ELO

The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in zero-sum games such as chess. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-American physics professor. The Elo system was originally invented as an improved chess rating system over the previously used Harkness system, but is also used as a rating system for multiplayer competition in a number of video games, association football, American football, basketball, Major League Baseball, table tennis, Scrabble, board games such as Diplomacy and other games.

The difference in the ratings between two players serves as a predictor of the outcome of a match. Two players with equal ratings who play against each other are expected to score an equal number of wins. A player whose rating is 100 points greater than their opponent's is expected to score 64%; if the difference is 200 points, then the expected score for the stronger player is 76%. 

A player's Eo rating is represented by a number with increases or decreases depending on the outcome of games between rated players. After every game, the winning player takes points from the losing one. The difference between the ratings of the winner and loser determines the total number of points gained or lost after a game. In a series of games between a high-rated player and a low-rated played, the high-rated player is expected to score more wins. 

If the high-rated player wins, then only a few rating points will be taken from the low-rated player. However, if the lower-rated player scores an upset win, many rating points will be transferred. The lower-rated player will also gain a few points from the higher rated player in the event of a draw. This means that this rating system is self-correcting. Players whose ratings are too low should, in the long run, do better than the rating system predicts and thus gain rating points until the ratings reflect their true playing strengh.

Arpad Elo was a master-level chess player and an active participant in the US Chess Federation (USCF) from its founding in 1939. The USCF used a numerical ratings system, devised by Kenneth Harkness, to allow members to track their individual progress in terms other than tournament wins and losses. The Harkness system was reasonably fair, but in some circumstances gave rise to ratings which many observers considered inaccurate. On behalf of the USCF, Elo devised a new system with a more sound statistical basis.

Elo's system replaced earlier systems of competitive rewards with a system based on statistical estimation. Rating systems for many sports award points in accordance with subjective evaluations of the "greatness" of certain achievements. For example, winning an important golf tournament might be worth and arbitrarily chosen five times as a many points as winning a lesser tournament.

Chess and Education

Chess is on its way to being implemented in schools, after unanimously approving the non-law proporsal that the PSOE (Spain) has presented in the Education and Sports Commission of the Congress. After this first step, Pablo Martín, deputy who has debated the proposal, explains to Verne that the objective is that this "very useful pedagogical tool that has a very small cost" ends up being a school subject.

Martín himself is fond of chess and, in fact, prepared the proposal with the help of Juan Ramón Galiana, his chess teacher in Mallorca, and Leontxo García, a specialized journalist collaborating with El País and author or a report that summarizes the benefits that He has chess for children. This report recalls that the proposal is not born from scratch: there are already more than 300 public and private schools in chess is a compulsory subject, following the recommendation made in 2012 by the European Parliament.

 1. Help develop intelligence: according to the report by Leontxo García, which collects data from studies published in several countries, "chess children develop more intelligence and achieve better academic results (by 17% on average) than non-chess players, especially in mathematics and reading (precisely the two fields where Spanish students fail most, according to the Pisa Report)". 

To give other examples: a report from the Kasparov Chess Foundation collects the results of various studies that show how chess improves creativity, problem solving, memory and concentration. Another test conducted in serveral Italian schools shows that this game contributes to the improvement of academic performance.

2. And not only intelligence: Miguel López, who has been a chess teacher, explains that this game helps children improve "their ability to concentrate and also to mature. They see that the acts have consequences and this helps them not to be excessively impulsive." For example, rules such as touched piece, played piece help to think before acting.

Leontxo García lists in his report the five intelligences that chess develops (of the eight in the Howard Garner classification): logical-mathematical, linguistic, spatial, intrapersonal and interpersonal.

3. It is good for the little ones: López points out that you can teach even after three years; "the smaller, the better, because it will influence your ability to reflect and your patience. Although you can't demand that they play a three-hour game."

Leontxo García considers it interesting how it helps preschool children (3-5 years old) "because it shows that - contrary to what the experts maintained until recently - abstract intelligence can be worked before 6 years", which is why Pablo Martín explains that the PSOE (Spain) will propose that "chess enters as a subject in primary education". (Also because "the high school curriculum is more loaded." García mentions the example of the Colombian Adriana Salazar, in whose center in Bogotá "4-year-old children play chess, play the violin and practice taekwondo. It uses the transverse method (teaches geometry and encourages spatial vision, among many other applications), which has also worked well with older children (for example, when explaining universal history in parallel with the history of chess)."

