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Ninety-one and a Half Trillion Falcon Chess Variants. Missing description[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
📝George Duke wrote on Mon, Jan 14, 2008 07:48 PM UTC:
RN213 The Sea Is Rough. One or more squares skew line pieces exclusively and systematically. [48 variates, one theme: see also Betza's Earthquake and Sibahi's Quake Chess for relatedness.] (a) no effect (b) Whenever Kings are on opposite-colour squares, the Sea is Rough. So, standard 8x10 and 10x10 the Sea is Calm initially. When Sea is Rough, line pieces (RBQ) travel one, two or three steps normally, then shift 45 degrees one square, after which continuing in original direction. Where the shift actually begins (at the third square) determines whether it is right or left. For this 'RN213b', any square left side of board effects shift 45 left, and right side 45 degrees right. (On such as 15x15, RN301, either shift may be employed at option along the center line.) (c) 'b', shift occurs square two. (d) 'b', shift-effect takes place square four. (e) 'b', shift begins at square one, i.e., after one normal step. (f) 'c', Knights also shift by moving to (2,4) or (3,4) at option but no further. (g) 'e' and 'f' (h) 'b', right side and left side reverse, called 'Southern Hemisphere effect' (i) 'b' except Sea is Rough iff defined shift-square is same colour as King's present square (j) 'b' except the determinant is the combined Kings' ranks being odd (k) 'b' except the determinant is the combined Kings files being odd (a=1,b=2...) (l) 'b' with the determinant(odd) the combined number of pieces and Pawns adjacent to own King (m) 'l' only pieces (n) 'l' only Pawns (o) 'l' opposite King's pieces (p) 'l' opposite King's Pawns (q) 'l' enemy King's pieces & Pawns (r) 'c'&'j' (s) 'd'&'j' (t) 'e','f','j' (u)'e','f','k' (v)'e','f','l' (w)'d','f','k' (x)'d','f','l' (y)'d','f','n' (z)'d','f','o' (aa)'h','k' (bb)'h','l' (cc)'h','m' (dd)'h','n' (ee)'h','i' (ff)'h','j' (gg) 'h','k' (hh)'h','l' (ii) 'h','m' (jj) 'h','n' (kk) 'h','j' (ll) 'c','f','q' (mm) 'd','f','q' (nn) 'd','h' (oo) 'e', with Pawns also shifting on double step. (pp) 'e', 'f' 'oo'. Cumulative: 9.009591024 x 10^41, as many games as water molecules in notional cylinder upon, or within, the Atlantic Ocean 3.0 kilometers in diameter and 0.5 kilometer deep.

📝George Duke wrote on Tue, Jan 15, 2008 05:11 PM UTC:
RN214 Hot Potato. Capture more widely than particular square a piece rests. (a) no effect (b) Player designates opponent's Hot Potato, one piece-type for the duration. Hot Potato, being either RNBF or Q any of which, can be captured only on 8 adjacent squares that are vacant, not present standing square. (c) 'b', Hot Potato can be captured only on such adjacent Black squares. (d) 'c' White squares for Black side and Black for White (e) 'c', King and Pawn may additionally capture H.P. on standing square. (f) 'd', 'e' (g) 'b' H.P. captured only on orthogonally adjacent square (h) 'b' as 'g' except diagonally adjacent (i) 'c', 'e', 'g' (j) 'c', 'e', 'h' (k) 'c', 'f', 'g' (l) 'd', 'f', 'h' (m) 'b', 'e' (n) 'd', 'f' (o) 'b', 'c', 'g' (p) 'b', 'c', 'h' (q) 'b', 'd', 'g' (r) 'b', 'd', 'h' (s) 'b', Player may relay Hot-Potato designation to any adjacent own piece-type by sacrificing one Pawn, immediately removed, in lieu of turn. The chosen piece-type becomes the side's H-P. (t) 'e', 's' (u) 'd', 'e', 's' (v) 'f', 's' (w) 'f', 'g', 's' (x) 'f', 'h', 's' (y) 's', the relay, or change, requires two-Pawn sacrifice. (z) 'e', 'y', (aa) 'd', 'e', 'y' (bb) 'f', 'y' (cc) 'f', 'g', 'y' (dd) 'f', 'h', 'y' (ee) 's' three Pawns (ff) 'e', 'ee' (gg) 'd', 'e', 'ee' (hh) 'f', 'ee' (ii) 'f', 'g', 'ee' (jj) 'f', 'h', 'ee' (kk) 'b', capture of any H. P. voids the effect for remaining duration. (ll) 'c', 'kk' (mm) 'b', capture of any H.P. removes any other H.P., meaning same piece-type of the side. (nn) 'c', 'mm' (oo) 'd', 'e', 'mm' (pp) 'f', 'mm' (qq) 'f', 'g', 'mm' (rr) 'f', 'h', 's', 'mm' (ss) 'd', 'e', 'y', 'kk' (tt) 'd', 'e', 'y', 'mm' (uu) 'g', capture of H.P. with no more of that piece-type on board relays the H.-P. effect in the sequence NBRFQN, so there is always Hot Potato whilst any piece at all on board by side. (vv) 'uu' except reversing as NQFRBN. Cumulative: 4.32460325 x 10^43 playable Chess Rules-Sets in combination.

