Chastity's Chess Challenge

Category: chess

  • How to Filter Chess Games by Checkmates and Length

    When I first began playing Chess, I was obsessed with the Scholar’s Mate, which is when white wins the game in only 4 moves. Such occurrences are quite rare when playing against experienced players. However, I recently began thinking about how checkmates in under a certain number of moves could be useful.

    If a game is won in very few moves, there is a high chance that the winning player did not make any mistakes. Also, in certain arena tournaments, the winning player of the tournament is who has the most points by winning more games. Those who know how to win games in fewer moves can simply get more wins in the same amount of time.

    Therefore, I have written some instructions for using pgn-extract to find games with a certain number of maximum moves. I have previously mentioned how useful this command line tool is. If you download your own database of games from lichess.org, you can use my example commands by simply changing the names of the files and your username in the commands to find the games you have won the fastest.

    How to Find Checkmates

    the “–checkmate” flag is used to only output games that end in a checkmate instead of a resignation or a stalemate. See the example commands here.

    This first command takes all of the games where chastitywhiterose was the white player and won the game by checkmate.

    pgn-extract -Twchastitywhiterose -Tr1-0 lichess_chastitywhiterose.pgn -ochastitywhiterose_white_wins_lichess.pgn --checkmate

    The second does the reverse and finds every time that chastitywhiterose played as black and then black won the game by checkmate.

    pgn-extract -Tbchastitywhiterose -Tr0-1 lichess_chastitywhiterose.pgn -ochastitywhiterose_black_wins_lichess.pgn --checkmate

    How to Find Quick Checkmates

    The documentation for pgn-extract shows that you can limit the length of games matched in database. By combining the “–checkmate” flag and the “–maxmoves” flag with a number as an option, you can find all the checkmates that happen up to that number of moves.

    https://www.cs.kent.ac.uk/people/staff/djb/pgn-extract/help.html#move-bounds

    For example, this command finds all my checkmates with white which happen in 10 moves or less.

    pgn-extract -Twchastitywhiterose -Tr1-0 lichess_chastitywhiterose.pgn -ochastitywhiterose_white_wins_lichess.pgn --checkmate --maxmoves 10

    And this does the same with black checkmates of 10 moves or less.

    pgn-extract -Tbchastitywhiterose -Tr0-1 lichess_chastitywhiterose.pgn -ochastitywhiterose_black_wins_lichess.pgn --checkmate --maxmoves 10

    Because I am someone who usually plays the Queen’s Gambit opening as white and the French Defense as black, very few of my games end this quickly. My play style is to slowly wear my opponent down in a long classical game. But perhaps your style is to take your opponents down quickly before they even know what happened!

    I suggest downloading and installing the pgn-extract tool and placing the path to it in your system settings so you can run commands to extract your best wins.

    My own purpose in this is to identify games that I have played which are high quality enough to include in a future Chess book. Fast wins are quite satisfying.

  • How The Chandler Caterpillar Evolved into a Chastity Butterfly

    Chastity’s Journey into a career in writing began in 2013 when she published a book titled “Confessions of a Confused Virgin”. This book project was intended to teach Chastity about the process of self-publishing a book so that she could help her mother, Judena Klebs, publish the books she had written.

    However, the people on Facebook enjoyed Chastity’s different points of view on dating, marriage, and sex. After that, Chastity started blogging on a WordPress blog about whatever she had on her mind at the time. Eventually, these small posts became content for future books she would publish.

    The majority of her writing was a series of conversations she had with a unicorn in a dream. The series remains forever published as “Chandler’s Honesty” because Chandler is her legal name even though she is known by her preferred name of Chastity White Rose. Unlike most transgender people, Chastity does not consider Chandler to be a “dead name” but instead a name of historical importance as she evolves from a caterpillar to a butterfly and yet remains the same person.

    butterfly.png

    Chastity is a simple person who prefers playing Tetris or Chess much more than writing. However, she began a project in Pride month of 2025 with a focus on educating the public about the LGBTQIA+ community that is different than the hype you would hear from mainstream media.

    Chastity graduated with a Creative Writing Degree in July of 2025 after attending Full Sail University as an online student while working full-time at Walmart in Lee’s Summit, Missouri.

    Her best paperback books and ebooks can be purchased from Amazon, Apple Books, Google Play books, and many others. These works cover a range of topics, such as opinions on politics or religion, her Journey as an Asexual Transgender woman (Chandler’s Honesty), and even a 100-page book about the board game of Chess (Chastity’s Chess Chapters).

