Just a reminder to all of you who wish to participate in the upcoming Camelot World Championship Tournament. You must be a member of the World Camelot Federation (membership is free--all it takes is an email to michael@worldcamelotfederation.com) in order to get an invitation to play in the tournament.
However, after Black moves 1....F3-G4, White wins with 2.D5-C4! Now, if 2......G4-F3, then 3.E4-D3. Next, if 3....F3-E2, then 4.C4-B3! E2xC4, 5.B3xD5 wins. (Other retreating Black second moves allow White to defend his Castle with one piece while advancing toward Black's Castle with the other piece, as might have happened in the game.)
By the way, I think that if any Cam position is drawn, it will probably entail an ending with two pieces vs. two pieces. That is the most common type of drawn ending in Camelot, though I probably shouldn't say "common" since with accurate play, almost all Camelot endgame positions are not drawn.
The mandatory capture if a Knight Canters into a Jumping position has been in the rules since 1930. I think the idea was (and is) that if a Knight Canters next to an enemy piece that can be jumped, it has reached, in effect, the same position as one where there is an available Jump at the start of a turn, that is, a situation where a capture is mandatory.
I think that it's a good rule, and seems to me to be consistent with the overall conceptual structure of the game.
As a practical matter, it's rare for a player to Canter a Knight into position to Jump, and then be better off if he weren't forced to Jump. But it is obviously possible.
Well, I don't know about my being a great Camelot player--I think a better description would be just pretty good. But Dan may well be a genius Camelot player--he seems, at least for me, to be impossible to beat.
The 2008-2009 WCF Camelot World Championship Tournament that began on July 20, 2008, has been decided. Dan Troyka of Saline, Michigan, USA, has retained his title of WCF Camelot World Champion.
The original eight challengers for the crown were divided into two four-man round robin candidates groups. Each group member played a best-two-out-of-three-game match against each of the other three members of his group. The two group winners, Michael Nolan and Jerry LaSala, played off in a best-three-out-of-five-game Candidates Final Match. Mr. Nolan won the contest, giving him the right to challenge Mr. Troyka, the reigning World Champion, in a best-four-out-of-seven-game match for the Championship. That match began on February 7, 2009, in Troy, Michigan, USA. A second session was held on March 8, and a third and final session on May 31. The time limit for all games was set at 40 moves in 2.5 hours. After sixteen total hours of play, the match was won by Mr. Troyka by a score of 4-1/2 to 1-1/2 (four wins, one loss, one draw), thus he retains his title of WCF Camelot World Champion.
Links to annotated scores of all six games of the World Championship Match in the form of Camelot "movies" (showing the position after every move) are available at http://www.worldcamelotfederation.com/2008_WC_Games.htm.
I want to let all BrainKing users know that they are entitled to a free membership in the World Camelot Federation.
The WCF is an international non-profit organization that is dedicated to the preservation, popularization, and play of Camelot, one of the finest abstract strategy board games ever invented.
As most of you probably know, both Camelot and its variant Cam are played on BrainKing.
There are currently 197 WCF members, spread throughout 14 different countries. The organization is an informal network of individuals interested in any and all aspects of the game and its variants: Cam, Camette, Chivalry, Grand Camelot, and Grand Cam.
Membership comes with no requirement on your part. Membership entitles you to a couple of things. You will receive an occasional informational email from me regarding subjects like Camelot computer programs, rules questions, editions of sets, legal issues, games, problems, etc.
Additionally, you will automatically receive an invitation to play in the next WCF Camelot World Championship (email) Tournament. One just concluded two weeks ago.
I hope you take advantage of this chance to learn more about Camelot.
Within the next week or so, I will be playing a few exhibition games of Camelot against CHAXX, the World Champion Camelot computer program, on this site ( Camelot (Chaxx vs. MrWCF) ). I suspect that my current unbeaten BrainKing Camelot record will quickly suffer extensive damage.
joshi tm: Camette has not been solved at any of the three possible levels (ultra-weak, weak, or strong). However, in order for that to be true, White must choose one of the 10 opening moves (out of a possible 24) that do not result in forced loss. Speaking of Checkers and Chess, by the way, as you may know, Checkers was weakly solved in 2007: it's a draw.
joshi tm:Thanks for your comments, joshi. When I invented the Camelot variant of Camette, I never seriously expected it to avoid being "solved" for too long a period of time. It appears, though, that 10 of the 22 possible first moves for White actually result in an equal battle--I was pleasently surprised!
