Related papers: When Rooks Miss: Probability through Chess
An $n$-queens configuration is a placement of $n$ mutually non-attacking queens on an $n\times n$ chessboard. The $n$-queens completion problem, introduced by Nauck in 1850, is to decide whether a given partial configuration can be…
We consider Chess played on an $m \times n$ board (with $m$ and $n$ arbitrary positive integers), with only the two kings and the white rook remaining, but placed at arbitrary positions. Using the symbolic finite state method, developed by…
The function that counts the number of ways to place nonattacking identical chess or fairy chess pieces in a rectangular strip of fixed height and variable width, as a function of the width, is a piecewise polynomial which is eventually a…
We generalize the recent results of Chaiken et al. to a rectangular $m\times n$ chessboard. An explicit formula for the number of nonattacking configurations of one-move riders on such a chessboard is calculated in two different ways, one…
We study optimal configurations of Queens on a square chessboard, defined as those covering the maximum number of squares. For a fixed number of Queens, $q$, we prove the existence of two thresholds in board size: a non-attacking threshold…
How many mutually non-attacking queens can be placed on a d-dimensional chessboard of size n? The n-queens problem in higher dimensions is a generalization of the well-known n-queens problem. We provide a comprehensive overview of…
In a classical chess round-robin tournament, each of $n$ players wins, draws, or loses a game against each of the other $n-1$ players. A win rewards a player with 1 points, a draw with 1/2 point, and a loss with 0 points. We are interested…
Number the cells of a (possibly infinite) chessboard in some way with the numbers 0, 1, 2, ... Consider the cells in order, placing a queen in a cell if and only if it would not attack any earlier queen. The problem is to determine the…
What would you do if you were invited to play a game where you were given \$25 and allowed to place bets for 30 minutes on a coin that you were told was biased to come up heads 60% of the time? This is exactly what we did, gathering 61…
Consider a coin tossing experiment which consists of tossing one of two coins at a time, according to a renewal process. The first coin is fair and the second has probability $1/2 + \theta$, $\theta \in [-1/2,1/2]$, $\theta$ unknown but…
The reader is reminded of several puzzles involving randomness. These may be ill-posed, and if well-posed there is sometimes a solution that uses probabilistic intuition in a special way. Various examples are presented including the well…
We introduce a two player game on an n x n chessboard where queens are placed by alternating turns on a chessboard square whose availability is determined by the number of queens already on the board which can attack that square modulo two.…
By means of the Ehrhart theory of inside-out polytopes we establish a general counting theory for nonattacking placements of chess pieces with unbounded straight-line moves, such as the queen, on a polygonal convex board. The number of ways…
It is well known that in games with imperfect information, such as poker, bluffing with some probability can be a component of the optimal strategy. However, as far as we know, nobody has ever exhibited a Scrabble position in which the…
The following problem is considered. Two players are each required to allocate a quota of~$n$ counters among~$k$ boxes labelled~$1,2,\ldots,k$. At times $t=1,2,3,\ldots$ a random box is identified; the probability of choosing box~$i$…
In this paper we give a formula for the probability that $n$ random points chosen under the uniform distribution in a disk are in convex position. While close, the formula is recursive and is totally explicit only for the first values of…
The Monty Hall puzzle has been solved and dissected in many ways, but always using probabilistic arguments, so it is considered a probability puzzle. In this paper the puzzle is set up as an orthodox statistical problem involving an unknown…
In a competitive sport, every little thing matters. Yet, many sports leave some large levers out of the reach of the teams, and in the hands of fate. In cricket, world's second most popular sport by some measures, one such lever---the…
We construct irreducible balanced non-transitive sets of $n$-sided dice for any positive integer $n$, which was raised in \cite[Question 5.2]{SS17}. One main tool of the construction is to study so-called fair sets of dice. Furthermore, we…
In the paper it is proven that the two-players turn-based stochastic game "Risk or Safety" has a unique solution. Both players need to play the same strategy if they want to maximize their winning chances. An analytical method based on the…