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Viewing Game

carlos carlos has resigned.


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Hole Chess

White:

Black:

17. resign

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Rules of Hole Chess

King	Queen	Rook	PS-Bishop	Pawn

Object

The object of the game is to capture your opponent's King, checkmate your opponent's King, or to make your opponent's position so unbearable that he or she decides to resign.

General

Each player starts with a King, Queen, Rook, PS-Bishop, and 5 Pawns.

Pieces can be captured in either of two ways: (1) as in traditional Western Chess, (2) by drawing a targeted piece into a hole.

Piece Movement and Capturing

King. The Kings move as in western chess and are free to roam the board. Kings can be checkmated as in western chess, but unlike western chess, Kings can be captured. Therefore, there is no stalemate. In what would be a stalemate [as in western chess] the Hole Chess King would have to move into (or be exposed to) the enemy line of fire, causing instant defeat. A King can move next to the enemy King. However, the enemy King would then capture it and end the game.

Pawns. They move and capture in the same manner as traditional chess pawns. Thus they can move two spaces on their first move. The central pawns (on d3 and d8) can only move when capturing diagonally (c3 x c4 or c3 x e4 for White or d8 x c7 or d8 x e7 for Black). This is because the central pawns are located directly behind a hole. They cannot advance two spaces as they'd fall through the hole. It is illegal to move onto a hole, unless being pulled into one while being captured.

Pawn en passant still exists in Hole Chess. Thus a pawn moving from f3 to f5 could be captured en passant by a pawn on e5 or g5.

If a pawn reaches the opponent's third rank it must promote to a Queen, Rook, or PS-Bishop.

The Two-Action Rule

The PS-Bishop, Rook, and Queen have two actions for a given turn, providing that they are the piece to be moved. One of the two actions can be declined for a move, but never both.
Action 1: The piece moves and possibly captures, as in Western Chess; or as in Shogi for the case of the PS-Bishop (which moves like a King or Bishop).
Action 2: The piece targets an opponent's piece in its direct line of fire and, as long as a single hole exists in line between the attacker and the target piece, the target is drawn along the line of attack until it falls through the hole, and is thus eliminated. Action 2 cannot be performed if two holes exist between the attacker and the target.
For the piece making the move: either action or both actions can be completed on the same turn. In other words, capture is not mandatory, unless it is the only legal move. Also, a piece can stay where it is and initiate action 2.
Because of the Two-Action rule, it is possible to capture two pieces in one turn, i.e., one capture with action 1 and a second capture with action 2.

PS-Bishop � (Promoted Shogi Bishop).
Action 1: They move and capture as would a King or a Bishop, just as does the promoted Shogi Bishop.
Action 2: See Two-Action Rule.

Rook.
Action 1: They move and capture as a western chess rook.
Action 2: See Two-Action Rule.

Queen.
Action 1: They move and capture as a western chess queen.
Action 2: See Two-Action Rule.

How to Move Pieces

To enable moving by mouse or touch, you should enable JavaScript. Even without JavaScript enabled, you can still move pieces by entering your moves in the Moves field, using full algebraic notation.

Full Algebraic Notation

Algebraic notation identifies each space by a coordinate that begins with its file label and ends with its rank label. On the Chess board, files go up and down from one player to the other, and ranks go from left to right. In most games, files are represented by letters, and ranks are represented by numbers, but there is no fixed rule requiring this for all games, and some games, such as Shogi, reverse this convention. If you look at the diagram, you will usually see the file labels going from left to right and the file labels going up and down. And if you hover your mouse over a space, you will normally see the name of the coordinate appear in a tooltip.

It is not uncommon to see algebraic notation being used for Chess, but it is often in an abbreviated format that requires you to know both the rules of the game and the current position to know exactly which piece moves where. For example, the notation "Ne6" indicates that a Knight is moving to e6, but it doesn't indicate which Knight, and it doesn't specify where the Knight is coming from. To figure this out, you need to know how a Knight moves and which Knight on the board can make a legal move to e6.

Although rules may be programmed for individual games, Game Courier itself does not know the rules of any game, and it is unable to parse abbreviated algebraic notation. Therefore, it relies on full algebraic notation, which completely specifies the move without requiring any knowledge of the game's rules or the current position. The most usual type of full algebraic notation indicates the piece that is moving by its label, the space it is moving from, and the space it moving to. In Chess, a typical first move might be written as "P e2-e4". When you hover your mouse over a piece, you will normally see the piece label followed by the coordinate for the space, and when you hover it over an empty space, you will normally see the coordinate label. Including the piece label in your notation allows Game Courier to check that the piece you're moving is the right one, and it makes game notation easier to follow, but it is not mandatory.

You may promote a piece by including a promotion move after your regular move. A promotion move has a piece go directly to a coordinate. Here is an example: "p e7-e8; q-e8".

You may remove a piece from a space by adding an @ to the space or by omitting the destination coordinate. For example, both "@-e4" and "e4-" would remove the piece on "e4". This is useful for en passant when you are playing a game that does not handle this automatically. For example, "P d5-e6; e5-" removes the Pawn on e5 after a Pawn moves from d5 to e6.

You will not need to remove spaces for most games, but if you should need to, you can do this by omitting the first coordinate in a move. For example, "-e4" would remove e4 from the board. To add or return a space to the board, you may add an @ or any other piece to it.

Available Pieces

Pieces are represented by labels, usually using uppercase letters for White and lowercase letter for Black. When you enter a move or specify the starting position for a game, you should remember that piece labels are case-sensitive. Many piece sets are available for use with Game Courier, and this table shows you which pieces belong to the piece set you are currently using.

These pieces come from a set containing more pieces, but this preset has had the set of pieces reduced to those used in the game.

Credits

Game Courier was created, programmed and written by Fergus Duniho.

WWW Page Created: 15 August 2001

Kibbitzing Etiquette

Kibbitzing is the practice of commenting on a game you are not playing. In commenting on a game, please follow these rules of etiquette.

(1) If you notice that someone has made an illegal move, please mention it. Some Game Courier presets cannot enforce rules, but Game Courier does enable players to take back any previous move. Details on how to take back a move are provided in the User's Guide, linked to above the board.

(2) Unless otherwise specifically asked to, do not offer hints or suggestions to players on what moves they should make. In general, avoid coaching comments.

(3) Once a game is over, it should be alright to offer your analysis of the game and your specific comments on what moves players should have made. If some players don't want this, they may mention it in the Kibbitzing section, and you should honor this request by not commenting on the game.

(4) Be polite. At the appropriate time, offer any criticism you have in a constructive manner. Avoid heckling players for bad moves.

(5) Don't spam this space with irrelevant comments. If you have a comment about Game Courier, rather than about the specific game you're viewing, please post it on Game Courier's Index page to give it.