Ratings & Comments

Peter,

I think you're right--bare king rule should not apply.  There will be some
interesting endgames with stalemate as a win. For example, K and R vs K
can be a win if the pieces are in the right realms, such as R holds enemy
K on the last rank as friendly K moves to stalemate. 

I rather like the sound of Separate Realms Chess.

R on seventh rank and bare enemy K on eight rank IS stalemate! How did I
overlook that?

It is not sufficient for the king to be on a secure
file or rank, to force a draw against king and oddling
it has to be in the secure corner.

Here is how to mate the black king with king and 
oddling:

White: Og7,Kh6  Black: Kf8

First, White brings its king to h8, than it pushes 
its king forward using zugzwang until it reaches d8.

White forces the Black king to a8. Now the finale:

Kc7!  Ka7
Og5   Ka6
Oe5   Ka7
Oa5++

J'org Knappen

With the weak King (FcW) and stalemate as a win, the proposed game isn't a
bit drawish. K vs K on the same color is a forced win for whichever side
can get the opposition. (This is a simple calculation: if the coordinate
differences between the Kings are odd, for example a1 vs d6, the player on
move wins; if the differences are even, the player not on move wins.)

Similarly, if the Kings are on the same color K and any piece vs K is a
forced win unless the bare K can capture the piece--the stonger side can
use the mobility of the piece to avoid zugzwang.

Peter, if you are willing to do it I would appreciate it very much.

Jorg, neat mate! Possibly Separate Realms Chess is playable with an
orthodox king, though I still prefer the weaker king for the game. I
wonder if the starting position for the mate can be forced though--I think
a defensive stategy for this game will be to keep the king away from the
edges to maximize its mobility.

in addition to what mike said, i know those links are in fact correct,
rather than 'not going where they're supposed to go.'  the webpages they
are linking to no longer exist. at chessvariants.com, they usually put a
note on a webpage that contains an outgoing link that it doesn't work
anymore, but this can be difficult to keep updated on something as huge as
chessvariants.com

Thanks Peter, that's it! Probably the taz article was 
a direct translation of that text, including the Foucault theme.

I think, it's worth an external link on the link pages.

--J'org Knappen

I'd have to search around for games.  off the top of my head, i'd also
definitely recommend rococo and ruddigore by aronson.  i also recommend
schizophrenic chess, altho i don't know if we want to overlap this with
the 84 square contest.  i might also suggest my own game crazy38s.  what
else... captain spalding chess by betza.  if we want a 3D game, i'd
suggest millenium 3D by a'gostino or exchequer by hewson, since they can
both be played in about the same amount of time it takes to play a
standard chess game.  i am also a big fan of rennaissance chess by eric
greenwood.  i also like the the commercial game quantum II, III and IV.  i
also like looneybird, even tho freeling is no longer big on it.

sorry this message wasn't as organized as aronson's, nor does it link to
the games.

I did a list of eight, trimmed from a first list of nearly 40, to show how
a set of games might feature a wide range of styles and options.  In
alphabetical order:

Chigorin Chess (Betza)...non-matching forces
Extinction Chess (Schmittberger)...new objective
Magician Chess (Whittle)...small board, new piece, board alteration
Not-particularly-new Chess (Aronson)...add-a-few-squares-and-new-piece(s)
genre
Sudden Death Chess (Chatham)...simple rule change with radical
implications
Take Over Chess (Quintanilla)...small board, different captures, new
piece
Triplets (Sobey)...multi-moves, alternate objective
ximeracak. (Overby)...sweeping piece changes to standard set

I share David's nervousness about larger games, although Modern Chess,
21st Century Chess, and Chess on a Longer Board With a Few Pieces Added
are on my long list.  So are Crazy 38s and Separate Realms (from other
people's lists).

I would like to feature some prizewinners from our contests, and while the
tournament should feature lesser-played designs it might not hurt to have
a better-known game or two in the mix.  Losing Chess is another I'd
consider for that role.

I just checked Peter's linked recommendations, and I shake my head.  There
is so much good stuff there, and elsewhere on CVP, that you cannot track
it all.  :)

I wonder what Ralph Betza, in particular, might suggest?  He's been at
this a while...

I noticed Ben's comment on the 84-space contest.  Aside from the fact that
we won't want many games that size in any case, I don't think that any
game being voted upon in 84-spaces should be eligible for this event. 
Even its presence in a poll to pick the games could affect the contest
voting.

We may miss a good game that way, but if this flies there's always next
year.

There certainly are a lot of worthy games to consider, and this fabulous
website makes it both harder and easier to decide.  Harder because so many
interesting games can be found here.  Easier because you can read their
rules at a click, and in some cases read what others have thought.  I
looked at the games suggested by others, and a few games I am partial to
myself, and came up with this list:

Among newer variants:
  Rococo certainly looks very interesting -- perhaps a better Ultima.
  Separate Realms is new and promising enough to warrant some play.
  Take Over has an interesting mechanic that I'd like to see explored.
  Crazy 38s is so original and innovative that it begs to be played.
  Caissa also has a unique and interesting mechanic and I've always
wondered how well it plays.
  Flip Shogi looks interesting.
  Cannon Shogi looks likes an interesting shogi variant with added power
on the board.

Among large variants:
  Centennial Chess looks fascinating, and for the adventurous, perhaps
even Millenial Chess by the same inventor.
  Some form of Grand Chess seems like a good idea -- I think perhaps
Grander Chess might even be the best choice.
  Reniassance Chess also looks to be a worthy entry in the large variant
category.

Among hexagonal games:
  Hexagonal Chess by Shafran has always struck me as perhaps better than
Glinski's game -- it would be intersting to find out.
  Hex Shogi by Duniho -- perhaps a small board variant is called for, but
that all look intriguing to me

Among established variants:
  Extinction Chess has always struck me as a great, simple idea.
  Chessgi is an acknowledge classic, a great game.
  Rifle Chess has always intrigued me.

And I guess I better stop there, since I've already listed more than 10. I
could easily go on.  I'll resist the temptation to list my only TCVP entry
(Biform Chess) since I've recently had second thoughts about the starting
array.  And it's too bad that this is all happening just a few weeks
before my own new games come out, but I suspect that interest in them will
be a little limited anyway, since they're both big-board variants (10x10
and 11x11) and one of them is very unusual and Ultima-like.

What kind of time frame has been proposed for these games?  A move per
day?  Will there be a time limit?  I'd love to play, but some days I'm so
swamped I can't afford to think about chess.