Author: Bob Durrett
Date: 18:16:19 11/13/02
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On November 13, 2002 at 21:10:58, andrew tanner wrote: >On November 13, 2002 at 20:51:21, Bob Durrett wrote: > >>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 >> >>Could the swapping be done on the second move? The third? The 50th? >> >>If swaps could be done at any point in the opening phase of the game, all >>openings would end in equality. Otherwise, one's opponent might get the >>advantage by a swap. >> >>There could even be an element of deception. If a player suspected that the >>opponent was going to swap, a bad move might be made just to give a bad position >>to the other guy after the anticipated swap. >> >>Somehow, I don't think this chess variant will catch on. But you might suggest >>it as another type of Wild chess at ICC and see if they offer it. If so, it's >>popularity could be tested. >> >>I wouldn't start writing a chess engine program to do that yet, however. : ) >> >> >>Bob D. > >I thought about a variant of chess where the queen would be replaced by another >king, and both kings could castle opposite sides of the board. So basically >there would be 4 kings on the board and both kings would have to be checkmated >to win. The game would probably gain great popularity in San Francisco and >Provincetown. I assume you have already made a chess engine to do this. When will you publish your source code [Like Hyatt]? : ) : ) : ) : ) : ) : ) : ) : ) : ) : ) : ) : ) Bob D.
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