📝George Duke wrote on Wed, Jan 16, 2008 09:29 PM UTC:
RN215 British Bulldog. Capture is by tackling. [See Winther's Bifurcation pieces for relatedness.] (a) no effect (b) When tackling, the victim is taken in normal move of the piece by replacement, but the tackler's momentum carries on systematically. Rook, Bishop, Queen tackle-capturing end up forward of the target square one step 45 degrees offset. (Rook at c1 takes c4 and Rook's arrival square becomes d5 or b5 at option.) Knight tackles to Falcon squares, Falcon to Scorpion squares. No King or Pawn tackling. If no arrival square is available those ways beyond the victim, tackle (and capture) is illegal. (c) 'b', Pawns tackle like RBQ one step 45 degrees forwardly only (two spaces altogether from Pawn departure square). (d) 'b', Kings tackle by direct one-step counter the victim's position. (King e2-d3 takes either e3 or d2, or both.) (e) 'd', No King double capturing means choice of victim. (f) c,d (g) c,e (h) d,e (i) 'c', En passant tackling to the logical forward one-step 45-degree-angled (j) c,d,i (k) c,e,i (l) 'b', Knights alone may double tackle-capture (Nightrider-like), useful on 10x10 empowering Knight. (m) c,l (n) c,d,e,l (o) b, no tackling on the adjacent square (p) b,d, no tackling on the adjacent square except that performed by King (q) b, If a protected piece is tackle-captured, the protector (player and piece) immediately may 'untackle'. To untackle means moving onto the square just vacated by the captured piece normally, and ending in a legal tackle position just beyond; finally in third step, the just-captured piece reappears on its selfsame square. (r) q, untackling permitted up to two following turns (s) c, q (t) d,q (u) c,d,q (v) c, d, e, q (w) d, r (x) c,d,r (y) c,d,e,r (z) d,o,q (aa) c,d,i,q (bb) c,d,e,i,q (cc) d,i,r (dd) c,d,i,r (ee) c,d,e,i,r (ff) d,i,r (gg) d,q,l (hh) c,d,l,q (ii) c,d,e,l,q (jj) d,l,r (kk)c,d,l,r (ll) c,d,e,l,r (mm) d,i,l,q (nn) c,d,e,i,l,q (oo) d,i,l,r (pp) c,d,l,r (qq) d,i,l,r (rr) d,o,q (ss) c,d,e,o,q (tt) d,o,r (uu) d,e,o,r (vv) d,i,o,r (ww) d,i,o,r. Cumulative: 2.07580956 x 10^45 separately-playable Chess Rules-sets, now within four or five orders of magnitude how many atoms exist throughout planet Earth.

