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Falcon Chess: Background and Patent Text Excerpts. With background summary of chess variants.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

Joe Joyce wrote on Sun, Aug 23, 2009 12:58 AM UTC:

Oh, George, I certainly wasn't claiming anyone's setup. In fact, I probably read... hm, I'm positive I read something, now that we're discussing it, about falcons in the center. I was merely looking at the results of bishops in the corners, and saw only that one way to cover all the pawns, falcons in the center. There aren't that many possible positions. In fact, I'd be surprised if someone hasn't grabbed each one by now. Shall we look at a few?

Bishops in the corners, symmetrical setup, all pawns covered:

BRNQ; BQNR; ... okay, let's try with falcons: 
BRNQF; BQNRF; ... um, did I leave any out? 

Let's try with knights: 
NBQR; NQBR; NQRB... and add falcons: 
NBQFR; NQBFR. 

Of these, the only one I like is the double-castled position of NQRBBRKN, and I question the balance of a game that puts a Q and R on one end and a K and R on the other.