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NEW CHESS GAME CROWN
There are very much variants of chess game in
our time. But practically all of them have one mutual feature: each player has no secrets
from his/her opponent (except plans in his/her head). If all information about pieces and
their positions of both partners is fully open, a corresponding game can be called game
with (fully) open information. But a chess game (and any game at all) should reflect, or
better to say, imitate real conflict situations, which very rarely take place without
secrets. Therefore it is reasonable to try to invent or to search chess games with a
deficiency of information.
There is a huge class of games with hidden information - card games. As for chess games,
the author knows only two games of such class - Japanese game gunjin shogi (military
shogi) and European game stratego, but these games are mostly hazardous. Basic principles
of proposed here new chess game - a game with not fully open information - are described
below:
1. In the beginning of the game no player has full information about all pieces of his/her
opponent.
2. Each player during all the game has full information about his/her pieces.
3. Shortage of information about opponent's pieces can be eliminated during the game by
moves of own pieces.
4. The hidden information is determined by players only and does not depend from chance,
for example from throwing dice.
5. The game must be like usual (European, international) chess as much as possible (this
point is included in order to make the new game more popular and easy to learn).
6. In spite of shortage of information the game must be logical and not become purely
chance and hazardous.
Taking into consideration all above said the following game is being proposed.
The game can be played with usual chess pieces on a usual board. Initial position is also
the same as in usual chess game. All pieces make their moves in usual way with exception
of queen - this piece moves as king.
In all chess games until now the main purpose is to take a before known main piece (king).
In the game described here the main purpose is to take a piece having the crown, and your
opponent does not know from the beginning of the game which your piece has crown. Only two
pieces can have the crown: either king or queen. Each player before the game must decide
to which piece to give the crown, write down his/her decision and put a paper with the
written note on such place, where an opponent could not read it. Of course the note cannot
be changed during the game. The name of the game is "crown", because one of main
pieces has crown.
But why to make queen to move as king? Why not to let it to move as in usual chess? In the
game "crown" king and queen must be absolutely equal in moves in order your
opponent has difficulty guessing which of your two monarchs has crown. Let us suppose that
queen moves in usual way and has crown. It would be very risky to attack with a crowned
queen! But if you abstain from attacks with your most powerful piece, it is very
suspiciously. On the other hand it is not reasonable if both king and queen in this new
game would move as queen in usual chess, because to beat two such powerful pieces is not
an easy task and game might be very long.
King and queen in crown must be considered as usual pieces, i.e. you may place them under
an attack, because one of them is really a usual one, but your opponent should not know
which one. When one monarch is taken, the player who took it reads a note of his/her
opponent. If the taken monarch has crown, the game is over, of course the winner is the
player who took crowned monarch. If non-crowned monarch is taken the game continues.
The rules of the new game have following differences from usual chess.
1. Both king and queen can castle, because they both are equal, and making castling they
can go through and stand on beaten fields, because they are considered as usual pieces
(see above).
2. Stalemate is defeat on the same reason as in point 1, i.e. victory in crown is possible
either by checkmate, or by stalemate, or, more precisely, there is no difference in crown
between checkmate and stalemate.
3. In chess any pawn on last horizontal turns (promotes) into queen or any other piece
except king. In crown a pawn on last horizontal can turns into any piece including
non-crowned monarch, but also can become new (for this game) piece, which moves as queen
in chess. In crown we call it "generalissimo".
The deficiency of information, inserted into the game "crown", is not much, so
the game does not lose logical nature, but becomes very emotional and thrilling.
Uncertainty, inherent to crown, equals possibilities of players of different power.
All piece symbols in crown are the same as in chess, with exclusion of generalissimo's
symbol. On diagrams generalissimo is represented with a star having 8 long rays, because
generallissimo moves in eight directions on any distance, and in texts this piece is
represented with a letter "G".
In order to illustrate all written above let's consider an example of the game. Whites:
king is crowned; blacks: queen is crowned. In case of castling we show which piece made
castling.
