Lightbug: Another interesting thing which I have only just realised is that black cannot win by "winning rule" number 3 ... here is a link to the rules Massacre Chess Rules

Lightbug: Although I think I would agree about the advantageousness of initial positioning of knights towards the centre of the board I wonder whether a fixed setup could lead to an analysis which would result in a forced win for one side, or at least get to a position of significant advantage?

Justaminute: Or it staves off defeat for a little longer ... it is surprising the number of times a seemingly wanton flurry of check sacrifices, particularly when additional pieces are acquired in the process even if of a lesser status than the piece sacrificed, can end in a victory. For those who are more skilled they might retreat to a mantra that it was all planned but being a more shallow player I am willing to admit that sometimes it is just a happy circumstance.

These days i have enough other things in life which require my concentration that chess, of any description, for me is a mere diversion from the rigors of the real world.

Walter Montego: Elephants? ... I also think that Atomic Chess is also so very 20C where reckless abandon is rewarded and minions get to carry on their meaningless lives while their generals' fragility is exposed such that the nearest pop will see their demise :)

Herlock Sholmes:
I wonder, do you play backgammon (I don't very often) ... but here is a game which may rival chess in its popularity and its list of variants even though I think it has far less opportunities to be morphed. But still the traditional game prevails. Go is the same.

These days I play very little traditional chess as I do not have time to read as widely as some and to play at the higher level you need to or be quite gifted (which I am also am not). I, probably like you, enjoy playing variants where there is no great history or written material on the benefits of e2-e4. I enjoy playing in an even challenge and find this is the province of variants for me.

I believe the reason why traditional chess, backgammon, go and the like survive with very few rule changes is that they have already been proofed by the test of time. I do not know of one variant that takes less away from the traditional game than it adds. Maybe you would like to analyse a few examples to try to prove me wrong.

In conclusion, I agree there is an element of truth to what you say about the "boring" nature of traditional chess and I am sure this is more prevalent at the higher levels ... championships played where the majority of games, despite the clever play, end in draws in no great inspiration ... but when you look at the subtleties they are often quite astounding and beautiful ... way beyond my capabilities.. I am not convinced that a plethora of variants would lead to such revelations.

aaru: Game would ahve been shorter and white would ahve won if 28. Rxa7 was replaced with 28. Bxb7 Bxb7 29. Range of moves for white and nothing more for black :)

agentofchaos: Boom boom :)

rabbitoid: ... and a further improvement could be the ability to have an "automove" setting which randomly selects a piece to move, then randomly moves it. then you would only need to look in your Message box to see if you won or lost!

How cool is that :)

rabbitoid: What a brilliant idea, though I would have called it "Ludo Chess".

dresali: Yes, although this is the only site I know of that allows the double move from the second rank for pawns starting on either rank ... although I think this is slight advantage to black I think white is still way in front.

Matarilevich: It should also be possible to get a queen even if there was one on the board!

Another option for the die would be to use a 16-sided D+D die.

Walter Montego: That sounds like it might be a solvable problem ... maybe one of the programmers could put some thought to it ... I expect standard chess would be the same if the piece movement order was pre-ordained.

Cubs93: You are talking about random screen chess games ... yes?

Beren the 32nd: Oh I see now ... yes amazing ...

nabla: Okay, I give in, why can't black now click on d5 so that the knight is taken (presumably by the queen which in turn gets taken) ... but then there is no mate (or Kingtaking) is there?

plaintiger: I understand that your opponent can move whichever piece they chose so long as it is a valid chess move for that piece (checks not taken into account) ... so if your King could move there they could move your King and then they would click on the square on which your King resides and you would need to select one of their pieces to move to take your King, in this case the queen would suffice.

BIG BAD WOLF: I have learnt my leasson the hard way moving in an atomic game like it was real chess and kaboom I went. I like the idea of boards, never know which is which but it reminds me to check! (pun haha:)

kleineme: JinkyOng's posts have been restored (they were only temporarily hidden) after one derogeratory post was deleted.

WhisperzQ

SMIRF Engine: Here is the original post from November last year.

Pythagoras: It actually set me thinking about bidding systems which you might use to bias the choice of game you might receive to hedge against games you don't like and for games you do ... but it all got too complicated.

I signed up for the competition too, fully knowing that I might get a White Maharajah (oh well, now I will you watch!) or to play grenv at dark chess (I'll get that too!). The reason why i think it would be fun as a team tournament is that it would help build team spirit in fellowships ... commisserating or extolling as was fit.

I guess Fencer is doing the same in Backgammon, Checkers, pente and the inline things, none of which I play.

Fencer: Great idea ... this would be a cool idea for a team tournament too.

David Pritchard: A link to a short obituary

nabla: Do you have a list of the game variants which will be covered, or do we assume that it is all of them?

