agChess -- an agressive chess variant

[wlod]

Name agChess stands for agressive chess. Instead of a standard move you may choose to capture your own piece (different from king) like it were a piece of your opponent. Otherwise everything is as in the classical chess.

Obviously, when in check then you may make a classical move only (or you're check mated), because capturing your own piece would not protect your king.

Enjoy,

• Wlod

[wlod]

A stronger player may give odds by playing according to the classical rules while the opponent is allowed to play according to the more liberal agChess rules.

This is an example of a general idea of interesting handicap or asymmetrical games.

Regards,

• Wlod

[hgm]

Obviously, when in check then you may make a classical move only (or you're check mated), because capturing your own piece would not protect your king.

I don't understand that. Seems to me it would if you captured that piece with the King...

[D]4k3/8/8/8/8/8/1R3PPP/r5K1 w - - 0 1

Kxh2 would be of big help here! So is it allowed or not?

In fact this seems about the only situation in which I would consider capturing my own pieces. So in practical play, the new rule might not cause any difference whatsoever.

If you want to have a more aggressive game, try Berolina Chess. There the Pawns move diagonal and capture straight ahead, so you could start with 1. a2-b3 to bring your Rook into play! (or 1. a2-c4; Pawns are still allowed a double move from second rank, like in normal Chess.)

[Ovyron]

I used to play this with crazyhouse, you could capture your own pieces and then drop them on the board.

[wlod]

Obviously, when in check then you may make a classical move only (or you're check mated), because capturing your own piece would not protect your king.

I don't understand that. Seems to me it would if you captured that piece with the King...

You're right. I made an ad hoc improvised and very wrong remark. Of course, when in check then, as you show, capturing your own piece with your king may be the way to get out of the check (while capturing your own piece with any other piece would not help). I should be more careful (and get more sleep, and take care of my diet, etc ).

Thank you very much, regards,

• Wlod

[wlod]

I used to play this with crazyhouse, you could capture your own pieces and then drop them on the board.

Wow! I didn't know it. Mixing different variants may be fun, while superimposing them seems to me too much. My taste is for seemingly minimal deviations from the classical chess (or else it's not really a variant anymore). When a change is modest then it's interesting to compare such a variant with the classical chess. Some elements of the classical strategy are still preserved or partially preserved while some endings are drastically different hence affecting the game also strategically.

AgChess opens up an entire new field of chess combinations, and is very different from the classical chess in the endgame phase (for the well balanced endings).

Regards,

• Wlod

[hgm]

A few months ago we had a Knightmate tournament between 5 engines, and I found that very interesting, because Knightmate is just about what you describe. Mostly normal Chess, but yet the few differences had a very profound effect on strategy, altering the character of the game.


We are going to try something similar soon with Nightrider Chess (where the Knights moves as sliders). I still have to adapt my stronger engine to play that game, though; was a bit occupied by making the new WinBoard_F release and trying Falcon Chess with Fairy-Max.

[Tony Thomas]

I have a question about Night rider Chess. If I read the description correctly, a Knight can move as a Knight, it can also move like a rook and a bishop. So in Nightrider chess, a Night/nightrider is a more valuable piece than a queen?? I try to google Nightrider chess, but the descriptions I got were too confusing.

[hgm]

No, the piece you describe (Q+N) is known as Amazon. It is indeed worth a lot more than a Queen. In fact, a preliminary measurement showed it to be exactly wrth as much as a queen plus a Knight (1250 cP). There is apparently little synergy between the Queen and Knight moves.

A Nightrider is a Knight that can make more steps in the same direction (until it encounters something). So a Nightrider on b2 could go to c4 (like N), but also to d6 (ic c4 was empty) and e8 (if c4 and d6 were empty). A Nightrider is to a Knight what a Queen is to a King. It is worth about half a Pawn more than a Rook.

In Nightrider Chess, the Knights are replaced by Nightriders. I did not find any description of this variant too, not even on chessvariants.com but Dabbaba seems to play it (it knows all kinds of variants with altered Knights). The Nightrider is a piece that quite often appears in fairy checkmate problems, though, which makes it one of the best-known common fairy pieces.

[Jim Ablett]

I have a question about Night rider Chess. If I read the description correctly, a Knight can move as a Knight, it can also move like a rook and a bishop. So in Nightrider chess, a Night/nightrider is a more valuable piece than a queen?? I try to google Nightrider chess, but the descriptions I got were too confusing.

Hi Tony,

The Knightrider moves exactly like standard knight, but can, (as long as it lands on no other occupied square, except when capturing) go from one edge of the board to the other (slider+leaper) in one move. It's piece value is around 600. Dabbaba values it at 625, so worth a bit more than a rook.

Jim.