Knight Chase
Alex Randolph
Introduction
This variant is described in A Gamut of Games by Sid Sackson (Pantheon Books, 1982). Knight Chase is played on a standard 8x8 chessboard with only 2 Knights and a supply of 30 markers (stones, poker chips, buttons, cardboard chits, etc.).
Rules
The Black Knight begins at h1 and the White Knight begins at a8.Black moves first.
A move consists of a normal Knight's move plus the placing of two markers. One marker must be placed on the square the player's Knight previously occupied. The other may be placed on any unoccupied square. Below is an example of a first move for Black:
Markers occupy their squares, prevent either Knight from moving onto (but not leaping over) the marked space.
White wins by capturing the Black Knight. Black wins by avoiding capture. After the thirtieth marker has been placed, White is only allowed ten moves in which to capture the Black Knight. Otherwise Black wins.
If either Knight is unable to move to an unmarked space, Black also wins.
Sample Game
Knight Chase is a very fast game. Here is an example provided by the inventor of a loss by Black after only two moves:
Black to move. At this point Black cannot avoid capture.
Other Chess-Related Games by Alex Randolph
Alex Randolph, the inventor of this variant is also credited with creating several other games. Mad Mate, a commercial version of Chessgi might be of interest to chess variantists. General boardgame enthusiasts might also be interest Twixt, Oh-Wa-Ree, and Breakthru. These three games of Mr. Randolph's were published by the 3M company in the 1960's and 70's. For more information on these games, follow this external link. Breakthru, in particular, may be of some interest to the chess variantist, as it is essentially an updating of Hnefatafl.
Written by Jeff Rients.
WWW page created: June 25th, 2004