Check out Symmetric Chess, our featured variant for March, 2024.

Bilateral Group Simultaneous Chess

This variant, which, as far as I know, was invented by B. Eshuis from Bennekom, the Netherlands in the 1980s, is played occasionally at special occasions at the Bennekomse Schaak Vereniging. It is rather hilarious.

The variant is a curious, and often hilarious variant of the simultaneous display.

Rules

The game is played with two teams with the same number of players. A number of boards, equal to the number of players per team is put on a long table. Each board has the starting chess setup; with colors alternatingly white and black at each long side of the table.

Now, at each board, a normal game of chess is played. However, each player after making a move, rotates to the next board at his side. Thus, at each board, each next move is made by the next player of the team, and each player makes successively a move at each of the boards.

The team that wins the largest number of separate games wins the match.

It is useful to use a mechanism (e.g., a chess clock), to keep track at each board which side must move.

A variant from Go

My brother, Maarten Bodlaender, reported the following variant, which originates from Go, but perhaps is even more suitable for chess.

One `normal' game of chess is played. There are two teams, each with a strong and a weak chess player. For each team, the players make alternatingly a move, thus one player of the white team makes the even numbered moves of white, and one player makes the odd numbered moves of white, etc.

Teasing the opponents could be allowed; giving advice or consulting among the players of a team certainly is not allowed.


Written by: Hans Bodlaender.
WWW page created: December 11, 1996. Last modified: December 13, 1996.