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Extra Move Chess. Double-move variant based on limitations of Zillions of Games. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Greg Strong wrote on Tue, Aug 30, 2005 11:47 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
Yes, this game definitely deserves the rating of 'excellent.'  I am in
the middle of my second game against Fergus, and I've seen enough to be
confident in my assessment.  I love Marseillais Chess, but I think that
this game is a significant improvement.  Although many of the restrictions
added in this game are related to facilitating computer play, I think the
rules added are an improvement even for human play.

Marseillais Chess has a couple of problems, in my opinion.  For one thing,
I think the game suffers from the fact that although the double-move aspect
makes the game sharp and violent, you still have to cower well behind the
enemies' pawn line... Because the same pawn can move twice, including a
double-move on the first move, you have to hide all your pieces on your
first three ranks; otherwise you sacrifice them to enemy pawns which are
extremely viscious, especially if they have not moved and thus are
elegible for an initial double-step move.  Also, the double-move aspect
makes riffle capture possible, and thus makes the game very aggressive and
unstable... which I like, in general, but you still have to run and hide so
a mere pawn doesn't run you down.

Also, when the pawns start advancing across the board, and the game begins
in earnest, the ability of any piece to move twice, and thus to conduct a
riffle-capture, leads to a highly tactical game wherein the material drops
like crazy, minimizing the strategy ...

Extra-Move Chess prevents the same piece from moving twice, and eliminates
the possibility for two captures on the same turn.  I believe that these
restrictions make for a more strategical game, while maintaining the speed
and excitement of other double-move variants.  I highly recommend this
game!