CHESSHIRE-CAT-PLAYETH LOOKING-GLASS CHESSYS (Part I) by V.R. Parton ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [page 1] THE QUEEN OF HEARTS' CHESS Alice began to feel very uneasy; to be sure she had not as yet had any dispute with the Queen of Hearts, but she knew that it might happen at any minute.............. Alice thought she might as well go back and see how the game of croquet was going on, as she heard the Queen of Heart's voice in the distance screaming with passion. She had already heard the Queen sentence three of the players to be execute for having missed their turns................ From the varied items which Alice wrote down in her large memorandum book, it is known that she meet the Queen of Hearts once again, but on this occasion it was "through the Lookin-glass." Even in a country over which she had no authority, naturally the Queen of Hearts ordered the immediate execution of several chessmen and other Looking-glass creatures! Fortunately no one attempted to carry out such commands, and the Knights said that they kept their battle-axes only for mock battle, or for chopping firewood to sell in order to pay for hay for their steeds! Alice came across the White, Black and Green Kings of Chess, but not the Red King, who of course, was still sleeping and dreaming as when Alice had last seen him. However, the Red King had now stopped his snoring! Alice found these three Kings to be very troubled in mind, because the Queen of Hearts had just given them a severe lecturing on the subject of how they must in future treat their consorts, the White, Black and Green Queens. What was most vexatious the three Kings complained to Alice, was the fact that this foreign "unchess" Queen of Hearts had led the Chess Queens into open revolt over the question of their proper status in the game of Chess itself. The three Chess monarchs were now greatly worried for the White, Black and Green Queens were actually demanding that they should have equal status with their own Kings. Indeed, the Red Queen had gone off into the Red King's dream to demand equality from him! These Queens were now even threatening that if their wishes for equality were not granted at once, then they would never take part in any Chess games whatever in future but play hopscotch instead! "A game of Chess without the Queens is impossible" cried the White King to Alice. "If there is no more Chess, what will become of me as the real ME in future? I can only be a Chess King if Chess exists in some manner somewhere." The essence of the idea which the Queen of Hearts had so strongly impressed on the four Chess Queens was the new principle: the Queens of Chess shall share equally in that dignity and importance which their own Kings hold in the game only by accident or mere tradition. The New "Law of Equality of Queens and Kings" - the Queen of Hearts insisted on naming the Queens before the Kings - means consequently that in future a player can check not only the enemy King, but also his consort the enemy Queen! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [page 2] To this particular Alician idea, I have given the name of Co-regal Chess because a Queen is now co-equal with her own King as regards the very special point of "regal-privilege" of being able to be checked by hostile pieces! No longer will her Majesty the Queen suffer that indignity of being roughly captured by some inferior enemy piece, and then thrown most ungracefully for any lady, into the chessbox like a common Bishop! Being co-regal does not change, however, the move and taking power of these rebellious equalizing Chess Queens in any way. The essential feature of this Alician theme is that, as a co-regal piece, a Queen will now become fully subject to all rules relating to check and checkmate exactly as is her King. The pieces can be initially arranged for Co-regal Chess as they are for the normal game. A player wins at Co-regal immediately whne he has properly checkmated either the King or the Queen in the enemy force. It will be seen that difficulties for a "checkmate" of the hostile Queen must chiefly arise from her great mobility which enables her to escape to safety with some degree of ease, in contrast with the King's poor slow power to move out of grave dangers. Victory in Co-regal will be in general achieved by checkmate of the enemy King. By this idea, of course, a player's King and Queen are in theory equally "vital targets" as regards hostile attacks, but their roles are not equal in degree, for clearly the player's King will still be the primary target of attack by his opponent. His Queen will merely provide a secondary or supplementary target for the enemy force. In playing Co-regal Chess a player must acquire two new habits at least. He must crush all his desires to make some brilliant Queen sacrifice. When he attacks the hostile co-regal Queen, he is obliged to give the polite word "check" as Warning! It is understood that the co-regal Queen in moving several squares may go across a square even guarded by some enemy piece. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [page 3] CAPRICORN CHESS. The Queen of Hearts was taking the White King and Alice through her Mythological Gardens, where fanciful creatures often came to exist. "What's that terrible creatur?" asked the White King pointing at a vague large shape some distance away. Alice thought the monster seemed to look like a goat trying hard to disquise itself as a dragon, but perhaps it was a dragon disguised as a goat. "It's my excellent Butter!" replied the Queen of Hearts proudly. "Well, it looks very dangerous to me" said the White King. "That's only the Tropic of Capricorn" explained the Queen," and the creature is quite harmless really - if we keep well out of its way!" She added as they hurried away "Capricorn likes to amuse itself by butting at everything and anything and sending then for sixpence. Yesterday the Capricorn butted the royal bowl of porridge, sending it for sixpence somewhere above here; and now we're still waiting for the shower of porridge drops! And I haven't brought my umbrella!" For the simple form of Capricorn Chess the pieces are initially arranged on the board in their usual formation. Rooks are now, however, used to represent the Capricorns or "Butters", but in order to make the distinction clear, they are inverted for representing the new type of chessmen. Capricorns move vertically and horizontally like the Rooks, but capture enemies in quite a new fashion. A Capricorn captures enemy pieces by "butting them off the board." When a Capricorn moves to some vacant square which is adjacent to an enemy piece, it has "butted" and consequently has captured that foe, which is at once removed from the board as a victim of such "butting." Should the Capricorn move to a vacant square adjacent to two or more enemy pieces, all of these are "butted" and so captured simultaneously by the Capricorn, and all must therefore be removed. For example, a white Capricorn on square c1 and four black pieces on b8, c8, d7 and d8. By moving to c7 where it becomes adjacent to all four black pieces, the white Capricorn will "butt" and thus capture all the four at the same time. A Capricorn will check by a threat to "butt" the enemy King when it threatens to move to some vacant square adjacent to that hostile monarch's position. It will be seen that a Capricorn can itself checkmate the enemy King without help from comrades. Naturally a Capricorn can "butt" and capture an enemy Capricorn merely by moving to some vacant square adjacent to that foe. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [page 4] One point concerning this idea of the butting type pf capture may perhaps need a little explanation. Suppose that a white Capricorn stands at square b3 and a black Knight at a6. If the black Knight moves to b4 adjacent to the white Capricorn, would the latter now be able to capture the Knight? If the Capricorn moves to square a3 or c3, it will nevertheless move to a square adjacent to the black Knight. By the general idea of the "butting take", the white Capricorn has here captured that Knight by "butting" against him. To move from one square adjacent to an enemy piece to another also adjacent to that same foe will for the Capricorn constitute capture of that foe by butting. The particular type of Capricorn which has so far been mentioned may be termed the Rook Capricorn or even "Butting Rook". Any ordinary chessman can obviously be converted into a Capricorn: the piece retains its normal move, but instead of taking a foe by occupation of the square of that enemy, such Capricorn will "butt" a hostile piece by moving into some space next to it. In place of using the rooks as "Butters" players can agree to use the Knights for such a type of chessmen in their forces. Though the Bishop or the Queen may be chosen for Capricorns, they are perhaps less suitable for this role than Rooks or Knights. Naturally, in a proper game or "pure" game as it might be termed of Capricorn, all the pieces used ought to capture only by "butting" against their foes. For this game, play may start from the usual arrangement of the pieces on the board, but irregular initial formations are likely to be more interesting and suitable for the thorough development of my Alician theme of Capricorns. This form is specially called the Game of BUTTERS. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [page 5] THE BLACK KING'S COMPLAINT Alice heard someone weeping behind the chessbox, and there she found the Black King shedding bitter tears into a bucket. "What is the trouble, Your Majesty?" asked Alice with sympathy. "They are most unkind. Why am I always the one chosen to be checkmated in problems? They are not fair to my royal dignity. It is really time that old White King took his turn." Suddenly the Black King stopped weeping as a crooked thought came into his wooden mind. A broad smile slowly spread over his face. "I know now what I must do. I will disappear; then they will really have to find something else to checkmate." Alice saw the Black King thereupon change himself completely into hot tears and splash into the bucket, where he boiled rapidly away from sight! Between the ordinary game and the indignant Black King's idea which is described in this short chapter, there is certainly one basic difference, whatever may be the minor dissimilarities. Quite unlike the White force, the opposing Black has no King at all, because that Black monarch has truly boiled himself away into temporary nonexistence for his game! The white pieces are initially arranged in their usual formation; so are the black, but the absent black monarch is now replaced by a second black Queen, who occupies his square. (If the reader wishes to object about such a substitution as unfair, the Black King himself "ordered" that rule.) The aim of the black side is naturally to attack and finally checkmate the white monarch; but if they obviously cannot do so within a reasonable number of moves, then the white will be the victorious side, of course, in this rather unusual sort of struggle between them. Scacetic variations (like the Black King's idea) in which one player has a King but not the other, belong to the variety which I term "Unirexal." In the ordinary types the combat takes place between equal forces, each of which has the same purpose or aim in play; but for the Univexal the absence of the King in one of the forces, creates a radical distinction between the character and aim of the King force and its enemy the "kingless" force. The latter is the real attacking party, and the former the real defending party in their struggle. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [page 6] THE RULES ACCORDING TO THE MARCH HARE "Two days wrong!" sighed the Hatter about his watch. "I told you butter wouldn't suit the works," he added, looking angrily at the March Hare. "It was the best butter," the March Hare meekly replied. "Yes, but some crumbs must have got in as well," the Hatter grumbled, "you shouldn't have put it in with the bread-knife." The March Hare took the watch and looked at it gloomily; then he dipped it in his cup of tea and looked at it again, but he could think of nothing better to say than his first remark "It was the best butter." Alice's Note.--While dodging out of the way of the Red Queen, the White King chanced to meet the March Hare who was very sadly studying a grandfather clock. Having just then once again forgotten the Official Rules of Chess (something he often did) the King begged the March Hare to recite for him the nursery rhymes about the rules. The curious set of "very wrong rules" which the March Hare actually recited to him, the White King wrote down in his enormous memorandum book. Alice later copied this into her own book. The characteristic of "March Hare Chess" is this: A player has at each of his turns to make not just one move but two. For the first of his two moves he simply plays one of his own pieces, but for his second he must "meddle" with his opponent's men on the chessboard. This means, of course, that for the second move of his turn he must actually play one of his enemy pieces! (1) If the player for the first of his two moves should play a pawn in his force, he can play for the second any one of the hostile men, including even the enemy King! (2) If he moves Q,R,B or Kt in his force, he must move only an enemy pawn. (3) If he moves his own King, he can play any hostile piece but the enemy King. When a player's King stands in check, he must nullify that check immediately with a legal move of one of his own pieces; if he cannot do so he loses the game. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [page 7] IDENTIFIC Because Alice was tired of trying to play croquet with an awkward flamingo for her mallet and a wandering hedgehog for a croquet ball, she left the royal croquet lawn and strolled into the Queen of Heart's paper gardens. Here she found the Queen taking the White King round, and pointing out to him various lovely painted flowers and weeds. When groups of cards saw the Queen of Hearts approaching, they went down flat on their faces to show loyalty and respect to her Majesty as she passed by. "What, which and who?" asked the White King. "Some of these, those and the others are my own subjects" replied the Queen, "and some of them aren't mine. I borrow subjects off the other queens to make mine look a multitude instead of a mere handful." "All of them look exactly the same to my eyes" said the White King with a puzzled expression on his face. "Problems of identification must be impossible to solve as their backs are all alike. This is like that, and so is that this or that, I'd like to know." "It's very easy and simple, "said the Queen, "for you just turn them over with your left toe, not the right toe of course, because that is to stand on." The Queen thereupon put her left foot under the edge of a card, but at once that card sprang up quickly and began bowing to her. "My stupidest child, Two of Hearts" said the Queen, "it's very easy for a wise parent to identify its stupidest child." For the idea of "Identifics" a player has his eight pieces proper, but only four of his pawns. In addition he requires twelve counters, though twelve ordinary draughtsmen would be preferable. The game is begun in the following fashion: First the White player puts his twelve draughtsmen or counters on the squares of his own half of the chessboard. He is at complete liberty to put them on such squares as he chooses, but under the condition that only one of them shall occupy each of the squares selected. Next, the Black player does likewise with his twelve draughtsmen or counters. (Instead of that way of placing, the players may of course, prefer to place their draughtsmen alternately one at a time) These counters or draughtsmen are termed "unidentified men or pieces" of the players force. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [page 8] When the preliminary of placement is finished, White opens the game and moves one of his unidentified pieces with the definite movement of some chessman. Naturally the particular unidentified man moved, is at once replaced on its square by that chessman whose move it has just made on the board. If the unidentified piece is moved a straightforward one square, then it must be replaced by a pawn. If it is moved two or more squares diagonally, it is replaced by a Bishop; but if two or more vertically or horizontally, by a Rook; and if with a Knight move obviously by a Knight. A player makes a "move of identification" when he moves some unidentified man in his force and replaces it by the specific chessman whose move it has just made. Such identifications must not be capturing moves of any kind. At each turn a player can either make a further move of identification or else play one of his pieces now properly become a true chessman in his army. A true chessman can capture an enemy unidentified piece. When a player has three true chessmen on the board, he must identify his King before he may identify any others among his pieces awaiting such conversion. Alternating, the players can agree beforehand that Kings shall be identified at a fixed turn of play, say the sixth turn. That restriction is required in Indentifics because much of the interest would be lost if the kings were to be identified rather late in the game. On the contrary, spice is added to the idea if the Queens are identified late, as players wish no doubt to get their most powerful chessman into play before any other. A player might be, for example, permitted to identify his Queen only when he has at least five true chessmen in play. Alternately, he might be obliged to identify his Queen only by moving his very last unidentified piece! Checking and checkmate follow the normal rules. It must be stressed that unidentified men have no checking power whatever against the enemy King. When he is adjacent to or in open line with some hostile unidentified piece, the King is unaffected. That is a quite logical consequence of the rule that unidentified men never capture on their moves of identification. