George Duke wrote on Fri, Feb 21, 2014 07:05 PM UTC:
For follow-up, obviously this particular Option Chess is subvariant of Duniho's 2005 Extra Move Chess (http://www.chessvariants.org/multimove.dir/extramove.html), which itself in turn is perfecting subvariant of some two-move Chesses: http://www.chessvariants.org/index/mainquery.php?type=Any&category=Usual-MultiMove&orderby=LinkText&displayauthor=1&displayinventor=1&usethisheading=Multiple+Move+Variants.
2014 Option Chess article at Chessbase uses contemporary wording: "weakens
the play of even the most optimized computer engine."
Fifty years earlier, Horowitz and Rothenberg write in 'The Complete Book of
Chess'(1963), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_Albert_Horowitz, last
chapter "The Future" in several pages on computers: "In essence, is it likely
that in the foreseeable future man will be able to program a mechanical
robot to play invincible Chess? .... The Yessers cite success already
attained by electronic brains as Chessplayers, and they claim
enthusiastically that what has been shown to be possible on a limited scale
can and will lend itself to any desired expansion. A systematized
organization of all known principles of play is quite sufficient in
insuring a programming of faultless play. The American Chessmaster, Dr.
Edward Lasker -- also, by coincidence a fine engineer and mathematician --
appears to favor the Yessers, whereas Botvinnik, as already noted, seems
to lean towards the Noers. .... That a richly endowed [computer] will
one day be able to play a highly skillful game of Chess leaves no room for
doubt. On the other hand, in the absence of a fantastic superspeed
electronic brain, the Chess championship of the world is likely to be
retained by humans for centuries to come."
As far as that
last statement a page from the end of the book, well 33 years 150 years same difference.
Incidentally, in intellectually free mid-twentieth century, the above excellent standard reference 'The Complete Book of Chess', chiefly for OrhoChess of course, naturally treats many Chess Variants: Kriegspiel at length, Grid Chess, Relay Chess, Fairy Chess in general, as well as pieces Nightrider, Grasshopper, Camel, Zebra. Among chess- and math-involved, not only a few described "grand-masters" today would be ignorant of every one of those stock-in-trade Chessic forms.