User:ChromaTK/sandbox/Zodiac Chess
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What is this? this was originally me drafting an article about a chess variant i made up so i could ask what makes it less notable than other variants (and what makes a chess variant notable; some of them seem to be mostly sourced by Chess Variant Pages) but i realized that i would only be hurting my own argument here so i gave up, although it's preserved here because i put a little bit of effort into it
This miiight qualify for speedy deletion as material unrelated to Wikipedia. In the event that someone decides to remove it, please notify me and give me at least 24 hours to move the page content to off-Wikipedia.
what this header originally said: This is me writing a brief article to raise a question: what makes a chess variant notable? The Chess Variant Pages is often used as a source, but it's mostly self-published: in fact, this variant that I'm writing about will eventually have a page on CVP. (This isn't just a demonstration variant or anything, this is an idea I've had in my head for a while.)
actual lead below:
Zodiac Chess is a large chess variant invented by User:ChromaTK in 2022.[1] It is played on a 12×12 chessboard with 12 pieces (on the back rank) and 12 pawns (on the second rank) per player.
Game description
[edit]The standard rules of chess apply except in the following cases:[1]
- The game is played on a 12×12 board with the starting position shown at right.
- An unmoved pawn can move one step, or up to the middle of the board (in the case of the 12×12 board, the sixth rank), or anything in between. Thus, 1.i6 is a legal opening move, and so are 1.i3, 1.i4, and 1.i5. Once it has moved for the first time, it can only make one step at a time. (In the case of an 8×8 board, this is exactly the same as in standard chess). Such a long initial pawn move allows the moving pawn to be captured en passant by an enemy pawn as if it had stopped on any one of the squares it had passed through.
- There is no castling in Zodiac Chess. Rather, the crown (royal piece) is not initially on the board, and is placed on the square vacated by the first piece moved by each side.
- The 50-move rule becomes at least a 75-move rule. Generally, if each of the board's dimensions is multiplied by n, the number of non-capturing or non-pawn moves allowable before draw claims become possible must also be multiplied by at least n.
- Each piece, except pawns and the champion, is based on a zodiac sign. Their movements are given below using the Bex extension of Ralph Betza's "funny notation", but with * rather than a doubled letter indicating a rider. In physical play, seven of the pieces may be represented by pieces from mismatched chess sets. Each piece is represented here using an orthodox piece, an inverted orthodox piece, or an Omega Chess piece.[2]
Aries (Bex notation (W-fF)*(W-(fF-fW)*)). Alternates between wazir and ferz moves in the same direction. It moves in the general direction of a knight. This can be compared to the xiangqi knight, but is able to capture on an orthogonally adjacent square.
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Taurus (Bex notation B-fB). Can move as a bishop (optionally twice) in the same direction, or a non-capturing move as a wazir. Its double move can capture two pieces at once, or capture and keep moving. In this diagram, it can capture the opposing pawn and aries in one move, or capture the opposing taurus and then continue to b1.
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Gemini (Bex notation R). Moves as rook, but has the option of splitting into two pieces, both of which move as rooks. If it splits, both "halves" move in separate directions in the "splitting" move. The two halves can recombine if one moves to the space occupied by the other. In this example, both the black pawns can be captured in the same move.
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Aquarius (Bex notation WzB). This piece can move as a bishop, making a 90-degree turn at each step, or moves one step orthogonally. This is a compound of the wazir and boyscout. It is known as the Eagle-Scout in Chess with different armies' Fighting Fizzies army.
