# I can make you an ace chess player, archer, or both. Any takers? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 14, 2010, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-make-you-an-ace-chess-player-archer-or-both-any-takers/557142 "2010-10-14T16:11:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-make-you-an-ace-chess-player-archer-or-both-any-takers/557142/1 "2010-10-14T16:11:24Z")
By means that need not concern you scum, I have come into possession of 1296 mystic amulets. A third of them can cause the bearer to become an archer of Legolas-like skill. Another third grant the bearer Bobby Fischer-level chess skill. The remainder give both abilities, though not as high a level as the single-use amulets: 90th percentile, say, rather than 99.99 percentile. After quite a bit of research I have determined that there are no evil applications to these devices. They don’t corrupt the soul in and of them selves, or give so much as the sniffles, much less cancer. Obviously I have no use for them, but before I toss 'em I thought I’d see if anybody wants one tessered over. Thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-make-you-an-ace-chess-player-archer-or-both-any-takers/557142/2 "2010-10-14T16:17:44Z")
Sounds good. I’ll take both at a lesser level. I have always wanted to beat the pants off someone in chess, and archery seems fun. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-make-you-an-ace-chess-player-archer-or-both-any-takers/557142/3 "2010-10-14T16:17:48Z")
Sure, what the hell. I like being good at things. I’ll take the one that does both. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-make-you-an-ace-chess-player-archer-or-both-any-takers/557142/4 "2010-10-14T16:18:44Z")
Archer, please! I can learn chess on my own if need be. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-make-you-an-ace-chess-player-archer-or-both-any-takers/557142/5 "2010-10-14T16:18:54Z")
Ha ha! Too late, IvoryTowerDenizen! (Wait, gloating is acceptable, right?) ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-make-you-an-ace-chess-player-archer-or-both-any-takers/557142/6 "2010-10-14T16:22:33Z")
Archer. Even if I beat Boris I doubt anyone will let me eat him. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-make-you-an-ace-chess-player-archer-or-both-any-takers/557142/7 "2010-10-14T16:26:28Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Archer, please! I can learn chess on my own if need be. What use is becoming a [del]master[/del] [del]mistress[/del] unparalled archer to you? I mean, how often do you find yourself attacked by orcs or flying monkeys or whatever? ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-make-you-an-ace-chess-player-archer-or-both-any-takers/557142/8 "2010-10-14T16:33:00Z")
Not much use for archery, so Fisher it is (that’s without his, uh, other mental qualities, right?) … unless the archery one fixes my knees enough to play hoops again. Then I’d probably take the combo, so I could play my friend’s chess-nut son. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-make-you-an-ace-chess-player-archer-or-both-any-takers/557142/9 "2010-10-14T16:33:45Z")
Question: does the amulet simply feed me moves, or does it increase my reasoning and logical ability to allow the resulting high quality gameplay? I’m asking if the results are limited to chess and/or archery, or if they work by changing physical and mental characteristics. ---
**Author:** ![Lare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/53a042/32.png) [@Lare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lare)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-make-you-an-ace-chess-player-archer-or-both-any-takers/557142/10 "2010-10-14T16:38:26Z")
Anything that offers an increase in my abilities and no downside? Then I would rather have two extremely good abilities than one exceptional ability. (Other than the ones I already have, of course.) **Bricker’s** question shows he put more thought into this than I did. Would I be able to beat him if he gets the same type of amulet? ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-make-you-an-ace-chess-player-archer-or-both-any-takers/557142/11 "2010-10-14T16:39:16Z")
Well, both woudl be great. But if you run out of those I’ll take Archer. You never know when the apocalypse might hit, and I might need to bring down some food, or mutants, or somesuch. And Ireally don’t think there’s much money in chess anymore. Of course, if it came with knowledge of chess, that’d be different, because then I could teach it, and that’s a useful sideline to have. But my sense is that you’d be really good at playing, but not have the ability to teach it as if you ad actually learned the game. Is that correct? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-make-you-an-ace-chess-player-archer-or-both-any-takers/557142/12 "2010-10-14T16:42:07Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Question: does the amulet simply feed me moves, or does it increase my reasoning and logical ability to allow the resulting high quality gameplay? > > I’m asking if the results are limited to chess and/or archery, or if they work by changing physical and mental characteristics. This is exactly the right question to ask. If the chess amulet operates by increasing general intelligence, then I’ll take the chess-only version. If, however, it confers chess skills alone, then I’d prefer one of the combined archery+chess amulets. I’ve no pressing need to be the very best at either of these things, and being very good at both would be fun. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-make-you-an-ace-chess-player-archer-or-both-any-takers/557142/13 "2010-10-14T16:43:04Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Question: does the amulet simply feed me moves, or does it increase my reasoning and logical ability to allow the resulting high quality gameplay? > > I’m asking if the results are limited to chess and/or archery, or if they work by changing physical and mental characteristics. Since they have no evil applications, obviously what the charms do is ramp up your capabilities (reasoning, logic, & pattern recognition for chess; eyesight, arm strength & stamina, & aiming for archery), but only while you are wearing them and only engaged in the aforementioned activities. Obviously? Yes, obviously, particularly in the case of the chess amulets. Give it some thought and you may see why. > [@Lare](#): > > Anything that offers an increase in my abilities and no downside? Then I would rather have two extremely good abilities than one exceptional ability. (Other than the ones I already have, of course.) > > **Bricker’s** question shows he put more thought into this than I did. Would I be able to beat him if he gets the same type of amulet? My thought here is that the amulets are adding onto what you already have by an enormous amount. If Bricker is a marginally better chess player than you are as normally, he’ll remain marginally better; likewise the reverse. Though I suspect what would actually happen is a lot of ties. > [@Mr.Excellent](#): > > > [@Bricker](#): > > > > Question: does the amulet simply feed me moves, or does it increase my reasoning and logical ability to allow the resulting high quality gameplay? > > > > I’m asking if the results are limited to chess and/or archery, or if they work by changing physical and mental characteristics. > > This is exactly the right question to ask. If the chess amulet operates by increasing general intelligence, then I’ll take the chess-only version. If, however, it confers chess skills alone, then I’d prefer one of the combined archery+chess amulets. I’ve no pressing need to be the very best at either of these things, and being very good at both would be fun. It’s not so much that it’s chess-only abilities, but rather that you can only trigger the skills while playing chess. Of course you could probably multitask; tha tis, instead of playing 5 ordinary people in the park at once, just play two or three and use the unused extra brainpower for something else. That’s assuming chess mastery equals brilliance, of course. Any care to argue that it is or isn’t? ---
**Author:** ![otternell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecc23a/32.png) [@otternell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/otternell)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-make-you-an-ace-chess-player-archer-or-both-any-takers/557142/14 "2010-10-14T16:45:28Z")
I’ll take archery - I have crappy aim, but if I actually applied myself I might be able to figure out chess. Not at that high of a level, but I don’t see life depending on being able to play chess that well. Not that my life depends on archery either, but it’d be pretty cool to be that accurate. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-make-you-an-ace-chess-player-archer-or-both-any-takers/557142/15 "2010-10-14T16:46:07Z")
I’ll take the archery please. I’ve been rereading S. M. Stirling’s _Emberverse_ series, and knowing how to make a bow and arrow from scratch in a survival situation always struck me as being more practical than knowing how to make a gun. Wait. We are talking maintenance and construction skills as well as just shooting skills, right? ---
**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-make-you-an-ace-chess-player-archer-or-both-any-takers/557142/16 "2010-10-14T16:46:59Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > > [@Anaamika](#): > > > > Archer, please! I can learn chess on my own if need be. > > What use is becoming a [del]master[/del] [del]mistress[/del] unparalled archer to you? I mean, how often do you find yourself attacked by orcs or flying monkeys or whatever? You’d be surprised. Plus, it’d be great for winning bets. “I’ll bet you $100 that I can shoot a bottlecap at 50 yards with a bow in three tries.” What kind of interesting chess bets can you offer that anybody’d be likely to take? Archer for me, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-make-you-an-ace-chess-player-archer-or-both-any-takers/557142/17 "2010-10-14T16:48:42Z")
Well, I’m already a moderately good chess player and a fair-to-middling archer, so I’ll take one that ramps up both. I don’t need the chess skills ( no point) but the increase in ability as an archer would be fun. I could wander Faires and Wars, stomping on the egos of recreationists and SCAdians, without being too over the top. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-make-you-an-ace-chess-player-archer-or-both-any-takers/557142/18 "2010-10-14T16:50:36Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > I’ll take the archery please. I’ve been rereading S. M. Stirling’s _Emberverse_ series, and knowing how to make a bow and arrow from scratch in a survival situation always struck me as being more practical than knowing how to make a gun. > > Wait. We are talking maintenance and construction skills as well as just shooting skills, right? :: reads manual for useless devices :: Says “archery-related skills equal to that possessed by Legolas son of Thranduil.” I’d say maintenance & construction are implied, and the index to the manual agrees. ---
**Author:** ![Bootis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@Bootis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootis)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-make-you-an-ace-chess-player-archer-or-both-any-takers/557142/19 "2010-10-14T17:00:45Z")
Archery- With chess there would be no satisfaction in beating anyone, since I’d know it was all the power of the amulet. It’d feel as rewarding as having a pocket deep blue feeding me moves. With archery, its a potentially useful physical skill, who cares how I got it, I’m not using it to enter Robin Hood contests or anything. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-make-you-an-ace-chess-player-archer-or-both-any-takers/557142/20 "2010-10-14T17:08:08Z")
I’ll take a two-fer. I play chess and I shoot, but neither one at an olympic or obsessive level. In fact, tonight is archery night. I was also distressed last night to realize that my computer can easily kick my ass at chess. I’d love to teach it a lesson. Maybe I’ll shoot it. By the way, I assume from your former replies that I won’t make any gains with the Kalashnikov due to this amulet. Not that I’m asking, I don’t like bees. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-make-you-an-ace-chess-player-archer-or-both-any-takers/557142.md?page=2)