I thought that I would annotate my game just completed against skinny18. It was the most difficult Camelot game I've had so far on BrainKing. Camelot (MrWCF vs. skinny18)
White: MrWCF Black: skinny18 16 January 2009
1.E6-G8 G11-G9 2.F6-H8 H11-H9 3.D6-F8 J11-H11 4.E7-C7? (The beginning of an unsound combination by White that leads to a loss of a Man.) 4....G9XE7 5.H6-F6 E7XG5 6.I7-G9XG11XI9XG9 H11-H10 7.G6XG4 H10XF8XH6 8.H7XH5 (White is up the one Man that he envisioned, but not for long.) 8....F11-F9! (When White played 4.E7-C7, he was completely blind to this excellent move by his opponent. Threatened are both 9....F9xH7xJ5xJ7 and 9....C11-E9-G9xI7xI5xG5xG3) 9.J6-I5 F9XH7XH9 (Now White is a piece down.) 10.F7-E7 I11-I9-G9 11.D7-D6 I10-H10 12.H5-J7 G9-G8 13.G4-H5 E11-E9 14.J7-I8 H9XJ7 15.I6XK8 G8-H9 16.K8-L9 (Hoping to divert some Black pieces to the task of stopping this White end-around in the hope of evening up the forces in the center.) 16....H9-I10 (Taking the bait. In Camelot, allowing one enemy piece to get around your forces and move toward your Castle is rarely dangerous. On the contrary, it reduces the enemy's presence in the tactics-rich center by a piece.) 17.H5-H6 C11-E11-G9 18.E7-F7 G9-I11 19.C7-D7 D11-D9 20.L9-L10 H10-H11 21.L10-L11 I10-I12 22.I5-I6 I12-J13 23.H6-H7 E9-G11 24.I6-G8-E6 D9-D11 25.C6-C7 I11-I12 26.H7-G7 J13-K12 27.L11XJ13 I12XK14 (Black has stopped the White end-around, but at what cost.) 28.G7-E7 K14-J13 (Correctly attempting to get the Knight back into play. Regardless of slightly questionable strategic planning, Black has played a tactically perfect game up to this point.) 29.D6-D8 D10-E9? (Finally, White gets a break. This move loses material. 29....D10-E11 would have maintained Black's advantage.) 30.D7-D9! E9XC9 (Best. 30....E10xC8xE8xG6, 31.E6-E8xE10xG10xI12xK14 would have given White a two Knights for two Men advantage.) 31.C7-E9XE11XG9 C9-C8!? (Best was 31....H11-I12!, 32.D8-F6-F8-H10xF12 allowing White only a one Man advantage with plenty of counterplay by Black. In this variation, White might have fallen into the clever trap of 32.E6-E8-C8xC10xE12? G11-G10!, 33.G9xG11 J13-H11xF11xD13 with a probable draw.) 32.D8-F6-F8-H10XH12XF10 (With a one Knight and one Man advantage. Not 32.D8xB8 with only a one Knight advantage. And certainly not 32.E6-G8-G10xI12xK14 C8xE8xE6xG8xG10 with a win for Black.) 32....D11-C10 33.E6-G8 C10-C9 34.E7-D7 C8XE6 35.F7XD5 RESIGNS 1-0 A tough game by my worthy opponent!
joshi tm: Yes. If one of your pieces is in position to Jump one of your opponent's pieces, you must make a capture sometime during that move. You can accomplish that mandatory capture either by the Jump, itself, or, if one is available, by a Knight's Charge.
Pedro Martínez: Thanks for your questions, Pedro. The WCF uses the word “Federation” as a synonym for “association” or “league.” Ten years ago, when I formed the WCF, I could just as easily have chosen “World Camelot Association.” The WCF uses the word “World” because the organization is open for free to anyone anywhere in the world. Currently, the WCF has members in twelve different countries. If I can ever manage to publicize the group, my preference would be to have at least one member in every country in the world.
The WCF Camelot World Championship Match will begin at 10:00 a.m. EST on February 7, 2009, in Troy, Michigan, USA. The best-four-out-of-seven contest will pit the challenger, Michael Nolan, against the current world champion, Dan Troyka. This will be the first over-the-board Camelot World Championship contest in history. The time limit will be 40 moves in 150 minutes. Mr. Troyka has been Camelot world champion since 2003. Mr. Nolan won a series of Candidates Elimination Matches under the auspices of the World Camelot Federation to earn the right to be the challenger.
Another interesting position, this time at the end of the Cam game between PerGioco and dragonchild (archive #3685011: Cam (dragonchild vs. PerGioco)). The players agreed to a draw. I believe that no Cam position is drawn--one player can always force a win--but that is unproven. Do you think that this game is a draw, or a win for Black? I would like to hear your intended strategy as Black to try for the win.
