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Another chess variant
Sep. 22nd, 2009 11:31 pmBack in my chess variant days (roughly, 1992-1998), I came up with another chess variant that I had forgotten about until now.
I call it "Line of Sight Chess".
One of the the classic chess variants is Kriegspiel, which is a pure double-blind chess. It's not really playable over a board by just two players--it requires some sort of moderator, either human or computer. In Kriegspiel, neither player can see the opponent's pieces; each player in her turn names a move she would like to make, and if it is legal, the moderator allows it. If not, the player names another move, until she succeeds in making a move.
My variant, Line of Sight Chess, is very similar to Kriegspiel, except that each player can see his own pieces and any pieces they can capture.
I'm not sure how to handle "check"--given that the king is so weak and the major pieces so strong, there are going to be a lot of situations where White can see (and thus threaten) Black's king but Black cannot see White's threatening unit. if there's no special rule for check, most games are going to end very abruptly. Two options occur to me. One is simply to announce to the player that she is in check, and not allow her to take any move which leaves the king in check. (This is how Kriegspiel usually runs, with some additional information such as "on the diagonal" or "by a knight".) The other option, which I think I like more, is to give the king the power to see any piece which threatens it.
I think this would be fun, and I'd love to try it sometime. (I've never gotten a chance to play this one, unlike my other two variants.)
I call it "Line of Sight Chess".
One of the the classic chess variants is Kriegspiel, which is a pure double-blind chess. It's not really playable over a board by just two players--it requires some sort of moderator, either human or computer. In Kriegspiel, neither player can see the opponent's pieces; each player in her turn names a move she would like to make, and if it is legal, the moderator allows it. If not, the player names another move, until she succeeds in making a move.
My variant, Line of Sight Chess, is very similar to Kriegspiel, except that each player can see his own pieces and any pieces they can capture.
I'm not sure how to handle "check"--given that the king is so weak and the major pieces so strong, there are going to be a lot of situations where White can see (and thus threaten) Black's king but Black cannot see White's threatening unit. if there's no special rule for check, most games are going to end very abruptly. Two options occur to me. One is simply to announce to the player that she is in check, and not allow her to take any move which leaves the king in check. (This is how Kriegspiel usually runs, with some additional information such as "on the diagonal" or "by a knight".) The other option, which I think I like more, is to give the king the power to see any piece which threatens it.
I think this would be fun, and I'd love to try it sometime. (I've never gotten a chance to play this one, unlike my other two variants.)
