Author: andrew tanner
Date: 18:05:36 11/13/02
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On November 13, 2002 at 20:44:16, Russell Reagan wrote: >I was reading my Chess Life magazine today, and in it, GM Larry Evans was >answering a question about whether or not chess has become "stagnant". He talked >about Capablanca warning about this long ago, when he (Capablanca) suggested >that they increase the board size and add an extra piece. He also mentioned >Fischer Random chess, which allows 960 different opening positions. He said that >chess masters are now going into each game now with essentially the same >information, and that what sets players above other players is usually opening >lines that are prepared for a specific oponent, and if that subtle trick doesn't >work out, bring on the draw. > >I was thinking about this, and I wondered what an idea borrowed from the game of >Hex might do to chess. In Hex (http://home.earthlink.net/~vanshel/) there is a >"swap rule". You can click on "What is Hex" on the aforementioned website to >read about the swap rule in Hex. > >Basically it is an attempt to remove white's first move advantage. How it would >work in chess is that (for example) white plays 1. e4, and then black may either >play a move as normal, or black may choose to switch sides and play as white >from the position after 1. e4. > >I think this poses some potentially very interesting situations and could >prolong the life of chess in the future. For example, if 100 years from now >chess is solved and there is found a forced win for white from (say) 1. d4, then >everyone will play 1. d4 as white, and attempt to force the win. Eventually the >technique would be worked out and a strong master would always be able to win as >white, and chess would cease to be enjoyable. If a swap rule were implemented, a >player may still play 1. d4 and go for the forced win, but it would be a gamble >because his opponent could take over as white. It would also encourage the study >of more suspect openings, since finding a good line in an opening with a poor >reputation would be very powerful in such a system. > >Any thoughts? > >Russell Interestingly,in the 20th century, when Jose Capablanca was world champion, he proposed the addition of two new pieces. The chancellor would move like a Rook or a Knight at the player's option, and the archbishop would move like a Bishop or Knight. These pieces would require two more pawns and a larger board, but oddly enough had the effect of cutting playing time in half. Capablanca's suggestions were never acted upon. -( cm2100 manual )
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