Salkkuman: I can undedrstand the many games at once frying your brains ... I expect even one game would fry mine now. Interesting comment about writing down the moves ... could you still see the moves as you went through the game? One of the challenges I always found was that at some point I would "forget" where a piece was and would have to reconstruct the moves from memory ... partly based on what I could remember and partly on what I expected they had been. This would, of course, be a lot easier if you could see a written record of the moves.

Walter Montego: yes, I can remember now also playing as the "blindfolded" player while the other was sighted ... We never wrote down the moves, but it was certainly easy to end up mystified because you thought a piece was in a certain location but it wasn't, at that point I would usually try to reconstrut the game from the begininng, okay if only 10-15 moves deep but if you were in the endgame a hopeless situation. In the openings and midgame they sighted person would not have too much of an advantage, but if the game went on and there was not that much left it became very hard.

Swapped K/Q, now there is a challenge! LOL.

Walter Montego: Sorry, I thought you meant you would be playing against someone else, but I can now see your need for a third person.

When I ws a kid (12-15) we used to play "mind chess" where we would sit back to back with a board between us (which we could not see). Each would call out their moves to the other and a third person would make the move on the board. It was not required to announce check (like dark chess) but if you had the abilty you could know when a King was exposed. It certainly sharpened your skills of memory, but not many wanted to play as it was extremely draining, even for kids.

Walter Montego: Have you tried a piece of paper ... not that is low tech!

Pythagoras: Fencer only charge me $1,000/game you've been ripped. (J/K)

Well here's the rub ... the post about the tournament is here and stays ... any discussion regarding its validity is gone. If you care to read the heading at the top then you will see that from a very long time ago one of the prime purposes of this board is to post about pertinent tournaments.

If you wish to discuss the validity of this position do so somewhere else where those who are interested in the discussion can discuss it ... not here ... as, whatever you say, that discussion DOES NOT belong here.

Thanks you for your continued observance of the stated intentions of this board.

WhisperzQ

Doerdich: But, obviously, you cannot "test" a position and move back after seeing what might be revealed ... the revelation only comes after you have committed tot he move. Likewise, if you are still wqatching the game and your opponet is "testing" positions, you do not see what they have moved (if, indeed you an) until they have committed to the move.

Pioneer54: Done

rabbitoid: Assuming best play ... there are traps to be avoided for the unwarry!

rabbitoid: An excellent idea ... "sacrificial loop chess".

Corporation: The games are there, they just do not appear to you in "Waiting Games" because you could not possibly accept the challenge otherwise you would be playing yourself.

Hope this solves your dilemma.

And to prove it, I have accepted one of your horde chess games.

Cheers WQ :)

rabbitoid: LOL .... yes it would be :)

I didn't realise this was your site Nabla ... I will add it above with a reference to the "home" page for AntiChess. Unfortunately for me it is in French (I will have to get my daughter to translate LOL).

nabla: If it is okay with you I will add the links to description above then they will always be available for those who are interested without going back through the discussion history ... okay?

Cheers WQ :)

danoschek: I think it is extremely insightful (and incisive) and beautiful too ... just thought it might have been a technical term which I hadn't come across before ... maybe others will have similar games (positions) to share :)

danoschek: wasn't intended to be a correction as the the term "pure pattern" still has me puzzled too ... can you enlighten me?

danoschek: Thanks ... and ...
You say this is a pure mate ... what do you mean by "pure"?

BTW as there is no Fischer Random Chess board (yet) discussion of this variant is also welcome here. [Fencer, if you read this, then maybe you could change the description to include it. Could also combine with Fortress Chess too, if you like, as they are all very similar.]

danoschek: Sorry I can't reply to your pm directly regarding this board as you have me on hide. I was going to sort of agree with you but now I can't and your stunt is not appreciated.

Another option is to increase the (lone) Maharajah's power by adding the camel move (3/1 jump). This is then tricky for black at the start as white can trap the King behind the pawns with the camel's extra reach while staying outside the pawns' attack.

Maybe Fencer can set this up as another variant ... call it Maharani (wife of a Maharajah).

redsales: Even that is not possible with good play by black.

is only a draw if the single King can be positioned next to the other King ... in the open the queen will round up the King and kill him. Interestingly, if there are opposing blocked pawns they can, in most cases, be used by the K-Q to manuouvre the opposing King into a detonating position.

K vs K-Q-Q can always be made into a win for the dual Queens.

ahhhhh, the chestnut surfaces again ... Fencer has already spoken on this elsewhere and is strongly against automoves ... so unless he has a significant change of heart it will not be happening.

White deserves a draw for stupidity on the part of black LOL

That is a long game but I have one which now up to move 56 with at least few to go ... here ... I think I have a method to achieve mate (as white) but it hasn't come to fruition yet. This is unusual but when you get down to a small number of pieces in the endgame then it can take even longer than conventional chess ... and interestingly in atomic given the scenario of K+Q v K is not a win if black can get the Kings together.

Due to comments following Chessmaster's "PowerPygmie" post it has been edited as has another reference. By all means continue the discussion and when Harley's tournie is over reposted might be considered appropriate.