    But beyond writing books and blog posts, Chastity is offering services to help others write and publish their books, blogs, and websites. Those who have a story to tell but who may not be as technologically inclined may benefit from her experience using Kindle Direct Publishing, Draft2Digital, WordPress, and writing content with Markdown and HTML.

    Chastity writes on two main websites that she pays to keep free of ads and distractions.

    You can also follow her author profiles for updates on the latest books she publishes.

  • 4 Chess Wins in a Row

    Because I have not had the time to write much about Chess recently due to finishing school, moving, and still working full-time at Walmart, I would like to instead share a recent video from my Twitch stream. I don’t save every stream but this one was special because it was my first real Chess stream since I moved to my new house.

    I have 5 roommates, one of which has even asked me to teach him Chess! I told him that is one of the things I do best.

    I was very tired while playing this, but I really needed to play some Chess because I don’t get enough fun during the week. I made a few mistakes in these games, but my calculations and trickery were higher than usual. I won all 4 Chess games during this stream.

    I am living in my new home, and I think my Chess focus is better here. – Watch the next live at https://www.twitch.tv/chastitywhiterose

    After I finish this final month of school, I hope to make more time for my regular fun Chess streaming in addition to writing on my blogs more.

  • Rate my Resume

    Today I take a small break from my usual Chess content with a few announcements and a request from my readers.

    First, I will soon be graduating from Full Sail University with my Creative Writing degree. Second, I will be moving to a new place where I will be renting a room in a 6-bedroom house with 5 roommates. Each tenant, myself included, has their own separate lease with the property management. I am a little bit nervous about it, but I am doing it for financial reasons of needing to save on rent to pay off my student loans.

    And that is not all. I also have been having Zoom meetings with Career coaches, who are guiding me in the direction of finding work as a writer. Part of my homework is to create a Technical Writing resume. I have spent quite some time over the past few weeks trying to make a resume that captures not only my writing skills but also my Chess teaching and video creation skills. I am sharing it in this post in the hopes that anyone who reads this blog can give me some feedback on it. I need to know how it looks to other humans instead of just what the AI on Indeed and vmock say about it.

    Please leave me comments on what you like or dislike about my resume. If you were an employer looking to hire someone to write about whatever your product or service is, would my skills qualify me?

    ResumeDownload

  • Deleting Duplicate Chess Games from a Database

    On my machine, I have two files. The All_white.pgn and All_black.pgn files are the files which contain wins for white and black for my favorite openings. However, because they were extracted from popular free Chess databases, there may be duplicate games.

    Therefore, I used these commands to reprocess them and remove extra games with the exact same move sequences. This will save disk space but also time loading them into ChessX.

    Commands to remove dupes

    pgn-extract All_white.pgn -oAll_white-noduplicates.pgn -D

    pgn-extract All_black.pgn -oAll_black-noduplicates.pgn -D

    After the process was done, I then deleted the original files with the duplicates because they were no longer necessary. If I update the entire database with more sources and openings, I will need to repeat this process though.

    More specifically, this database on my machine, while not yet open to the public, is based upon the downloadable sources included in En Croissant. All I did was download them, export them to .pgn files, and then sort them according to these openings. Therefore, anyone could create the same thing with this information.

    The Queen’s Gambit

    1. d4 d5 2. c4

    The London System

    1. d4 d5 2. Bf4

    The Indian Defense

    1. d4 Nf6

    The French Defense

    1. e4 e6

    The Sicilian Defense

    1. e4 c5

    These openings were chosen because of their popularity and my preference. Interestingly, I did not include the Caro Kann because my preference is for the French Defense and I don’t want to divide my attention when studying openings any more than I already have.

    For more information on using pgn-extract to manage Chess databases, I recommend the official pgn-extract documentation.

  • Chapter 11: Song Lyrics

    Besides writing about Chess in this book, I also sometimes write poems about Chess which double as song lyrics. The lyrics for my top 3 best songs are below.

