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Day 49 - Halfway Point - Wednesday 8/5

Operation Redirect and Minimize

Day 48 - Tuesday 8/4

Pics and nips

Day 47 - Monday 8/3

Green double zeroes

Scrambled hamsters

Perry plus a guessing game

Ratings - Dead Man's Chess special edition

If you hadn't noticed, chess is the mack daddy of symbolism where Big Brother is concerned. You've got two sides going to war, different pieces with different moves, casualties that are both inevitable and surprising, and one winner in the end. Every move has repercussions: some are immediate and some don't hit until many moves later. Those generally credited as 'good players' tend to plan many moves ahead, but they sometimes overlook obvious and immediate consequences. Others go far by playing recklessly and even foolishly, their movements either misinterpreted by their opponents, or sometimes they simply get lucky. That's why, despite the lack of activities outside of comps or an occasional hula hoop, there's always a chess set in the habitat. It's a different set every season, usually correlating to the decor, and it's often unique or fancy. The different sets for each season are among the many fun things tracked at Attwx.com, along with the more traditional records kept by @attwx. The pieces below are your basic wooden classics, but this year's set is a stylish (and pricey) lucite affair by designer Jonathan Adler.
Won: Outback dinner (guest) No question he's a big hulking rook, standing guard and threatening to plow down anyone in a straight-line path. But this rook is more bark than bite. Instead of lashing out to attack (which he easily could), he chose instead to use his unique 'castling' power. Normally that move's done to protect a king, but this guy castled himself to stand guard over a mere pawn.	Won: $5,000; Outback dinner (guest) She sees herself as a queen, or perhaps a bishop or knight, but she's just another pawn who talks big sometimes. Even if she accepted that, she'd see herself as that one brave little pawn who can make it across the board to be magically transformed into a princess - err, queen. That probably won't happen, but she's going to stick around longer than most pawns.. some just do.
Won: Ireland trip; Outback dinner (guest) NOMINATED He probably fancies himself the king and deserving winner, as well as the noble, just, brave, and loyal. But no, he's just a pawn, and an expendable one at that. The mealy mouthed, big talking pretty boy isn't all that - he really is just a furless bat.	Won: 1 week knight; 24 hours Vanessa polish She probably sees herself as a queen, or at least a fancy-dancing knight (especially this week), but she too is just a pawn. Granted, she's one of those passive-aggressive pawns who seems prepared to take out a diagonal victim here or there, but she hasn't proven she's capable of more than big talk. Yet.
Won: Outback dinner HEAD OF HOUSEHOLD WON VETO - DID NOT USE Would it be too punny to call him a dark horse? Okay, sorry. But it's kind of true. He was the first to step out of the gates, ahead of and over everyone else, and he got away relatively clean, while directly and indirectly setting a whole lot of things in motion that are still rattling. His ability to do those L-shaped maneuvers have served him well, both defensively and especially offensively. Queen Shelli and Pawn Clay never saw him coming, and Queen Vanessa still isn't sure what he's about.	Won: 1 week Wackstreet Holy catty-corner, Batman! Nobody's quite sure what he's up to, but like a traditional bishop of lore and legend, most think he's generally a good guy and not much of a threat. But some of those medieval church guys were ruthless and violent, and incredibly powerful, not to mention sketchy as hell. Time will tell if John's game will earn him the win, nice guy kudos or viewer favorite cash bonus, or if he'll make a reckless diagonal move that will leave him as vulnerable prey.
Won: ½ week Wackstreet She's an identical image of her counterpart pawn but at the same time, she's completely different. Neither's really done much yet game-wise, and they might not, but I think Julia might be more liable to take that little diagonal step to slay an opponent than Liz. She'd probably take out another pawn rather than someone more powerful, but there are plenty of both to choose from. Then again, she might just keep standing around until they're much farther along, with an occasional one-step to keep her from rusting.	Won: ½ week Wackstreet, Outback dinner Most say she's the more outgoing twin but I'm not so sure about that. She's the one willing to let herself be 'protected' by the hulking rook Austin who somehow mistook her for a king and castled her into a corner. In fact she's not only willing, she's aiding and abetting that protection racket, even while her sister pawn is grossed out by the whole thing.
