George Duke wrote on Mon, Nov 24, 2014 05:26 PM UTC:
Finis. Simpleminded Draws 7, Carlsen 3, Anand 1. Unresolved is how many
Computer programs easily beat Carlsen. 20? 100?
Away from calcified Orthodoxy, in the ancient Nineties Fischer (1943-2008)
proferred Fischer Random Chess. Then in the Aughts, "grand-master"
Seirawan had Seirawan Chess with 400-year-old RN and BN tweaked awkwardly
to squeeze into little 64 squares. At least he tried. In 2014 Chessbase
has Switch-Side,
http://en.chessbase.com/post/a-new-challenging-chess-variant, and more
seriously Option Chess, http://en.chessbase.com/post/option-chess-by-paul-bonham, copying Duniho's Extra Move Chess.
What does Carlsen propose? To Computer and Draw dominance? For Carlsen's
modelling and acting career, he may be able to sustain a mediocre
personality cult, like chess-region Niyazov's, http://www.slate.com/blogs/atlas_obscura/2014/02/06/saparmurat_niyazov_former_president_of_turkmenistan_has_left_quite_the_legacy.html.
So just ignore average-intelligence specialized-skill Carlsen -- as well as
f.i.d.e. if necessary. Moving on, consider that Chinese Xiangqi has 90
squares(points) and Japanese Shogi 81. Western fundamentalists will
eventually have to junk 64 squares. Making 64 squares computer-resistant
takes just too convoluted Rules. 100 as 10x10 is a possibility. But a
steady 50% of CVers probably agree that optimal minimax/maximin solution is
80 squares, nicely just under Shogi.
Get the Chess-board right first, abandoning narrow and narrow-minded 8x8
custom, then put in the proper challenging pieces: Rook-Knight,
Bishop-Knight, Mastodon(Pasha), Lion, Falcon. Mired in dogmatism, silenced
by propaganda, OrthoChessists are not allowed even to know the present
Bishop's and Queen's powers came about just in the 1490s, not out of
6th-century India.
Face it, hidebound 64 has a colourful -- heh checkered -- history. You
know the sacred parable: first put a bean on Square One....and by Square 64
you have the whole blinking/blooming/bloody/bleeping/blistering Universe.
So ends steadfast Sochi, Russia, 64 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat_and_chessboard_problem).