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Comments by GeorgeDuke
Three Kinds of Billiards Chess. Pieces bounce off the edges of the board. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Multi-path routing is important in order to reach squares that may be blocked along one or more pathways. Under related Billiards Progressive we pose the puzzle of distribution of triple paths. In standard Billiards(8x8), the following hold. Bishops and Queens have some (potential) three-path squares, reachable three different ways, so long as they are not on an edge square(the answer). Examples: (1) Bishop at b2 can reach g7 by way of b2-a3-b4-c5-d6-e7-f8-g7 bouncing twice, or else b2-c1-d2-e3-f4-g5-h6-g7 bouncing twice, or else b2-c3-d4-e5-f6-g7 not bouncing. Queen likewise. (2) Queen has more such 3-way squares than Bishop, because of Queen's Rook movement. However Queen still cannot do so from an edge square of square boards like 8x8 and 10x10. Queen has three here: Queen b2-c2-d2, and b2-a3-b4-c5-d6-e7-f8-g7-h6-g5-f4-e3-d2 bouncing three times, and b2-c1-d2 bouncing once. Bishop there has only the second and third of those. In 'Multipath Chess Pieces' year 2004 we put forth the proposition that multi-pathing is the norm. It is mere custom that dictates, for example, that standard Rook from c3 to c7 goes by way of c3-c4-c5-c6-c7 only. Our conclusion reads ''Beyond chronology, any Rule of movement writ large, having real-world counterparts allegorically, describes something multiform and multipath, whereof reduction to mere 'Leaper' or 'Rider' is actually the special case.''
New Chancellor Chess. On 8 by 10 board with two `chancellors'. (10x8, Cells: 80) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Capablanca's including 8x10 was article November 1995, and New Chancellors 8x10 here over year later. Foster's 9x9 100 years earlier is example of mediocre form, having Bishops' unsymmetrical, that originator relies on promotion for approval. How does Betza's 'Three Kinds Billiards...'(and 'Billiards Progressive') translate to 8x10? There is big difference when the board is not square. Bishop at c2, for convenience, with clear paths can move c2-b1-(bounce)a2-(bounce)b3-c4-d5-e6-f7-g8-(bounce)h7-i6-j5-(bounce)i4-h3-g2-f1-(bounce)e2-d3-c4-b5-a6-(bounce)b7-c8-(bounce)d7-e6-f5-g4-h3-i2-j1. Seven bounces. How many more are possible on 'normal' rectangular board configurations? Apparently, Betza would be right that Billiards and Cylindrical powers are on a par just by board rectangle not square.
Courier Chess. A large historic variant from Medieval Europe. (12x8, Cells: 96) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]From the 13th Century and the 1995/1996 interface, Courier's on 8x12, already having the modern Bishop, has thirteen(13) bounces possible, when overlaying the Billiards Mutator from mid-20th Century. For convenience, put the Courier on c2. Then c2-b1-(bounce)a2-(bounce)-b3-c4-d5-e6-f7-g8- (bounce)-h7-i6-j5-k4-l3-(bounce)k2-j1-(bounce)i2-h3-g4-f5-e6-d7-c8-(bounce) b7-a6-(bounce)b5-c4-d3-e2-f1-(bounce)g2-h3-i4-j5-k6-l7-(bounce)k8-(bounce) j7-i6-h5-g4-f3-e2-d1-(bounce)c2-b3-a4-(bounce)b5-c6-d7-e8-(bounce)f7-g6-h5- i4-j3-k2-l1. Someone can easily systematize this formulaically -- provided of course that Leonhard Euler has not already so much as looked at the problem.
