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Comments by Doug Chatham
Feeble Chess to Weakest Chess. Some Chess variants with weaker pieces. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Worse than Worthless. A discussion of pieces with negative value, and the Nattering Nabobs of Negativity![All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Mindblowing ideas. Too bad the term 'White Elephant' can't be used to describe these Negative-valued pieces :-) Some questions: I'm working on 42-square contest entry that involves neutral pieces that require two turns to move. In one move the player would announce which such piece will be moved and in the next move (or at the very next opportunity if an immediate move is not possible) the player would move that piece to an empty adjacent square. Let's call a piece with this temporal handicap (requiring two turns to move) Halfhearted or Hesistant, so my proposed piece would act like a Neutral Halfhearted Man.
<p>Has such a thing been done before? If so, where can I find the info? What is the general valueof such pieces? (Indeed, what is the value of neutral pieces in general?) FInally, what would a game between Halfhearted and Halfling armies be like?
I've recently had a strange idea for an 84-square chess variant, and I'd
like to get some comments on it.
I call it Three-Layer Wedding Cake Chess. The bottom layer is a standard
8x8 chess board with the standard chess piece placement. Above the middle
16 squares is the second layer, an initially empty 4x4 board. Above the
middle four squares of the second layer is the third layer, an initially
empty 2x2 board.
The goal is to get your queen and king on the top layer before the
opponent's king and queen can reach the top layer.
There is no check, checkmate, or any true capturing. A piece (including
P,R,B,N,Q, or K) can move onto a square occupied by an enemy piece only if
the square immediately above that enemy is empty. When such a move occurs,
the enemy piece is 'elevated' to the square immediately above its current
positions. If a player can elevate an enemy piece, he or she must do so.
If more than one elevation is possible, the player can choose which one to
carry out.
A player may move a piece to the square immediately below that piece if
that square is empty.
Pieces move on the top layers just as they do on the bottom layer, except
that pawns may only promote on the bottom layer.
FIDE rules apply except as I've contradicted them above (so, for example,
there are no 3D moves other than the ones given above,).
Previous variants inspiring and influencing this one include Bachelor Chess
(the wedding theme), Pyramid Chess (board layout), Reenterent Chess (each
square on the top two layers acting like a reentering square for 'captures'
on the square immediately below), Losing Chess ('captures' compulsory), and
Elevator Chess (inspiring the term 'elevate').
I hope you find this entertaining.In order to prevent the upper levels from being clogged up, perhaps I should introduce a gravity rule: before a player moves, all of his/her pieces that both (1) haven't moved in the past two turns and (2) have an empty square directly below them descend one level. Or perhaps, when an elevation isn't possible, a 'captured' piece could be placed on any empty square chosen by the capturer.
Zillions of Games
. Game package for Windows that allows you to play nearly any abstract board game or puzzle in the world.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Joseph,
<p>
Yes, according to <a href='http://www.zillions-of-games.com/demo/order.html'>http://www.zillions-of-games.com/demo/order.html</a>
the unlock key is sent by email. That is how I got my
unlock key and apparently that is still how they do it.
Chess. The rules of chess. (8x8, Cells: 64) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Perhaps you should put on this page a link to David Howe's Chess Rules For Kids so that people like Laurie will have a clue about where to go.
Oops! Just noticed the link at the bottom. I think you should also put a link in the mini-menu on the right hand side of this page...the kiddies might not think of looking at the bottom of the page.
Martin,<p>
The answer to your frequently-asked question is 'Yes, it is (always) illegal to have your king adjacent to the opponent's king.'
<p>
For more details see <a href='http://chessvariants.com/d.chess/faq.html'>the Rules of Chess FAQ file</a> and the <a href='http://chessvariants.com/d.chess/chess.html'>the Illustrated Rules of Chess</a> page.
Mono-dimensional Chess. Small, one dimensional variant with unorthodox pieces. (1x10, Cells: 10) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Glenn,
<p>Would you submit your ZRF for publication? Perhaps someone can use it to compose an interesting (helpmate, perhaps?) problem.