4. It is good for the elderly: "the frequent practice of chess delays and improves brain aging, and could prevent and delay Alzheimer's disease," explains Leontxo García, who describes the game as a "mental gym." 

5. It is a game: the game is the child's way of learning to relate to the world, improves social skills and imagination, and encourages creativity, as well as helping learn social norms and cope with frustration: "in chess you lose, as in any game, and nothing happens," López tells us. 

The fact that it is a game is also an extra motivating factor: "at the outset, it is more fun than a class," notes López, who still remembers that in the lessons he taught (optional), "you could quickly see who He had signed up for interest and who, bound by his parents."

6. But it is not just any game: the game always has positive effects for a child, but chess has other advantages over bridge, for example, which is studied in many universities because of its relationship with mathematics: "there is no luck factor," say López, recalling that the players they do not depend on the distribution of cards or the result of a roll of dice. "And in addition there are many variants. No two chess games are the same." Leontxo García adds that its infrastructure is cheap, that it is universal, that it has more than 15 centuries of history and, above all, that it has "very interesting connections with art, science, computers, pedagogy and psychology". 

Scholar's mate

In chess, Scholar's Mate is the checkmate achieved by the following moves, or similar:

1. e4 e5

2. Bc4 Nc6

3. Qh5 Nf6??

4. Qxf7++

The same mating pattern may be reached by various move orders. For example, White might lay 2. Qh5, or Black might play 2...Bc5. In all variations, the basic idea is the same: the queen and bishop combine in a simple mating attack on f7 (or f2 if Black is performing the mate).

Scholar's mate is sometimes referred to as the "four-move checkmate", although there are other ways to checkmate in four moves. Unlike Fool's Mate, which rarely occurs at any level, games ending in Scholar's Mate are quite common among beginners. It is not difficult to parry, however.

On move 1

After 1.e4, Black can play a semi-open defense instead of 1...e5. Openings such as the French Defense (1...e6) or the Scandinavian Defense (1...d5) render Scholar's Mate unviable, while other openings such as the Sicilian Defense (1...c5) make 2. Bc4 a bad move (1. e4 c5 2. Bc4? e6, intending ...d5, gaining time by attacking the c4-bishop and attaining easy equality).

On move 2

The most common response to the Bishop's Opening (1e4 e5 2. Bc4) is 2...Nf6 (see Bishop's Opening, Berlin Defense), which also renders Scholar's Mate unviable.

On move 3

After 1.e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nc6 3. Qh5, the cleanest way to defend against the mate threat is 3...g6. Should White renew the Qxf7 threat with 4. Qf3, Black can easily defend by 4...Nf6 (see diagram), and develop the f8-bishop later via fianchetto (...Bg7).

Fool's mate

Fool's mate, also known as the Two-Move Checkmate, is the checkmate in the fewest possible number of moves from the start of the game. This can be achieved only by Black, who can deliver checkmate on move 2 with the queen. Fool's Mate received its name because it can only occur if White commits and extraordinary blunder. Even among rank beginners, the mate almost never occurs in practice.

An example of Fool's Mate consists of the moves:

1. f3 e5

2. g4?? Qh4#

Resulting in the position shown. The pattern can have slight variations; Black could play ...e6 or ...e5, and White could play f4 rather than f3. Additionally the order in which White advances their f- and g-pawns could be alternated.

Similar mating patterns can occur early in the game. For example, in 1. e4 g5 2. d4 f6?? 3. Qh5#, the basic Fool's Mate pattern is the same: a player advances their f- and g-pawns, which permits the enemy queen to mate along the unblocked diagonal. One such Fool's Mate is widely reported to have occurred in a possibly apocryphal 1959 game between Masefield and Trinka, which lasted just three moves: 1. e4 g5 2. Nc3 f5?? 3. Qh5#. A similar mate can occur in From's Gambit: 1. f4 e5 2. g3? exf4 3. gxf4?? Qh4#.

Teed vs Delmar

A well-known trap in the Dutch Defense ocurred in the game Frank Melville Teed - Eugene Delmar, 1896:

1. d4 f5 2. Bg5 h6 3. Bf4 g5 4. Bg3 f4. 

