“Chess is a finite, zero-sum, two-player game with perfect information. It’s a game with no room for luck to intervene. In theory, an unbeatable strategy does exist, but only in theory. Only if one can grasp all of the vast number of possible games: 10 to the 120th power. Practically speaking, such a thing is impossible.”
[1] No Game No Life – Light Novel. Volume 1
Indeed, chess is a game with set rules that are calculatable due to its closed nature. Without external factors to account for, the “best move” isn’t necessarily ambiguous. Whether it be a piece sacrifice or a dubious King move in the opening, a sudden launch of the h-pawn or strangely passive backwards move- the goal remains certain; checkmate the opponent. In reality, there are many scenarios governed by the uncertainty of particle physics- many variations snapped into existence with a flap of a butterfly’s wings. How probable is it to calculate anything in a world of seemingly infinite factors?
But in chess, you don’t necessarily require the calculation of every position. Even with the strongest computers, we haven’t yet pierced the full capacities of the game; we haven’t “solved” it. Certainly, we have basically solved various endgame positions of up to 7 pieces- theoretically, we can launch it further. But for humans, the best approach is to force positions that are favourable to the our capacity. We dig a path towards a position we’re familiar with, filled with principles and tactics we recognize- which is why a lot of strong players tend to play inaccurate moves to take their opponent out of their preparation. They’re at least more comfortable with unknown positions, compared to the common amateur who only has an opening variation to rely on.
In this approach of forcing certain favourable positions rather than dealing with the grand challenge of completely solving the game, humans are at least capable of it. Parallels can be made for the methods of solving a Rubik’s cube. There are numerous ways to scramble the cube, but there are also many ways to solve all those positions in less than a hundred moves. The Fridrich method (or CFOP) is the most popular. Within it, you can reduce certain layers to a couple tens to hundreds of “algorithms”. In the layer-by-layer method of the Fridrich method, the last layer can be solved by using two algorithm sets called OLL and PLL. Hence, a simplification of solutions that are comprehensible to the human capacity.
And yet, despite the improbable reality that humans will if even someday possess the capabilities if comprehending the enormous variations of chess… “Shiro says is it not. She says with conviction that all you have to do is read all 10-to-the-120th-power possibilities. And she did in fact beat the world’s top chess program twenty times. In chess, the person who goes first merely has to pick the best move to win, and the person who goes second can only draw. That’s the theory, anyway.” [1]
I mean, this is all fiction. However, with the current top engines battling it out- there is a clear trend that any game from the immediate starting position is bound to end in a draw. The only way to force an initiative is make the engines play in various set opening positions. Only then will there be possibilities of winning and losing. You can’t simply win on the first move… unless external factors are accounted for.
“The brother handed over his seat obediently. This indicated that the sister had judged that the brother couldn’t win. In other words, that the opponent was worthy of playing the greatest chess player in the world.”
[1] No Game No Life – Light Novel. Volume 1
In the anime, Shiro begins the game while Sora stands behind her monologuing about his sister’s capabilities. Interestingly, it was Sora who began the game in the light novel. After a couple moves, Shiro took control of the game. But this somewhat contradicts Shiro’s method of winning chess against- especially against someone on the caliber of Tet. Wouldn’t Sora’s first few moves bring Shiro into a disadvantage? Many opening variations require the utmost accurate moves in order to secure the position. From my experience, my understanding of the French defense often leads my opponents to losing their d4 and b2 pawns if they don’t proceed correctly. This is why “theory”, the solved variations of chess, is extremely important as a “knowledge of the game”. The understanding of the game is different, where you have a recognition of the various weaknesses that you can exploit (favourable positions). With this in mind, I will use the context of the anime’s representation of Tet and Blank’s chess game rather than the light novel’s.
The game opens into a semi-slav defense where black (Tet) can take the pawn on c4 into a Meran variation. I believe this is a fairly common approach as it was also played between Levon Aronian and Viswanathan Anand in 2013 [5]– it’s a positional and solid black-side defense to try to win against 1. d4 [3]. However, I’ve almost never played this opening myself as I’m more of a tactician in chess. Playing the King’s Gambit and trying to find small tactics. So… what the heck do I know? LOL
But here we can consider Shiro’s knowledge as she blitz through the opening without hesitation. She believes to be playing against a computer and is completely familiar with them.
So this is was a very interesting decision by Tet. Typically, Bd6 (Bishop to d6) is a move you’d see in these sorts of positions. But in this specific situation, it’s an inaccuracy that allows the white Queen to activate on c2, targeting the undefended c6 and defending the e-pawn so it can push towards a possible fork (or gain space or trade down into a favourable position). In the Aronian vs Anand game, this wasn’t possible after Bd6 due to the Knight blocking the Queen’s attack on c6- as shown in the image below.
However, Shiro doesn’t take advantage of this inaccuracy. Interestingly, she decides to…
Sacrifice her e-pawn?? Recall the previous analysis where Qc2 was the best move- the reason why you move the Queen first is to defend the advance of the e-pawn. But here, nothing is defending it! However… is it necessarily free? What happens when the black Knight takes it?