Colorboundmost and Nearly Colorboundmost Chess. Games with all pieces either completely or almost completely colorbound. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Query on Castlingmost Chess: Are the castles strictly along ranks and files or will castles along diagonal lines be permitted?
<p>Another query: If two pieces are already within 2 squares of each other, what do the castles look like?
Oops, your example starts off with a diagonal castle. Duh! Sorry, please disregard my first question.
One more question on Castlingmost Chess: If there are no captures, what does a 'mate' look like?
84 Spaces Contest. 84 Spaces Contest begins![All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Perhaps you might consider buying an Omega Chess set (http://www.omegachess.com), which uses a 10x10 board with extra corner squares which could be ignored for the 10x10 gaes you want to play.
Multivariant Tournament 2003. 2003 Multivariant PBEM tournament headquarters page.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]It might be useful to consider the rules set up by the International Correspondence Chess Federation (see http://www.iccf.com/) for their email tournaments.
11 by 11? Shouldn't a game with an asymmetry theme be played on an asymmetrical board? :-) Perhaps the 43-square contest would be perfect for an Asymmetry Chess...
84 Spaces Contest. 84 Spaces Contest begins![All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Did anybody get inspired to write an Orwellian _1984_-themed entry? Just curious.
Tandem-84. Variant on two boards of 7 by 6 rows with pieces moving between boards. (2x(6x7), Cells: 84) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]You might want to put your ASCII diagrams and graphic diagrams on separate 'rows'. On my browser, the graphic boards look very strange since there doesn't seem to be enough horizontal room...
Here are other sets of tentative rules for the amusement of those interested:<p>
<h4>'Friends Don't Let Friends Get in the Way' Chess</h4>
1. Pieces (except King and Knight) can go through friendly pieces, but not through enemy pieces. For example, from the initial FIDE position, the White Rook at a1 can move to a3, a4, a5, a6, or a7 (which would take the Black pawn) but not a2 or a8.<p>
2. Castling seems pointless so I'm tempted to drop it. All else is the same as FIDE Chess.<p>
<h4>Dibs Chess</h4>
1. Pieces move as in the FDLFGITW Chess described above, except as described below.<p>
2. Play is divided into rounds. Each round consists of one move of each type of piece.<p>
3. Instead of making a move, a player may reserve one piece type's move by 'calling dibs' on it. The other player is prevented from playing that type of piece in that round.<p>
4. A player who calls dibs must move a piece of the reserved type on his next turn.<p>
5. When a player calls dibs, the power to make the next call of dibs is reserved for the opponent (like a doubling cube in backgammon).<p>
Yes, I'm calling dibs on 'Dibs' :-)<p>
These are tentative rulesets. Any suggestions for improvement are welcome.
Poker Chess. Squares contain cards, and players win by forming poker hands with the cards on the squares occupied by their pieces. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]If you want to balance out the colors in a random draw, I suggest when you deal out the red half-deck, every other red card should be placed on Black's side of the board. That should reduce the chances of starting out with flushes on both sides.
Q: Why do you say ' a random draw'? Is that better poker terminology than 'a random deal'?
<p>A: I goofed. I meant to say 'a random deal'. Sorry.
Rules of Chess: Castling FAQ. Frequent asked questions about castling.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Yes, that is correct. You cannot capture while castling.
See some of the links at http://www.duniho.com/fergus/enneagram/ for more information on the enneagram.
L. The list of official nominations for the variant-by-committee.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Hmmm...no comments yet on the Knights? How will we know what to vote for?
The Central Squares. 3d chess variant where all three levels share their central squares. (3x(6x6), Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Apparently, in this variant a Pawn can promote to Queen even though the initial setup has no Queens. I have a variant, <a href='http://www.chessvariants.com/42.dir/bachelor.html'>Bachelor Chess</a>, with a similar situation.
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