[FM Discuss] Go and chess books for Sugar

[Edward Cherlin]

On Mon, Nov 24, 2008 at 3:45 PM, Seth Woodworth <seth at laptop.org> wrote:
> That's not what I'm saying. I'm suggesting that we plan out the chess
> book(s) better than the OLPC book.  Let's get a really strong idea
> what the flow of the final manual would consist of.  Too much time was
> spent in post-production to produce a workable manual last time
> around.

Yes, the idea in both cases is to have the education experts in the
Federations work out the content, and for a sprint to include somebody
who understands how to link to the software, somebody who understands
how to make pretty pictures of board positions, and some people who
are expert at editing, proofreading, and publishing.

We don't start the sprint until we have the outline of topics, at
least. We might be able to rework existing documents where the needed
examples are provided. We have to cover at least these topics:

Board
Pieces and moves
Capturing
Winning and drawing
Threats to capture; defenses against capture
Sample game
Special move rules (ko in Go; promotion, castling, and en passant in chess)
Elementary openings
Elementary strategy and tactics
Elementary endgame situations
Sample game showing more complexities
Handicap play in Go
Problems
Online play
Tournament rules
Ratings
Publications
Organizations
Further reading

> --S
>
> On Mon, Nov 24, 2008 at 6:40 PM, adam hyde <adam at flossmanuals.net> wrote:
>> On Mon, 2008-11-24 at 18:37 -0500, Seth Woodworth wrote:
>>> How hard would it be for the manuals to be single-sourced somehow?
>>> GNUchess chapters and XO-Chess specific chapters?
>>
>> easy....just like the g1g1 manual is a remix....we could break down the
>> play to an icon set, and then have specific chapters on the software
>>
>>>
>>> Ed, you have the best idea of the content.  I'll install gnuchess on
>>> my non-sugar XO (DWM on debian) and I'll play a bit.
>>>
>>> --Seth
>>>
>>> On Mon, Nov 24, 2008 at 6:12 PM, Edward Cherlin <echerlin at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> > I have just written to the American Go Federation and the US Chess
>>> > Federation proposing books on Go and Chess for the OLPC XO, to bring
>>> > these games to many millions of children in dozens of countries. AGF
>>> > is excited about the idea, and we have started the discussion about
>>> > how, what, and when. I am waiting to hear from USCF.
>>> >
>>> > We are proposing book sprints on well-understood topics beginning with
>>> > teaching the rules of the game, and continuing through all of the
>>> > elementary stages, such as capturing, openings, very elementary
>>> > strategy and tactics, basic endgame play, and so on. Each game has
>>> > topics that do not apply to the other, such as handicap play in Go and
>>> > checkmate and drawing rules in chess. Adam and I are excited about
>>> > sitting down with experts on teaching these games for a week at a
>>> > time, and about working out how to integrate Sugar software into
>>> > interactive tutorials.
>>> >
>>> > This is what we call a low floor, high ceiling opportunity, where we
>>> > can make it extremely easy for schoolchildren to get started, and show
>>> > them how to continue as far as their talent and desire will take them
>>> > toward master and grandmaster play.
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > --
>>> > Silent Thunder (默雷/धर्ममेघशब्दगर्ज/دھرممیگھشبدگر ج) is my name
>>> > And Children are my nation.
>>> > The Cosmos is my dwelling place, The Truth my destination.
>>> > http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/User:Mokurai
>>> > _______________________________________________
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>>> >
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>> --
>> Adam Hyde
>> Founder FLOSS Manuals
>> http://www.flossmanuals.net
>>
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-- 
Silent Thunder (默雷/धर्ममेघशब्दगर्ज/دھرممیگھشبدگر ج) is my name
And Children are my nation.
The Cosmos is my dwelling place, The Truth my destination.
http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/User:Mokurai