So… it still works out with the Queen attacking both the c6 and e4 squares. But now that the Knight has moved from its previous square on f6, the f-pawn can now advance and defend the Knight. And black would prefer to have a Knight in this position as they typically have the best grasp on the position the further down the enemy lines they are. However, after all this occurs on the board with the black Knight being defended by the f-pawn… Shiro makes another inaccuracy?
The best move here was a backwards move Knight to d2 in order to attack the black Knight on e4. But Shiro decides to place the Knight on g5- essentially with the same idea but baiting Black to take the free piece? Because in this position, Tet is attacking the Knight twice while Shiro is defending it once- thus Tet would win a free piece. But once Tet takes the knight on g5- he would have removed the defender of the Bishop on d6!
Once the queen takes c6 and infiltrates the position, the black Knight has to defend the Bishop and Tet will return white’s free Knight for a Rook. A bad exchange as a Rook is considered a major piece, whereas the Knight is generally inferior minor piece.
And here I gave the move Ne4 to defend the bishop, but why can’t the Knight also defend on f7? If the Rook is a more valuable piece than the bishop, why can’t black just give up the bishop instead? Well… those are big inaccuracies- and I can’t be bothered to analyze the game that far. But! I am willing to share some interesting lines played HEHEHE
So this didn’t happen in the game, but I found this line very interesting. If black decides to defend the bishop with its Queen (Qc7), this ultimately removes the defender of the Knight on g5. Additionally, white can take the Rook on a8 with the Queen! And if all that occurs on the board…
And the white Queen is trapped!! Is this the result of greed, getting too far into the enemy lines that you end up trapping yourself? After Ra8, where does the white Queen go? Seriously… can you come up with a move that saves Shiro from losing the game?
BISHOP SACRIFICE ON b8?? I offer you this position to analyze for yourself. Every move black makes here ends up in white keeping its initiative. But I know you’re not here for pure chess, so let’s get back to the actual game between Blank and Tet!
“A program always makes the best move. It has unlimited concentration, but it can only move according to established strategies. That’s why you (Shiro) can win. But – this guy. He’s making a bad move on purpose to lure you in. You assumed that it was the program’s mistake. That was your mistake.”
[1] No Game No Life – Light Novel. Volume 1
The position in the image below is where they ended up after the black Knight returned to e4 to defend the bishop. Up till this point, both players essentially played the game as if they had a couple minutes on the clock. They took a couple seconds each move- which is weird as they literally had no time restraints. The format was basically correspondence- taking as long as you want with whatever help you had. The point of this format is to play a near-perfect game. And I guess as a “flair” for the anime, they made the players dive in like it’s a 1 minute bullet game.
In this position, Tet decides to test Blank’s ability to spot tricks. He plays…
Shiro immediately notices that this is an inaccuracy, and costly mistake. She says “…No way” [1] in response to a move she believed to be made by a computer. This wasn’t the best move. As Shiro states in the anime, Nf6 blocks the Knight on e4’s escape square. Now it’s trapped and is at risk of being attacked. Or… is it?
To most people who notice that the Knight is trapped, they’d try to attack it before it acquires an escape. So, you’d think to immediately strike- and the only move to take the Knight up the exchange is to trade it with a pawn. Simple, right? 16. f3… white is winning… right?
WHAT?! Bishop takes h2, a sacrifice of a full piece?? This is literally a free Bishop, right? So if the Rook takes it…
Now the Queen gets involved if you take the Bishop on h2. Even if you take black’s Knight on e4, the Knight on f6 can simply replace it! And all of white’s pieces are completely disorientated, the King stuck in a dangerous position for commanding the attack on the Knight instead of castling to safety! From here, there are multiple ways to win the game for black. Here is one line where white tries to defend the Rook on h2 with Qc7:
17. Rxh2 Qxd4 18. fxe4 Nxe4 19. Qc7 Qg1+ 20. Bf1 Qf2+ 21. Kd1 Qxf1+ 22. Kc2 Qf2+ The white King is extremely weak and anywhere it goes, black can bring out its Bishop or continue bothering the King with the Queen. There’s additionally a pawn on b4 that restricts the white King. Black is completely winning despite being down a piece. That Rook on a1 is literally out of the game.
If white decides to take the Knight on e4 instead… 17. fxe4 Bg3+ 18. Kf1 fxe4 19 Be3 Ng3+ 20. Kg1 Nxe3 and white’s King is crowded by black’s pieces. Mate in 2 is coming, so white has to defend by bringing the rook up to h3, continuing to allow Qxd4. It’s an absolute disaster for white!
“It was true that, in chess…no, in almost any game…her (Shiro) technical skill vastly outmatched his (Sora). Truly: a genius gamer. However, in mind games, reading the opponent, and manipulation, in all kinds of insight into that wild card of the opponent’s emotions – the brother’s skills were superhuman. This was why ” ” – the combination of Sora and Shiro – was unbeaten.