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You get the idea. I could do this for every piece, write the rest of the rules, etc. and cite everything to Chess Variant Pages. The question is: does that make it notable? Admittedly, Chess on a Really Big Board has one non-CVP source (Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants), but all the other sources are either written by Betza, are Game Courier records of games of Really Big Board, or have nothing to do with Really Big Board specifically. ([7] has to do with forced B+N mates, [8] is just statistics of pieces, [11] is about forced Q+N mates) Aside from the fact that I wrote this article (WP:OR, WP:NFT, WP:COI, etc.), what would make Zodiac Chess less notable than, say, Rollerball, or 2000 A.D., or Wildebeest Chess? History[edit]Zodiac Chess was created as an attempt at a chess variant that used no orthodox chess pieces aside from pawns, or any commonly-used fairy pieces (such as the nightrider or common compounds such as the empress). The aim was that the new pieces did not add pieces with "un-chesslike" effects, such as Ralph Betza's Nemoroth, which includes pieces with effects such as petrification, "engulfing", and blocking nearby squares. Many of the pieces are themed around their respective zodiac representations; for example, the taurus (bull) "charges" through the first piece it captures, optionally capturing a second.Others are roughly based on the appearances of the signs themselves, such as the Aquarius move resembling the zigzag lines of the corresponding sign. [3] Gameplay[edit]Betza described his choice of pieces as "a very basic and logical selection of the fundamental geometrical moves, except for my idiosyncratic insistence on including the Rose in the lineup of pieces. These are largely the basic units of chess, and anybody who designs a [16×16] game with 32 pieces is bound to come up with something reasonably similar, at least if they want it to be like chess but a bit less tactical." In fact, his original plan was to include the WA along with the complementary FD, but this leaves the c- and n-pawns undefended in the initial position. His final assessment was that the game was "rather chesslike".[1] Betza divided the pieces into three classes: seven long-range pieces (the rooks, bishops, queen, archbishop, and chancellor), two mid-range pieces (the rose and superknight), and six short-range pieces (the knights, FDs, and WFAs). He opined that the short-range pieces, though the weakest, were crucial as they take time to get into the action, but are very important for opening up specific lines for attacks.[1] Sample opening phase of a game[edit]
Position after 9...Ql12
The following sample game fragment was constructed by Betza.[1]
The 16×16 analogue to the Wayward Queen Attack (in orthodox chess, 1.e4 e5 2.Qh5). On such a large board, this opening move becomes much sounder, as it is more difficult to attack the queen, and from this position it bears down onto the centre from a long distance.
Black defends his i-pawn; White attacks it again (her j-pawn being defended by the chancellor on j1); Black defends it again, moving his rose from f16 via e14 and f12 to h11, where it defends the pawn on i9. Trading pawns would be disadvantageous and lead to the loss of a tempo by the initiator, but at some point White's chancellor must be developed. Currently, White has no immediate threats. Attacks on Black's h-pawn with Bb4 (moving the d-pawn away first), or his rose with Bo4 (moving the m-pawn away first) are easy to counter. Hence she decides to bring a short-range piece to attack, though this will take several turns.
Attacking White's queen.
Threatening to lift the king's rook to the h-file to contest the centre.
Continuing to attack White's queen. This region could also be used as an advanced base: the n11 square can easily be defended by the rose or the m-pawn, and a natural follow-up would be 8...Qn10.
The White queen retreats and attacks the Black i-pawn again, but Black defends the pawn with the archbishop while attacking the queen again. The archbishop itself, though attacked by White's superknight, is protected by Black's rose.
If 9.Qk7, then 9...Al9 may win a pawn.
Threatening 10...Al6.[1] Sample games[edit]
Final position of game 1 after 53.Kj2
The following are some of the only complete games of chess on a really big board played on The Chess Variant Pages, and are not intended as representative examples of good play. Game 1
Game 2
Mate is inevitable. Endgame[edit]The standard basic checkmates (queen, rook, two bishops, or bishop and knight) can all be forced on the 16×16 board, but they take a longer time to accomplish. For example, while bishop and knight can mate within 33 moves from any winnable position on an 8×8 board, it can take up to 93 moves on a 16×16 board. For example, if White has a king on a1, a knight on b1, and a bishop on c1, while Black has only a king on c2, White can force mate in 92:[6]
A single archbishop, chancellor,[7] WFA,[8] or superknight (but not rose) can also force checkmate. Two FDs on different colours can force checkmate without their king's help.[9] The endgame of queen versus rook is drawn on the 16×16 board. (In fact, it is generally won only on 5×5 through 15×15 square boards.)[10] |
- ^ a b c d e f Zodiac Chess at The Chess Variant Pages
- ^ Golden Age Chess on a Really Big Board at The Chess Variant Pages
- ^ 3D Chess on a Really Big Board at The Chess Variant Pages
- ^ Duniho, Fergus. "View: Chess on a Really Big Board on the Chess Variants Game Courier". play.chessvariants.com. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
- ^ Duniho, Fergus. "Chess on a Really Big Board on the Chess Variants Game Courier". play.chessvariants.com. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
- ^ "KBN vs K checkmate on nonstandard boards". Chess Stack Exchange. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
- ^ Endgame statistics with fantasy pieces Archived 2015-09-23 at the Wayback Machine by Dave McCooey, The Chess Variant Pages
- ^ Ideal Values and Practical Values (Part 6) by Ralph Betza, The Chess Variant Pages
- ^ The FD by Ralph Betza, The Chess Variant Pages
- ^ The contributions of Marc Bourzutschky to chess endgame knowledge, John Beasley (January 2015)
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