📝George Duke wrote on Thu, Jan 17, 2008 07:39 PM UTC:
RN216 Sinkhole. Player moves piece and also the Sinkhole. The Sinkhole has neither Warp Point Chess nor Jacks & Witches Teleporter-square modalities, but has some similarity. Strategic move to Sinkhole and loss of piece thereby may rarely open lines of attack. (a) no effect (b) Player moves piece/Pawn and then the Sinkhole mandatorily one square King-like. (c) b, Sinkhole moves Dabbabah-like. (d) b, Sinkhole moves Alfil-like. (e) b, Two symmetrically-placed Sinkholes by agreement (f) c,e (g) d,e (h) The piece (not Pawn) lost into Sinkhole immediately effects an upgrade of any chosen remaining piece with that one's moving ability, usually creating a compound. (E.g., Bishop moves to Sinkhole, disappears, and immediately a Knight by choice becomes Carrera Centaur (BN), a.k.a. Cardinal. (i) c,h (j) e,h (k) f,h (l) g,h (m) h, Pawn lost (deliberately or forcedly) to a Sinkhole upgrades King right away to promotable royal compound. In other words, that empowered King reaching the last rank promotes, as usual for Pawn, to royal NBRF (typical case, RN1) at option. (n) b, As alternate win condition, seven(7) pieces/Pawns lost into Sinkhole(s) win the game. (o) n, 6 pieces/Pawns (p) n, 5 pieces/Pawns. Cumulative: 3.321295296 x 10^46 distinct Chess games.

📝George Duke wrote on Wed, Jan 23, 2008 08:38 PM UTC:
RN217 Dual Capture. Capture is more deadly, always able to remove two units. (a) no effect (b) Capture by standard replacement removes, in addition, one more piece or Pawn of opponent's side. The criterion for the second unit lost, immediately upon completing any normal capture, is 'closest' or 'nearest' Pawn/piece. One away diagonally equals one away orthogonally. To distinguish the two-phase capture, the first phase is 'capture' and the second is compulsory 'removal'. If two or more are equidistant from that arrival square, where the regular capture takes place, the capturer then chooses. Squares blocked, even for Knights, do not count in figuring distance away. (For ex., White Pawn-c4 x Pawn-d5 captures Pawn-d5 and, if Black Bishop at d4 and Black Knight at e4, White picks between the latter two for removal.) (c) 'b', the dual-capture effect excludes capture by Pawn. (d) 'b', effect excludes capture by or of Pawn. (e) 'b', effect excludes capture by or of Pawn and excludes Pawn removal in second phase. (f) 'b' requires only Pawn, not piece, in the second 'removal' phase. (g) 'c', 'f' (h) 'd', 'f' (i) 'b', only capturing with Knight and Falcon implement effect. (j) 'b', 'd', 'i' (k) 'b', 'e', 'i' (l) 'b', 'f', 'i' (m) 'b', capturing with Knight only activates. (n) 'b', capturing with Knight, King (o) 'b', capturing with Knight, King, Falcon (p) 'b', only with Falcon, King (q) 'b', Instead the 'dual-capturing' of this RN removes another of the piece-type regardless of position, proximity not being the factor in this modality. (r) 'q', If none exist, one of that piece-type of own side must be removed upon the normal capture. (s) 'c', 'q' (t) 'd', 'q' (u) 'e', 'q' (v) 'f', 'q' (w) 'i', 'q' (x) 'i', 'q', 'r' (y) 'j', 'q', 'r' (z) 'k','q','r' (aa) 'l', 'q', 'r' (bb) 'm', 'q','r' (cc) 'n','q','r' (dd) 'o','q','r' (ee) 'p', 'q', 'r' (ff) 'b', 'q', 'r'. Cumulative: 1.0281472 x 10^48 distinct Chess Rules-sets. Remember: Earth has 10^50 atoms. We shall need criteria to evaluate so many examples and somehow reduce the sample set. One start might be to key off Western Chess. It would mean forgetting about admittedly-great Xiangqi, which warrants its own millions of variations somewhere. Xiangqi sites do not get preoccupied with multiplicity of form, possibly because we do it for them. Just ignoring Shogi, with its about average playability to most, as regional form, is far easier.

