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ChessVA computer program
. Program for playing numerous Chess variants against your PC.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Matthew Montchalin wrote on Tue, Jul 19, 2005 07:20 AM UTC:
In terms of Ultima/Baroque, any group of 3 or more same-colored pawns
situated, together, a single knight's move away from each other, make
for
a much stronger structure than those that are not.  This may mean more to
us in an endgame than from the typical starting position, so it should be
examined after the variables for fluidity/mobility are arrived at. 
Although a pawn or pincher can strike against enemies bounded by
non-enemy
pieces, the relative slowness of a group of pawns (compared to a group of
noble piece) means that 'pawn structure' - as such - can be a fruitful
thing to look for.  In terms of endgame analysis, it may take 1 king + 5
pawns to force checkmate - I'm not sure - but I don't think mating is
possible with just 3.

The peculiar thing about this, is how the knight's move of traditional
chess finds a place for evaluating pawn structures in Ultima/Baroque.  It
relates to the desirability of distributing same-colored pawns equally
across a finite area of rectangularly gridded space.