EGTB value

[Gerard Taille]

Yes you are completly correct; I will not bet with you on this point. As you know a capture move is a mandatory move in draughts....

Hello Gerard,

I was all set to refute this statement abouut the mandatory capture but then I noticed that it seems as if the huffing rule has indeed fallen out of favour.

Sigh.

Wouldn't the retention of that rule (huffing) make the game more interesting? I mean, why shouldn't I be able to sacrifice a piece and move if I deem that the best move as I could (not the move though) in chess?

Later.

Hello Roger,

Huffing rule is a very well-known and very old rule indeed because it officially disappeared in 1923! It was in fact a strange rule which would normally have no effect of the game itself because it was a rule to handle an illegal move. This rule covered the case where one of the player “forget” to make a mandatory capture and instead make a move which is, as a consequence, considered illegal.
In order to transpose this rule in the chess world it could look like this:
If a player plays an illegal move (for example Ng3 in the starting position) the opponent have three possible choices:
1) He can accept the illegal move as it stands (to cover the case where none of the players detects the illegal move)
2) He can force the opponent to play instead a legal move using if possible the concerned piece
3) Or (huffing rule) he can remove the concerned piece from the board!!!

Do you think such rule may make the chess game more interesting? Perhaps it could be funny between beginners but for the chess game itself I do not see any real influence. Winning a game by using the huffing rule looks like an unfair way of winning and looks like a stolen win.

[Roger Brown]

Hello Roger,

Huffing rule is a very well-known and very old rule indeed because it officially disappeared in 1923!

Hello Gerard,

Serves me right for intervening in a thread in the programming sub-forum! I am not a young man but I can assure you that I have played games after that date with huffing! Then again, the people I played with would not have paid extensive attention to rules the rest of the world deemed unfair or not. The aim was to win at all costs.

Bloodthirsty lot I played with back then....

It was in fact a strange rule which would normally have no effect of the game itself because it was a rule to handle an illegal move. This rule covered the case where one of the player “forget” to make a mandatory capture and instead make a move which is, as a consequence, considered illegal.
In order to transpose this rule in the chess world it could look like this:
If a player plays an illegal move (for example Ng3 in the starting position) the opponent have three possible choices:
1) He can accept the illegal move as it stands (to cover the case where none of the players detects the illegal move)
2) He can force the opponent to play instead a legal move using if possible the concerned piece
3) Or (huffing rule) he can remove the concerned piece from the board!!!

Thanks for this exposition. I appreciate it. So does this mean if I play a modern checkers program that it will not allow me to deliberately miss a capture?

Do you think such rule may make the chess game more interesting? Perhaps it could be funny between beginners but for the chess game itself I do not see any real influence. Winning a game by using the huffing rule looks like an unfair way of winning and looks like a stolen win.

A stolen win? What an idea!



Yes, I think it would make the game more interesting. Swindles, cons and psychology are a well established part of chess. Why not draughts?

Anyway, you have been gracious with my interlude. Thanks for your responses. Now to return the thread to the technical discussion of egtb's....

Later.