Larry Smith wrote on Mon, Dec 1, 2008 04:16 PM UTC:
The pursuit of the 'best' or 'perfect' game of Chess is a lofty goal.
But I fear that it may be impossible to attain.
First, there are just too many variables. The potential dynamics of this
wargame has the possibility of reaching infinity. Consider just the wide
variety of pieces, then add the potential playing field and finally all
the possible in-game conditions. I think you will begin to visualize the
enormity of the challenge.
Of course, there are break-over points. Such as, a game which is too large
and complicated for current intellects to grasp. But that does not take
into account the evolution of the human mind. So, who knows, an extremely
large and complicated game at this point might in time find a receptive
audience in the future. ;-)
And there is no way to truly judge a game except through play. A critic
can use mathematical evaluation in an attempt to quantify the game, but
this leaves out various aspects which resist such. For example, fun. A
game can be considered mathematically 'perfect' but contain little or no
enjoyment.
One game which I truly enjoy is Nemoroth. Is this game mathematically
'perfect'? The conditionals are so convoluted that most players easily
make errors while playing. But that is its appeal, the ability to master
this game is a challenge in itself. The 'fun' of this game is not graded
toward 'contentment' but 'aggravation'. The Marquis de Sade would have
loved this game. ;-)
Nemoroth is a game which I always recommend to someone new to Chess
variants. Since it can utilize the pieces from a Mad Queen set(with a few
extra tokens), it is easy to try out. And it quickly unclogs the cobwebs
from their minds.
The 'best' that any developer can hope for is to create an enjoyable
game. And this can be accomplished in various ways.