Futility Closet

Take two pieces of string or tape, and round the wrists of two persons tie the string, as shown in Fig. 19. It adds to the amusement of the puzzle if one of the persons is a lady and the other a gentleman. The puzzle is for them to liberate themselves, or for any one else to release them without untying the string. To do this, B makes a loop of his string pass under either of A's manacles, slips it over A's hands, and both will be free. Reverse the proceeding, and the manacles are again as before.

– Cassell's Complete Book of Sports and Pastimes, 1896

When in France, Benjamin Franklin used to play chess with the elderly Duchess of Bourbon.

In one game Franklin captured her king.

"We do not take kings so," the duchess objected.

"We do in America," Franklin said.

In 1963, Giants pitcher Gaylord Perry joked, "They'll put a man on the moon before I hit a home run."

On July 20, 1969, just minutes after Apollo 11 made its lunar landing, he hit the first home run of his career.

Humphrey Bogart was an expert chess player. Here's a 1951 game he played with Lauren Bacall (she had black):

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. d3 d5 5. exd5 Qxd5 6. c4 Bb4+ 7. Nc3 Bxc3+ 8. bxc3 Qd6 9. a4 Bd7 10. Ba3 Qf6 11. Qe2 Nge7 12. Bxe7 Qxe7 13. Bxc6 Bxc6 14. Nxe5 Bxg2 15. Rg1 Bh3 16. Rg3 Be6 17. d4 c6 18. d5 cxd5 19. cxd5 Bxd5 20. c4 Be6 21. Re3 f6 22. Nd3 Kf7 23. Nf4 Rae8 24. Nxe6 Qb4+ 25. Kf1 Re7 26. Re1 Rhe8

27. Nd8+ Kf8 28. Rxe7 Rxe7 29. Qxe7+ Qxe7 30. Rxe7 Kxe7 31. Nxb7 1-0

Another famous player was the French surrealist Marcel Duchamp, who gave up nearly all other activity late in life: "I am still a victim of chess. It has all the beauty of art — and much more."

The shortest decisive tournament chess game ever played was Dordevic-Kovacevic, Bela Crkva 1984:

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 c6 3. e3

3. … Qa5+ wins the bishop. Dordevic resigned.

Arriving home early one day, Yogi Berra asked his wife where she'd been that afternoon.

She said she'd taken their son to see Doctor Zhivago.

Berra said, "What the hell's wrong with him now?"

Catcher Moe Berg earned his reputation as "the brainiest guy in baseball." At Princeton, where he studied seven languages, he communicated plays in Latin with the second baseman, and he later attended Columbia Law School and the Sorbonne while reading 10 newspapers a day. After 15 undistinguished seasons as a ballplayer, he went to work as a spy during World War II, parachuting into Yugoslavia for the Office of Strategic Services and interviewing Italian physicists about the German nuclear program. (He chose not to shoot Werner Heisenberg.) His is the only baseball card on display at CIA headquarters.

Berg was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1945, but he spent the last 20 years of his life living quietly with siblings. He declined to write a memoir, so much of his life is still a mystery. When asked why he had "wasted" his intellectual gifts on baseball, he said, "I'd rather be a ballplayer than a justice on the U.S. Supreme Court." His final words were "How did the Mets do today?"

What's unusual about this position?

Twenty-eight consecutive checks:

1. c7+ N(8)xc7+ 2. bxc7+ Nxc7+ 3. dxc7+ Ke7+ 4. g8(=N)+ Rxg8+ 5. hxg8(=N)+ Qxg8+ 6. f8(=B)+ Qxf8+ 7. Qe8+ Qxe8+ 8. d8(=Q)+ Qxd8+ 9. c8(=N)+ Rxc8+ 10. bxc8(=N)+ Qxc8+ 11. Bb8+ Bxe4+ 12. Nd5+ Bxd5+ 13. Nc6+ Bxc6+ 14. Rb7+ Qxb7 mate

(Composed by Leathem.)

Harold Cross once composed a chess position with 29 possible mates.

In this one, by Henry Dudeney, White can choose among 36 different mates on the move:

If two chessplayers cooperate, how quickly can they reach a stalemate without any captures? Working independently, Sam Loyd, E.N. Frankenstein, W.H. Thompson, and Henry Dudeney all produced the same position, which can be reached in 12 moves:

1. d4 e5 2. Qd3 Qh4 3. Qg3 Bb4+ 4. Nd2 a5 5. a4 d6 6. h3 Be6 7. Ra3 f5 8. Qh2 c5 9. Rg3 Bb3 10. c4 f4 11. f3 e4 12. d5 e3