2009.09.14: September 14, 2009: Headlines: COS - Swaziland: Chess: Games: Mathematics: Bethel College News: Swaziland RPCV Karl "Fritz" Juhnke is the two-time world champion of the chess-like game Arimaa (Ah-REE-ma)
Peace Corps Online:
Directory:
Swaziland:
Peace Corps Swaziland:
Peace Corps Swaziland: Newest Stories:
2009.09.14: September 14, 2009: Headlines: COS - Swaziland: Chess: Games: Mathematics: Bethel College News: Swaziland RPCV Karl "Fritz" Juhnke is the two-time world champion of the chess-like game Arimaa (Ah-REE-ma)
Swaziland RPCV Karl "Fritz" Juhnke is the two-time world champion of the chess-like game Arimaa (Ah-REE-ma)
In 1997, Omar Syed was distressed by the IBM computer Deep Blue's defeat of reigning world chess champion Gary Kasparov. Syed determined to create a new chess-like game that would enable the best human players to defeat the best computer programs. The result was Arimaa. For the past six years, Syed has offered a $10,000 challenge to any computer programmer who could create software that would defeat the best human players. So far, the humans have won. Karl Juhnke has been deeply involved in the rapidly growing community of Arimaa players. In 2005 and 2008, he won the championship in the annual online tournament of the best Arimaa players. He also defeated the best computer in the 2006, 2007 and 2009 Arimaa Challenge matches, showing that computers have a long way to go to equal the top human players. He has studied mathematics at Bethel College, Reed College, Stony Brook University and the University of Minnesota. He served two years in the Peace Corps in Swaziland and taught English in China and now works as a statistical analyst at theYahoo video platform in Dallas, Texas.
Swaziland RPCV Karl "Fritz" Juhnke is the two-time world champion of the chess-like game Arimaa (Ah-REE-ma)
Juhnke to demonstrate championship strategy game skills at Fall Festival
September 14, 2009
NORTH NEWTON, KAN. – A Newton High School graduate who has made a name for himself in the world of abstract strategy games will return home to demonstrate his skills.
Karl "Fritz" Juhnke, NHS class of 1987, is the two-time world champion of the chess-like game Arimaa (Ah-REE-ma). He is also the author of a new book, Beginning Arimaa: Chess Reborn beyond Computer Comprehension (Flying Camel Publications, 2009).
On Saturday, Oct. 3, Juhnke will be on the program at Bethel College's Fall Festival. He will present a lecture on Arimaa at 11 a.m. in Krehbiel Science Center #121. That afternoon at 1 p.m. in front of the college library, Juhnke will give a master demonstration of the game, playing against all comers – plus the best computer program online – simultaneously.
Juhnke is the son of James Juhnke, Wichita, professor emeritus of history at Bethel College, and the late Anna Juhnke, who taught English at Bethel for 30 years. He and his wife Katie Hoody, a piano teacher, live in Garland, Texas.
When he was in fourth grade at Northridge, Juhnke was chosen for the Newton Public Schools' Extended Learning Program for gifted children, where his math tutor was Franco Sjogren. Each of his four years at Newton High School, Juhnke had the highest score in Kansas on the American Mathematics Competition.
He has studied mathematics at Bethel College, Reed College, Stony Brook University and the University of Minnesota. He served two years in the Peace Corps in Swaziland and taught English in China and now works as a statistical analyst at theYahoo video platform in Dallas, Texas.
Juhnke's current avocational passion is the game of Arimaa, played on a chess board but with different characters (for example, the chess "king" is the Arimaa "elephant"). Arimaa has simple rules but about 500 times as many options on each move as chess. The game is, according to Juhnke, "easy to learn but inexhaustibly profound."
In 1997, Omar Syed was distressed by the IBM computer Deep Blue's defeat of reigning world chess champion Gary Kasparov. Syed determined to create a new chess-like game that would enable the best human players to defeat the best computer programs. The result was Arimaa.
For the past six years, Syed has offered a $10,000 challenge to any computer programmer who could create software that would defeat the best human players. So far, the humans have won.
Karl Juhnke has been deeply involved in the rapidly growing community of Arimaa players. In 2005 and 2008, he won the championship in the annual online tournament of the best Arimaa players. He also defeated the best computer in the 2006, 2007 and 2009 Arimaa Challenge matches, showing that computers have a long way to go to equal the top human players.
Until this summer, Arimaa has been played exclusively online. Z-Man, a board game publisher in New York, has now produced 10,000 boxed sets of the game.
Juhnke's book, Beginning Arimaa, is for sale at the Thresher Bookstore in Schultz Student Center on the Bethel College campus. The board game is available online at zmangames.com and is coming soon to game stores in Wichita. For more about Arimaa, see arimaa.com/arimaa/.
Links to Related Topics (Tags):
Headlines: September, 2009; Peace Corps Swaziland; Directory of Swaziland RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Swaziland RPCVs; Mathematics
When this story was posted in November 2009, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers 








 | Memo to Incoming Director Williams PCOL has asked five prominent RPCVs and Staff to write a memo on the most important issues facing the Peace Corps today. Issues raised include the independence of the Peace Corps, political appointments at the agency, revitalizing the five-year rule, lowering the ET rate, empowering volunteers, removing financial barriers to service, increasing the agency's budget, reducing costs, and making the Peace Corps bureaucracy more efficient and responsive. Latest: Greetings from Director Williams |
Read the stories and leave your comments.
Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.
Story Source: Bethel College News
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Swaziland; Chess; Games; Mathematics
PCOL44904
45