Won: Gronk party cruise Yet another pawn (there are many of them in chess and BB), she leaned back on home row for almost the entire first half, and then she burst forth with a delicate one-step or two. I don't see her doing much more than that in the future but I'd like to be wrong on that, it would be a pleasant surprise. Otherwise, she'll either stand still and be another casualty, or she'll accidentally step into a firestorm space that three or four others will move into and take each other out in bloody sequence.	Won: 2,400 battles NOMINATED Queens are the most powerful pieces in chess since they're the only ones who have free reign to go almost wherever the hell they want to. I say almost, because while they can move in any direction over any number of free spaces, they have to travel in straight lines. Shelli actually believes she's the 'good' queen playing an honest game, but she's simply BB-delusional about that. Her real problem is that she wants to change directions with each move, and that just isn't allowed.
Like rogue Bishop Johnny and Knight James, Steve is also unpredictable and hard to figure out what he's up to. Just when you think he's going to move one forward/two right, he goes two back/one left. And also like each of them, he may or may not know himself why he did what he's done before or what he's going to do next. A good knight can play a very effective and fierce game, stunning opponents with those crazy Ls, or they can be wiped out in a blink by a poor choice, especially when it involves one of those firestorm spaces.	Won: Outback dinner; 24 hours polishing Jackie Like Shelli, she's got the power and she's got the moves, and she's very adept at baiting everyone into her traps. Also like Shelli, she talks a lot about her honest game, albeit using bigger words to get that message across. Vanessa's every bit as shady as Shelli, more so even, but I think she might actually be aware of that and is consciously and intentionally only paying lip service about her integrity totem pole. That self-awareness (if it really exists) could be her ticket to the win, but hasn't she often told them she gave up poker because taking other people's money felt bad? An interesting quandary indeed.
Won: 1 week Wackstreet Jason was ready to go the distance and make a fan statement if not a half million, but he sat in his starting space for a little bit too long. That worked okay in the old days but historians have to keep up with current events, and modern BB begins at the get-go. When he did finally start his moves, it was mostly because Austin landed next to him in his castling maneuver. Jason then jumped ahead two spaces, then another, but when he attempted a diagonal take-out, he was the one taken out instead. But he was standing in a firestorm space and his exit left it open. Now the game has really begun, and there will be blood.	Won: Nothing She was clearly playing a bishop role with her astrology, dream interpretations, comp prophecies, and dark mooning. Unlike all the 'straight shooter' types, she moved diagonally and always ended those moves a bit farther or shorter than anyone expected, or could work with. She made it interesting though, and she kept them hopping. More importantly, she fooled them once, she fooled them twice, and she practically fooled them a third time before they finally caught on. But rather than shame on them, they burned her as a heretic.
Won: Nothing He probably thought he was a king, having been ushered in by reality royalty in the form of a Phil Keoghan cross-promo opp. He didn't really realize he was surrounded by knights, bishops, and rooks more powerful than himself until it was too late, and he'll probably never admit he was taken out by a queen. In the end, he was just another pawn, and a rather grimy one at that.	Won: Power to nullify 3 votes She woulda/coulda/shoulda been a queen but instead she became a rook, strong and powerful but ultimately reduced to a pile of rubble. Spectators cheered as slings and arrows bounced off her in early assaults, but those early attacks aren't the important ones. She moved out left and right, forward and back, taking long strides too soon, leaving herself exposed, and those who relied on her for protection were left vulnerable. If she'd used her twin knowledge to castle them before Austin, or not fallen for Audrey's diagonals, everything might have been different.
Won: Nothing In BB, the word pawn is something of a misnomer: they say pawn when they mean decoy. In chess, pawns are numerous, relatively powerless, and mostly expendable. They're often sacrificed intentionally by those who play several moves ahead, and they're ideal for setting off firestorms. Jace fits that description to a tee, except for the firestorm part. He lurched out with two big steps but didn't realize he was limited to singles after that, and then it was too late. He was already out there alone and exposed, and he was shot down instantly without anyone even working up a sweat.	I don't usually include evictees in theme ratings, but you can't play chess with just 12 pieces. You can't play it with 17 either, but that's beside the point. Hence the inclusion here of the pieces that have already been removed from the board. By the way, you might notice there are no kings assigned to anyone above.. that's because no matter what else happens, BB production and CBS always win in the end.

SEASON STATS