MatsW

Did you know that there are still very many chessplayers who refuse to
follow the en passant rule. If you visit town parks in Spain,
for instance, you will encounter groups of chessplayers that still
play with chess rules from the 17th century. Now, that's conservatism!

It is a question of human psychology. What these people were taught as
young can never be altered. The rules which daddy taught them count as
the absolute truth. Modern chess would be much inferior without the
en passant rule, which prevents the defending party from
locking the position, and also prevents a player from creating a
passed pawn, thus changing an inferior pawn chain into a superior.

Of course, many Fide-chess players are equally disposed. They simply
cannot question what they were taught as young. Can there still be
alterations made to the chess rules? Of course, there is no reason to
believe that history ends at this point. An obvious and irritating
quality of orthochess is the drawishness of practical endgames.
Comparatively, this problem does not exist in Chinese Chess.

One might, for instance, study what happens if we introduce a swapping
rule that allows a pawn, that has reached the seventh rank, to change
place with an enemy piece standing before it, except the enemy king,
as proposed in my Reformed Chess.



In the diagram, which portrays a normally drawn endgame, white wins by
swapping with the rook at a8, and promoting to queen. This little
extra pawn capacity, acquired at the seventh rank, will not have any
other side-effects. The only consequence is that the move will
increase, dramatically, the number of won endgames. Wins are achieved
in situations which are normally drawn, when an enemy knight, bishop,
rook, or queen, blocks the pawn on the last rank. Of course, the
defender can remedy the situation by controlling the promotion square
with one extra piece, or placing the king in front of the pawn (while
the king cannot be swapped).

In this way, it makes sense to play practical endgames again. Today,
you must notoriously concede to draw after having fought with a
strategical initiative in the whole game. But with proposals such
as these, it is hopefully possible to change the drawish quality of
endgames.
/Mats

Just2Good

Really?

__________________
.
"The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing."

~ Isaiah Berlin ~

MatsW

I have created an online program (in Game Courier) that plays Reformed
Chess. One can move by pointing and clicking. Also the new swap move
is automated. The preset, at each move, generates an email to the
opponent's address. But one can also play directly by intermittently
clicking the browser's update button. The opponent's move is visible
in the diagram.

Reformed Chess (an online program for playing)

/Mats

MatsW

Another alternative is to introduce an oblique pawn move to an
empty square, if the pawn is blocked on the seventh rank, as
proposed in my Improved Chess article.



If its forward movement is blocked on the seventh rank (alternatively,
beyond the fifth) the improved Pawn can move to empty squares
east-north-east and west-north-west. Of course, this would mean that
non-trivial endgames K + P vs K are all won. Below is a link to an email
preset for those who want to test it.

Improved Chess (an online program for playing)

Mats

Igor Goldenberg

I personally don't feel that chess has to be "improved", it's challenging and complicated as it is.

__________________
For private coaching email IgorGoldenberg@bluebottle.com
Computer tells you what to play, a good coach explains why.

The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.
H. L. Mencken