1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. Be2 Nf6
4. d3 Bc5
5. K0-0 K0-0
6. Nc3 Nd4
7. N:d4 B:d4
8. Bg5 h6
9. B:f6 gf
10. D0-0 d6
11. Nd5 Kg7
12. ñ3 Bb6
13. N:b6 cb
14. f4 Be6
15. Rf2 D0-0
16. Rcf1 f5
17. ef B:f5
18. fe Be6
19. ed Rcd8
20. a3 R:d6
21. Dc2 Dc7
22. Bh5 Rd5
23. g4 f5
24. gf B:f5
25. Bf3 B:d3
26. B:d5 B:c2
27. R:f8 K:f8
28. R:f8
Whites won.
By author's opinion to read records of crown games is more interesting than records of
other chess games, because the reader knows what players didn't know: where opponent had
hidden his/her crown. It is as if you became like an inhabitant of Olympus, who could see
secrets unknown to ordinary mortals.
Problems in crown have special feature, if the side to be checkmated has both king and
queen. In a problem, as well in a real game, it must be unknown who has crown - king or
queen. Therefore in any solution we must suppose a most unfavorable variant - remained
monarch has crown. Below is a simple example.
Whites: K e1, N h4, R a6, R b7, blacks: K h8, Q f8. Whites begin and win in 4 moves.
Solution: Ng6 (fork on both monarchs). If one black monarch moves along eighth horizontal,
knight beats other monarch and then whites can win by move Ra8 (if black monarch remains
on eighth horizontal). If blacks in answer to the knight's fork move one monarch to
seventh horizontal, the knight beats unmoved monarch, and rooks beat monarch which moved.
Blacks can maximally delay the game if they in answer to 1. Ng6 make for example move 1.
... Kg8. Then 2. Nxf8 Kh8 3. Ra8 Kg8 4. Ne6 (or Ng6), and whites won.
Specially for English speaking (and especially English-minded) people I would like to
propose a change of two main pieces names: let king be lion and queen - unicorn, because
all English children know nursery rhyme "The lion and the unicorn had battle for the
crown". The king becomes lion, not unicorn, because lion is king of animals. If this
proposal will be accepted, the game itself may be renamed from "crown" to
"lion and unicorn" (or "lion or unicorn?").
It is very
interesting that National State Emblems (coats of arms) of Great Britain and Canada have
following elements: crown, lion and unicorn. Therefore a thought arose to create such
emblem or symbol of the game: on the left and on the right a lion and a unicorn stand,
between them we see a chessboard, and above it – a crown. Here below is an explanation
of concrete shapes selected for elements of the symbol.
First of all let’s remember that lion and unicorn together can be seen not only on the British and Canadian State Emblems. On the ancient gate of Babylon lions and unicorns are depicted. We can meet this couple (lion and unicorn) in Jewish art (especially as religious decorations). Russians also used this motif.
This game was born in Moscow, so I took images of lion and unicorn I saw on facade of one Moscow building. Crown on the game’s symbol must not resemble images for king and queen on chess diagrams. I selected for it a crown in shape of three-tower castle. It has especial chess sense, because castling exists in chess.
The described variant of the game of crown after “death of not crowned monarch” becomes usual chess game. But if you like to battle with "military secret" for both players to the end, you can select from expanded variants of the game of crown. The main principle in all these variants: the player who lost one of his/her monarchs (of course without crown) receives new opportunities for preservation “crown secret”. It creates noble atmosphere in relation to weaker player (in usual chess a similar role plays a recognition of stalemate as a draw). It is possible, that accumulation of game practice will cause desire to make changes and additions in variants described below.