It seems that Black has won the bishop, but now comes... 5. e3

Threating Qh5#, a basic Fool's Mate.

Sherlock

Sherlock is a British crime drama television series based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes detective stories. Created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, it stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman as Doctor John Watson. 13 episodes have been produced, with four three-part series airing from 2010 to 2017, and a special episode that aired on 1 January 2016. The series is set in the present day, while the one-off special features a Victorian period fantasy resembling the original Holmes stories.

Sherlock is produced by the Britthis network BBC, along with Hartswood Films, with Moffat, Gatiss, Sue Vertue and Rebecca Eaton serving as executive producers. The series is supported by the American station WGBH-TV Boston for its Masterpiece anthology series on PBS, where it also airs in the United States. The series is primarily filmed in Cardiff, Wales, with North Gower Street in London used for exterior shots of Holmes and Watson's 221B Baker Street residence.

Sherlock has been praised for the quality of its writing, acting, and direction. It has been nominated for numerous awards including Emmys, BAFTAs and a Golden Globe, winning several awards across a variety of categories. The show won in three categories at the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards including Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for Cumberbatch, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for Freeman and Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special for Moffat.

Two years later, it won Outstanding Television Movie. In addition, the show was also honoured with a Peabody Award in 2011. The third series became the UK's most watched drama series since 2001. Sherlock has been sold to 180 territories. All of the series have been released on DVD and Blu-ray, alongside tie-in editions of selected original Conan Doyle stories and an original soundtrack composed by David Arnold and Michael Price. In January 2014, the show launched its official mobile app called Sherlock: The Network.

In January 2014, Moffat stated that a fifth series had peen plotted by himself and Gatiss; however, by the release of the fourth series in January 2017, they had not yet decided whether to produce it. Cumberbath and Moffat in particular have expressed interest in continuing at some point in the future, but there are no immediate plans. As to the future of the series, Gatiss stated that due to the conflicting schedules of Cumberbatch and Freeman, a potential fifth season is still up in the air.

Outlander

Outlander is a drama television series based upon author Diana Gabaldon's historical time travel book series of the same name. Developed by Ronald D. Moore and produced by Sony Pictures Television and Left Bank Pictures for Starz, the show premiered on August 9, 2014. It stars Caitriona Balfe as Claire Randall, a married World War II nurse who in 1945 finds herself transported back to 1743 Scotland, where she encounters the dashing Highland warrior Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan) and becomes embroiled in the Jacobite risings.

The second season of 13 episodes, based on Dragonfly in Amber, premiered on April 9, 2016. On June 1, Starz renewed the series for a third and fourth season, which adapt the third and fourth Outlander novels, Voyager and Drums of Autumn. The 13-episode third season premiered on September 10, 2017. The 13-episode fourth season premiered on November 4, 2018, and Starz has renewed the series for a fifth and sixth season.

NETFLIX

Netflix, Inc. is an American media-services provider headquartered in Los Gatos, California, founded in 1997 by Reed Hasting and Marc Randolph in Sotts Valley, California. The company's primary business is its subscription-based streaming OTT service which  offers on line streaming of a library of films and television programs, including those produced in-house.

As of January 2019, Netflix had over 139 million paid subscriptions worldwide, including 58,49 million in the United States, and over 148 million subscriptions total including free trials. It is available almost worldwide except in mainland China, Syria, North Korea, Iran, and Crimea. 

The company also has offices in the Netherlands, Brazil, India, Japan, and South Korea. Netflix is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). Netflix's initial business model included DVD sales and rental by mail, but Hastings jettisoned the sales about a year after the company's founding to focus on the DVD rental business.

Netflix expanded its business in 2007 with the introduction of streaming media while retaining the DVD and Blu-ray rental service. The company expanded internationally in 2010 with streaming available in Canada, followed by Latin America and the Caribbean. Netflix entered the content-production industry in 2012, debuting its first series Lilyhammer.

Netflix has greatly expanded the production and distribution of both film and television series since 2012, and offers a variety of "Netflix Original" content through its online library.  January 2016, Netflix services operated in more than 190 countries. Netflix released an estimated 126 original series and films in 2016, more than any other network or cable channel.