Wythoff's queen race

Advanced Mathematics English
Also available: Deutsch
Created by Best · 16.07.2026 at 20:44 UTC

A queen sits away from the corner and may move only west, south, or south-west, always toward a1. Players alternate, and whoever lands on a1 wins. Because you can never move away from the corner, the game must end, and every position is either winning or losing for the player to move.

The losing positions, the cold squares, are the ones you want to hand your opponent. They are not random: their coordinates follow Wythoff pairs built from the golden ratio, and the first few, counting a1 as $(0, 0)$, are $(1, 2)$ and $(2, 1)$. Find a move onto a cold square and you keep control.

University approvals: 0
Tasks
Question 1

Play: move the queen west, south, or south-west and reach a1 before the computer. You move first.

Question 2

Why do the cold (losing-to-move) squares matter?

Question 3

Why must this game always end?

Card Info
  • Topic: Mathematics
  • Difficulty: Advanced
  • Completed: 0 users
Creator
Best
Best
BestBuddy