    Chastity’s Chess Challenge Lyrics

    [Verse]
Chastity sat down
Chessboard in the light
Pieces in a row
Ready for the night

[Verse 2]
Every piece unique
Knights jump around
Bishops slide oblique
Soon the pawns surround

[Chorus]
Checkmates and castles
Battles on the squares
Chastity’s got the tactics
Winning everywhere

[Verse 3]
Opponents get nervous
Rooks move with speed
Chastity keeps her cool
Focused indeed

[Verse 4]
She'll show you the websites
Where she likes to play
Just watch her stream highlights
And you'll learn the way

[Bridge]
Every move calculated
Every step so clear
She's the queen of the board
No need to fear

[Verse 5]
We don't always make the best move
But the point of Chess is to have fun
If you keep playing you will improve
You'll believe me when the game is done

[Verse 6]
Whether you are a powerful queen
Or just a slow moving pawn
Soon you'll become a chess machine
Playing in your dreams from dusk to dawn

[Verse 7]
Some people call Chess a game
While others say it's a fight
Perhaps it's all the same
The dance of black and white

[Verse 8]
Chess is for people of every kind
It doesn't matter who or what you are
You have all the power in your mind
Learn to checkmate like a star

    Chastity’s Chess Chapters Lyrics

    I was trying to inspire people to play chess
My plans were good, but the execution was a mess
If people don't know how to start
Then they will never know that chess is art

I decided to write my own chess book
With large pictures for people to take a look
The new player needs some motivation
Before they even know chess notation

My graphic design was quite berserk
Most of my time was spent on artwork
They needed to be the right size
I failed so many of my tries

I never give up because I am a nerd
I put my heart into every single word
I want my readers to understand
The vision of chess that I have planned

Because chess is not hard to learn
As long as you do not rush your turn
It's not a game for the strong or fast
But for the patient who can outlast

With every piece that you take
You question if you made a mistake
The book I write will not mislead
But you need the patience to read

If there is something I should show
Then message me and let me know
The game of chess should always be free
If you take the time, I know you will agree

    Chess for All Lyrics

    [Verse]
Board is set let's play our game
Everyone can join the same
Pieces move their timeless dance
In chess there's always a chance

[Verse 2]
Kings and queens on either side
Pawns advance with humble pride
No one's left out in this fight
A game of skill no dark no light

[Chorus]
Chess for all chess for you
Every move it's something new
No matter who or where you are
In this game we're all a star

[Verse 3]
Black or white it doesn't matter
On this board no walls to shatter
Rich or poor we all belong
In this fight we're going strong

[Verse 4]
Even if you've never played
There's no need to be afraid
Anyone can learn this game
That's why chess has so much fame

[Bridge]
Male or female gay or straight
At this table no one's late
Every voice and move unique
All together we are sleek

[Verse 5]
Anyone can win this game
But when you lose feel no shame
Even masters make mistakes
All your games are just remakes

[Verse 6]
Each new player finds their style
When you find it you will smile
Books and courses help us learn
What we need to take our turn

[Chorus]
Chess for all chess for you
Every move it's something new
No matter who or where you are
In this game we're all a star

  • Technical Writer

    After publishing my first Chess book, Chastity’s Chess Chapters, I have come to realize that what I was accidentally doing is the start of Technical Writing. When I think about the majority of what I have been reading in my lifetime, I discovered it was not story novels. I am much more likely to be reading a book or a PDF manual written for Open Source Software.

    In the process of writing my Chess book, I depended greatly on the Technical Writing of other people. For example

    These three people were extremely influential to what I needed to learn. The Markdown Guide provided me with the knowledge to separate chapters from paragraphs and link to images which I needed to include in my book. It also pointed me to Gabriel’s blog post about using only open source tools to publish a book. His blog post introduced me to Pandoc, which is a perfect complement to using Markdown as described in the Markdown Guide. These 3 unrelated authors of Technical Writing about how to use these Open Source tools all accidentally worked together in helping me include the images in my own book.

    The end result is that my book, Chastity’s Chess Chapters, is a Technical Writing book about how to play the game of Chess, what software and websites can help, and also some about the process of how the book was made. There were a few Pandoc commands included in the book to remind myself how I did the process of making my book files, but also for the purpose of sharing the information to help other authors write whatever books they want and get them published.

    After speaking with Career Coaches Susan Smey and Mary Helen Norris, I am starting to see that a Technical Writer is what I am becoming without even trying. The kind of things that I have been reading and writing have a name. Once you know a name of something, it can be Google searched, and then opportunities are available! I am very excited for what career I may have because of my Full Sail University education and my self taught computer skills.

  • Chastity’s Google Translate Process

    The following steps outline what I did to convert my Chess book I recently published into Spanish through the power of Google Translate. I did this because I have Spanish speaking friends and Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language in the United States of America.

    First, I had to take the original ebook in English and convert it into an OpenOffice Document.

    pandoc ChastityChessChapters-ebook.md -o book.odt --reference-doc custom-reference.odt

    Then I saved it as a Microsoft Word docx file from within LibreOffice. This is so Google Translate will accept it as a valid document.

