In most two-player games, it is generally better to win the toss and go first. And if you are sharing a pizza with someone and want to have a larger portion, it’s usually better to grab the first ...

Most games that pit two players or teams against each other require one of them to make the first play. This results in a built-in asymmetry, and the question arises: Should you go first or second?

One of the most paradoxical and powerful ideas in chess is Zugzwang. This term of German origin literally means "compulsion to move", where Zug means 'move' and Zwang means 'compulsion' It describes a ...

RB This looks lost for White, but maybe there's a stalemate. Let's get rid of the pawns first: 1 f7+ Kxf7 2 h7 Kg7 3 h8Q+ Kxh8. Now what's the right square for the king? Let's step back and see what ...

"Zugzwang," Ronan Bennett's sixth novel, opens in a St. Petersburg suffused with violence. It is 1914; Bolsheviks, Polish terrorists and pro-German authoritarians all jockey for control of the city.

The protagonists of Ronan Bennett’s novels are dispassionate thinkers dragged into political commitment by the sublime forces of history. In The Catastrophist, Mr. Bennett’s 1997 breakthrough thriller ...

The compound noun is made up of Zug meaning ‘move' and Zwang which means 'compulsion', so Zugzwang means ‘compulsion to move', but also describes the feeling of being in a tight spot. According to ...