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Recognized Chess Variant: Magnetic Chess. Missing description[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
🕸Fergus Duniho wrote on Thu, Sep 16, 2004 02:29 AM UTC:
Am I reading this page right? If I am, it says that John McCallion
conducted a poll on whether Magnetic Chess or Hostage Chess should be
regarded as the Chess variant of the decade for the 90's, and only one
person voted in this poll. So, it is on the basis of a single vote from a
single reader of the NOST-bulletin that Magnetic Chess has been declared
as NOST's CV of the decade for the 90's.

I would have presumed that being declared as NOST's CV of the decade for
the 90's would have been a sure sign of the game's popularity. But if
the award was received on the basis of only a single vote, and most of the
readers of McCallion's column were too uninterested or too apathetic to
care, it does not seem to be much of any sign of popularity at all.

Since I am trying to ascertain the popularity of certain recognized Chess
variants, and this is one of them, any information on surer signs of this
game's popularity would be welcome.

Roberto Lavieri wrote on Fri, Sep 17, 2004 11:55 AM UTC:
Magnetic Chess is a good game, but I don´t know people that have played this game more than once, including me. I doubt a lot about its popularity.

🕸Fergus Duniho wrote on Fri, Sep 17, 2004 11:27 PM UTC:
Exactly. Although Magnetic Chess is an ingenious and intriguing variant, it lacks clarity. It is very difficult to think far ahead in this game, and so I haven't played it much myself. However, we're in a different position than Pritchard and NOST. I have played it only against Zillions, which makes a very tough opponent for this game. Pritchard and the members of NOST have played it against other humans, which means that some human gets the pleasure of winning. This may have endeared it to some people. Also, the game may have more appeal for the slow pace allowed when playing by mail. When trying to play at a more rapid pace, it is just too daunting.

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