Chess 66
What's new in Chess 66? The game board has a new geometry. It is based on the 8x8 board of normal chess with 64 fields, but with the difference that the board now has 66 fields. This apparent contradiction is resolved by halving the playing field in the row, shifting one half by a line, realigning the two halves geometrically and adding two new fields. The new fields are fields 4 and 5.
The changed geometry means that triangles are created to the left of a4 and - from the point of view of the white player - to the right of H5, which are included in the board. Then the fields a4 and h5 are 'virtually' halved. This lays the foundation for fields 4 and 5.
Field 4 is made up of the triangle to the left of a4 and the lower left - also triangular - half of field a4.
Field 5 is made up - from the point of view of the white player - from the triangle to the right of h5 and the upper right - also triangular - half of the field h5.
Finally it should be mentioned that due to the new board geometry:
- There is a change in line between the lower and upper half of the board, for example d4 to e5;
- there is a change in the diagonal in the same way, for example d4 to f5;
- The white player still has a white right corner field, while the black player now has a black right corner field.
At first it looks like a geometric gimmick. But it is not - to make it short:
The king can be checkmated with one piece.
The bishop can change his color diagonal.
How is that possible?
Let's start with the statement that an opposing king can be checkmated with one piece and let's look at the squares 4 and a4 as well as 5 and h5.
The Switches
4 and a4 as well as 5 and h5 are switches. Switches enable moves that do not exist in normal chess and that primarily affect the pieces queen and rook.
A move can be made 'forked' over a switch (see Fig. 5), whereby far more squares can be reached with one move than the queen and rook can do in normal chess.
From line a1/a3, the rook and queen can either occupy square 4 or a4 or further on occupy either line a5/a8 or line b5/b8.
Queen and rook can thus checkmate an opposing king standing for example on a8 starting from line a1/a3 without the help of other pieces. Queen and rook have strong positions on lines a1/a3 and h8/h6.
Now to the statement that a bishop can change his color diagonal:
That means that a bishop remains on his color diagonals during the game in the normal chess. A white bishop always moves on white diagonals and a black one on black. Opposing bishops on different color diagonals cannot attack each other in the course of the game. In principle, this is a 'loss' for the game of chess.
The Tansfer Fields
If the bishop's 'color change' should take place in the course of the game, a color transfer must be able. As well known, this is not possible with the traditional squares of normal chess. In Chess 66, the transfer fields takes this task.
Fields 4 and 5 are said transfer fields, as can be seen by the double color scheme. Transfer fields allow moves that do not exist in normal chess. This is especially true to the figures bishop and also knight.
But we are not quite finished with that. A few rules are added to the well-known rules of normal chess in Chess 66
First of all, it should be mentioned that, in contrast to standard chess, in Chess 66 only the queen and rook pieces face each other on the same line in the initial position - apart from the pawns.
The Rules
Concerning the switches, the following rules must be observed:
- The position on the Switches must be clear. Either field 4 or field a4 must be occupied. This applies to field 5 or field h5 in same way. The player must show this by clear position of his piece.
- The Switches can always only be occupied by one piece. On a Switch a piece will be captured on the field on which it stood - either on field 4 or on field a4 respectively on field 5 or on field h5.
- A move between field 4 and field a4 respectively a move between field 5 and field h5 isn't possible. In the row the next field which can be reached by 4 is field b4 (g5 by 5).
- Occupying a square of the switch closes the switch for the move over the switch. A piece on 4 prevents therefore a move a1-b8.
Last but not least, the knight demands our attention:
In normal chess, the knight moves to one of the fields that are closest to his starting field, but not on the same row, line or diagonal. He does not move over the fields in between.
Due to the changed board geometry, an addition to the FIDE rule for knight moves in form of a specific definition for determining the field distances is necessary. It comes from Alfred Pfeiffer (Chemnitzer Schachverband e.V.):
The knight moves to one of the squares that a king can reach in two moves, but which are not on the same row, line or diagonal. He does not move over fields in between.
Sounds complicated, but it's actually simple and self-evident. This should be illustrated with an example. In Fig. 10, the knight starts from square 5. With the FIDE definition for the knight move, squares g7, f6 as well as f4 and g3 can be reached without any problems.
In Chess 66, you can also occupy the e4 square, because e4 can be reached from 5 with two king moves - first via g5 (see the rules above), then to field e4.
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By Gerd P. Degens.
Last revised by Gerd Degens.
Web page created: 2022-02-26. Web page last updated: 2022-07-24