Chess 448
PHILIDOR
H. Kluver and Dr K. Fabel (Fairy Chess Review, 1947). Losing Chess (see article for rules); White to play and 'win'; solution next week.
Solution to no. 447 (Westbury): Q - Kt 4, threat Q x R.1...R x P;2B-K 5.1...R-B3ch; 2B-B2.I...R-K 3;2 B-K4.I...R-Q 4;
2 Kt-K 4.1 4; 2 Q x QP.1 B-B1; 2 P-K 8 3;2 Kt x P. Superb problem with a splendid set of mates.
The wilder shores of chess
The game of chess has not always been as it is now; only the rook and the knight retain their original move. The biggest - but by no means the only - change was that of the Queen's move, made at the end of the fifteenth century; from being one of the weakest pieces - a single step diagonally was all it could make - the queen became the most powerful piece of all. The new ganse was known in French as 'aches de la dame enragee' and in a generation the mad queen's game had eliminated the old form.
So there is nothing sacred in our present rules. The current game seems to be difficult enough to resist complete mastery even by the greatest professional players and 1 don't myself think that further change is likely in the foreseeable future; if there were to be a change, the most natural one would be to make stalemate a win instead of a draw - this would mean that a large number of endgames now drawn would become wins and the percentage of drawn games be noticeably reduced. Another - but less likely change - is that if it finally becomes felt either that opening theory has been exhausted or that it has become too dominant, the initial arrangement of the pieces on the back rank might be varied (e.g. decided by chance at the beginning of each game).
But even if no change is likely in tournament play, that is no argument against experimenting with changes in other contexts. In the game, there are many varieties which it is amusing to play. To quote some of the beet; there is Progressive Chess - White has one move, then Black two, White three ... and so on with a series of moves ending if you give check and with mate as in the ordinary game. Thus; White I P - K 4, Black 1 ... P - K 4, Kt - K B 3? (a blunder); White 2B - B 4, Q- R 5, Q x BP mate. Then there is four- handed chess, with an 8 x 8 board with four 2 x 8 flaps round the edge; or losing chess in which you must capture if you can, the king is taken like any other piece and you win if you can lose all your men.
A more significant area is that of chess prob- lems; here special pieces, rules and tasks can greatly increase the range of the problem. An admirable review of the field is given in A Guide to Fairy Chess (Fairy Chess is the rather un- appetising name given to unorthodox forms of the game or problem) by Anthony Dick ins; the first edition was sold out but a new one is now ready and is obtainable from A. S. M. Dickins (31 Burlington Avenue, Richmond. Surrey). Anyone with more than the most casual inter- est in chess problems should enjoy this book, which deals comprehensively and systematically with an enormous range of problem types. This week's problem from Mr. Dickins's book inks the unorthodox forms of play and problem; It is of about the same diffictilty as the average Iwo-mover.
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