And finally, this game from the 2002-2003 Camelot World Championship Tournament
M. Nolan vs. P. Yearout 2002-2003 WCF Camelot World Championship Tournament (Annotations by M. Nolan) 1.E6-G8 H11-H9 2.E7-F8 J11-H11 3.H6-H8 H9-I8 4.H8xJ8 (Not 4.H7xJ9 H11-H9xH7xJ7xJ5xH7xF9 or 4.I7xI9 H11-J11-H9xJ9) ....H11-J9xJ7xJ5 5.I7-I5xK5 E11-E9 (Threatening C11-E11-G9xE7xC5xC7xE7xG5) 6.F7-E7 I10-H11 (Threatening H11-F9xF7xH9) 7.G8-F7 C11-E11 8.K5-J6 D11-F9 9.J6-H6 I11-G9 10.I6-G8 F11-D9 11.G8-E8 H11-F11 12.E8xC10E11-C9xC11 13.G6-E8 H10-F12 14.F8xH10 G11xI9 (Not G10xI10 because of E8xG10xE12xG12xG10. Better was F11-H9xH11 with an even game. The text loses a piece) 15.H6-H8xJ10 D10-F8XH6xH8 (This loses outright to the text reply) 16.F6-F8 (All other moves allow equality) ....E9xG7 17.F7xH7xH9 (Now if G10xI8 then E8xG10xE12xG12 or if F11-D9xF7 then H9xF11xD9) ....Resigns 1-0
Paul Yearout vs. Michael Nolan 1999 (annotations by M. Nolan) 1.E6-E8 H11-F9 2.C6-E6 J11-H11 3.H6-F8 E11-G9 4.G7-E9! F10xD8? (4....F9xD9, 5.E8xC10xC12 D11xB13, 6.I7-G7-E9xE11xC9 G11-E9, 7.E6-E8xE10xG12 H11xF13 is better) 5.F8xF10xF12? (5.J6-H8xF10xH12xJ10! I10xK10, 6.E7xC9xE11xG11xI11xG9xE9xE11 D11xF11, 7.I7-G7-E9-E7-G9xG11xE11 wins) 5...... D10-F10-H8xH6xJ8! 6.D7xD9xF11xH9xJ11? (6.D7-F9xH9xF11xD9xD7 H11-J9-J7xJ5xH7xF5, 7.F6xF4 C11-E11xG13 is better) 6...... H11-H9-F9xD7xF5xH7xJ5xJ7! 7.J11xH11xH9xF9 C11-E11xG13 and Black won in 50 moves 0-1
Dave Blizzard vs. Michael Nolan 1999 (annotations by M. Nolan) 1.E6-E8 H11-F9 2.H6-H8 E11-G9 3.H8-H6-F8 G11-E9 4.F7-D9?? (4.j6-H8-H6 with an even game) 4...... E9xC9?? (4......E10xC8xE6, 5.E8xE10xC12xC10xE10xG12 F9xF7xD7xD5xB7, 6.F6xD6 G10-F11, 7.G12xE10xG10xG8 J11-H9xF7xH5xJ7xJ5 wins) 5.C6-E6-C8xC10xC12? (5.J6-H8 F9xF7xD9, 6.C6-E8-E6-C8xC10xC12 D11xB13, 7.H7-H9 G10xI8xG8, 8.D7-F7-H7xF9xH9xH11xJ9 with an even game) 5...... F9xF7xF5? (5.... F9xF7xH5xJ7xJ5, 6.C12-D12 D11xD13, 7.D7-F9xH11xH9xF9xD11xD9 with advantage) 6.G6xE4 D10-D12xB12 7.D7-F9xH9xH11xJ9 J11-H11-F9xD7xD5xF3 8.G7-F8 E10-E9 9.F8xD10xD12 I11-I10 10.J9xH11xF9 F10xF8xD6 and White won in 31 moves 1-0
Michael Nolan vs. Dave Blizzard 1999 (annotations by M. Nolan) 1.E6-G8 E11-E9 2.G6-I8? (2.J6-H8-F8 with an even game) 2...... J11-H9xJ7xJ5 3.I7-I5xK5 I11-I9 4.H7-J5? (4.G8-G6 with an even game) 4...... H11-F9? (4.... H10-H9, 5.F7-H7-H5 D10-F8xH8, 6.K5-I5-I7xG9xE11 I10-G8xG6xE6xE8, 7.D7xF9xD9 E10xE12 with an advantage) 5.I6-H5? (5.I6-G6-E8 D10-F8xH8, 6.E8-E6-G8 F9xH7xH5, 7.F6-E6 I10-I8-G8xG6xE8, 8.D7-F7xD9xF9xH11xH9xH7 with an advantage) 5...... F9xH7 6.H6xH8xJ10 C11-E11-G9-I11xK9 7.J5-K6 G10-H9 8.G7-G8? (8.F7-G6 D10-F8xH6xH4, 9.D7-F7-H5xH3 is better) 8...... D10-E11?? (8....H9-H8, 9.G8xI8 E10-E8, 10.F7xD9xF9 I10-G10xE8xE6xG6xI4 wins) 9.D7-C7? (9.G8-E6 F10-D8, 10.E7xC9 D11-C10, 11.C9xC11 E9-D10, 12.C11xE9 E10xE8xG6xI4 wins) 9...... E11-G9xG7xE5 10.D6xF4 10...... I10-G8xE6xE8? (10.... E10-E8, 11.F7xD9xF9 F10xF8xD6xB6xD8 is better) and Black won in 47 moves 0-1
Относно: 2008-2009 WCF Camelot World Championship Tournament
Just in case anyone is interested........
