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| Arizona Chess |
 Title text: Sometimes, you have to sacrifice pieces to gain the advantage. Sometimes, to advance ... you have to fall back. |
Explanation
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This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect: Created by a DAYLIGHT SLAYING BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon. |
White Hat and Cueball are playing a timed game of tournament-style chess. At the start of the comic White Hat has the advantage because, as well as having one more pawn than Cueball, he has more time left to play his remaining moves — 6 minutes and 35 seconds, versus Cueball's 28 seconds, as shown on the chess clock display above them.
However, Cueball has an unexpected advantage. The building is sited across the border of Arizona with another state, with White Hat on the Arizona side, and the game is being played at a very particular time of year, when (most of) the United States exits Daylight Saving Time, which happens at 2:00 AM on the morning of the first Sunday in November. As Arizona doesn't observe Daylight Saving Time (DST), unlike neighboring US states, only one clock gains an hour. White Hat's time remains normal, but Cueball's time "falls back" one hour, as his departure from daylight saving time occurs, giving him 60 additional minutes of play time. White Hat immediately protests, likely trying to communicate that such is not how chess clocks work. Chess clocks are simple timers, tracking how much time each player has used since the beginning of the match. They're not based on local time, and changing the time remaining during play would certainly be a violation of the rules. Even clocks that do track local time are generally not so carefully calibrated that they would reliably switch times so close to a state line.
Cueball ignores these protests, and now seems confident of victory, since he has far more play time remaining. Daylight Slaying Time is a pun on Daylight Saving Time, but note that the comic takes place as the non-Arizona clock joins the Arizona clock in Standard Time.
The title text is makes use of a pun. To "fall back" in a strategic sense, means to withdraw from an attack, or even to retreat. This can be part of a valid strategy, as withdrawing from an engagement can allow you to press the attack elsewhere, at a more advantageous time and place, or can draw enemy forces into an attack under circumstances that you control. "Spring forward, fall back" is a mnemonic used for daylight savings time (we advance the clock forward when entering DST in the spring, and move it backward when leaving it in the fall or autumn).
There are buildings in the US that are built across state lines (and county and city boundaries), and even some buildings that extend across international boundaries (these are known as line houses). The existence of these buildings can result in eccentric situations when laws and ordinances vary substantially between the locations. For example, a casino might be built on a state border where gambling is legal in one state but illegal in the other. In such a case, the gaming can only happen on one side of the building (the other being reserved for other services and functions). It's not uncommon for businesses and tourist attractions to lean into the novelty of this, by demarking the boundary inside the building and specifically encouraging things that are legal only on one side of the line. Such situations are likely the inspiration for this strip, but using such a line to manipulate a competition based on time zone is highly unlikely.
Ongoing state-level efforts to end time changes could also increase the number of places where this situation could happen, as more DST/non-DST boundaries arise.
The comic was published five days before the start of the World Chess Championship 2024 in Singapore.
Transcript
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This transcript is incomplete. Please help editing it! Thanks. |
- [White Hat and Cueball are sitting across from each other playing chess. The time, shown above them in white on a black screen, reads 6:35 for White Hat, and 0:28 for Cueball.]
- White Hat: It’s late, I’m up a pawn, and you’re out of time. It’s over.
- Cueball: Ah, you’re forgetting something.
- [Cueball gestures with one hand above the chessboard. His time now reads 0:19.]
- Cueball: Did you know this building straddles the Arizona border?
- Cueball: It actually runs right through the table. You're on the Arizona side.
- [Cueball raises his hand further to gesture at his time. It beeps and is now blank and white.]
- Cueball: This tournament started Saturday, November 2nd. Now it's almost 2AM on the 3rd.
- Cueball: And there's something you should know about Arizona.
- Chess clock: BEEP
- [White Hat raises his head slightly to look at the timer. Cueball's time now reads 60:07. Cueball lowers his hand to make a move.]
- White Hat: What?! No! That's not how... No!!
- Cueball: Looks like it's daylight slaying time.
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