    Then, I had to go to Google Translate and convert the entire document to Spanish.

    The final step was converting this document into an epub for the Spanish ebook.

    pandoc book-spanish.docx -o ebook-spanish.epub -s --metadata title="Capítulos de ajedrez de Chastity" --metadata subtitle="¡El ajedrez no es tan difícil de aprender como te han dicho!" --metadata author="Chastity White Rose"

    When I published it, I did not edit the results at all because I know so little Spanish that if there was something wrong, I would not have a clue how to fix it.

    However, I also changed the text on the cover of the book to the Spanish equivalent of what I had on the English cover. I suspect that my book will provide a much needed resource to Spanish speakers because most books on Chess are written by players who are English, French, and Indian. Since my goal is to promote Chess to people of every kind, it was essential to make a Spanish translation, and perhaps other languages will follow in the future now that I have a working process to translate an entire book very quickly.

    The Spanish version I made can be found on Smashwords and Amazon.

  • Chastity SVG Xiangqi Set Chinese

    This is the Chinese character version of my previous Xiangqi set that used westernized pieces. I made this to help me get used to the Chinese pieces by choosing a set from the Pychess repository that looked visually appealing to me and then placing it on the exact same board I designed for the western version.

    See the western version below for reference.

    As I mentioned in my book, I have played Xiangqi but I am not very good at it yet. I am much more experienced with Chess and Shogi, but Xiangqi is definitely in the same category of games.

  • The Albin Counter Gambit

    There is a response that black can use against white’s queen’s gambit. The result is that black can take white’s queen if they make two critical mistakes,

    I have pictures of the most common sequence of moves here. I will explain the ideas behind the Albin Counter Gambit and why it can be used to turn the tables against white and destroy their queen. They can of course avoid the trap in a few ways, but this opening is psychologically very tricky.

    First, we are in the Queen’s Gambit position. White offers a free pawn on c4 to tempt black into taking it. I have previously covered why you should not accept the gambit pawn. Those who are playing black can use the following tricks.

    Instead of taking the pawn, or using the common declines of moving a pawn to e6 or c6, black instead moves their king’s pawn two squares to e5. This is a counter gambit because now white will think “Yay, a free pawn!”. Usually they will take it without question.

    White takes the pawn. There is no reason not to because it really is a good move. However, white will be overconfident at this point, thinking they are playing someone who doesn’t know what they are doing.

    Black moves the d5 pawn one square forward to d4 where white’s pawn was before. This doesn’t look like a problem except that it means white cannot move their knight to c3 or the pawn will take it.

    White will probably try to advance their king’s pawn to e3 with the idea of trading queens if the black pawn captures it.

    Black now moves the bishop to b4 and puts the king in check. White has 4 options here, not a single one of which is any good. Either they move the king out of the way to e2 and block their bishop, or they put their knight, bishop, or queen in the way on d2 to block the check.

    Not wanting to sacrifice a knight, white sacrifices the bishop on d2.

    But black never intended to capture anything with the bishop. They check was just a distraction from the d4 pawn which now takes the e3 pawn. Now it attacks the bishop and pawn. Also, the white bishop on d2 is not able to capture that pawn because then the king will be in check again.

    The white bishop simply takes the black bishop and thinks they are winning the game already.

    But then the black pawn captures the f2 pawn and the king is in check. There are two legal moves here, both of which are losing for white. Either they move the king to e2 and let the pawn kill their knight, or they take the pawn, which seems like the logical option.

    The white king takes the pawn and yet fails to notice that nothing is defending their queen.

    Black queen takes white queen because when the white bishop moved out of the way, they had no obstacles between them.

    At this point, white usually resigns after losing their queen. There really are no good moves for white in this position and the black queen can keep putting the white king in check while taking all their pieces. This is why the Albin Counter Gambit is so dangerous to a Queen’s Gambit player like me. Don’t fall for this trap as I once did!

    But you may wonder, can the Queen be protected if the white king moves to e3 instead of taking the pawn on f2?

    No, because remember that the pawn can promote to any piece, including a knight when it promotes. This puts the king in check.

    Of course, the rook can take this black knight, but that will not help the situation at all.

    The true purpose of taking that knight was to remove the final defender of the king from a bishop on b4 check.

    As you can see, there is no way to protect the queen. As soon as the king moves to one of the 3 legal squares, the white queen will be captured by either the black bishop or queen.

    The Albin Counter Gambit doesn’t always go this way, but it certainly can. This is why it is a perfectly valid response to the Queen’s Gambit.