📝George Duke wrote on Sat, Feb 16, 2008 04:56 PM UTC:
EnjoyLolHeyFarOutPuddingheads. Trial-and-error birds-of-a-feather, one size fits all? No way. Working towards one CV per atom in the Universe, no light-weight matter finding entities approving each of incipient 10^80 rules-set, on account of strict self-evaluation and autonomy. RN218 Mutual Annihilation. [The Swapper in Rococo has option to do this adjacently only; otherwise inferior CVs -- with huge armies or overdone piece differentiation -- have similar effect, that we recall offhand.] (a) no effect (b) Capture removes both pieces involved. IOW, capture by replacement is normal, except for both being taken off the board. HEY, they are on the same square! It has no bearing on check as such or checkmate. This Mutator works best with enhanced-piece Mutators like RNs 4,5,6,7 in the article and follow-up Comments. That way checkmate by even one piece alone may be very plausible, according to specific design. (c) 'b' excludes Pawns capturing. (d) 'b' excludes Pawns captured -- making Pawn capture rare. (e) 'b' excludes Pawns capturing or captured. (f) 'b' applies only to Falcons capturing. (g) 'b' applies only to Falcon & Knight capturing. (h) 'b' Falcon, Knight, Queen (i) 'b', instead the capture returns the capturer to any own starting array same-rank square by choice. (j) 'i' only Queen & Falcon (k) 'b' returns Pawns alone capturing to any Pawn second-rank array square. (l) 'd' and 'k' (m) 'f' and 'i' (n) 'g' and 'i' (o) 'h' and 'i' (p) 'i', the opponent chooses the initial array square. Cumulative: 1.64503552 x 10^49 separately-distinguishable and respectable Chess Rules compendiums. Earth has near 10^50 atoms, so almost the CVs now for that milestone. The '24.November.2007' Comment establishes that the individual CVs are easy enough to call up for one given complete Rules-set, limited to realistic 32 Mutators activated for playable game to taste.

📝George Duke wrote on Sat, Mar 22, 2008 03:28 PM UTC:
RN219 Northern Exposure [after 'Northern Exposure *TM*, see Disclaimer] (a) no effect (b) Joel Fleischman is misfit M.D., transplant from Flushing and Columbia, so Bishops move is normal, except last step requires one final step orthogonal 45 degrees right or left, as in half of Rennaissance Chess Cavalier pattern. (c) Maggie O'Connor the flyer is Falcon, altered to jump one only at option along pattern, not capturing the one jumped. (d) Ed Chigliak is Pawn (see also 'n') and Native Pawns mimic at option the nearest same-side piece's method, provided no friendly Pawn as close or closer. (e) Knight Chris Stevens at options retracts last move and moves from either square-location as bona fide present move. (f) Maurice Minnifield astranaut-King may jettison any check by 'invoking authority', meaning any friendly Pawn, protected by Pawn, may upon any check, interpose to any square thwarting said Check, in lieu of other move. (g)  Holling Vincoeur Rook, being French, operates from a pedestal. Rook cannot reach adjacent squares, but starts at Dabbabah square and moves onward. Additionally no castling, but anytime once-per-game switch(exchange of places) of King and Rook, provided King unchecked, regardless other disposition of pieces or prior movements. (h) Shelly Tambo Queen Northern Lights goes as Queen only up to 4 squares, jumping one permitted, as Falcon in 'c', with no permitted capturing the (first) unit overtaken. (i) b,c,d,e,f,g,h (j) 'i' with 'f' any protected piece also (k) 'j' with 'h' 5 squares (l) 'j' with 'c' up to two (m) 'k','l' (n) 'i' except 'e' has right-side Pawns(Marilyn Whirlwind) empowered with all-orthogonal-direction capture (no diagonal at all) only (o) j,n (p) k,n.   Cumulative 2.64856  x 10^49 CVs crosswise allowing up to 32 Mutators activated.
[The above one-paragraph chess quasi-parody, and self-parody, in yet serious untheatrical exposition, respecting copyright of USA television series 1990-1995, intends no commercial use or other publication whatsoever.]

