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Subject: Re: Q: chess variant and board representation

Author: Scott Gasch

Date: 17:12:21 01/16/03

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On January 16, 2003 at 20:02:01, Edward Seid wrote:

>From what I've read about different board representations, 12x12 makes it easier
>to determine off-the-board knight moves, while 0x88 utilizes a shortcut to
>generate moves for sliding pieces.
>
>Consider a simple chess variant in which there are only pawns and no other
>pieces.

To me this cries out for two bitboards -- black pawns and white pawns.

>It seems to me that neither of these representations would be applicable in a
>game with only pawns, and that the best representation would be a simple 8x8
>array.
>
>Does that make sense?
>
>FYI, I'm learning VB.NET on my own.  For my first chess-related project, I plan
>to write a program to play the Pawn Game, as described by GM Lev Alburt in
>"Comprehensive Chess Course".  You play with only pawns on their original
>squares.  The game is won by:
>
>1- capturing all your opponent's pawns,
>2- be the first to advance a pawn to the last rank, or
>3- "stalemate" your opponent, while having at least one remaining move for
>yourself.
>
>In subsequent chapters, GM Alburt describes other variants, in which knights,
>bishops, rooks and queens (no kings) are also used.  So as an extension of this
>original programming project, I hope to add functionality for these other
>variants so that the user can choose which pieces to use prior to the start of
>the game.  GM Alburt claims that playing these variants will teach a student the
>value and power of the different pieces, before moving to the classical chess
>game.
>
>Finally, if my goal is to eventually handle all of the Pawn and Piece variants,
>perhaps I should choose one of the other board representations from the
>beginning, even for the Pawn Game.
>
>Comments are welcomed!



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