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Kevin Pacey wrote on Mon, Jun 19, 2017 05:37 AM UTC:

Hi Fergus

Yes, 3-fold repetition is a draw in Sac Chess. I had assumed (apparently incorrectly) that somehow by the form to enter a submission on CVP, and by some instances I looked at of other submitted variants that have been played, that a submitted variant has the same basic or auxilary rules as standard chess, unless otherwise stated by the inventor, at least if the variant seems clearly intended to be chess-like (Shogi & Chinese Chess variants for example, would be another story).

Thus, by another rule of standard chess, Sac Chess would also have agreed draws allowed (which Game Courier assumes for all variants), and also the 50 move rule that is used in chess (with some modern exceptions that make the rule to be for 100 moves instead according to FIDE, e.g. R+B+K vs. R+K, and many semi-specified positions with 2N+K vs.P+K, the latter of which, however, clearly couldn't be applied to Sac Chess' 10x10 board). I was actually wondering recently if the 50 move rule should be applied to larger board variants than 8x8, since even B+N+K vs. K might take more than 50 moves in the worse case with good play on 10x10, though I doubt it will in that particular basic endgame, or others that might arise in Sac Chess.

In general it's a bit tedious for inventors to try to cope with or unfailingly anticipate every little rule case that might come up. A solution could be simply to state in one of one's CVP submissions that the basic rules of chess apply unless otherwise stated, but that might have caused some confusion in the case of Sac Chess, as you can see from the above rule cases, if I didn't still take the trouble to elaborate at length on them as I have above. I'd say if any variant ever becomes popular enough, any future governing body it would have (like FIDE is to chess) might later fine-tune the rules or clarify rule omissions/ambiguities made by the inventor.

At least on Game Courier, the players afaik seem to sort out such rule issues without much trouble, or perhaps even consult the inventor as here. I would observe that some variant submissions, even of old variants that might even be played on Game Courier, have an author's comment that certain rules aren't made clear by the inventor, and in such cases iany rule enforcing preset programmers can decide on the exact rules they enforce in their presets. I don't know if Carlos took into account any of the rule cases (3 fold draw, 50 move rule) that I discussed at length above as they apply to the Sac Chess rule-enforcing preset that you're currently using, but if you care to you might assume for now he did not.

 

On a personal note, I'd intended to stop playing on Game Courier for at least the summer (if not longer) due to, not least, having no air conditioner (just a fan) in the room where my 'playstation' is in my small apartment, but I'm now looking into the chance of having an affordable and practical portable air conditioner.

Kevin

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