thx grenv, can you wait for me? i'm still a pawn, but i can't wait until 2010 either :)
i'll try to pay up today :)

Off topic, but anyone playing a game with 'ustica' watch out. He was about to bring me my first loss in this game. Glad I could end the game in a draw. Have a look:

http://brainking.com/game/ArchivedGame?g=597205

I just started an Atomic tournament that should decide the best player when it finallly finishes in about 2010.

Instead, if anyone wants to join mine, it should be over very quickly - one day per move, all welcome. I'll wait for quite a few entrants before starting.

Quick Tournament

looks pretty drawish to me! no sac opportunities left.

In this game with Alex we agreed draw. But we are discussing if I had a chance to win. What do you think?

castling, ironically, still has its use as a "suprise move"!

In fact castling doesn't even connect the rooks, since they are right next to each other to begin with. Castling is almost never a good move I would think.

I agree g3(or g4) is good for releasing the bishop. c2 is not as weak because a3 is a legitamate spot for the knight.

I think the "classical" attack is still a good weapon here, especially when targeted to h7 (h2) because you can use the diagonal f1-g8 (f8-g1) - such as here .
This is obviously true only when the opponent has castled king side - for some reason, all my oponents do. I do not castle at all.

Can Horde Chess be salvaged? Personally, I think not. It's not about statistics: it's just about strategy.

White's winning strategy is simple. In essence it's all about deflection and sacrifice. Bear in mind that black's pawns stay on the files they start on unless white allows them to move somewhere else. White needs to clear a path to get behind black's pawn to start eating from the back. So White has to sacrifice to cause those deflections.

White's opening moves setup and execute sacrifices. If the sacrifices are not accepted then captures can force the same thing. Noth these deflect black's pawns diagonally off to both sides of some chosen file. This causes that file to be become more thinly populated by Black pawns. Also pawns on adjacent files need to be deflected away or encouraged to advance so that they no longer protect the pawns (especially the back pawns) on the chosen file and the total number of defenders on that file is reduced. Once the file is chipped away enough, the heavy pieces infiltrate straight along the file - perhaps with final sacrifices to get the queen to the back. It is then a simply mopping up operation working from the back of the horde forwards, just making sure that pawns are picked off in a reasonable order that doesn't allow black any chances of queening or stalemate.

The number of defenders on each file are 3-6-5-7-7-5-6-3. The f-file is my favourite to target though and I may get the h-file en route instead.

Can this strategy be stopped? I don't think so, not with the existing rules.

a castled king, which is attacked in "classical" way - g4, h4, opening a line, queen, rook - can be defended by rooks at the "other side (a7, a8) or queen.
i tried sometimes such an attack, but often failed.

there are no edges. assume the king is on a safe side from the beginning, then a4/h4 is the center.

I often use moves like a2-a4 or h2-h4 (for white), even though I am not really sure about their value ... the pawns are taking some squares from the opponents pieces and they can make the edges of the board a bit less trespassable ... but maybe it just makes me look like I am the active player and that's all :-). Is there anyone else doing these movements ?

I think that both for white and black the fianchetto opening b3/b6 is very good, because this way they fianchetto the bishop that is on the opposite colour squares from the queen, while the same-coloured bishop can be later used to attack the point h7 (h2) together with the queen (thus this bishop enters the game through the center after e3 (e6)).
Overall, I think the h7 (h2) square becomes a big weakness in cylinder chess, a bit similar to c7 (c2) in standard, for instance. I often attack it with a knight too, after Nh3 followed by Ng5 or Na5.

I posted nine of them with a two day time limit. Play one game color your choice, or two games of each color. Good luck.

promoting your last pawn would be a suicide move. In Atomic, you cannot explode your own king, so I wonder if you can extinguish yourself in extinction.

Anyway, it is very improbable to happen!

RamblinMan:
Yes, the loss of the Queen does end the game. She is the only one of her kind. I won a game this afternoon by capturing my opponents Queen. The rules should say King, Queen, Two knights, etc., etc. I hope this helps.

you got it, Ramblin. The only possible downside to promotion is by promoting your last pawn, you'd lose the game. I've seen a few cases where selective promotion has won games for people, some to Qs, some to other pieces that were "endangered." Honestly, though, promotion doesn't happen nearly as often as regular chess.

But both of your questions are spot on. 2 kings is no different than 2 queens.

In the rules of this game it clearly says The player who captures all opponent's pieces of one kind, i.e. all eight pawns, both knights etc., wins the game. and it also says It is also possible to capture the opponent's king (and that finishes the game immediately since the king is the only piece of its kind). but I am guessing that the loss of a Queen would end the game as well, it being the only one of it's kind. so I would think it should be protected as much as the King. and I wonder as well if I promoted a pawn to Queen would give me two and loosing one would not end the Game If the same would be true of a King. promoting a pawn to a King would Give me two and I could then still loose one and not loose the Game?