📝George Duke wrote on Fri, Mar 28, 2008 05:15 PM UTC:
RN220 Northern Exposure[TM] Pawns -- disclaimer at 219. Each of 7 piece-types individually deserve fuller treatment. Six of them are Holling Vincouer Rooks, Chris Stevens Knights, Joel Fleischman Bishops, Maggie O'Connor Falcons, Maurice Minnifield Kings, Shelly Tambo Queens. Ed Chigliak Pawns(ECP) and Marilyn Whirlwind Pawns(MWP) follow. The case 'RN220b' right below represents one of first couple instances so far we have had of a RN 'calling' another RN. The real over-all development trends toward #CVs exceeding # elementary particles in this known Universe (a) no effect (b) Call 'RN219n', but instead, ECP and MWP are alternately a-file Pawn, b-file Pawn, c-file... (The largest board size 16x16 under 'RN301 Sizing' thus has MWP as p-Pawn.) (c) 'b' except ECP cannot move as the nearest piece of choice from an array position (d) 'b' except ECP only so move within far half of board (Recall that under RN 219 throughout, any friendly Pawn close by negates the empowerment: so ECP are most often ordinary Western Pawn.) (e) 'b' for ECP takes effect only after Move 15. (f) 'b' for MWP dis-allows capture orthogonally backwards. (g) 'b' for MWP captures orthogonally backwards only. (h) 'b', MWP promote immediately upon crossing center line. (i) 'b' except the distribution in initial set-up requires players pre-select and -place any chosen mix of ECP and MWP before Move One. (j) 'c', 'i' (k) 'd', 'i' (l) 'd', 'g', 'i' (m) 'd', 'h, 'i' (n) 'h', 'i (o) 'g', 'h', 'i' (p) 'c', 'g', 'h', 'i'. Cumulative 5.16849473 x 10^50 now actualizes more-than-remotely-playable CVs of greater number than atoms in the Earth [Calculations show Earth to have 10^50 atoms], the running total so far.

📝George Duke wrote on Mon, Apr 7, 2008 07:55 PM UTC:
Next RNs 221-225 are to be Northern-Exposure R,N,B,Q and K in turn. We also have a 300-series of Mutators. Plausible future Mutators include Move-Turn Order, because so far only RN10 has used that idea very minimally. Actually, there is never shortage of material whatsoever. Ralph Betza's work alone suggests 50 or 100 additional Mutators not yet implemented here. Incidentally will #CVs exceed # elementary particles in Universe? Easily only the next 50 or so Mutators achieve that. Theoretical infinity of CVs, totally different concept, would be separate demonstration in mathematical mode.

Rich Hutnik wrote on Mon, Apr 7, 2008 10:12 PM UTC:
The next challenge, get this up to be infinite.  You could also go with drops and gating that even add more pieces to it, and change when they come in, and create a reserve.  One could also go with the idea of mutators that enter the game at different times.

Did we even begin to discuss the board that it could be played on?  We could even vary the boards here.  So, he idea is mutators, shuffle, drops and gating, different pieces, etc... to end up with a different game.  

So, what else can be added to make it infinite?  I believe to have this, is that ONE element that is infinite get added to the mix.  This should be a practical element that can be implemented.

May I suggest people also take this discussion to the Chess of Tomorrow project Wiki discussion to discuss going infinite?  http://chessvariants.wikidot.com/forum/t-51667/chess-of-tomorrow-project-who-is-interested

This would fit under the Calvinball/Hericlitian Chess idea that it is possible for humanity, given endless time, to never play chess with the same rules twice.

Rich Hutnik wrote on Thu, Apr 10, 2008 06:49 PM UTC:
Hey, let's also go with an 8x8 board, a 8x9 and an 8x10 board.  Shoot, you could also go all the way up to 8x14 or 8x16, giving the starting positions a larger back row space (as is seen in Skirmish Chess and Near Chess).  You could also push the pieces forward or back more.

Gary Gifford wrote on Thu, Apr 10, 2008 08:27 PM UTC:
I like 10 x 10 boards. With side frames the same 10 x 10 board can become other boards, for example: 9x10 (uncommon) 9x9, 8x8, 9x8, 8x10.