MrWCF (Michael Nolan) just won the Candidates Match portion of the subject tournament, so will challenge Dan Troyka of Saline, Michigan, USA, the current World Champion, for the Camelot World Championship.
It is my hope that during the next World Championship Tournament, many players from BrainKing submit entries.
Interesting position at the end of the Camelot game between chessik and SL-Bosse (archive #3599761: Camelot (chessik vs. SL-Bosse)). The players agreed to a draw. Do you think it's a draw? Or do you think it's a win for black? I'm pretty confident that I know the answer, but I would like to hear some opinions.
DarwinKoala: You know, I think that's probably much more true for a game like chess than for a game like Camelot. In chess, for instance, much is to be learned from playing out a rook + 4 pawns vs. rook + 3 pawns ending, even if it's a clear win for the other player. In Camelot, though, nothing much can be learned from a position where, for instance, two pieces have a clear path to the opposing Castle. In cases like that, it's just a matter of tediously playing out all of the moves.
AbigailII: In tournament chess, one method for punishing an opposing player who refused to resign was as follows.....
You have a king, rook, bishop, and four pawns. Your opponent has only a king. He won't resign. Instead of mating with rook and king, you push all four pawns to promotion (queens). Now you have four queens, rook, and bishop, and a crowd starts to gather around your table, all snickering about why he hasn't resigned.
Pretty cruel, I suppose, but it sure taught a tough lesson really fast.
I would like to discuss something that appears to be commonplace behavior on BrainKing.
Let me preface my remarks by admitting that I've only been playing on this site for a short time, and then, almost exclusively Camelot, so perhaps my observations are only a holiday phenomenon, or perhaps they don't apply to other games.
Anyway, it is my impression that it is the norm here to continue playing the game, even when the outcome is obvious, and the cause is hopeless. Resignation in that case seems to be the exception rather than the rule.
Let me be the first to point out a couple of things:
1.No player is forced to resign; obviously, each player has the absolute right to continue playing to the bitter end.
2.There are positions where a player seems to be hopelessly behind in material, yet has traps, tricks, attacks, or some other means of pulling a win or a draw from the jaws of defeat.
3.There is some benefit in continuing to play, and in so doing, learning from the technique displayed by the opponent as he or she moves on to victory.
That said, my background for over 40 years has been tournament (over-the-board) chess where if you are playing against a player much higher rated than yourself, and your position is hopeless with absolutely no chance to even draw the game, you resign.
I was just wondering if others have noticed this reluctance to resign in lost positions.
Again, I'm not complaining--it's every player's right to continue the fight!
Fencer: I've added a list of differences between Cam and Camelot on the WCF website's Cam page (http://www.worldcamelotfederation.com/Cam.htm), and a link to those differences on the Cam Rules page (http://www.worldcamelotfederation.com/Cam_Rules.htm). The differences between Cam and Camelot are: 1. The Cam board has 67 squares. The Camelot board has 160 squares. 2. Each side in Cam has two Knights and five Men. Each side in Camelot has four Knights and ten Men. 3. The object of Cam is to get one piece into the opponent's Castle. The object of Camelot is to get two pieces into the opponent's Castle. 4. Victory in Cam also occurs if one side, even with only one remaining piece, captures all of the opposing pieces. In Camelot, if the side capturing all of the opposing pieces has only one remaining piece, the game is a draw. (Victory in Camelot by capture of all of the opposing pieces only occurs if the victorious side has two or more remaining pieces.) 5. Stalemate in Cam is impossible. Stalemate in Camelot is possible, and is a victory for the stalemating side if it has two or more pieces. 6. In Cam, if both sides have only one remaining piece, the game continues until one piece captures the other, or one piece enters the opposing Castle. In Camelot, if both sides have only one remaining piece, the game is a draw.
