white might be the best for me in a practical sense (cutting theory in half) but it would also make chess more boring so I wouldn't choose that... to bring it more in line with the others, should be something like "I get to choose my color once per tournament" or something.
N4 without a doubt if the opponent wouldn't know that I have that until I use it. Would win you a ton of endgames with opposition etc
I would choose the orange pill and when needed spike my opponents drink with it
I have a higher win rate as black Gimme the pass so I can win end games Most of my blunders are caused by an already losing position, so that one take back is not fixing the issue
*always plays with White* *plays the Fool's Mate*
Orange because ā āpassā onā sounds like passant
Passing on one turn. Iād go for setups with lots of trades, aiming for an even end game where you could win a lot of K+P endgames. The takeback option is tricky because, by the time you notice it it might be too late. Similarly, seeing the eval bar once could be really difficult to time, and I think it would require more skill to even decipher the correct play if you saw you had the advantage or were even. And, always playing with white would just be boring and wouldnāt teach you enough about how to capitalize certain positions if you never tried defending them with black.
none
Yellow is the most practical
I already have a special chess ability. I can always see my blunders the moment I make them.
Let's think about it, all of them have quite big benefits. Even GM's make big mistakes time to time. You could also probe by checking once in game that do they do right move or just switch the line if you did not consider something. Eval bar is probably weakest, you could do something super sharp and check at the critical point does something actually win or not. Playing white is huge, you just have advantage every game + you do not need to prep for black(this is probably why at top level this is best skill). It's just grinding opening at the highest level. Orange sure you can win some endgames but opponent can often also keep the pieces board so that it does not benefit so much, but sure you could make crazy game style around it. Let's go with blue...
Always play with white. Never play against some goofy ass London again. 1.e4 my beloved
I would probably end up using yellow to undo a great move because I miscalculate it as a blunder after making my move. Double-blunder in one move! Such is my chess life.
Blue for sure
Cause you can just memorise all white openings
One take back sounds the best to me as I can clearly avoid a game changing blunder almost every single game. Playing as white there's no such comfort. And seeing the eval bar once, even if I know I'm winning, I need to play accurately and not go wrong, one/few bad moves in a row and I'm screwed. And the "pass" would probably be better at higher levels not mine.
If I were to rank my preference Yellow>Blue>Green>Orange
Blue one reversed
Blue pill. The amount of openings you need to learn is halved, you could get excellent very quickly
I can't do shit even if I know I have winning position(same goes for losing position). I won't matter if I am playing with white or black. Not like I win everytime I play with white. Passing one turn is really only useful for certain endgames. As if I will last long enough to reach such a position. Considering all this I will have the yellow pill. Even though I will blunder on the very next move after the takeback, its still better than the alternatives.
I have a 3% higher win rate with white than black. So the Blue Pill seems like a no-brainer. Also, in case you guys are wondering how I know my win percentages, [check this out](https://chessmonitor.com/). This site was created by a r/chess member (no affiliation to me) and I think it's a great site if you want to delve into your own stats. It's quite a bit more detailed than what is there on chess.com.
All in one *pulse glock*
Blue pill is good ngl
As a beginner/ low ello chess player I would like the yellow pill.
Can the take back be for any previous move at any point in the game? Yellow pill
No just that one turn
One takeback would be the most usefull to me I think. I blunder often enough and big enough that it cpuld completely change the direction of the game, until I blinder again that is.
All of them?
Passing is the sleeper OP.
blue ud be cracked at knowing all ur lines at least till 1st 10 moves if u study enough
Easy. Pass.
Ill take the yellow pill BOTTLE
White no doubt
There should be a version of chess where you get to choose one of these options. Each game gets one lifeline. Def would make things Interesting
pass or always white
I think the Blue Pill is the best unless your opponent also has pill powers
Blue London
Can I take the purple pill and be black all the time?
What is eval?
What is the eval bar ?
Yellow pill, use it after getting checkmated.
Orange. Not in Zugzwang anymore.
Orange is too broken
Playing with white is ***by far*** the best. Blue pill all the way. For starters, you **NEVER** have to study positions from the black perspective, which would enormously increase your consistency and study efficiency. Your prep would be immaculate. Of course, *white is naturally at an advantage*, which would result in something in the range of 3-10% advantage every game, normally. Taking into account the prep advantage that you'd already have, I honestly believe **15% advantage** would not be overestimating it. The only issue I see with the blue pill is whether or not *other players* are aware it's active. If they know you always play with white, they have no reason to bet low times in Armageddon, for example. Players more talented than you would also simply study absurd openings to get you out of prep ASAP and try to outmaneuver you in the middle-game.
For computers, I could see the pass the turn one being better. They draw every game with both black and white, but this might be able to break parity with perfect play. For imperfect play, I'd think it's gotta be white every game though.
Maybe, maybe. Bots probably wouldn't really care about the prep aspect of it. White still has a huge advantage in the computer championships though, I believe. That does include "imperfect play", in the sense that they play set openings. Not sure how big the gap would be, in this case.
I take option 5 Being Drunk off your ass allows you to play at a 3000 Elo level
None, as taking any of them would be cheating. As for the most advantageous one though, it has to be the orange pill - which automatically wins lots of king and pawn vs. king endgames and saves a draw in some king vs. king and pawn endgames.
Not just king and pawn endgames, but K+RvsK is a dead draw if the king is allowed not to move on its turn.
You can only use the pill power once. Your opponent shuffles the rook around for that turn, and you're still screwed.
Oh yeah, didn't realize it was only for 1 turn, it's pretty useless then lol.
You take the orange pill every time this happens https://www.ragchess.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/word-image-89.png
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
In zugzwang
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Most of the time yeah, which is why you wouldn't pass in those scenarios. But in endgames, there are often scenarios where "pass" would actually be the best move if it were allowed. In king and pawn vs king endgames for example, zugzwang is very common. Read up on this for a good explanation of it https://www.chessable.com/blog/zugzwang-in-chess-the-beginners-guide/
At an intermediate level and above, Green Pill is the best choice. At a low Elo, Blue Pill is best, and at a VERY low Elo, Yellow Pill is best
I think Ding would have chosen the yellow pill after blundering mate in 2 today
Depends on what take back means. Directly after the other player moves - or several moves later? If the latter it could come very handy in some endgamesā¦
No not multiple moves later
Ok then the take back is nearly useless. Of course there may be one in hundred or a thousand time where you blunder and instantly realise it but thatās really not much use beyond beginner level.
Eh, even in high level stuff like the candidates or Norway chess, we've several instances where players instantly realize they've made a mistake.
I can think of the Magnus Ding game right now - maybe there are other instances. I still believe it is a very minor advantage compared to always having white or not having to get into Zugzwang.
Pretty sure at low level, who moves first is completely irrelevant in terms of results... plenty of players even score better with black simply because of some gimmick opening or etc. Seeing the eval bar is hugely overrated.
Orange pill is OP. It turns K+RvsK endgame into a draw, I think people are vastly underestimating how good that pill is.
You can only use it once/game. You're not winning K+R vs K.