📝George Duke wrote on Fri, Apr 11, 2008 03:26 PM UTC:
'Sizing' Rule Number 301 has many larger ones, as options, already up to 16x16. After ongoing '9x9' theme and finishing 'The Turk' up to Kasparov, we will add boards below 8x10 also. Thanks for the suggestion.

📝George Duke wrote on Wed, Jun 18, 2008 10:49 PM UTC:
We have made our serious whack at proliferation, and one legitimate CV, in combination, per atom within the inner Solar System has been no small task. Moreover, we are doing it with respect by not taxing people in over-length or every separate write-up per humble idea. They are all right here. This is purely organizational reference for upcoming Mutators, ours so far having been:  11> Immobilizer 12> Promoter 13> Triangular Transference 14> Warp Points 15> Cylindrical 16> Switching 17> Black Hole 18> Jack 19> Altair ranks 20> Selective Drop 21> Arrays 22> Capture & Drop 23> WandI 24> WandII 25> Selective Inverse Capture 26> Selective Immobilization 27> Philosopher's 28> Coordination 29> Hegemony 30> Reduction 31> Acid-Base 32> Strong Acid-Base; RN201> Fixed Pawns 202> Passed Pawns; RN301> Sizing; 203> Flying Dutchman 204> Relinquishment 205> Kick the Can 206> Pawn Islands 207> Hobbler 208> Blue Queen 209> Green Light 210> Hard-Boiled Eggs 211> Localization 212> Wolf & Shepherd 213> The Sea Is Rough 214> Hot Potato 215> British Bulldog 216> Sinkhole 217> Dual Capture 218> Mutual Annihilation 219> Northern Exposure[TM] 220> Northern Exposure(Pawns)  /// Intended Mutators are more Northern Exposures and ''Nuclear Particle Physics'' as ongoing theme.

Rich Hutnik wrote on Thu, Jun 19, 2008 12:33 AM UTC:
Let me know when this hits a Heraclitian-Calvinball state.

📝George Duke wrote on Fri, Sep 19, 2008 05:23 PM UTC:
Joe, for Track One sizes we have 8x10, 9x10 and 10x10. For Track Two ''Sizing'' Mutator 301 4.December.2007, we have choices: 10x11, 11x10, 11x11, 11x12, 12x11, 12x12, 12x13, 13x12, 13x13, 13x14, 14x13, 14x14, 14x15, 15x14, 15x15, 15x16, 16x15, 16x16. Under Passed Pawns and related articles there are 6x6, 7x7, and 8x8.

Rich Hutnik wrote on Fri, Sep 19, 2008 08:57 PM UTC:
Let me know if you have gone multiple dimensions and different space shapes. Also, how about point to point configurations?

Joe Joyce wrote on Sat, Sep 20, 2008 05:34 AM UTC:
For track 1, I lean toward the 10x10. Hadn't considered the 9x10 size; it could give some interesting games. Again, here I'd be inclined to put the pawns on the 3rd rank, and make them only 1-steppers. But then the pawns could not meet in the middle on turn 1. This alone may disqualify any such game from serious consideration. So we're left with 8x10 and 10x10, both of which can easily and naturally give 4 squares between pawn rows, maintaining a key aspect of western pawn formations, as well as the little wrinkles of the double first step and en passant. This should keep the orthodox players happy. 

For a serious first pass at 'the next chess', I strongly suggest grabbing an old idea, and dropping the standard 8x8 setup in the middle of a 10x10 board. By the way, understand I don't believe there is such a thing as the next chess, but the concept of a game sufficiently like chess to grab the attention, and playing time, of FIDE players is a truly excellent design challenge. Back to the 8x8 setup on the 10x10 board. Here we have the basic design of chess and Christian Freeling's Grand Chess. Now the important question becomes: what minimalist changes can we do to this setup to create a game that appeals to a wide range of chessplayers? 

Break the question into steps. Do we add 2 pawns to cover the front? What pieces might we slide back to the last row? Then maybe we might look at new pieces, as it doesn't feel right to increase the number of any particular piece, unlike with pawns, where adding 2 is not only natural but obvious. What sorts of piece[s]? Since there are no more simple infinite sliders, it's going to be either a complex infinite slider, or shortrange pieces. Here, my personal preference says shortrange.

