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Torus Chess

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Torus Chess is played on a flat torus shaped board.

The two sets of pieces are positioned at 180 degree points on the board at the start of the game, meaning the pawns can advance towards each other, but the other pieces can also begin attacking the rear ranks of the opposing player. It makes for a different game as there are no corners to hide in, and no rear end of board for defence. Pawns crossing the respective two red starting point lines can still be converted to Queens.

Not drawn up yet, but works in my head!

xenzag, Sep 18 2013

Torus chess http://www.chessvar...dir/toruschess.html
Board doesn't need to be torus shaped, just overlap end gives same effect. [tatterdemalion, Sep 18 2013]

Index of chess variants http://www.chessvar...s.org/alphabet.html
[tatterdemalion, Sep 18 2013]

Bayerische https://www.google....=1301&bih=678&dpr=1
[pertinax, Sep 18 2013]

Hrvatsk https://www.google....=1301&bih=678&dpr=1
[pertinax, Sep 18 2013]

Cylinder chess https://en.wikipedi...wiki/Cylinder_chess
Scroll down a bit for a toroidal chess board. [tatterdemalion, Sep 18 2013]

How to play torus chess on a standard board http://www.chessvar...standard_board.html
[tatterdemalion, Sep 18 2013]

One dimensional chess http://www.chessvar...ape.dir/onedim.html
[tatterdemalion, Sep 18 2013]

Multi-dimensional Rubik's Cube http://forgetomori....gerubik-cubesponge/
[zen_tom, Sep 20 2013]

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       I assure you any variation of chess you can conjure has been drawn up already.
tatterdemalion, Sep 18 2013
  

       You probably don't want to start with the two queens and four rooks all in each other's sight-lines. My hunch is that this would give you a single optimal opening gambit, and once a player had calculated what this was, the game would become as dull as noughts and crosses.   

       To prevent this outcome, I suggest that there should be no single "straight line" of squares girdling the torus, but rather, the grid should be projected slantwise on to the solid's surface, to give it a look more Bayerische than Hrvatsk.
pertinax, Sep 18 2013
  

       Of course, the next iteration should be a Mobius strip.
RayfordSteele, Sep 18 2013
  

       The knights in this version should have bull heads.
bungston, Sep 18 2013
  

       I have checked, and I don't see a torus shaped board anywhere. Will draw up my own later. It won't take long.
xenzag, Sep 18 2013
  

       Link 1?
theleopard, Sep 18 2013
  

       That looks like a flat board where stuff makes its way off one edge and unto the other. There are also extra sets of pawns in it. Best just wait until I draw up a proper torus.   

       "assure you any variation of chess you can conjure has been drawn up already" I think the number of variations is infinite.
xenzag, Sep 18 2013
  

       If all edges wrapped, would that simulate a torus?   

       The linked version sidesteps the queens-in-line-of-sight with an extra row of pawns. Bah.   

       A slantwise grid would allow rooks, knights and queens to reach essentially any unobstructed site on the board, because after completing one lap around the grid the piece would be in a space adjacent to the starting space.
bungston, Sep 18 2013
  

       Read the description [xen]: The lower and upper edges (painted in red) are glued together; so are the left and right edges (painted in blue).   

       It's a torus, but flattened out, probably because it's easier to draw.
theleopard, Sep 18 2013
  

       Well, depsite [the leopard]'s valid points, I think halfbaked versions of chess are an interesting topic, and it is possible to stumble upon some new game. I like this for the mental image. How about: mobius chess.
rcarty, Sep 18 2013
  

       So do I! There's no "despite" about it! (See Usurp Chess for my own attempt...)
theleopard, Sep 18 2013
  

       ''It's a torus, but flattened out'' It's a cylinder.
xenzag, Sep 18 2013
  

       "mobius chess" - considered that, but remembered it being baked already somewhere. Torus on my mind as I always get my new students to make one of these on first day of course. A much loved structure for me.
xenzag, Sep 18 2013
  

       //''It's a torus, but flattened out'' It's a cylinder.//   

       No [xenzag], it's a torus. If you have a rectangle, and bend the long top side round to the long bottom side, you'd have a cylinder, but, if you read the link (again) it says to attach the short sides together as well, forming, that's right, a torus.   

       His diagram is flattened.
theleopard, Sep 18 2013
  

       Has anyone done one-dimensional chess?
pocmloc, Sep 18 2013
  

       1D chess could be awesome. There could be complex rules governing which pieces can jump over which others.   

       If you could work out a viable rule-set, I can see it becoming a hit.
MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 18 2013
  

       Ah [theleopard] I see now.... but it's still a different idea to that which I'm proposing (I think!) Will draw up later and post....
xenzag, Sep 18 2013
  

       Some more links added for your consideration. Note the 1D chess for [pocmloc] & [MaxwellBuchanan].   

       It's true that there are chess variations approaching an infinite number, but all the interesting/playable ones are likely done. I do mean to discourage you, perhaps you could better indulge your donut gamesmanship energies... how about nine mens' torus?
tatterdemalion, Sep 18 2013
  

       "but all the interesting/playable ones are likely done" This is something I would never accept about anything. I have heard the same said about the bicycle, and again I disagree. Innovation is a limitless process in my belief system.
xenzag, Sep 18 2013
  

       My point is not to stem innovation, but to illustrate the vast depths that centuries of chess players before you have plumbed in search of the ultimate alternative chess game. Innovate by all means but be aware this road is well worn.
tatterdemalion, Sep 18 2013
  

       Vast depths of mathematicians too... and then along came Kurt Gödel.
xenzag, Sep 18 2013
  

       Bicycle chess? The board could be in the form of a bicycle, so your pawns could get stuck in the chainring while the Queen zooms up and down the brake cables.
pocmloc, Sep 19 2013
  

       How about some kind of fractally accurate, Menger sponge chess - a kind of Alice in Wonderland version where some pieces not only traverse between squares of differing scales, but who's actions at one level are also infinitely mirrored in every other square. Such a game would require rather a lot of pieces and an infinite amount of time in order to successfully complete the first move. In tournament play, this would always result in a win for Black.
Zeuxis, Sep 19 2013
  

       I started drawing up the board last night, and got bored with all of those bloody squares.... not good with straight lines and boxes.
xenzag, Sep 19 2013
  

       //The knights in this version should have bull heads//   

       You're thinking of Taurus Chess.
AusCan531, Sep 19 2013
  

       Pi is a four player chess variant played on a "4 board" torus.
MechE, Sep 19 2013
  

       How about recursive chess where the character of any given piece is determined by whatever piece one moves on another board, each piece having a board to determine it's nature?
daseva, Sep 20 2013
  


 

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