🕸Fergus Duniho wrote on Tue, Feb 18, 2003 03:13 AM UTC:
Regarding what Ralph and Tony might be, I would look more at why they
create variants than at how well they play Chess. Although Threes are more
competitive than Fives, I think Fives have more natural aptitude at
Chess-like games. I think Chess appeals mainly to people in the
intellectual triad (567) and to people in the competency triad (135). Type
Five is the only type in both triads, which probably gives Fives more of
an interest and more of a natural aptitude at such games. Also, when I
spoke of best players, I meant people like Bobby Fischer, who played Chess
very competitively. I'm sure many Fives play Chess very well, and I
know that Fives can be competitive, since I am a Five and frequently enjoy
competition. Regarding competition, I think one difference between Threes
and Fives is that Threes put more of a premium on winning, while Fives
enjoy the challenge of competition without worrying as much about winning
or losing.
Concerning why Threes and Fives create Chess variants, I have more
thoughts on the matter. Besides creating variants for viable markets,
Threes may create variants for the sake of competition. I suspect that the
competitions at this site prompt some Threes to create Chess variants.
While Fives, such as myself, also enjoy competing in these contests, I
think one sign of being a Five is that someone frequently creates variants
without entering them into contests.
Getting back to Ralph and Tony, I'm fairly certain that Ralph is a
Five. Tony might also be a Five, but I have less evidence to go on. Ralph
clearly loves to play with rules. He has created several variants without
any hope of marketing them or entering them in competitions. He seems to
create Chess variants for the fun of it rather than for any extrinsic
purpose. Also, his funny notation is the sort of thing that I expect only
a Five would create.