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [page 9] SYNCHRONISTIC CHESS Alice heard shouting inside the royal castle, and then out of the gateway a procession of Red Chessmen came streaming. At the head the smallest of the pawns carried large banners, on some of which she read "We want absolute parity" and on others "Red equals White." At the end of this procession of Red Chessmen marched the March Hare and the Mad Hatter, who carried awkwardly between them the "emporer of teapots" into which they had pushed the Dormouse head first. Last of all through the castle gates came the White King and the Queen of Hearts who were, Alice saw, engaged in a very bitter and irrational wrangle over the question of which was superior Whist or Chess? The White King put forward seriously the claim that the golden idea of Chess is far worthier of respect and attention than is the tinsel- natured idea of the card game Whist. Is not the game of Chess an honourable rational conflict, a combat purely and entirely of intelligence and psychological acrobatics between the two opponents? Quite unlike in Whist, there is no"luck" bestowed by the Lady Caissa on one player over the other in Chess. The White King furthermore claimed that Chess is a game where real justice is in full control. Have not the two opponents forces of equal strength and identical pattern at the start of play? In a game of Whist the Imp of Luck will illogically give four Aces to one side and none to the other, but Lady Caissa would never give one player four Rooks and his opponent none at all! Are not the opposing forces of chessmen drawn up in identical formation at the opening of the battle, so that neither player shall be favoured by some positional advantage which he has not gained by his own skill? Hereupon the Queen of Hearts retorted "Stupid old monarch, you claim initial equality between the two players, but what about the advantage or otherwise to the player who makes the very first move in the battle. You can't be equal when you are not starting together!" The idea which is the theme of this chapter arises from that last mentioned inequality between the two Chess players, but the question of any advantage or not in the first move itself is not involved here. The game which I have called "Synchronistic Chess" is designed to eliminate altogether that inequality between White and Black, by the simple idea that White and Black shall always play their corresponding moves simultaneously! When Black makes his first move he does not know what White's opening move has been, and in consequence Black's first move has the same general effect as if Black himself had commenced the game. The reader may agree that, merely as a vague general idea, the moves of White and Black could be made simultaneously in the very same position, but only on the condition that no taking would be involved. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [page 10] Naturally the idea of simultaneous moves must lead to certain awkward and unchesslike situations, and to strange sorts of taking in my Synchronistic game. For dealing with such cases the following special rules have been "fantasticated," and three situations seem to be extraordinary enough to need such rules. First, in the Sunchronistic, one has the situation where an intended capture seems to be just an illusion. A piece takes a foe, but simultaneously this foe actually leaves its square where it has seemingly been captured. Here the Synchronistic rule is that, if the capturing piece is superior in rank to the particular foe intended to be captured, then this case is a "take." The descending order of rank is K (highest) Q, R, B, Kt and P. White Queen on square a2, black Bishop on a5. The two moves of Q - a5 and B - d8, (simultaneously made) create such a situation, and so the White Queen captures the black Bishop, this Queen being left on square a5, but the Bishop removed from the board as taken. White Rook on square a2, Black Queen on a5. The two moves of R - a5 and Q - d8 give no take for the Rook by that rule. Secondly, one has the situation of the "reciprocal take." In this case a piece captures an enemy which itself takes its own captor! That is to say, these two foes have really interchanged their squares on account of their simultaneous moves. Here it is another type of special capture,both enemies are mutually or reciprocally destroyed, both therefore are removed from the board. Thirdly, there is the situation of the "disputed square." Two hostile pieces move simultaneously into the same vacant square; in which situation one of them will become the captor of the other. The position of the square which they have simultaneously occupied is what will determine which piece takes and which is captured. Here the special rule is that the white piece captures the black if this disputed square lies in Black's half of the board, and reversely if it lies in White's half. The game of Sychronistic Chess can be played by the two players writing down their corresponding moves on separate papers. When these simultaneous moves have so been made by White and Black, then they are revealed together and the position on the chessboard is altered accordingly. Games can also be played with a third (neutral) person helping and seeing to fair play. Most non-taking moves, and takes where the pieces captured did not move, will scarcely raise a difficulty. Whatever the fantastications created, my idea Synchronistic is the most just and rational form of Chess! Indeed, in the Synchronistic game, it is possible for the white and black Kings to be checkmated simultaneously! What can be more equal? