George Duke wrote on Fri, Feb 26, 2010 05:46 PM UTC:
This recapitulation is by way of critique of the status quo. These Next
Chesses started in 2008 under inspiration of profound CV-thinker Editor
Joyce and also method of International Abstract Games Organization classes. 24 are so far ranked, of which the
crux are the upper 50% or 33% at at any given time, which bore and passed
scrutiny. Nothing prevents its growing to 50 or 100 -- or 500, with
diminished marginal utility -- and fluidity will permit extensive migration up and
down according to future play and choices. At this point, even one opinion
by anybody expressed would change one or many rank positions.
Self-nomination is encouraged, as Aronson just did with Not Particularly
New. Put your money where your mouth is, not burrowed into unnoticed
artwork. One conclusion: increasing preference for 8x10 as superior to
minimal 64 squares. Exceptions: well-tailored Three Player (rank #4) or
upcoming N.P.New rather on 9x8. Another heuristic: Track One and Track Two
are useful, inasmuch as Track Two is further removed from Shatranj and
strong Queen Shatranj, still played mechanically today by the great
unwashed multitude. Many will always prefer Track Two, the way there is
always an avant garde. Yet Chess is arguably the artifact across cultures most
unchanged since the first millennium, so there is potentially
religious as well as scientific importance in the Project. Any website freely avails all rankings I and II but permission of authors recommended for implementation of play. It is better for something to happen than for nothing to happen. Nothing happens but self-indulgence when repeat designers do more post-your-own art, Gary Kasparov's ''nonsense.'' Over-proliferation, with great similarity to past designs and small re-arrangement, has made discovery of prior art more taxing. So more and more critics will be needed to prioritize and counter the now recurring remark: ''I don't know whether this is a new idea, but here we go again...'' Ye Gods. When every dog will have had his day, the Chickens will come home to roost, and the Worm will turn. Rest ye on it.