Check out Atomic Chess, our featured variant for November, 2024.


[ Help | Earliest Comments | Latest Comments ]
[ List All Subjects of Discussion | Create New Subject of Discussion ]
[ List Earliest Comments Only For Pages | Games | Rated Pages | Rated Games | Subjects of Discussion ]

Comments/Ratings for a Single Item

Earlier Reverse Order Later
Chatter Chess. Variant based on the idea of line chatter where rider pieces can switch to other friendly pieces' lines of movement. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Peter Aronson wrote on Fri, Apr 5, 2002 05:40 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
You know, I can't see any reason (aside from restraint) why stepping pieces couldn't take advantage of chatter even if they can't create it (sort of like a low-power line mixed in with higher-power lines). Then, if a stepper could move to a square containing a rider's line, it could ride away on it! In that case, castling and Pawn-double-step could definitely generate chatter lines (and we'd have to distinguish between capturing and non-capturing chatter lines). Of course, chasing down a King supported by a Bishop could be rather difficult . . . <p> The above would probably result in a fairly crazy game, but it would also come closer to working with different armies. <p> And for the list of possibly unplayable games, I'd like to add <u><a href='../d.betza/chessvar/confu01.html'>Confusion 1b</a> Chatter Chess</u>.

gnohmon wrote on Sat, Apr 6, 2002 02:21 AM UTC:
That was an excellent chatter response.

Responsible usage of the rules tells us that a piece which takes only one
step ends its move after that one step and therefore is not eligible to
chatter. However, your idea sounds like a lot of fun!

One can always arbitrarily restrict Kings and Pawns from participating in
the fun; and I think this would be necessary, not only because it appears
to be too difficult to chase down a King supported by multiple riders (note
that 'a K supported by a Bishop' can only run towards the Bishop), but also
because the offensive uses of Chattering Pawns would dominate the game, as
they do in N-Relay II.

Decimal Chatter Chess, on a 10x10 board, would become quite interesting if
you had the Pawns on the third rank, all Riders on the first, and a second
rank full of weak steppers -- the usual suspects, W, F, Crab, Barc, A, and
D -- because the early play would be dominated by the weak pieces being
thrown forwards by the power of the riders. You'd need to arrange your
pieces very carefully, making room for the weak pieces to get past the
Pawns, setting up intersecting lines for the riders, and putting the
weakies where they could join in the fray but not get in the way. All the
while trying to maintain a defense against the pesky foe.

gnohmon wrote on Sat, Apr 6, 2002 02:24 AM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
People should know that the excellent diagram that makes it so easy to
visualize the chatter moves was added by the editor, not the author.

The editor gets an 'excellent' rating for this page.

Peter Aronson wrote on Sun, Apr 7, 2002 11:18 PM UTC:
I think I was a little unclear about my idea. A stepping piece would move on a chatter line if one of the squares that it could move to was on that chatter line. Thus, a player with a King on <b>a3</b>, and a Bishop on <b>a1</b>, with the Bishop having a clear move to <b>h8</b> could move the King all the way to <b>h8</b>. Which is why it could be hard to run down the King without disposing of the Bishop first. <p> But in any case, your suggestion to exclude the King and Pawns from this behavior is probably wise, leaving it for various Faerie and CDA pieces in their stepping moves.

4 comments displayed

Earlier Reverse Order Later

Permalink to the exact comments currently displayed.