Joe Joyce wrote on Sat, Sep 20, 2008 05:54 AM UTC:
For track 2, since it is for fun, and not for serious chess replacement games, I'd like to add another board size/shape, the 16x12, 16 squares wide, and 12 deep. At 176 squares, this is 3 standard boards in area. I've found that reducing the starting piece density [from FIDE's 50%] helps manageability and playability. A 33% density to start gives 32 pieces & pawns/side, noticeably easier to deal with than 50%'s 48 pieces/side. At this size, I also advocate multi-move turns to speed things up. This combination of larger board and several moves/turn allows a whole range of new games - just where they'd fit in the 91.5 trillion, I don't know. ;-) But it's a convenient size to try out new effects. And now, I bid you good night [and probably should have before I wrote this]. Enjoy.

Charles Daniel wrote on Sat, Sep 20, 2008 06:41 PM UTC:
Joe, 
In Pick the Piece Big Chess, I started out with this premise. And taking it one step forward - Chess players will probably like a 'natural' start position, not one with the pieces in the middle of the board. 
Thus you have two empty slots in the wings after you fill in the holes with pawns. 

Further design considerations: Bigger board weakens the knights and the pawns. Stepping knights seem an interesting solution. 
Dropping extra pawns (stronger pawns) help with the pawns as well.  


Net result - similar to chess but still different.  

The lesson from 80 square chess variants applies - change one parameter and the game is radically different. 
The only possible 'next' chess is something like Fischer Random or perhaps just an alternate setup - something like Displacement Chess, and even these are doubtful - we are talking the next 100+ years or so. 

Trying to 'convert' chess players to this new variant reminds me of Communism -- it will only work under a dictatorship in the end ...LOL. 

I mean, come on, we will all be long dead before Chess 'dies' - lets not get too obsessed with the 'next' chess since there is a good chance that this next chess never happens!

Joe Joyce wrote on Sat, Sep 20, 2008 08:30 PM UTC:
Charles, you're absolutely right about chess outlasting us, but the *concept* of a 'next chess' is fascinating, precisely because it cannot/will not occur. Is there a game sufficiently close to FIDE that chessplayers will play it? FRC/960, bughouse, blitz, shogi, Xiang Qi, all these get played by serious chessplayers. Is there a game that we could add to those? More than one game? Note that what you've got for 'different' games are: chess; chess; chess; Japanese chess; Chinese chess. There is one noticeable trend here. The first 3 games are the same game. The next 2 pose hope that 'the next chess' won't be something like this: Set up all pieces except queens. The black player gets his choice of queen, chancellor[minister], or archbishop. White then picks one of the remaining two. I believe this would give black a slight edge in games won. It's practically chess, only 1 piece different, and allows a bit of handicapping, too. [Heh, my guess is Betza did this already.] But what else is there that is chess, but different? That's the question I'm playing with, Charles. The 'next chess' bit is just an extreme way of asking the question. 

A related question: what is the 'half-life' of a chess game? In other words, how long before half of the various forms of chess played in the world get a significant rules change, new piece, different board... ?

📝George Duke wrote on Tue, Nov 25, 2008 06:05 PM UTC:
Proliferating happily, we left off here in June 2008 with one CV per atom within the solar system out to Saturn. That is, by correspondence one-to-one. We never exceed 32 Mutators active at once, fewer than more complicated games like Nemeroth. Joyce has asked about sizes of boards. Under RN301 we have, other than 8x10, only square sizes up to 16x16 and those where number of ranks and files differ by just one like 10x11. That needs to be remedied, as there is a popular one today that appears 17x9. One upcoming Rule-Numbered mutator will accommodate unusual size boards systematically by mathematical notation, not one after another in dreary specificities. It is tricky because changing the number of files must also add or subtract appropriate corresponding pieces, singly or paired, in the starting array. So we need to hierarchize the pieces to use beyond Rook, Knight, Bishop. (We have no intention to shrink the board -- leave that for others -- so RNB will always be there.)