Let's name the 1-st variant "crown-2". Each player receives additional figures, which are in reserve (not on the board) in the beginning. They can enter on the board only after loss of one monarch (naturally, not crowned). These figures will be referred to as stones. Being placed on board, they do not move any more. On appearance all of them are identical (except that they have different colors - white and black). Being on board, the stones can prevent from moving opponent’s figures. The basic purpose of the stones is to create protection against enemy impacts. The number of stones is equaled 3. Though all stones are externally identical, but one of them is “mined”, and the figure which has taken it "is blown up by the mine", i.e. leaves the board together with the stone. Dropping stones to the board is a move. For 1 move it is possible to drop from 1 up to 3 stones. Stones can be used not only for defense, but also for an attack, for example creating obstacles for maneuvers to opponent’s monarch. Stones demand to specify the approach to a stalemate. In simple crown game a stalemate is a loss (defeat). But by entering of stones we create a new kind of a stalemate - when the monarch has no moves because it is closed by the stones (and also possibly blocked by own figures). As such stalemate does not result in moving of the monarch under impact and beating it, this kind of stalemate must be considered as a draw.
Crown-3. In this variant no new figures are introduced, but the lone monarch’s crown can be hidden in any free field of the board. Position of the field in the board is kept secret from the opponent. If during the further game the figure of the opponent stops on this field, the opponent won (a figure should stop instead of cross the field). One’s own figures should not stop on this field, and if it casually will take place, the player, who has broken this rule, loses. If the crown is separated from the monarch and hidden on a field of the board, the monarch becomes a usual figure, and game proceeds even after its capture. If crown is hidden, the victory is reached either by detection of the crown (i.e. the field where it is hidden), or by full destruction of army of the opponent. In principle after such destruction it is necessary to award the victory only when the crown is found, but it is not very interesting, since for this purpose it is required "to comb" the board only, but it is not very interesting, so it may be omitted. However, if game is played with control of time the combing of board after capture all figures of the opponent should be obligatory. When the crown is hidden somewhere on the board, it is convenient to take a picture of an empty chessboard and to designate on it misses, as at the children’s game “sea battle”. At first all fields of the board where stand figures are marked as misses. Then as misses are designated those fields where figures are placed (about hits speech does not go, since hit can be only a single one and when it occurs, game comes to an end). |
Crown-4. The remained monarch bifurcates (divides itself into two) and only one of the pair has the crown. Each member of the pair has only half of the moves, which the "whole" monarch had, so they are called “halves”. One of the members of the pair is to be put on that place where the undivided monarch was, and another one- on a free neighbor square. If there are no free squares, so the bifurcation is impossible. Distribution of moves between the halves can be various. For example, one member goes only along vertical and horizontal lines, and another - only along diagonal lines. Below some possible variants of moves of bifurcated monarch’s halves are showed:
First variant
Second variant
Third variant
In 1st variant the halves cannot be confused, if the arrows, showing moves, are inserted into a square, as shown above. In order not to confuse the halves in 2nd and 3rd variants, explaining designations may be put down near the arrows, for example “L” (left-moving half) and “R” (right-moving half), or “U” (up-moving half) and “D” (down-moving half).
Additional pieces
Many chess players, who got accustomed to play with queen right from the start, feel uneasy and desire to introduce into the crown some powerful piece, which can give opportunity to create strong attacks in openings and in middle games, when there is no queen still.
But simple introduction of a new piece into start position means very big deviation from the initial variant and by my opinion is little interesting.
Therefore I chose following way: firstly, the introduction of new piece is not obligatory; secondly, at the beginning this piece is in reserve (not on the board) and can be dropped to any free square of the board later, on any move. This piece can return to reserve, if it‘ll leave the board, i.e. go away over edge of the board by its legal move. After that it can be dropped again. If this figure is taken it leaves the board “for ever”.
Now let’s choose moves’ rules and name of the piece. It isn't advisable to make this piece long-range (as queen, rook or bishop), because it can appear in any place of the board by dropping, without long-distance moves. Let it can move only on 2 steps (1 step is a transfer onto neighbour square), but in very unusual way. The piece can move in any direction (vertically, horizontally, diagonally) along a straight or broken line. In last case following variants are possible:
The four last variants mean that the piece made 2 steps in opposite directions, i.e. it made a move, but remained in old position! The piece can take in each its step opponent’s pieces and jump over any piece. So the new piece can take 2 pieces in one move and take one piece on neighbour square, remaining in old position!
What is appropriate name for such an unusual piece? I propose paratrooper, tiger or ninja (special Japanese warrior in old times).