Cavalier Chess

Comparisons with Chess

Modern Chess gained its popularity in a very different time than ours. The propagation of games had to rely on travel, which was a lot slower back then than it is today. Although there might have been many variations of Chess back then, many would be lost to obscurity simply because no one carried them very far. This provided less competition with modern Chess from other variations, allowing modern Chess to sink in the foothold it has today. I mention this, not to disparage Chess, but to point out that the same thing is not going to happen with Cavalier Chess or with any other Chess variation, for that matter. Today, the instant communication across the globe makes it very easy to propogate new Chess variations. In addition to that, the new product Zillions of Games allows you to think up a new variation and play it on your computer after just a bit of coding. The Web and Zillions of Games levels the playing field for nearly all Chess variations. For example, I created Cavalier Chess in December 1998, and I wouldn't be surprised if people in Australia, where I've never been, were playing it on their computers before the year is out.

I don't believe that Chess will ever be superceded by any single Chess variation, not even the 3D Chess popular in Star Trek, but I do envision a future in which Chess variations in general will rival Chess in popularity. For many years, Chess was the only Chess-like game I could play on my computer, and that helped cement its popularity with me. I have since discovered programs that will play other Chess variations, and now Zillions of Games, which will play nearly any Chess variation, including those I make up, like Cavalier Chess here. I still have a strong interest in Chess, and I don't regret buying Chessmaster 6000 shortly before I heard of Zillions of Games. I am interested in many variations of Chess, and I like having lots of variations better than being tied down to just one variation. So I don't expect Cavalier Chess to replace Chess in popularity, nor do I think it should. What I do expect is that it will become a popular Chess variant, sharing a place among other popular Chess variants, mainly because it is a good game.

The most important difference between Chess and Cavalier Chess is the power of the pieces. In Cavalier Chess, the pieces are a lot more powerful, and each player attacks or controls over half the squares on the board from the beginning of play, including some of the squares occupied by enemy pieces. In Chess, it takes time to build up to a middle game where strong tactical moves are possible. In Cavalier Chess, a Nightrider could capture the enemy Queen on its third move, without the Queen ever moving. This can be stopped with proper play, but it illustrates the sort of possibilities that exist in Cavalier Chess from the beginning of the game. Chess is divided into an opening game, a middle game, and an endgame. These are all present in Cavalier Chess, but in Cavalier Chess, middle game play acquires greater dominance. The increased power of the pieces allows for stronger tactical maneuvers, and it also makes it harder to safely move pieces across the board, keeping play as balanced as it is in Chess.

The endgame in Cavalier Chess is more touch and go than the endgame in Chess. Because of the greater mobility of Cavaliers and the Knight King, a passed Cavalier is almost a foreign concept in Cavalier Chess. Cavaliers can more easily maneuver to stop each other from promoting. Since what a Cavalier promotes to depends on which square it lands on, the first player to get a Cavalier promoted has less assurance of a win than the first player to get a Pawn promoted in Chess would have. For example, I played an endgame which was down to the Knight Kings and an even number of Cavaliers on each side. I promoted first and got a Nightrider, but my Nightrider couldn't stop an enemy Cavalier from eventually promoting to a Marshall, and I lost the game.

This page was made and written by Fergus Duniho, creator of Cavalier Chess.