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Mamra Chess. Adds the Mamra, a piece that only Pawns may capture. (8x8, Cells: 66) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Intriguing idea, George. I have faced you on the board at Brainking.com in Gothic Chess, seen your ideas in the forums on the Royal Game. I also now get to appreciate your good board vision in this incarnation as well. Thank you for this contribution. In order to use this Mamra on the standard 8x8 board, maybe a variant rule could be added in OTB play so that it is dropped like the 'Pocket Knight' variant stylementioned onsite--that is to say, at some point in the game, the Mamra can be 'parachuted' into play, and moves proceed normally. The extra two squares are not a deterrent, though; I know that the king (or some other piece) can utilize the extra long diagonal (i1-b8 or b1-i8). Bishop or queen may take advantage of these, although it may discourage queenside castling. I would like to see some gamescores from some games.
Or perhaps have it replace a Knight on the board, and play from there as Pocket Knight.
Charles Gilman wrote on Tue, Jan 4, 2005 08:55 AM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★Another way to incorporate it on a standard board would be as a substitue for one of the Rooks - the Queen's Rook for preference as that would balance long- and short-range pieces starting Kingside and Queenside. A further advantage would be that it could be represented by an upturned Rook.
Nice variant. What is the most interesting is this new piece. Its ability
of not being captured by pieces is new and very good. I haven't seen
anything like it before.
<p>I like the game but the most important thing is the addition of Mamra, an
addition that can now be used for creating other variants too.
I just discovered the chessvariants.com and i find the place amazing!:)
Well done to George and to the creators of this site.
This game has a lot of great potential. I think the inventor had almost hit gold with the addition of the Mamra. In my opinion, the Mamra is just a little too powerful. Never have I, in good practice, opened up a game with 1. h3 or 1. h4. The fact that both myself and my opponent had opened up with pawn movements on the h file in order to free our Mamras is testament to the Mamra's power.
Play is balanced between advancing your Mamra towards the enemy King, maintaining your pawn line, and sac'ing every major piece you have in order to open up the enemy pawn line.
I think even a small change such as the prohibiting the Mamra to capture pawns would dynamically change the game for a much better play. Otherwise, White seems to have a huge advantage with such a powerful piece on the move.
Play is balanced between advancing your Mamra towards the enemy King, maintaining your pawn line, and sac'ing every major piece you have in order to open up the enemy pawn line.
I think even a small change such as the prohibiting the Mamra to capture pawns would dynamically change the game for a much better play. Otherwise, White seems to have a huge advantage with such a powerful piece on the move.
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