Fencer: AbigailII has reported that a Cam position where each side had one piece was declared a draw. I haven't inspected the position in question, but just in case, one vs. one is not a draw in Cam; in fact, it is always a win for one of the players, depending upon who has the opposition.
DarwinKoala: If I might be forgiven for discussing some Camelot history....
You had a valid historical reason for wondering if being reduced to one piece constitutes a loss. The current (World Camelot Federation) rule that governs, though, is:
The game is won if a player captures allof his opponent's pieces, and has two or more of his own pieces left.
This rule clarifies the question of whether two or more vs. one is a win. It is not a win; its outcome, possibly a draw, is yet to be determined. In the 1930 rules, and in the initial editions of the 1931 rules, a win by elimination required the elimination of all of the opponent’s pieces. In later 1931 editions, however, the wording was changed to “elimination of all, or all but one, of the opponent’s pieces.” This change in wording resulted from the fact that it is not possible for one piece to stop another (opposing) piece from entering its Castle. Thus, if one side has two pieces and the other side one piece, it is impossible (with normal play) for the one to stop the two, even if the stronger side already has one of its pieces in the opponent’s Castle, and even if the weaker side temporarily has the opposition (a position where the pieces are on the same rank, file, or diagonal with an odd number of squares separating them, and the stronger side must move, thereby allowing the weaker side to stop the advance of the stronger side’s piece). This change in wording, however, not only failed to take into account possible misplays by the stronger side; much more importantly, it failed to take into account situations where the weaker side could initiate a combination (a series of forced moves that leads to a significant change in positional or material advantage) that would, although reducing itself to one piece, reduce the stronger opposing side to one piece or no pieces, thus securing a draw.
So, when you're reduced to one piece you haven't lost yet.
Fencer: Chivalry is simply Camelot with more pieces and a bigger board. Similarly, Cam is Camelot with fewer pieces and a smaller board. My invention, Camette, takes the smaller board and fewer pieces to an extreme. All three variants are fun to play, but from personal experience, I think Chivalry is a bit too crowded, and Camette is a bit too simple. So my vote for a Camelot-like variant would be for Cam.
That said.....
In my opinion, by far the best Camelot variant is Grand Camelot. Grand Camelot is Camelot for four players (two teams of two players, each). Camelot, as you probably know by now, is extremely tactical, and just occasionally strategic. Grand Camelot is a very enjoyable, relatively even blend of tactics and strategy.
Don't get me wrong--I love Camelot. But I also love Grand Camelot--it's a blast to play.
rod03801, Pedro Martinez, and Ceiter have done a great job of discussing the Knight's Charge, so I'll just add a few words.
The Knight's Charge is never mandatory. However, if one of your pieces is in position to Jump one of your opponent's pieces, you must make a capture sometime during that move. (The one exception is when you have Jumped into your own Castle. Even if there is an available Jump somewhere, you must leave your Castle immediately.)
Anyway, if a Jump is available, you can accomplish the mandatory capture either by the Jump, itself, or, if one is available, by a Knight's Charge. When a Jump is available, and you start your Knight Cantering, you must end up capturing with that Knight (i.e., by a Knight's Charge). So, when a Jump is available, a Knight is not allowed to Canter and then stop its move before Jumping.
I hope that's clear--I'll be happy to elaborate further, if necessary.
Jaak: Yes, it is a draw if both player have one piece left, even if one piece can capture the other. The reason is that the object of the game is to get two pieces into the opponent's castle. The reason that the capturing of all of the opponent's pieces while having two or more of your own pieces left is defined as a win is simply because those two pieces can proceed unhindered into the oponent's castle. This definition avoids the silly process of moving pieces move after move while your opponent just sits there.
However, one piece vs. zero pieces is a draw, not a win, because it is not possible to castle two pieces if you only have one.
I am the founder of the World Camelot Federation and the owner of the WCF website.
Much to my pleasure, I have been allowed to be a moderator of this discussion forum, so I will be happy and honored to answer any questions you have about the wonderful game of Camelot.
Michael Nolan MrWCF michael@worldcamelotfederation.com