Doublewide Chess. A discussion of the variant where two complete chess sets (including two Kings per side) are set up on a doublewide board. (16x8, Cells: 128) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]On 8x16 there are 19 bounces possible at most, overlaying the Billiards Mutator for Bishop and Queen. Place Bishop at c2 for convenience and assume no obstruction. c2-b1-Bounce to a2-Bounce to b3-c4-d5-e6-f7-g8-Bounce to h7-i6-j5-k4-l3-m2-n1-Bounce to o2-p3-Bounce to o4-n5-m6-l7-k8-Bounce to j7-i6-h5-g4-f3-e2-d1-Bounce to c2-b3-a4-Bounce to b5-c6-d7-e8-Bounce to f7-g6-h5-i4-j3-k2-l1-Bounce to m2-n3-o4-p5-Bounce to o6-n7-m8-Bounce to l7-k6-j5-i4-h2-g2-f1-Bounce to e2-d3-c4-b5-a6-Bounce to b7-c8-Bounce to d7-e6-f5-g4-h3-i2-j1-Bounce to k2-l3-m4-n5-o6-p7-Bounce to o8-Bounce to n7-m6-l5-k4-j3-i2-h1-Bounce to g2-f3-e4-d5-c6-b7-a8. It means a Bishop on c2 can reach a8 in one move, but not very directly. Billiards 'Bishop c2-Bishop-a8' requires the above 19 bounces. Whereas, Elbow Bishop 'c2-a8' is accomplished c2-d3-e4-(90 degrees)d5-c6-b7-a8 in the one change of direction, a pretty direct route. In sum, 6x8 has 7 bounces, 8x8 4 bounces, 8x10 7 bounces, 8x12 13 bounces, 8x14 15 bounces, 8x16 19 bounces. What is the formulaic pattern? '8x14' requires starting at g2 for best result (Hey, Geometria). There the bounces occur successively after g2 starting square at f1, a6, c8, j1, n5, k8, d1, a4, e8, l1, n3, i8, b1, a2, g8, and not possible anymore at arrival square n1. If the Bishop starts on m8 in 8x14, the number of squares actually traversed in that full route, extended back to m8 for maximization, is 77. Shorthand for this size 8x14 might be 'Bishop m8-n1(77 times one-stepping)'.
A fool's mate in Capablanca's chess. Example of fool's mate when playing Capablanca's chess.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This should be Chancellor g1-h3. Here is the shortest Fool's Mate possible, normally, with more established pieces on boards 8x8 and larger using symmetrical arrays. Its existence is reason enough for dissenting from Capablanca's array. Smaller boards especially can rather easily have even mate in one with initial set-up unsymmetrical between the sides. On 8x10 like this, or 9x10, 10x10, long-distance leaper like Flamingo(2,7), Ibis(2,9), and Namel(2,8) can readily be arranged for Mate by Black on the first move, if White does not take remedial action in the very opening move. That takes also the arrays so set up in different line-ups for Black and White (although their over-all pieces can be exactly the same); otherwise, White could mate in opening move -- making play pointless to some aesthetics. My series in 2007 under 'ProblemThemes', carrying the idea a step further, shows 30-some initial set-ups where there are, in fact, no legal first moves at all for White, required to start. Those become opportunities to admire many exotic pieces without actually playing them. In those 30 set-ups (ProblemThemes One and Two), any move, even of Pawn, would cause check (illegal); so no moving of piece or Pawn can be possible -- regardless who goes first in the 'ProblemThemesTwo' instances. Stalemate all around. The methods use perfectly-recognizable, well-defined pieces from the likes of Berolina Pawns to Flamingo, Elbow Rook, multi-path Sissa, Betza Rhino, and bifurcation Venator.
In this thread, the two boards represent initial positions, no move having as yet been played. We should describe the set-ups succinctly as Stalemate. Kings are not initially in check, and all pieces and Pawns are positioned naturally enough on own board-half. Stalemate, regardless whether White or Black happens to try moving first. For the immediately-preceding second Board here under 'all messages', look up or hold in mind definitional movements for Berolina Pawn, Dragon (from article 'Passed Pawns, Scorpions, Dragons'), Divergent Chess, and Winther's bifurcation Murmillo. It is clearly evident that no Pawn or piece can move at all. In the first Board, Phoenix is the only addition, being a required six-square plural-path mover, as Scorpion is four-square. The same problem-theme effect there shows that even Berolina Pawns cannot move from the opening, faced forwardly by other Berolina Pawns. Please understand that no capturing move is possible either by any unit, nothing, nada. Stalemate, with all 32, or 40, pieces on board, not one of which may legally be moved. A period piece.
