), and is an interesting version of Chess:
It seems we will soon (in a month or so?) have an engine tourney for it. So if anyone would want to build an engine for it, now would be a good time! (And we are not very picky. If you want to clone Ippolit for it, that is OK with me!
)The rules are quite simple: the 'Queen' moves one step diagonally, the 'Bishops' move one step diagonally or straight ahead ('Silver General'). Promotion happens on the 6th rank (3rd for black), and promotion is always to the (pretty worthless) 'Queen'. Pawns start on 3rd rank, hence no initial double push, and no e.p. capture. Also no castling. The rest is as in Chess.
The 50-move rule is replaced by a 64 move rule for most of the game, but gets shortened (drastically) after all Pawns have been captured in a way depending on the remaining material. We probably won't use the latter rule in the tournament, and it is not clear to me if it plays an important role in the game. (It seems easy to dodge it by taking care the winning side would not squander all its Pawns, just like in Chess it is also not very prudent to lose your own last Pawn when you are in the lead.)
