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Mad Chess. Chess variant with unequal armies on 10 by 10 board. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

George Duke wrote on Wed, Mar 30, 2005 09:55 PM EST:Good ★★★★

'MNO,LargeCV': Without Comment 5 years, Chess-unequal-sides game should cite Betza's Chess Different Armies, once called Chess Unequal Armies. Contrast 100 squares here to Wittman's recent 6-square Dueling Archbishops and 9-square Knight Court. Under eleven(11)squares are rare and some sizes thankfully nonexistent. White's pieces include Jester(=Marshall) not to be confused with Jester Chess Jester or King's Court Jester; General(N+D+A) dated before 1683 from Italy in Archchess as 'Centurion', called 'Squirrel' in 20th Century; Dragon as (Q + Trebuchet(0,3)); Crazy Footsoldier and Valkyrie both having their move and capture different, as in earlier(1999) Divergent Chess, which established a short-lived trend. Black's all different pieces from White's include Warlord(N + Trebuchet); 'divergent types' Berserker [not Battle Chieftain's Berserker] and Mad Infantryman; Spectre(Q + Tripper(3,3)). Altogether not bad, but with sake of clarity would avoid divergent move/capture pieces where already pieces are distinct between W & B. Yet these two could well be plugged into Ralph Betza's list with across-the-board weakening, such as Mad Chess 'pawns'(See rules).

Peter Aronson wrote on Thu, Mar 31, 2005 12:22 PM EST:

Actually, this was commented on heavily during the 100 squares contest as part of the voting -- see <a href='../large.dir/contest100/votes.html'>100 squares votes</a> for details.

George Duke wrote on Mon, Apr 4, 2005 06:04 PM EDT:

That Mad Chess was 'extensively commented'? Seven comments: discount the first by inventor himself. Second comment says in a few words that it makes chess 'unisexual.' Better 3rd and 4th comments do not seem to be aware of Betza's Chess Different Armies. That 4th compares the pieces among themselves; I have tried to add comparisons far and wide among disconnected large CVs. 5th comment cites Betza at last. 6th comment ridiculously compares Mad Chess to Ultima. 7th comment for 'F+' generally pans chess-unequal-armies types. Moderately commented back then, Mad Chess deserves some attention for some interesting pieces.

Julian wrote on Mon, May 25, 2015 04:42 PM EDT:Good ★★★★

Why don't the Crazy Footsoldiers or the Mad Infantrymen promote?

Jörg Knappen wrote on Sat, Nov 23, 2024 06:49 AM EST:

I just discovered that this game contains the Unicorn, a piece that I later used as Fischer in 10-directional Chess. I have added a credit note in the comment of this game.

Jörg Knappen wrote on Sat, Nov 23, 2024 07:11 AM EST:

I agree with the comments cited in the review: The Stone army (here black) is weaker than the Steel army (here white). I think that the imbalance can be corrected by giving the MAD INFANTRYMAN the possibility to move without capture as a Cylindrical Bishop and making the FOOL also to move and capture as a Cylindrical Bishop. Cylindrical Bishops are equal in value with Rooks according to experienced players of Cylindrical Chess.

P.S. I came back here to find out about the "Stone King" in Derzhanski's list of Chess pieces. I clearly see that the Black King moves as described, but the term "Stone" does not appear here. It is present in the PBM preset and also in one comment on the contest page where also the SteelQueen is mentioned.

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