Game Courier Logs. View the logs of games played on Game Courier.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Statistics. In 'Finished Games' for all 4 years of the Game Courier, counted quickly by hand so being within +/-2, there are: *Shogi* 200, *FRC* 80, Pocket Mutation 62, *Xiangqi* 52, **Chess** 40, CDA (36+4)= 40, Moderate Progressive 35, 4-Way 30, Ultima 29, Falcon Chess (23+2)= 25, Rococo (18+6)= 24, Alice 24, Chu Shogi 24, Shatranj 23, Grand 21, Anti-King 21, Omega 20...(They start bunching up near 20 decisive.) Maybe Moderate Progressive, 4-Way, Ultima, and Falcon Chess each show not so valid number because of specialists Stephen Stockman, Stephen Stockman, Matthew Montchalin, and George Duke respectively playing most of theirs completed. The first real variant, Pocket Mutation, would reach 300 game scores after 20 years at the rate. Only 300 games of P.M. or Rococo after supposed 12 or 20 years would not really establish that serious opening repertoires yet. However, Ultima's several hundred eventually might amplify other sources' records of Ultima games back to 1960's. And Alice may have small inventory of old ones too to add together. Of course, *FRC* has tens of thousands, and *Shogi*, Xiangqi, and Chess so many millions that the 100 or 1000 more generating here the first quarter century do not matter much. Those four games'(all hundreds years old) openings, and novelties, would tend to repeat thematically, if only rarely exact positions after 11 to 15 moves. Even FRC(Fischer's 1996 announcement the latest update of invention actually out of the 1820's) from differing initial arrays occasionally reaches positions already known -- exactly the same as another score's previously played and analyzed from that point. (In FRC itself, merely transposing Queen and King, or Bishop and Rook surprisingly devolves once in a while to the same-positioned game (of Chess or FRC) after some 8/12/16 moves, it has been found.)
Leaping/Missing Bat Chess. Large variant on a 16x12 board with many fairy pieces. (16x12, Cells: 192) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Something important actually ramifies back to Chess Variant Page. When I put ''e to the (pi,i) equals minus one/ Like to the four Rook Bishop Knight Falcon'' in Falcon Poem XX 'Pleiadic Diacaustic' a year ago, we did Google search to double check its forms. Entering ''e pi i minus one'' leads to mathematician John Savard's Homepage for the best and major Internet exposition of Euler's famous equation. The same website's 'Chess' section there led back to this CVPage by way of Leaping/Missing Bat Chess. In L/M Bat, Bat itself, 64 + 1 = 49 + 16, gives the Root 65 Leaper here in 2001, before Gilman defines other root-leapers after 2003. In Gilmanese, Bat is Ibis(2,9) plus Ibex(5,8). The trouble with Bat and 16x12 (=192) is that while Bat can work its way to any of the squares, its direction is always forward then backward on successive moves. Plural-path(two-) Rhinoceros is not Betza's Rhino, but related to it and Betza's Rose at the same time. Rhinoceros' full eight steps is type of Null move(blockable case), and potentially a self-unpin, as Savard says, according to position (check by Rook, Bishop, Queen).
Chess Mate-in-One is not the snap it used to be for anyone. At least not in arcane field off-the-beaten-path of newly-invented pieces. For starters, the solver must know the game in question. Are you now, or ever been, member of the CVPage? Or anonymously party to it? Scads of new pieces occurring obviate purported triviality of classic 'Mate-in-One'. No 'gimme' now the half-metre putts on the hills. No mere glancing off the board gives away solution automatically. Ask first how active pieces move and what the ground rules are. Being sceptical of solution (once arrived at) means retesting its initial consistency and contradictions. The more sophisticated the puzzles, the more potential counterindications, as exotics (and exotic Rules) interact. Some boards or piece-mixes frankly require computers by intricate Mate-in-Two level, without evident solution, so leave the experts those. Moreover, by innovative nature, Fairy Chess Mates-in-One, -Two, -Three may have unanticipated dual solutions and even 'Cooks'. Specific problems follow separately Commented.
WHITE MATES IN ONE 8 ___N___ ___N___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___R Falcon Chess invented 1992 7 P___ ___p___ ___R___ ___ ___P___P___ Article 2000 6 ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___r 5 K___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ White has only King, Rook 4 ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ and three Pawns. 3 p___p___ ___B___Q___ ___ ___ ___ ___ cba> zyx> onm 2 ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___k___ ___ ___ fed/ wvu/ lkj 1 ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ,8c-7c nwaP :noituloS a b c d e f g h i j .noclaF ot setomorP
(PROBLEM THEMES THREE item) BLACK MATES IN ONE. DoubleCannon(X) [Winther]
and DoubleBarrel(Z) [Winther] have optional second leg. X moves as Rook, Z as Bishop. If and only if to capture, each turns 45 degrees and jumps one
adjacent piece and moves on in a capture.
