by Joćo Pedro Neto and Bill Taylor
"Spin, slave, revolve around yourself!" - said the
mad stable King
We (Bill Taylor and Joao Neto) have invented and started to play some games with a common rule theme: if some condition is met, the moved piece changes its powers. Like a game with rotating officials. This, if done well, can result in very dynamic games, where some pieces lead very wild lives.
Joao invented a game based on a simple idea: depending whether the turn number is even/odd, the moved piece is promoted/demoted. This basic change makes (in Joao's opinion) a very good chess variant, called Promotions and Demotions, or just ProDem. But, is this the only possible way to use this dynamic idea?
There is an old chess variant, named Revolving Chess (whose origins we don't know), whose rules are:
REVOLVING CHESS
- Knight to Bishop,
- Bishop to Rook
- Rook to Queen
- Queen to Knight
note: The original game was fully "royal", but we play with stalemate = win for stalemater, though still with castling (R changing to Q).
REVOLVING CHESS Game Sample
1. d4 d5
11. R:c8(Q) Qa:c8(N) 21. Q:f6(N)+ g:f6
2. c4 d:c4 12. B:a5(R) e:d4
22. Ba6(R) Kg7
3. Nc3(B) b5 13. Rb5(Q)+ Nc6(B) 23.
Rha1(Q) Qe8(N)
4. a4 c6 14. Q:c6(N) R:c6(Q)
24. Ke3 Ncd6(B)
5. a:b5 c:b5 15. Q:d4(N) Q:d4(N) 25: R:d6(Q)
N:d6(B)
6. b3 a5 16. e:d4
Nf6(B) 26. h3 Be5(R)+
7. b:c4 b:c4 17. Bf4(R) O-O(Q) 27.
Q:e5(N) f:e5
8. e3 R:a6(Q) 18. Ra6(Q) Qc2(N)+ 28. Ke4
f3
9. Ne2(B) e5 19. Kd2 N:d4(B)
29. Kf5 Kf7
10 B:c4(R) Bd6(R) 20. R:f6(Q) B:f6(R) 30. g4
1-0 [if Ke7 or Kf7 then h4]
Final Position:
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . k . p
. . . . . p . .
. . . . p K . .
. . . . . . O .
. . . . . . . O
. . . . . O . .
. . . . . . . .
Since Revolving Chess is the older game, we may think of it as the standard revolving positional game in this text, despite the fact that Promotions and Demotions was an independent discovery. In fact, ProDem was the first game we played, and it was then that many different and yet related ideas appeared. Firstly, the rules of ProDem:
PROMOTIONS & DEMOTIONS [aka "even-up, odd-down"]
notes:
Here goes two sample games:
1. -- Nf6(P) 11.
Rc5(B) Rh4(N) 21. B:e6(p)+ Kd7
2. c4(B) e6(B) 12. Nc3(R) N:g2(R) 22. R:c5(Q)+ K:e6
3. B:e6(P) Qe7(R) 13. Rb1(B) B:a2(P) 23. Rf5(B)+ Kf7
4. e:f7(B) R:B(Q) 14. Bh7(R) Bc6(R) 24. Rf8(Q)+ 1-0
5. Qc2(R) Nc6(P) 15. Rhf1(B) Rg6(N)
6. g3(B) h5(N) 16. Bg2(R) a6(N)
7. Bg2(P) N:g3(P) 17. R:g6(B) Q:g6(R)
8. f:g3(B) d6(B) 18. Rh8(Q)+ Kf7
9. B:d6(P) B:d6(P) 19. Qxa8(R) Nxc5(P)
10 Nf3(R) d5(B) 20. b3(B) b5(B)
Final Position:
. . . . . Q . .
. . p . . k p .
. . p . . p r .
. b Q . . B . .
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
p . . O O . . O
. . B . K . . .
note: even if these games have non royal Kings, we still use the + symbol which means some piece is attacking the King
1. -- Nc3(P)
11. g6:f7(B)+ K:f7 21. Be8(R)+ Kd7
2. b3(B) d5(B) 12. Rh5(B)+ Ke7
22. Re8e5(N)+ Ke6
3. Bb2(P) Bf5(P) 13. d3(N) a5(B)
23. Bh3(R) a1(B)
4. c4(B) e6(B) 14. Kd2
Ba:Rc3(P)+ 24. Kf1 B:e5(P)
5. Ne3(P) Bc4:B(P) 15. b2:c3(B) Nf6(R) 25.
resigns 0-1
6. h4(B) c4:B(B) 16. Ke1
Rg8(B)
7. Bh4:Q(P) Bb3:Q(P) 17. g4(N) Rf5(Q)
8. Nc3(R) Ra8:P(Q) 18. Bf6(P)+ Qxf6(R)
9. Rb1(B) g6(B) 19. Ne5(R)+ Re6(Q)
10.Bb1xB(P) Be6:P(P) 20. R:Qe6(N) K:e6
Final Position:
. . . q . b b .
. p p . . . . p
. . p . k . . .
. . . . p . . .
. . . . . p N .
. . . . . O . R
. . . . O O . .
. . . p . K . .
Other remarks:
Well, taking different behavior given a turn number is one possibility, others exist:
These options can be divided into two groups, where the game is completely defined by presenting:
Notice that in this classification, FIDE Chess belongs to group b), as it may be necessary to state that a King is moved (for castling) or if some pawn was moved (to make en passant capturing). We both feel that group a) games are more elegant, (but that does not mean dropping the others!! :)
With that last point as motivation, Bill invented the next game:
MOVE UP, TAKE DOWN
We would like you to specially notice rule 5. Its motivation was to ensure that a board with no pawns would no longer require knowledge of its *orientation*, similar to the "no-external-info" mentioned above. However, it has resulted in a new idea:- that when a certain condition is true (no pawns), the game dynamics changes. This is not a common feature in Chess Variants, but may be an excellent concept to extend.
And here goes a sample game:
1. g4(N) d5(N) 11. B:a1(N) B:a1(N) 21.
Ke2 Re8(Q)+ 31. Q:a1(R) Ng4(B)+
2. e3(N) f6(N) 12. R:e7(B) K:e7 22. Kd1
Na6(B) 32. Kc2 R:d2(B)
3. Ne:N(P) Q:d5(R) 13. Ba3(R) Bd7(R) 23. Rf1(Q) B:d3(N) 33.
K:d2 Qe4(N)+
4. b4(N) b6(N) 14. Nf3(B) Rd6(Q) 24. Q:d3(R) g5(N)
34. Kd3 Nd6(B)?
5. c4(N) a6(N) 15. Rd3(Q) Nc5(B) 25. h4(N)
Ne4(B) 35. Bg8(R)+ Bf8(R)
6. N:f6(P) e:f6(Q) 16. Be4(R)+ Kd8 26. Rc3(Q)+ Kd8
36. R:g4(B) Rf6(Q)
7. N:b6(P) c:b6(Q) 17. Rh4(Q)+ Kc7 27. Nf3(B) B:d5(N)
37. Ra5(Q)+ 1-0
8. Be2(R)+ Be7(R) 18. Q:a1(R) B:f2(N) 28. B:d5(N) Q:d5(R)
9. N:d5(P) Q:a1(R) 19. Q:f2(R) Q:f2(R) 29. a3(N) h6(N)
10 Nc3(B) Nf6(B) 20. K:f2 Ra7(Q)+ 30. Nc4(B)
Q:a1(R)+
Final Position:
. . . k . . . .
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . q . .
Q . . . . . . .
. . . . . . B .
. . . K . . . .
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
written at Variantstown on the last sunny December day, 2000
JPN and WFCT
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