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [page 11] JABBERWOCKY CHESS "It certainly was funny," said Alice afterwards to her sister, "to find myself dancing round in a ring with Tweedledee and Tweedledum, singing - here we go round the mulberry bush." Humpty Dumpty boasted to Alice of being able to explain all poems ever invented including even the poem of the Jabberwocky. The following is part of his explanation as recorded in Alice's memorandum book. The idea of the Jabberwocky's Mulberry Bush chessboard is a set of concentric rings or circles crossed by a set of spokes or diameters through the common middle point; and positions at which Jabberwocky chessmen may stand on this board are the points where the rings or circles intersect the radial lines, including also that centre point, really the "Mulberry Bush." The verse in the poem - so rested he by the Tum Tum tree, means of course that the word "tum tum" is truly the Jabberwocky name for the Mulberry Tree itself. The Tove, described as something zooligical between badger, lizard and even corkscrew, likes to gyre, to run round in a ring. This means that in this game the Tove can move over unoccupied points on its circle, but may not pass any occupied points at all. If no points are occupied, then the Tove can go round its ring back to its starting point! The Borogove or simply Gove, described as a shabby-looking bird with feathers sticking out all round like a live mop, can move only by "flying over" one or more occupied points on its ring. While flying over pieces, whether friendly or not, the Gove can move over vacant points at the same time. In other words, to move or to take,this piece must fly at least over one occupied positionon its ring. The Onewocky or Wocky moves one point at a time. The Wocky merely steps from its point to the next on its ring or to the next on its radial line. It captures a foe on some adjacent point of course by occupying that point. The Twowocky or Twocky moves two points at a time; it moves along its radial line or on its circle. As the Twocky must move exactly two points, it can capture a foe only if this is two points away. (Nowocky moves no points!) The Threwky moves exactly three points at a time. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [page 12] The poem describes the Bandersnatch as "frumious", furious and fuming. When asked by Alice to be good enough to stop a minute, the White King remarked "a minute goes by so fearfully quick, you might as well try to stop a Bandersnatch." A little later the White King said regarding the White Queen that "she runs so fearfully quick, you might as well try to catch a Bandersnatch." Clearly the Bandersnatch in the Jabberwocky game is the equivalent to the Queen on the ordinary chessboard. Consequently the Bandersnatch can move or "run" across any number of points, not occupied however, in a radial or circular direction, and can capture a foe separated from it by vacant points as well as a foe adjacent. As this name of Bandersnatch means "Greater Snatch," according to Humpty's explanation to Alice, then logically the name Snatch means "Smaller Snatch," not just plain "Snatch". Obviously in the Jabberwocky game this Snatch steps merely from one point to the next, whether on its circle or along its radial. Naturally the Snatch is the piece on the Jabberwocly board corresponding to the King on the chessboard. The Jabberwocky "with eyes of flame" is the flying monster with "the jaws that bite and the claws that catch" its enemies. The Jabberwocky can move by flying over one or more occupied points on its ring or along it radial line; and can of course move over empty points in this same movement. DODO CHESS "What I was going to say (the Dodo said in a very offended tone) was that the best way to get us dry would be a Caucus race." Alice felt no surprise on coming across the Dodo "through the looking glass". That quite extinct bird was on this occasion explaining to the White and Red Kings how they ought to play chess according to its rules. The Dodo earnestly and with many tears begged Alice to write down these special rules in his memorandum book, in order that the game of Dodo Chess, quite unlike the poor bird itself should never, never, never at all become extinct. The peculiarity of Dodo Chess is that the purpose of play is a sort of racing competition between the Kings (such an idea was naturally expected of the Dodo). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [page 13] The player in Dodo Chess has only his King, one rook, two knights and two bishops; and both white and black pieces are arranged on the same side of the board as shown in this diagram:- O = empty square. N = knight White (R B N O O N B R ) Black (K B N O O N B K ) - - - - - - - - Dodo Chess involves no checkmates but nevertheless the element of check is indirectly involved through the two special rules (A) A player cannot expose his own King to check (B) A player is very strictly forbidden to make any move or take checking the enemy monarch in any manner. In this game a player has the "racing" aim of attempting to advance his King across the board to some square in the farthest rank before the opponent can do so. As the two monarchs move in the same direction across the board and to the same goal (the opposite rank) they are really "racing" against one another, just as the Dodo intended. The King first reaching the opposite (eighth) rank is of course the victor in their racing contest.