8 X___P___P___ ___P___K___ ___ ___P___P FIND THE MATE IN ONE BY BLACK.
7 T___ ___X___ ___Z___P___P___I___ ___ G = Diag. Narrow Crooked NN
6 P___ ___ ___D___ ___ ___ ___P___R___ [Knappen]
5 ___G___ ___P___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___O I = Crooked NN [Betza]
4 p___ ___ ___ ___b___ ___ ___ ___ ___q R = Rose[Betza]
3 p___ ___ ___p___ ___b___p___q___ ___p T = Priest (Fantasy Grand),
2 p___ ___ ___ ___q___ ___ ___p___ ___p ninety-degree continual
1 p___l___n___ ___ ___l___k___p___l___ diagonal one-step
a b c d e f g h i j D = Dragon plural
O = Canon; l = Alfil
06cbab-97feda wvut4seir5ponm :noituloS'Priest a7-b6' is one solution. There is a second solution. That 'Priest a7-b6' is Check and Mate, because DoubleCannon then has the capturing route a8(-a7-(turn 45 degrees and jump)-c5-d4-e3-f2)-g1. To prove it, 'King g1-g2' runs into Canon. 'King -f2' has the same check by the same DoubleCannon. The only two White pieces that can reach DoubleCannon-a8's pathway, to block it, are Queen-e2 and Pawn-d3. 'Pawn d3-d4' blocks DoubleCannon, as that DoubleCannon would have to capture the Pawn along it. However, 'd3-d4' gives the other DoubleCannon *immediate* pathway c7(-c6-c5(turn 45 degrees and jump)-e3-f2)-g1, still Check. And 'Queen d3-d4' makes a pathway for Diagonal Narrow Crooked Nightrider at b5, NN b5(-d4-e2)-g1. So, that is clearly Checkmate, without DoubleCannon ever (permitted) capturing Queen. 'Priest a7-b6' is therefore one established Checkmate. Which of Rose, Crooked Nightrider, plural-path Dragon, DNCNN, Priest, DoubleBarrel, Canon or the other DoubleCannon enable by one different move a comparable Mate-in-One at once? What is the second solution?
BLACK TO MOVE and MATE IN ONE. There are four immediate solutions. Four ways to do it, so White can never move again. First, '1. Priest a7-b6! Checkmate' (as explained). Now Priest is key to the other solutions also. ''Continual diagonal ninety-degree one steps'' describes Priest's move. Therefore, the second obvious solution is '1. Rose-i6xj4, capturing Queen, Checkmate.' Third solution is '1. Rose-i6xf3, capturing Bishop, Checkmate.' Fourth solution is '1. Priest a7-d4' Checkmate.' Briefly, Priest has pathway 'a7(-b6-a5-b4-c5)-d4' and also can continue ' -c3-d2-e3-f2' the same move. So, King has no way out with 'g1-f2' upon either Check by the Rose. Stopping at '-d4', Priest gives DoubleCannon-c7 pathway and Checkmate too. In the board(Board 8) shown 5.July.2007, Priest move-example is 'h6-g5-h4-g3-f4-e3-f2-e1'. Two other long-range Priest moves(when unblocked) are shown in boards 9 and 11 this thread (July 2007). So, this 'unrestricted Priest' used throughout is a rider, long-range and colourbound. Priest is liberal version of Betza's Crooked Bishop. Like C.B., Priest cannot double back to any same square it has already passed over the same move, but Priest may additionally change direction twice in a row 90 degrees left or right. Betza's term 'Bent Rider' applies to Priest, multiply-bent rider requiring successive 90-degree one-steps per move(like Crooked Bishop). Gryphon 13th-century is early bent rider, with similar geometrical idea, under rubric of moving a step or more one direction and continuing different direction, without jumping.
