Jeremy Good wrote on Fri, Aug 24, 2007 01:52 PM UTC:
'If all the
pieces were equal in value it would be a dull game, where people would exchange
pieces and reach a pawn endgame.'
Pieces only start out with theoretical equality. At the start of FIDE Chess, the bishop and knight are said to be equal. But that doesn't mean one arbitrarily exchanges off all ones bishops and knights and then the real struggle takes place. The relative value throughout the game of each piece becomes all the more difficult to determine and these relative values are largely contingent on placement and pawn structure. [That helps make the game exciting: How can you maneuver in such a way as to make one piece take on greater value than another of theoretically equal value?] A knight is more powerful than a stopped up bishop in a closed position, to take an obvious example.
At any rate, my question is itself only theoretical. It isn't meant to be a value judgment about how to improve the aesthetic quality of Cylinder Chess. However: Would a game like the one I mention be worth playing and enjoyable? I think so!
'If all the pieces were equal in value it would be a dull game, where people would exchange pieces and reach a pawn endgame.'
Pieces only start out with theoretical equality. At the start of FIDE Chess, the bishop and knight are said to be equal. But that doesn't mean one arbitrarily exchanges off all ones bishops and knights and then the real struggle takes place. The relative value throughout the game of each piece becomes all the more difficult to determine and these relative values are largely contingent on placement and pawn structure. [That helps make the game exciting: How can you maneuver in such a way as to make one piece take on greater value than another of theoretically equal value?] A knight is more powerful than a stopped up bishop in a closed position, to take an obvious example.
At any rate, my question is itself only theoretical. It isn't meant to be a value judgment about how to improve the aesthetic quality of Cylinder Chess. However: Would a game like the one I mention be worth playing and enjoyable? I think so!