Kevin Pacey wrote on Tue, Jan 2, 2018 02:08 AM UTC:
Now that I've been playing some games of this variant, I'm wondering if it's nearly always advantageous (in the opening at least) to trade a bishop for a knight (as a B is demoted to just a N, but a N is demoted all the way to a P). Perhaps not, at the least if the opponent ever gets the chance to make the same sort of transaction himself, ideally sooner rather than later, on one of the two boards.
Advantageous or not, this question re: B for N transactions led me to think that there might be at the least 5 interesting versions of this variant that might be worth trying out, i.e.:
1) A two 8x8 boards Backlash-like variant that has archbishops replacing the bishops (demotion order would then be from Q to A, from A to R, from R to N and from N to P);
2) and 3) Backlash-like variants of 9x8 Symmetric Chess, with and without archbishops replacing the bishops;
4) A Backlash-like variant of 10x8 Janus Chess;
5) A Backlash-like variant of 10x8 Capablanca Chess (demotion order would then be from Q to C, from C to A, from A to R, from R to B, from B to N and from N to P).
Now that I've been playing some games of this variant, I'm wondering if it's nearly always advantageous (in the opening at least) to trade a bishop for a knight (as a B is demoted to just a N, but a N is demoted all the way to a P). Perhaps not, at the least if the opponent ever gets the chance to make the same sort of transaction himself, ideally sooner rather than later, on one of the two boards.
Advantageous or not, this question re: B for N transactions led me to think that there might be at the least 5 interesting versions of this variant that might be worth trying out, i.e.:
1) A two 8x8 boards Backlash-like variant that has archbishops replacing the bishops (demotion order would then be from Q to A, from A to R, from R to N and from N to P);
2) and 3) Backlash-like variants of 9x8 Symmetric Chess, with and without archbishops replacing the bishops;
4) A Backlash-like variant of 10x8 Janus Chess;
5) A Backlash-like variant of 10x8 Capablanca Chess (demotion order would then be from Q to C, from C to A, from A to R, from R to B, from B to N and from N to P).