Ninety-one and a Half Trillion Falcon Chess Variants. Missing description[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]EnjoyLolHeyFarOutPuddingheads. Trial-and-error birds-of-a-feather, one size fits all? No way. Working towards one CV per atom in the Universe, no light-weight matter finding entities approving each of incipient 10^80 rules-set, on account of strict self-evaluation and autonomy. RN218 Mutual Annihilation. [The Swapper in Rococo has option to do this adjacently only; otherwise inferior CVs -- with huge armies or overdone piece differentiation -- have similar effect, that we recall offhand.] (a) no effect (b) Capture removes both pieces involved. IOW, capture by replacement is normal, except for both being taken off the board. HEY, they are on the same square! It has no bearing on check as such or checkmate. This Mutator works best with enhanced-piece Mutators like RNs 4,5,6,7 in the article and follow-up Comments. That way checkmate by even one piece alone may be very plausible, according to specific design. (c) 'b' excludes Pawns capturing. (d) 'b' excludes Pawns captured -- making Pawn capture rare. (e) 'b' excludes Pawns capturing or captured. (f) 'b' applies only to Falcons capturing. (g) 'b' applies only to Falcon & Knight capturing. (h) 'b' Falcon, Knight, Queen (i) 'b', instead the capture returns the capturer to any own starting array same-rank square by choice. (j) 'i' only Queen & Falcon (k) 'b' returns Pawns alone capturing to any Pawn second-rank array square. (l) 'd' and 'k' (m) 'f' and 'i' (n) 'g' and 'i' (o) 'h' and 'i' (p) 'i', the opponent chooses the initial array square. Cumulative: 1.64503552 x 10^49 separately-distinguishable and respectable Chess Rules compendiums. Earth has near 10^50 atoms, so almost the CVs now for that milestone. The '24.November.2007' Comment establishes that the individual CVs are easy enough to call up for one given complete Rules-set, limited to realistic 32 Mutators activated for playable game to taste.
TamerSpiel. Modern large chess variant with elements of historic chess variants. (12x8, Cells: 84) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Greenwood refers to ''award-winner'' presumably TamerSpiel. In 84-square Contest, among the judges I consistently rated Tamerspiel the lowest, as Peter Aronson in the group may recall. The least reason of all is the style of write-up. It starts ''Hi'', as if Rules thought up on spur of moment, and indeed the Entry just made or missed the deadline. The Rules are in fact still hard to sort out for bad writing. Other reasons generally are overcomplication in promotion rules, unoriginal piece mixes, and that one new Mutator, potentially interesting, not explained. For example, Guard promotes to Champion. Now it says in turn that Champion promotes to SuperCav. So, the intention is that there is double, or second, promotion allowed. First, that is not explained well or at all, and the reader must interpolate. Second, when re-promoting, presumably it must be at the other corner (Citadel) square. So, unfortunate players must keep track of where such pieces have been and are going. What a sorry morass. Contrast is great with nice Renaissance Chess two decades earlier. For all that, major reason to rate Tamerspiel 'Poor' is the ridiculously-high number of piece-types, over 20 counting promotees. Among several hundred rated CVs with specialization in Large CVs, TamerSpiel ranks within the lowest decile (-10%) with Omega. Notice that Game Courier TamerSpiel logs go uncompleted; there were other games of Tamerspiel dropped mid-play in the first year no longer recording, or deleted, as players ask, why be subjected to this? Two 'Excellent's for this game are by Greenwood himself and the 3rd of 3 by non-member ID.
Renniassance Chess. With 68 pieces on board of 12 by 12. (12x10, Cells: 120) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Enjoy and enjoin. This is a nice game, more so for its year around 1980 before the outbreak of proliferation, well, twenty years later that shows little let-up ten more years into the epidemic. Conscientiously, I played two of the 10 logs GC here of Renniassance(sic) and especially appreciate creativity of two-path (Plural path) Duke and Cavalier for their time. Having myself played, or started, hundreds GC games in five years, we see even that scratches only the surface of 3000 write-ups of Rules in CVPage and how selective choices are actually to play. Only the usual-suspect self-promoters can get attention to have theirs played, whilst no one studies deeply even half tens of thousands of Alternate Variants within articles of those stock 3000 (with icon marking 'CV'). For example, one Betza essay may have 1000 CVs embedded. This particular one's seventeen (17) piece-types, including the standard 6 for coherence, are playable on great 120 squares. In fact, 'RenChess' comes to be representative 110-144 (roughly) 'Very Large' category. It has priority, one would think, over later ones -- that for courtesy to fans need stricter exigencies (in uniqueness, mechanisms) being published at all so late as, say, 2001 or 2008. Put in other words, there exist in this size range before several Turkish Great Chesses (17th Century), fine Chess-Battle (128 squares, year 1933) and excellent award-winner Vyremorn (132 squares, 1987). It is incumbent on very large CVs afterwards to have higher burden, there being no novelty in board size per se, of raison d'e^tre. [Relevantly 'Extremely Large' has been described as up to 196 squares and same reasoning would apply.]
