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Earth vs. Space Chess Match 2008 Earth Has Spoken - and it wasn't in French or Dutch!
Earth vs. Space Chess Match 2008 Earth Has Spoken - and it wasn't in French or Dutch! | Earth Has Spoken - and it wasn't in French or Dutch! |
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| By Hal Bogner, Match Director | |
| September 29, 2008 | |
Almost 700 people voted on the response to Astronaut Greg Chamitoff's 1.d4. The winning response with 39.4% of the vote was 1... Ng8-Nf6.  Greg Chamitoff vs. Earth (after 1...Nf6) With 34.6% of the vote was 1... d7-d5, which could have led to a Queen's Gambit, Queen's Gambit Declined, or simply a double queen pawn opening. At 15.4% was 1... e7-e6 (French Defense) and bringing up the rear with 10.5% of the vote was 1... f7-f5 (Dutch Defense). 1... Nf6 can lead to a number of different types of defenses, such as the King's Indian, Nimzo-Indian, or Queen's Indian Defenses. But it can also lead back toward the double queen pawn games, by transposition. Stevenson coach Harlan Lee tells us that the students tend to favor the classical patterns of the Queen's Gambit and double queen pawn games, but that the team was also comfortable with this as their own second choice. Like the voting public, the team had only a small amount of enthusiasm for the other alternatives, though each had its advocate. Our orbiting astronaut will respond with his second move either later today, or more likely, on Tuesday, and then the young champions from Stevenson Elementary School, in Bellevue, Washington, will select up to four responses for our next round of voting - by YOU! The next voting period will begin either late tonight or late Tuesday night, depending on how quickly Greg finds time to get back to us. Reminder: Don't miss a moment of this historic match - add our RSS feed to keep up with the latest developments, as articles and moves are posted here, and as voting periods occur. |