Extinction Chess
This game (by the way, great invention of Mr. R. Wayne Schmittberger) follows the same rules as the standard Chess (starting position and piece movement) with these differences:

There is no check or checkmate.
The player who captures all opponent's pieces of one kind, i.e. all eight pawns, both knights etc., wins the game.
It is also possible to capture the opponent's king (and that finishes the game immediately since the king is the only piece of its kind). Because there is no check, a king can move to a square which is attacked by an opponent's piece or make a castling through such square.
Pawns can be promoted to any piece including a king. However, if the player promotes his/her last pawn, loses the game because he/she loses all pieces of one kind - pawns.

This is a valid point. I have never come across. and doubt I shall. But I don't see why this is not acceptable as with any other promotion.

Fencer, could you explain why this is not acceptable?

as i noticed in my games it seems clear to me that you should take care of following in amazon chess:

1) weak points h3/h6 in flank openings
In flank openings (kings fianchetto; kings indian and so on) it is obviously that the classical battery of Bishop e3+Amazon d2 deadly points to point h6 (and black vice versa). i won some games with this strategy.

2) weak pawns h3/h6
i think you must take care with moves as h2-h3 or h7-h6. in classical castling positon a sacrifice of a bishop/knight and then the upcoming amazon often leads to the single mate by the amazon (as we discussed)

3) exchanging the amazons
exchanging the amazons leads to a "normal" chess, and then the stronger chess player is in advantage. in my opinion weaker chess players should not exchange the amazons in general. one example is one game form me against chessik - i think my opponent made a mistake to exchange the amazons.

4) get out the amazons in the opening
in chess there is a rule in opening - do not let out your queen fast! i think in amazon you cannot say that belonging to the amazon, because the amazon can threat much more than a normal queen.

ahhhhh, the chestnut surfaces again ... Fencer has already spoken on this elsewhere and is strongly against automoves ... so unless he has a significant change of heart it will not be happening.

i think it would be very usefull for antichess to implant conditional moves;because there are often compulsory series of moves,so games could be played quicker

Fortunately two bishops can mate.
Sadly bishop+knight can't.

Also there is no bad corner color bishop, in k+p/k endgames no difference between a/h and other pawns, no chance to draw in kq/kp :-)

All normal chess rules apply.

Ugh, learn something new about the rules everyday.

In a game, I already have my opponenet checked 2 times, with just 1 more check needed to win the game.

My opponenet just put me in check for the first time, and even though I can move my bishop and put my opponent in check for the 3rd time and win the game (like the rules say), I have to instead get my king out of check. (Which will allow my opponenet to probable now get 3 checks on me)

Are these rules correct?

2004 Second Quarter Open Number 2 Dark Chess
http://brainking.com/game/Tournaments?tri=11081#3

I have won the tournament. The last game ended with the King getting draped and had lots of trouble going on during it.
>http://brainking.com/game/ArchivedGame?g=528354


Thank you to all the entered and played. Thanks for a good match Mely.

As I was knocked out of it a few weeks back, I sent Fencer the money for the winning prize of a year's Rook membership. Today Fencer sent me a message that he'd received the money and took it to the bank. The first round is just about over and the section winners will be playing it off shortly. I'll post their names when it's happening. Good luck to all that are still in.

Congratulations to Matarilevich, he swept our section and will be playing for the championship. He is also the first person to knock me out of a tournament as I've won every other Dark Chess tournament that I've entered here or on It's Your Turn. You guys in the other section will have your hands full playing him for the prize and championship. I look forward to checking out the games.
Current standings are here:
http://brainking.com/game/Tournaments?tri=14869

Since I'm eliminated, the prize is a full year Rook membership. Good luck to all that are left.

It should be fixed now.

Then I recommend to play it unfixed. I still have no time for it.

the fellowship fomento-beraun club needs to players for its anti chess team! newcomers are welcome! tycho and i started to play this game now! :-)

Just a reminder that you need to fix my game. It times out tomorrow.

I would like to play in the upcoming anti-chess tournament. Anyone looking for a (rusty, but at one time decent) player for their team?

yah... i cant believe that i got into that position twice :-)

LOL!

The k/r vs. k ending seems to be a speciality of chessFriendJosh : http://brainking.com/game/ArchivedGame?g=490665

In my game against FriendJosh an endgame king+Rook-King occured. My opponent in my opinion defended correctly, staying with his king in the "centre" of "lefr/right" side of the board.

i think mate is possible with correct zugzwang..but not sure..

I'll fix it soon.

I did. Number 186. Can you also fix the game, or do I need to play on down a pawn?

mating with queen is possible. you have to prevent the king going out over the edge. but i think, it makes the time to mate only longer. until the opponent's king is not at the last or first horizontal line he can escape one line back at the other side, ok.

I take that back. You can edge the king over on the back rank with the queen until he's close enough to the king to force mate. I think.

LOL. because no force to the edge. I'm not convinced a king queen vs king is a forced win either for that matter.

and three ..:-)?

but 2 rooks shoud win ;-)

I have had an ending with king/rook (me) vs king and it was only draw :-(

slowly i am getting the feeling of the threatments of bishops over the edge, but not the pawns, yes, i often forget it! by the way: what about endgames in cylinder chess? can a queen only mate (suppose yes), rook (suppose no).

i miss that more than anything, the old pawn protection from edge to edge. :)

oh, of course, you are right!

since you moved already I think 18...Ba6 was best.