Comments/Ratings for a Single Item

The information about the origins of the name Stanley is highly suspect.
Stanley as a surname derives from one or more of the several villages of
that name, including one in Derbyshire which is in accord with the fact
that a Stanley family did indeed become Earls of Derby. Like many
aristocratic surnames (Campbell, Cecil, Gordon, Graham, Grant, Howard,
Neville, Percy) it only later became a forename, so it is unlikely to have
been the name of an eleventh-century pet monkey.
	On the other hand, Topov IS the name of a monkey, a character in the
British 1970s children's programme Pipkin's, so it looks like historical
accuracy is not the top priority on the link. I hope that this information
(which also helps age me!) helps make up for my ignorance of American
children's television!

It must be kept in mind that attempting to verify the historical background
of SR Chess will prove very difficult for the amateur.  Considering the
extent of the Great SR Chess Purge of the mid-19th century, we are
fortunate that the game has survived.

But for those who are truly interested in the complete origin and rules of
SR Chess, simply logon the ISRCA database.  You will need a T-1000 modem
connection, several tetra-bytes of hard-drive space and the standard
full-length Hellsing data-gloves with Universal Sign Language compatible
software.  Visitors to the database need only use the anonymous password
'giveusakiss' then press the baffing key on your standard Benson
flexi-board.

Contrary to internet rumors, the ISRCA search engine does not conflict
with any existing operating system software.

Gregory Topov is a Mornington Cresent
player.http://www.geocities.com/verdrahciretop/mc1.html

Perhaps you are thinking of Stanley Taikyoku Shogessilocklothima which is
a
decendent of SRC but Stanley Taikyoku Shogessilockrothima requires 7
parallel universes on which to set up the board and a time machine so
players can go back in time to inform their past selfs whether or not
their move will destroy the Multiverse.

As a Master level player of SRC, I can tell you that it is indeed as
demanding and tough as any variant you are likely to play.  As for the
amount of background material required to play at even a novice level, it
dwarfs Standard Chess and requires the assistance of computers for modern
play.

As I mention this, the 37th Annual SchemindMind Tournament has just
opened, so if you are interested in observing, or taking part in some
games, now would be an excellant time to do so.

http://www.schemingmind.com/minitournament.aspx?tournament_id=335

Many people have denied that this is a joke.  Several people have claimed
to be active players, and have further claimed that games and tournaments
of it have been played on various forums (such as Brainking.)  So I'm not
convinced that it is purely a joke (although much of the text is obviously
intended to be fictional and funny.)  But, despite the fact that we have
pages and pages of text describing this game, no rule set is actually
given.

So, I think one of two things needs to happen.  If it is, in fact, a real
game, then the actual rules need to be posted here, in addition to all the
nonsense.  Or, these pages should be removed, as they have no place here. 


If it is a joke that the authors deliberately deny is a joke, for the
purpose of laughing at anyone who is fooled, than that is cruel and a
clear abuse of the webspace that the editors of this site generously
provide largely at their own expense.

Or, if it is not a joke, but the rules are 'top secret' then it should
also be removed.  The message 'I know something that you don't know, and
I'm not going to tell you' is also not an appropriate use of the bandwith
that is being paid for by others.

Stanley Random Chess gave me a good laugh when i first read about it, and
this site needs all the laughs it can get. i personally think it should
not be removed.
Next thing you will want to remove 'Gridlock' he he.

Well, since I'm the editor of this page I guess I should add my 2 cents, but not more.

I think this is a serious variant that is very funny. One could say that it is an 'incomplete information' game where instead of the board being partially hidden, like Kriegspiel, the rules are only partially known by the players. The full set of rules are programmed into the Schemingmind.com server if one wants to play the game -- see the links at the bottom of the page (has anyone tried?).

One might divine the compleat rules after much play and systematic testing, but I doubt it. I think at least half the fun is playing in this obscure universe. The game description is meant to be funny to go along with the obscurity.

For the record, as the posting editor, I (and the other editors) know the secret rules (which are also archived in the CVP mail), but I'm not telling. (In fact, I initially also questioned SRC's seriousness before posting the page. Hans did also. And we got a serious reply from the authors. This page was not posted by the authors after all!)

Drop the page? Unthinkable! Besides what would Lord Humberton-Snapf say?! Stanley Random Chess stays!

ahhhhhhhhhaaaa lol!!
so, SRC is funny and on the level wow, didn't see that coming :)
only one thing to do now, give it an 'excellent' :)
god bless SRC, and please forgive all those doubters he he (*whistles*)
(oh btw, pretty cool idea about the rules being mysterious)

Christine Bagley-Jones says:

so, SRC is funny and on the level

As for the idea of a limited-information game where the rules are what is in question, that is a terrible idea. This eliminates all strategy and all tactics. Period. If you don't even know which pieces are safe from capture, then you can't even think about forming a plan. It is all the randomness of Poker without any of the strategy. So, even in the case that neither player knows the rules, it is basically like the card game 'War' (which no one older than about 8 years old plays.)

And what about all this nonsense about it being older than Chess, and indeed the original form of Chess from which Orthodox Chess is supposedly derived? Preposterous! And the authors have also denied that that aspect is a joke. Promoting a bad game is one thing; there are lots of bad games around here. Deliberately pushing bald-faced lies to promote your own game is quite another.

Since the game can and is being played, the pages should not be deleted. However, the author(s) should clarify what it is and what it isn't, and remove all outright lies. As for the positive ratings the game has gotten by master-level and grand-master-level players, (the only positive ratings from anyone who has actually played it,) it only stands to reason that they would want to premote the game that they understand but refuse to enlighten us about.

No, it is not obvious that the historical assertions concerning this game
are a joke, since the inventor(s) themselves have denied this very point. 
There is one post here from Gregory Topov dating writings about this game
to 1066.  As I recall, there are more similar claims, but they were posted
before this game had an official page, so they are old comments I do not
know how to get to.

And, by all means, don't do anything, if that is your inclination, but my
rating of 'poor' stands unless someone can make an intelligent argument
on the game's behalf.

With Stanley Random Chess, there appear to be self-appointed prophets having divine knowledge of what the secrets to the game are. How unappealing. For the game to have some kind of real value to it, the rules behind it must be recorded somewhere, and disclosed within a fair amount of time, so nobody has reason to call anybody else a cheat, or the Rulemaker an idiot. Although 'New Eleusis' has value as a mathematical game, I don't see the same thing with a chess game of this kind.

BTW, the difference between 'Eleusis' and 'New Eleusis' was the creation of an extra role - somebody would be a self-declared prophet interceding between the cardplayers and the rulemaker, and so long as his prophecies were correct, he garnered points for himself, and remained prophet.

seriously, you need to spend a weekend with kate moss if you didn;t see the
'tongue in cheek' side of SRC.
anyway, if you started playing this game, you would have to play someone
who knew the rules right?! (lol)
if you started playing say on brainking server or whatever it is called,
would you eventually be able to know all the rules?

• Mornington Crescent. See http://www.dunx.org/mc/ for example.
• Mao, a card game where the rules are not revealed to new players. See http://www.pagat.com/eights/mao.html (and Mao is definitely not a joke)