[1] No Game No Life – Light Novel. Volume 1
You’d expect Shiro to calculate all this, and she definitely is capable of it. However, the external factors come into play here. She’s a lot worse at judging tricks such as 15…Nf6, especially when she believes to have been playing a computer. This is similarly the reason why Chlammy lost to Blank in their first encounter; she believed that they had help from a different nation- and thus could use magic. She avoided using the furthest extents of her cheats in fear that Blank had their own cheats (which they didn’t). If it was a game of pure “best moves” against mindless computers, none of these factors would affect the game.
But that’s why chess is still such an exciting game. Despite computers attempting to solve all of chess, it can never truly simulate the chaotic world that governs each move a human makes. The chess board isn’t just a closed space where we observe the incredible sequences of moves, but it exists in the universe of seemingly infinite factors. Who will fall behind? Who will blunder first? Who thought about this position? Who solved this chess puzzle? Why do we continue to play chess, play games? This last question… is something I will explore as I go through the world of No Game No Life.
Anyways! Yep, the genius tactician Sora is on the seemingly opposite spectrum of “genius” relative to Shiro. He aids her, keeping her calm as the opponent attempts to trick her, scare her, defeat her. No, Blank cannot lose-
Looking at this position, you can possibly derive many interpretations about… well, the play. The image above is the final position of Blank and Tet’s game- with Tet being checkmated by the collaboration of the white King and Queen (assuming the white King prevented black from advancing the h-pawn for space). Now, ignoring the thematic relevance of the narrative, you don’t necessarily see these sorts of positions (especially at a high level). Black’s King is smothered by its own pieces with seemingly no other pieces in site. As we aren’t provided with prior moves, I’d assume that Tet blundered somewhere in the game- otherwise this final position would rarely ever materialize on the board (and especially coming from the caliber of these players). With equal material, an accurate game wouldn’t end like unless someone makes a mistake- and Tet is shown making inaccuracies in order to trick Blank (must be why this is the final position). Some may have other ideas about the reality of the game- but my personal assumption is that Tet must have been down in material or failed to see and defend this mate-in-one with whatever pieces he had outside the view of the position. But, it’s up to you to decide! In my opinion- Tet got a bit too excited!
In terms of the position in a thematic point of view, we could think of the white King (Sora) and Queen (Shiro) working together to corner Tet between his own sneaky tricks. It must be why the creators decided to use this position to represent the incredible collaborative effort between the two gamer siblings.
But anyways, this was the first real serious game we got to see in No Game No Life. It’s an interesting introduction to the characters- defining Shiro as a super computer and Sora as a tactical genius. However, despite their gifted abilities, the core of No Game No Life’s themes aren’t some power fantasy. As much as this aspect of the series hooked people in- the fact that they are so great is their downfall. Because they aren’t actually perfect- the world isn’t a simple game where stats… or, what even defines stats? Are you immediately a social wizard if you can beat a dating simulator? Can you rule the world if you’re the best at chess? Can you succeed your mission if its not necessarily defined what factors are needed to succeed your mission?
Sora and Shiro have clear issues that hinder their ability to conform to society- even to talk to people. It helps that things are games- because they are able to calculate specific factors, abide and exploit the rules. But reality isn’t a closed-space, there are things that can ruin absolutely anyone.
At the core of No Game No Life, games are extremely important. Chess. The world can be viewed as a game- it is a chess game in No Game No Life. Games are a concept- a goal. Something that exists to guide us in our journey through the cosmos. Allows us to create a path when uncertainty binds our perception, clouds our eyes. It is the path to create a method, multiple methods in the seemingly infinite factors that we could never hope to solve, but at least progress with our drills. And that’s why Sora and Shiro failed on Earth, that’s why the nations on Disboard continue to struggle even after the Great War. Chess requires all the pieces to work together.
And that… is where I’ll stop for today!
Peter K Wells vs Yoshiharu Habu
Before I go, I would like to share one awesome thing that anime, films, media in general should continue to do when depicting chess (and games in general): The chess game between Blank and Tet was literally a real game between Grandmaster Peter K Wells and FIDE master Yoshiharu Habu.
Yes, the game had quite some interesting moves- but I believe Studio Madhouse decided to use this game because of Habu. If you aren’t aware, Habu is one of (arguably is) the best shogi players ever. The fact that he’s also great at chess is just puts him on another level! Please check out the game where Habu uses the incredible Bishop takes h2 against a player rated higher than him!
Citations
[1] No Game No Life – Light Novel. Volume 1
- Quotes were taken from “Prologue”.
[2] No Game No Life – Season 1. Episode 1
- Images were taken from thiiiisssss.
[3] The Semi-Slav: How to Play, Attack and Counter
- I know of some variations in the semi-slav, but I almost never play it. So this is where I got some information on the intentions of this opening. Also! Regarding the analysis- I used the Lichess Stockfish engine up to depth 22 to analyze the Habu game.
[4] No Game No Life – Season 1. Episode 3
- A single screen shot was taken from this episode. Actually… I just found this on Google images… but I know it was from episode 3!!! I think…
[5] Levon Aronian vs Viswanathan Anand (2013)
- Cool game!
Circumpolar Congregation 
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