📝George Duke wrote on Fri, May 8, 2009 06:38 PM UTC:
Here are a core 91.5 Trillion CVs 3 years ago. Comments below extend them to Billions of 91.5 Trillion and beyond. I would not fob any one off on others, or for preset, or advertisement without incredible winnowing, sifting and sorting of the inner core to 50 or 100, counting FRC array-mixing. I may need to get going on the play itself, because we left off at CVs equal number of atoms (not too afield really from elementary particles) out from and including Sol to Jupiter. We discovered serendipitously somewhere between Earth and Jupiter is the ''halfway point'' -- I can't think of a better name but suspect there is one --in powers of ten, from one quark to number of atoms in Universe(we're just talking about 10^40 and 10^80); and we only need about fifty more Mutators to reach # atoms absolutely everywhere, in combinations for CVs, stipulating not exceeding ever 32 Mutators per artistic item. Betza's Nemeroth and Short's Schizophrenic are examples rational and comprehensible employing fully 32, 36 Mutators interpretably. My personal favourites? Why, Northern Exposure and KICK THE CAN and The Sea Is Rough and Hot Potato and Sinkhole and Strong Acid-Base, to name a few.

📝George Duke wrote on Sat, Sep 17, 2016 08:14 PM UTC:

Ten years ago this month went up 91.5 Trillion. Similar development could apply to any great CV: Great Shatranj, Mastodon, Eurasian, Schoolbook, Unicorn Great. That is, taking an original CV and multiplying the possible subvariants to billions and trillions by innocent changes rules and pieces.

Just using the first page of this article, let's get some of the 91 trillion from word association -- a new twist not tried before.

(1) Barack Obama Falcon Chess translates to 21313152131. The method is to lop the letters back to 1 to 5 sequence each time they reach five, so for example k equals 1(one) cyclically. The stoppage at five is because most of the first twelve rule numbers list five alternatives. One learns it makes better CV to have several 'A' that is '1', if possible, since that is the default, meaning no rule change the given category. In sum, Barack Obama Chess is common Falcon Chess on 9 deep 10 wide with fixed Castling, Rook as Betza's Short Rook up to 4, and Bishop as Bede (Bishop plus Dabbabah), and the rest of the pieces unchanged. However, RN10 as '3' makes this Progressive with White one move, then Black two, White three and so on.

(2) How about Aanca? That is 11431, and Aanca Falcon Chess is 8x10 Chess with Knight having added Wazir and Rook as Half-Duck. (No Aanca at all, think of it as 11431 only.)

(3) Arimaa Falcon Chess among these 91.5 trillion possibilities is 134311, and that is the regular game on 8x10 with Rook Half-Duck again and fixed Castling and Queen promotion (the standard when A/1 is designated is promotion to only rnbf).

(4) Syzygy? 412121, and that adds to standard Chess two things, Charging Rook having backwards as King and Bishop plus Wazir in place of the Bishops. All other rules the same.


📝George Duke wrote on Tue, Sep 20, 2016 10:02 PM UTC:

Three errors have been corrected in games (1) to (4) of last comment.

(5) VLADIMIR PUTIN Falcon Chess? That is 22149393-11544, same as 22144343-11544. Vladimir Putin Chess is on 10x10 therefore, following each RN (Rule Number) of first two pages of article. Pawns move like Chaturanga one-step Pawns, but promote to any piece including Queen. Knight adds Wazir option, Falcon adds Ferz option. Bishop is Crooked Bishop or "Boy Scout," and Queen is medium up to five spaces only. The above is pretty clear game, but RNs 11, 12 and 13 add two new pieces and a board effect. King-one-stepping Immobilizer sits on Queen-front e2 with Pawn on e3. Promoter (see namesake CV) moves like Falcon and starts on King-front f2 with Pawn on f3. Finally any Pawn has triangular effect where own two pieces/pawn forming right angle at the Pawn transfer strictly their moves powers one to the other (the hypotenuse pair where 90 angle exists).

Well, Russia is complicated.

All other rules the same.


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