Jeremy Good wrote on Tue, Oct 6, 2009 12:24 AM UTC:
One potential problem I foresee with Universal Chess might be that eventually, all the pawns are gone and you are playing with just pieces and no pawns. Which would foreshorten games and make it less likely that you make it past the first row of added pieces. Without pawn protection, pieces will do nothing but exchange each other off the board quickly.
So, to remedy this, I suggest maybe that with every fifth piece (or third? or fourth), one must introduce a new pawn into an empty hole on the second rank...
Another creative pawn idea for Universal Chess: Charles Gilman discovered and inventoried a large number of pawns. It would be more in the flavor of Universal Chess to introduce them randomized on the second rank right into the opening setup and then have future particular pawns prearranged to be added alongside the new pieces as I suggest above...
ANCIENT Pawn: no initial double-step move (as in early standard Chess);
EUROPEAN Pawn: both steps must be noncapturing (introduced in Europe's standard Chess);
WARHEAD Pawn: both steps must be capturing (more aggressive than the above);
AMBUSH Pawn: first step must be noncapturing, second capturing (starts peaceful, then attacks);
NONCHALANT Pawn: first step must be capturing, second noncapturing (starts aggressive, then acts as if nothing happened);
TRIDENT Pawn: both steps must be of the same kind (European+warhead);
PATIENT Pawn: first step must be noncapturing, second may be either (European+ambush);
PENITENT Pawn: second step must be noncapturing, first may be either (European+nonchalant);
IMPENITENT Pawn: second step must be capturing, first may be either (warhead+ambush);
IMPATIENT Pawn: first step must be capturing, second may be either (warhead+nonchalant);
HELMSMAN Pawn: one step must be of each kind in either order (ambush+nonchalant);
EUROFIGHTER Pawn: any initial double-step move (trident+helmsman=patient+impatient=penitent+impenitent).
As Gilman points out, these categories can be applied not just to the standard Western pawn but also to other pawns creating many more categories of pawns, which I think is good for Universal Chess. For example, again quoting Gilman, we can apply them to the Berolina Pawn, which he calls Yeoman: 'For example a WARHEAD YEOMAN has an initial double-step in the same direction as the European Pawn, but capturing at both steps. Note how this is a neater phrase than 'Warhead Berolina Pawn'.'
I'm not saying all Universal Chess should be structured with these sorts of randomized pawns, but there should be some Universal Chess variants that are!
One potential problem I foresee with Universal Chess might be that eventually, all the pawns are gone and you are playing with just pieces and no pawns. Which would foreshorten games and make it less likely that you make it past the first row of added pieces. Without pawn protection, pieces will do nothing but exchange each other off the board quickly.
So, to remedy this, I suggest maybe that with every fifth piece (or third? or fourth), one must introduce a new pawn into an empty hole on the second rank...
Another creative pawn idea for Universal Chess: Charles Gilman discovered and inventoried a large number of pawns. It would be more in the flavor of Universal Chess to introduce them randomized on the second rank right into the opening setup and then have future particular pawns prearranged to be added alongside the new pieces as I suggest above...
I'm excerpting Gilman's pawn categories from here
(because they are nice enough to merit display):ANCIENT Pawn: no initial double-step move (as in early standard Chess);
EUROPEAN Pawn: both steps must be noncapturing (introduced in Europe's standard Chess);
WARHEAD Pawn: both steps must be capturing (more aggressive than the above);
AMBUSH Pawn: first step must be noncapturing, second capturing (starts peaceful, then attacks);
NONCHALANT Pawn: first step must be capturing, second noncapturing (starts aggressive, then acts as if nothing happened);
TRIDENT Pawn: both steps must be of the same kind (European+warhead);
PATIENT Pawn: first step must be noncapturing, second may be either (European+ambush);
PENITENT Pawn: second step must be noncapturing, first may be either (European+nonchalant);
IMPENITENT Pawn: second step must be capturing, first may be either (warhead+ambush);
IMPATIENT Pawn: first step must be capturing, second may be either (warhead+nonchalant);
HELMSMAN Pawn: one step must be of each kind in either order (ambush+nonchalant);
EUROFIGHTER Pawn: any initial double-step move (trident+helmsman=patient+impatient=penitent+impenitent).
As Gilman points out, these categories can be applied not just to the standard Western pawn but also to other pawns creating many more categories of pawns, which I think is good for Universal Chess. For example, again quoting Gilman, we can apply them to the Berolina Pawn, which he calls Yeoman: 'For example a WARHEAD YEOMAN has an initial double-step in the same direction as the European Pawn, but capturing at both steps. Note how this is a neater phrase than 'Warhead Berolina Pawn'.'
I'm not saying all Universal Chess should be structured with these sorts of randomized pawns, but there should be some Universal Chess variants that are!