Lo! and behold. 'Rock/Fire/Scissors/Paper/Rock/Fire/Scissors...'
represents Rook/Falcon/Bishop/Knight... So, the old selection game of
Rock, Scissors and Paper has unobserved element 'Fire' now (also Water,
Fire, Air, Earth). Moreover, math equation 'e to the (pi, i) equals minus
one' corresponds exactly and appropriately, in order, with 'e' as Rook
(base 10), pi as Bishop, i as Knight (for its different imaginary mode), and 'minus one' as Falcon (summation & resultant). In fact, wider numerical, scientific and mythological matches emerged about year 2000 eight years later:
Sun Sunday Gold Au Great Pyramid Falcon Electra(F)
Moon Monday Silver Ag Artemis' Temple Dove,Chicken Merope(P)
Mars Tu(martes) Iron Fe Colossus Rhodes Hawk Sterope(N)
Mercury Wednesday Hg Lighthouse Pharos Vulture Maia(B)
Jupiter Thursday Tin Sb Statue of Zeus Bird of Jove Taygete(K)
Venus Fri(viernes) Copper Cu Hanging Gardens Bird-Goddess Alcyone(Q)
Saturn Saturday Lead Pb Mausoleum Rook, Parrot, Calaeno(R)
[V] [X] [IX] or Raven
The last column lists the classical Pleiades, whose respective histories
and personalities correlate with the 7 pieces.
Then also exist the seven 'animals' in order: Falcon(F), Lamb(P),
Horse(N), Elephant(B), Lion or Scorpion(K), Totemic Hawk(Q), and
Serpent(R) out of Poem XV ''Piece Offering.'' Kasparov's Premiere at Shogi. Chess world champion plays a game of Shogi.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Further historical context of this game is interesting. Stating Computer would never defeat World Chess Champion, Kasparov defeated Deep Thought in 1989. ''Of course I have to challenge it just to protect human race.'' Its successor Deep Blue could evaluate 100 million positions per second, when Kasparov won again in 1996. In rematch Deep Blue was twice as fast, 200 million. ''The Brain's Last Stand'' said cover of USA 'Newsweek'. Deep Blue won that one in May 1997 at New York, but Kasparov hinted Deep Blue had cheated in the second game. Interesting Shogi match taking place at Moscow in 1999 comes on heels of Kasparov's defeat by Deep Blue. From Tom Standage book 'The Turk' 2002, ''Here at last was fulfillment of Kempelen's dream: chess-playing machine that could defeat world's best players. In yet another parallel with the Turk's career, IBM subsequently claimed to have dismantled the original machine.'' Just before Shogi-Ishiyama here, Kasparov propounded ''Advanced Chess,'' his very own concept permitting players' full use of Computer during match on standard 64 squares. The first-ever Advanced Chess pitted Kasparov (Fritz 5) and Veselin Topalov (ChessBase 7.0) at Leon, Spain, in June 1998. Then Deep Blue 1997, Advanced 1998 and Shogi 1999 are Kasparov's timeline of offbeat participation. GM Seirawan calls Advanced Chess for one ''atrocious idea.''
