Ratings & Comments

Lovecraftian/Chess related story:

http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Hangar/5176/misc/pirc01.htm

For those who constantly check the what's new page, I have created the
'Minimal New' page, which just gives a short summary on when the latest
comment was made, and when the latest item was added or updated. The
address is:

   http://www.chessvariants.com/index/new.php

OK, now I'm going to try to clarify ichor:

          Alabaster             Obsidian

          Wounded Fiend moves
Move 1    Ichor deposited       Ichor ply 2
          Ichor ply 1

Move 2    Ichor ply 3           Ichor ply 4

Move 3    Ichor ply 5           Ichor ply 6

Move 4    Ichor ply 7           Ichor ply 8

Move 5    Ichor ply 9           Ichor ply 10
                                Obsidian pieces need not 
                                move off ichorated square

OR

          Alabaster             Obsidian

                                Wounded Fiend moves
Move 1                          Ichor deposited
                                Ichor ply 1

Move 2    Ichor ply 2           Ichor ply 3

Move 3    Ichor ply 4           Ichor ply 5

Move 4    Ichor ply 6           Ichor ply 7

Move 5    Ichor ply 8           Ichor ply 9           

Move 6    Ichor ply 10
          Alabaster pieces need not 
          move off ichorated square


Does this look right?

Gee, now I wonder where he could have gotten the idea for this game,
huh? Well, you know what they say, 'immitation is the sincerest form
of flattery' so I guess I should be honored, eh? To anyone who is
not overly familiar with this web site I suggest you scroll down
on this comments page and click on the link for Double Chess below
or find it in the alphabetical index (the one with my name next to it).


Anyone can create a variant on a 16 by 8 board but it's not going to
have the same 'feel' of regular chess like my variant Doublechess does.
I have always felt that games with two kings are flawed. Chess should
be single-minded. Checkmate one king, period!

Quoth the Betza: 'The Leaf Pile cannot move of its own accord onto an
ichorous square, nor onto a square containing a statue, nor onto a square
containing a single mummy but no other pieces. It can move onto a
non-ichorous non-Ghast square which contains a mummy and at least one other
piece.'

Does that mean that a Leaf Pile can move of its own accord onto a square
containing TWO mummies? That's my interpretation. (NOTE: Two mummies can be
on the same square by pushing one onto another)

He probably got the idea from all the 'Double Chess' variants that have
popped up in the past 100 years. 

Basically, though, few of the double-wide 'real' chess games play like
chess for club-strength (Class C and Up) chessplayers. Standard Knights
play a reduced role on larger boards (for example, 7 moves to move between
end files) and standard Bishops also lose some of their lateral value.
Adding power pieces is one way to compensate (whether 3 Qs, RN, BN,
whatever) but that tends to reduce minor pieces to sacrificial fodder. Fans
of more subtle play are likely to be disappointed.

I actually like the 'mate two Kings' idea in Sirotkin's game somewhat
better, as it compensates somewhat for the stronger forces and reigns in
the value of the initiative a bit (sacs that may win one K must be balanced
against a material disadvantage in pursing the other).

Will there be a Half Board version of this game coming out soon? 
(I just like the thought of a Half Double Chess.) :-)

1) Spread the shuffled deck FACE UP so that players can see in advance
which players will get to move on all future turns. As you approach the 52
move, reshuffle the used cards and spread them again.

2) Each card tells you which player will move first in a pair of moves --
so that if the first 4 cards are 2S, 2C, 2H, 3S -- the move order would be
BWBWWBBW. No one ever gets more than 2 consecutive moves.

Tony, what you say about the added or diminished relative scopes of
the knights and bishops in double-board variants is true, just as
it is in larger variants to begin with (the knight is an extremely
weak piece in 10 by 10 variants) but the beauty of a game like my
Doublechess variant which I invented is that the knights still 
have their roles to play. Like I said before, pieces on each half
of the board tend to engage each other at the same rate they do in
regular chess. Pawns challenge each other, knights move up to the
third (or sixth rank, for black) rank to attack enemy pawns,
files open up for rooks and queens, diagonals open up for bishops
and queens. 

I think one point that needs to be made here is that in
Full Double Chess, stronger pieces are used, and that's fine,
if you are a player who likes new fangled pieces that can do neat
little tricks and jump through hoops. My Doublechess is more traditional,
uses only orthodox pieces and has the look and feel of traditional 
regular chess. So whether a game like my Doublechess or the new
Full Double Chess appeals to someone is going to be a matter of personal
taste, I guess. 

p.s. I would still like to encourage people to add comments below to
my Doublechess variant, for which I began a discussion.

To flee means that the piece must end its move geometrically
further away from
the Ghast than it was when it started its move; for example,
if your Ghast is on b3, you can move your Human from b2 to c2 because
the geometrical distance between the two pieces has increased.

Clarification has been made.

I've played it and I agree with Ralph--the best way to introduce randomness
into Chess.

A checkmate rule I find satisfactory:
If a player is mated by a single move, the game is over.
If a player is mated by two consecutive moves, if taking two consecutive
moves would relieve the mate, the mated player wins the next toss
automatically and can play two moves.

For stalemate the rule is the same.

Perhaps Tutti Frutti Chess could be considered a Half Board version of
Double Chess, because it uses all possible combinations of the basic pieces
on an 8x8 board.

However, Double Chess has the interesting thought of having two Kings,
which seems to be an excellent inspiration for making sense of such a wide
board.