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Subject: Re: An idea to make chess more interesting

Author: andrew tanner

Date: 18:33:36 11/13/02

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On November 13, 2002 at 21:16:19, Bob Durrett wrote:

>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.

Here is the source code to my only program:

10. Print "hello world",
20. end

:)



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