Tom Standage book 'The Turk' 2002: ''[In 1770] Before the audience Kempelen announced that he had built a machine the likes of which had never been seen: an automaton Chess player. ....wheels, cogs, levers, large horizontal cylinder of protruding studs similar to that found in a clockwork music box.'' And ''Edmund Cartwright had just seen the Turk in London. Surely, he reasoned, if it was possible to construct machine capable of playing Chess, it ought to be possible to build an automatic loom.'' [patented 1787] And ''There are numerous accounts of Napoleon's match with the Turk. As young man in the 1790s, Napoleon played Chess in the Cafe de la Regence in Paris. Johann Nepomuk Maelzel [who bought it by 1809] set up the Turk in the apartment of the Prince de Neufcha^tel, Napoleon's most trusted general. 'The Emperor went there, and I followed him,' recalled Constant in his 1830 memoirs.'' ''The Turk was purchased by Napoleon's stepson, Eugene de Beauharnais sometime between 1809 and 1812. Eugene was the son of Napoleon's wife Josephine by her previous husband (who had been guillotined in 1794).'' ''On June 21, 1813, the French army was defeated by the duke of Wellington at Vitoria. News of the victory inspired Maelzel to hatch a plan. He would commission new piece of music for the [automaton] Panharmonicon to mark the occasion. Maelzel jotted down rough outline of such piece and asked Beethoven to write it for him. The composer readily agreed.'' And ''Beethoven was initially skeptical about the metronome but changed his mind and started marking his scores with 'M.M.' (Maelzel Metronome) and number to indicate correct tempo setting.'' Moving exhibition to London, Maelzel augmented his display of the Turk (now Eugene's) ''with his diorama, the Conflagration of Moscow, and the Panharmonicon.'' ''Maelzel subsequently modified the speaking apparatus for trip to France so that the Turk said 'Echec' instead, and thereafter the Turk spoke French.'' --all from Standage
Like Bobby Fischer to some extent, GM Milan Vukcevich (1937-2003) spoke on Chess eccentricities, changes, and problem-composing openmindedly -- unlike stuffed shirts among GMs today. Exact quotes from V's address 8.August.1998 at Big Island, Hawaii, USA: ''Do you know that one needs three Grasshoppers to checkmate a bare King? Do you know that when you put a Rook on an infinitely distant point it attacks every square on a Lobachevsky chessboard?'' '' As a parallel, look at modern Chess problems. Composers play with many fairy pieces: Grasshoppers, Paos, Laos, and Vaos, Nightriders, Imitators, Sentinels, Orphans, and much more. On the other hand, a type of piece called Anti-Circe cannot be controlled without extensive help from a good computer.'' ''Changes are already under way on another level: tournaments are being organized for Fischer Chess, Progressive Chess, and 3D Chess. Do you know that in the Italian city of Rimini there is an annual tournament for three-dimensional Chess? Let us recognize that people who organize the 3D tournament in Rimini are mostly Chess composers. If you think that they are lesser players, think of the complexities of Andernach Chess, where a capturing piece changes colour and strength. Do you know who your Queen is five moves from now? We definitely should be on the forefront of change, and we should recognize and support those who relentlessly explore in sometimes real wild territories.'' -- Vukcevich [Strictly verbatim with some switched order of presentation; to be continued]
Vukcevich speech on future forms of Chess appears in 'Chess Life' October 1998. Vukcevich: ''Finally, Chess will be a completely different game in a decade or two. Sports only teaches you team play, but Chess can do much more for the soul of society. Those who have difficulty believing in the evolutionary connection of Chess to Backgammon should remember that Chess was once played with dice, that Shogi pieces are flat stones, and that birds came from dinosaurs.'' ''At that time, chessboards had only lines -- all squares were the same colour. Arabs introduced the checkered board to help their children learn the game, and the children soon found the Alfil piece too simple. The Alfil moved like a Bishop but only over two squares. With the checkered board it became easy to follow Alfil's motion over the entire diagonal, and it soon evolved into the modern Bishop.'' ''Where does this Chaos lead? Today mathematicians recognize that the likely outcome of any chaos is self-organization.'' -- Vukcevich
6 March 1819. From Tom Standage 'The Turk' 2002: Maelzel's handbill (1819-1820) declared that the Turk, giving odds of Pawn and move, would be displayed together with the automaton trumpeter and the Conflagration of Moscow. ''The view is from an elevated station on the fortress of the Kremlin, at the moment when the inhabitants are evacuating the capital of the czars, and the head of the French columns commences entry. The gradual progress of the fire, the hurrying bustle of the fugitives, the eagerness of the invaders, and the din of warlike sounds impress the spectator...'' ''as a combination of 'the arts of design, mechanism, and music, so as to produce, by novel imitation of Nature, perfect facsimile of the real scene'.'' Simultaneously, Maelzel offered for sale his patent of the Beethoven-endorsed Metronomes in order to purchase rental right from Eugene de Beauharnais, Napoleon's stepson, the Turk's owner for its ongoing use. The Turk continued to beat the most skillful chessplayers in Europe, inspiring discussion about possibility for machine intelligence. Computer pioneer Charles Babbage saw the Turk play at Spring Gardens on March 6, 1819. ''The automaton played very well and had an excellent game in the opening. He gave check-mate by Philidor's Legacy,'' wrote Babbage. ''The following year on February 12, 1820, Babbage went to see the Turk again at St. James' Street and challenged it to a game.'' --Standage 'The Turk' 2002
From Standage 'The Turk' 2002: ''Played with the automaton,'' wrote Babbage, ''He gave Pawn and the move. Automaton won in about an hour.'' Visiting Pierre-Simon Laplace, Babbage saw for the first time the mathematical tables computed by hand under Gaspard de Prony. Later in 1821 Babbage, comparing with friend John Herschel, two independently-calculated astronomical tables exclaimed, ''I wish to God these calculations could be executed by steam.'' ''He decided to act,'' says Standage, sketching out how calculating machine might work. Hence, the genesis of Babbage's first mechanical computer, the Difference Engine. More complex Analytic Engine, to rely on punch cards, copying method of Joseph Jaquard (whose loom used cards for weaving patterns), was according to Standage ''inarguably the earliest ancestor of the modern digital computer: It had direct mechanical equivalents of a modern computer's processor and memory. Babbage even devised a symbolic notation with which to write programs for it.'' Questioning whether the Turk was pure machine, ''Babbage started to wonder whether genuine Chess-playing machine could, in fact, be built.''
