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2007-2008 Chess Variants Design Contest. Chess variant inventors gather round! We're doing it again! Exact nature of contest to be determined with YOUR help!![All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

Gary Gifford wrote on Sat, Sep 1, 2007 06:38 PM UTC:

Joe: You mention lack of constraints and chaos.  But, given the choice of (a) design a chess variant while abiding by numerous restrictions or (b) design a chess-variant - I would pick 'b.'  That is essentially what we have been doing at CV and I do not see the 'chaos' that you mention.

You stated that, 'The contest is to design a sufficiently chess-like variant that it [sic] could be 'the next FIDE chess'.'  I think this is wishful thinking.  There are many excellent Chess-like games, like the Fischer Random Chess, for example... yet Fide Chess just keeps hanging in there.  We can try, of course to create the next evolution of Chess...  But, when the boards are made waxed and polished... when they sit proudly in the sunlight with their pieces casting shadows while waiting for the logic of their masters... well then, we have our game.  But I truly suspect that Chess will remain supreme.  

As a side note, when I played Roberto's Maxima I had a great appreciation of it and could easily picture that game as the chess variant for future generations... yet such a future is far away and likely not to happen.  Time will tell... but as we all know, Fide chess is quite endurable.