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Chess’s New Best Player Is A Fearless, Swashbuckling Algorithm

Chess is an antique, about 1,500 years old, according to most historians. As a result, its evolution seems essentially complete, a hoary game now largely trudging along. That’s not to say that there haven’t been milestones. In medieval Europe, for example, they made the squares on the board alternate black and white. In the 15th […]

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Two Americans Are One Win From The World Chess Championship

The American men’s soccer team is missing out on next year’s World Cup, but members of a different U.S. national team will have a shot at international glory. The elite field for chess’s Candidates Tournament is now set, and two American grandmasters have qualified: Fabiano Caruana and Wesley So. The winner will go on to […]

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Two Americans Are One Win From The World Chess Championship

The American men’s soccer team is missing out on next year’s World Cup, but members of a different U.S. national team will have a shot at international glory. The elite field for chess’s Candidates Tournament is now set, and two American grandmasters have qualified: Fabiano Caruana and Wesley So. The winner will go on to […]

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Is Your D&D Character Rare?

Before a “Dungeons & Dragons” player joins a game, before she finds her first sword or slays her first gnoll, she must create a character who has a race and a class. Will she skulk in the shadows as a gnome rogue? Sally forth with her human paladin? Reave up and down the Sword Coast […]

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Can You Beat FiveThirtyEight’s NFL Predictions?

Can you outsmart our forecasts? Make your picks using the sliders below. Our NFL forecasts are based on a simple algorithm called Elo ratings, which use only a few pieces of information to rate each team and project each game. But beware: We’re asking you to make a probabilistic forecast for each matchup — and […]

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