Cavalier. Piece from RennChess that steps one diagonally then slides orthogonally, or steps one orthogonally then slides diagonally.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I think Greenwood's name Cavalier is very good because, reading English, 'Cavalier' is normal English word, and here it sets off with 'Duke' its counterpart-piece. In English, meaning of Cavalier overlaps 'Knight', but we think of them not as the very same at all -- although both falling under more generic meaning ''man-at-arms.'' Cavalier has more social and also organizational connotation than Knight, whilst the latter bears more exclusively on war-making. I doubt Greenwood was thinking of the French, or was most likely wholly able to. So, Cazaux's muted point is well taken that USA people are weakest in knowledge of other languages among contributors and, moreover, sans humility about thus being English-bound. Now similar case of near-synonyms is King, Emperor, and Maharajah with all their differing amplifications. After 15 years of CVPage, any given Comment resonates further, or it ought to. Thus, more could always be added on this nomenclature question and piece-movement definition: (1) Piececlopedia entries are not done nowadays. (2) Ben Good is presumably no relation to Jeremy Good. (3) Credit Ben Good, at one time among the 3-4 most active member/editor, for recognizing the Cavalier as two-path: ''two different paths to any destination square'' way back in olden days of year 2002.
Originally constructed in 1769 by Wolfgang von Kempelen, the Turk made first USA appearance by Johann Nepomuk Maelzel on April 13, 1826. Both Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died July 4, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of starting USA Revolution. In 1783 Ben Franklin had played the Turk at Paris. Charles Carroll, age 89, the last surviving signatory of Declaration of Independence, played the Turk May 23, 1827. ''Dr. Gamaliel Bradford outlined Racknitz's theory that a hidden dwarf or small child operated the machine, but rejected the idea of magnets under the chessboard in favor of the transparent chessboard favored by Decremps. ...the possibility that the automaton was entirely controlled by Maelzel using magnets hidden in his pockets.'' -- Tom Standage 'The Turk' 2002. '' '...A common camera obscura apparatus, of which the lens is in one of the eyes of the Automaton, the mirror being situated within the head, at such an angle as to reflect the rays of light toward a plate of ground glass placed in the back of the box, and near the occupant.' '' --Bradford in Standage. Promotional poster for 1834 show at Philadelphia: ''The automaton trumpeter, followed by the Mechanical Theater, the slack-rope dancers, the Grand Tournament, the diorama of Rheims Cathedral, musical automaton the Melodium, and the Turk as the grand finale.'' Meeting the Turk and Maelzel as young man in Boston, ''P.T. Barnum recalled that Maelzel gave him piece of advice, 'I see that you understand the value of the press, that is the great thing,' Maelzel told Barnum.'' Twenty-six-year-old Edgar Allen Poe living in Richmond, Virginia, saw the Turk play frequently from December 1835 -- inspiring Poe's essay 'Maelzel's Chess-Player' in April 1836 'Messenger'. ''He presented his conclusions in a format that prefigured his later mystery and detective stories. Poe explicitly compared the Turk to Babbage's calculating engines.'' --Tom Standage 'The Turk' 2002
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