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Power Chess

A Chess Game where it isn't so easy to capture Opponent pieces
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Chess is one of the World's oldest and perhaps the most mentally trying board games. I have explained below the basic pieces (not their move patterns etc) for those who dont follow the game.

In chess, we have six different pieces per side : pawns (x8), bishops, knights and rooks (2 each) and the one king and queen each. Chess enthusiasts would know that each piece carries a certain amount of points. The exact figures of the points apparently vary from country to country, but i learnt it as KING - priceless, QUEEN - 9 points, ROOK - 5 points, BISHOP and KNIGHT - 2.5 points each and PAWN - 1 point.

In the normal game of chess, even a pawn can checkmate a king or capture a queen. THAT is where I'm suggesting a change.

In my version of Power Chess (apologies if the name is already taken), A piece can only be captured if it is attacked by pieces that either equal or exceed it in points value. Of course, my proposed point system would be : KING - 8 pts, QUEEN - 6 pts, ROOK - 4 pts, KNIGHT and BISHOP - 2 pts each, PAWN - 1 pt.

Thus in the above, a King can be placed under check if and only if it has pieces totalling 8 points or more attacking it (eg. a Queen and a Knight). Similarly, a Queen can be captured only if there are a total of 6 points or more represented amongst the pieces attacking it.

For Beginners to this new style (it takes a lot of time to adjust to, let me tell you), the points system can be watered down to range from 1 to 5 from Pawn to King.

Would appreciate all comments and also people to play with across email.

joker_of_the_deck, Sep 14 2002

Chess Variants http://www.chessvariants.com
Other people's chess variants [supercat, Sep 15 2002, last modified Oct 05 2004]

[link]






       How many pieces have to be directly attacking? Or can there be 'support backup strings' where one piece is a move away from attacking, and next piece supports that one, etc. I'm afraid the pawns would be nearly useless without some help against the big guys.
RayfordSteele, Sep 14 2002
  

       I think you'd find a rapid decrease in the number of pieces on the board as both players go on a rampage with their queens and kings, closely followed by a stalemate where neither side has pieces left powerful enough to checkmate a king.   

       Infact, I'm not even sure a checkmate is possible. Try playing it co-operatively (white plays to win, black plays to try and lose) and you'll soon see if this game is possible.
st3f, Sep 14 2002
  

       The pieces are already handicapped in their limit of movement.
waugsqueke, Sep 14 2002
  

       // go on a rampage with their queens and kings //   

       Sounds like my little sister playing chess.
BinaryCookies, Sep 14 2002
  

       It could do it by being promoted to a queen if the enemy king was trapped by its own pieces... Actually that’s probably the main difference between power chess and real chess: in power chess you could simply keep your king behind a row of pawns and it would be invulnerable as It would take 4 knights to kill it... That and the fact that the queen would be invincible. - vote sorry.
RobertKidney, Sep 14 2002
  

       In conventional chess, a pawn and King can together give mate if the enemy's King is blocked by one of its own pieces. Of course, if the pawn promotes to something else, that piece (Queen or otherwise) may give mate either with the assistance of its King or with the 'unwitting' assistance of an enemy piece which blocks one or more escape squares for the enemy King. Of course, the definition of "assisted" above is quite different from yours.   

       A more significant issue, though, is that games like chess have a knowledgebase that goes far beyond the mere rules. Consequently, it is nearly impossible to make any "minor" rule changes. Nearly any rule change which has any practical significance will turn chess into an entirely different game. The only rule changes which are likely not to do so either involve situations which in practice almost never occur, are meta-rules surrounding the game (e.g. restrictions on food/beverages in the tournament hall), or both.   

       Indeed, the change I'm aware of to the rules of play (as opposed to rules of tournament practice) that I'm aware of which has occurred in the last fifty years (if not the last century!) is the amendment of the forty-move rule to fifty, with a further proviso that the limit is further extended if certain combinations of pieces are on the board. This amendment was made as a result of computer searches which revealed that there exist positions in which a player, to force a win, must make 51+ consecutive moves without capturing a piece, advancing a pawn, or allowing the opponent to do either of those things. While I don't know that there has ever been a situation in which such a position has occurred on the board *AND* the both sides have played a mini-max line, such positions have occurred in tournament play.   

       Two more notes: -1- You may find the link to chessvariants.com interesting; -2- PowerChess is a trademark of Sierra On Line for a chess program they sold (sell?).
supercat, Sep 15 2002
  

       You got a lot a heart, kid.
And next down the chute: Power Bridge, with 76 cards.
General Washington, Sep 15 2002
  

       Okay, I just played a game of your "power chess" with a friend of mine. I opted for a three pronged pincer maneuver early in the game which he countered with a FIST TO MY MOUTH. Please modify the rules to not include physical abuse.
BaronFel, Sep 15 2002
  

       [BinaryCookies]: //Sounds like my little sister playing chess.//   

       Or my cat, who can make himself be a 'player' even if there are two humans at the table who would like to play each other. Typical game:   

       1. P-K4 CxP [C=Cat, a medium sized tabby, feared by all the other pieces]
2. P-Q4 CxP
3. HxC ... [Human tries to take cat]
... CxAll [Cat jumps across chess board]
supercat, Sep 15 2002
  

       supercat - so funny.
po, Sep 15 2002
  
      
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