Chess Variant Based on Incomplete Information

[Phinnaeus Gage]

<Only practical for online>

Played exactly the same as a standard chess game.

The middle two rows (let's call it a "Wall") are only seen by each individual player. When a player places a piece on any of those 16 squares, their opponent doesn't know for certain which square it occupies.

Also, each player can either select 4 more squares (two on each side of the "Wall") or make one (only) of their men (sans the King & Queen) invisible.

We can call it Stealth Chess (or Cloak Chess).

Are there any programmers here among us that can program such? Is it programmable? Is it practical? What do you think of the name? Has anybody seen my goat?

[greyhawk]

How are you going to deal with checks?

[Phinnaeus Gage]

How are you going to deal with checks?

The opponent is only able to make a legal move to move out of check as always even though he may not know with 100% certainty how he was put in check, nor know what the threat level is.

Speaking of threat level (just thought of this), there could be a scale of 1-10 of what the threat level is when placed in check. Or, only show the threat level after a stealth move is completed. Or both.

Can you imagine the strength of a stealth piece on any of those middle 16 squares?

Another option is that once on the "Wall" (may need a better term), on a subsequent turn a player can move his piece to any of the other 15 middle squares.

What do you think of the name Cloak Chess?

[greyhawk]

I think it's interesting. You could rebrand the whole thing under a hacker motif, call it "Infowars" or something.

Rename the pieces as such:

King - Server
Queen - Admin
Rook - root
Knight - onion (see what I did there? Onion Knight  )
Bishop - SQL-Injection
Pawn -  ping


One could introduce a new token that each player is allowed to move instead of a regular piece each turn that would allow him to see what is on the field the token is currently at.

Or sacrifice a pawn/ping to reveal the whole board for a turn or two.

[jackjack]

Bishop - SQL-Injection

A bit too long for a piece name

[greyhawk]

Bishop - SQL-Injection

A bit too long for a piece name

Yeah, but I thought "Injector" was a bit too sexual for a game.

[jackjack]

Bishop - SQL-Injection

A bit too long for a piece name

Yeah, but I thought "Injector" was a bit too sexual for a game.

Not too sexual for a Gage game

[Phinnaeus Gage]

I think it's interesting. You could rebrand the whole thing under a hacker motif, call it "Infowars" or something.

Rename the pieces as such:

King - Server
Queen - Admin
Rook - root
Knight - onion (see what I did there? Onion Knight  )
Bishop - SQL-Injection
Pawn -  ping


One could introduce a new token that each player is allowed to move instead of a regular piece each turn that would allow him to see what is on the field the token is currently at.

Or sacrifice a pawn/ping to reveal the whole board for a turn or two.

Has possibilities.

Bishop - SQ**L or SQ*(*)L* where * = vowels/valves.

Sacrifice a ping to ping a maximum 16s reveal, based on one second for each piece still in play. The opponent decides which pawn will be sacrificed.

A rare move when this variant is played correctly, but available nonetheless.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

I love playing "wild" versions of chess.

Bobby was highly into always making the back row random. Good fun really.

However I think hard core chess guys who enjoy a wild would get a kick out of it, but it would not be taken too seriously. None of them are other than maybe bughouse.

Also it is not only for online play, but could very well be done blind. (assuming you trust the guy you play with!)

Blind chess however is not a skill you just have, takes a bit of work.

Thanks for the mind experiment Gage, been a while since I have thought along these lines.

And that, my friends, is how you preform foreplay with a goat. 

Seriously, thanks for the complement, Goat.

As far as it not taken too seriously, perhaps if bitcoins were injected into the mix in some fashion the variant could obtain a critical mass of cult followers. Cloak Chess Cult comes to mind for some odd reason.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

I love playing "wild" versions of chess.

Bobby was highly into always making the back row random. Good fun really.

However I think hard core chess guys who enjoy a wild would get a kick out of it, but it would not be taken too seriously. None of them are other than maybe bughouse.

Also it is not only for online play, but could very well be done blind. (assuming you trust the guy you play with!)

Blind chess however is not a skill you just have, takes a bit of work.

Thanks for the mind experiment Gage, been a while since I have thought along these lines.

And that, my friends, is how you preform foreplay with a goat. 

Seriously, thanks for the complement, Goat.

As far as it not taken too seriously, perhaps if bitcoins were injected into the mix in some fashion the variant could obtain a critical mass of cult followers. Cloak Chess Cult comes to mind for some odd reason.

for this sort of thing to take off at all you will have to target the hard core chess nerds who like "wilds". (I am one)

it is just too, for the lack of a better word, wild to be played by any one other than the hard core. the average person will get frustrated and give up after 1/2 a game.

You being a "wild" player (I just learnt such exist from you), is it safe to assume that you've never came across a similar variant, i.e. one that incorporates only a partial board to opponents?

[greyhawk]

I made a mistake when naming the queen, she should be called proxy. This is important.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

I made a mistake when naming the queen, she should be called proxy. This is important.

Dude, I already did the engraving. Now I have to start all over again. No pings for you for one year.

And shouldn't it be Proxie oppose to Proxy?

[Phinnaeus Gage]

Bishop ~ SQL ~ Squall ~ Sudden violent winds; often accompanied by precipitation.

The verb becomes a noun.

[greyhawk]

Bishop ~ SQL ~ Squall ~ Sudden violent winds; often accompanied by precipitation.

The verb becomes a noun.

I was more playing at the correlation between how an SQL Injection works and the "sidestepping" the bishop does.

But i found the perfect way to express this.

SQVL

[Phinnaeus Gage]

Bishop ~ SQL ~ Squall ~ Sudden violent winds; often accompanied by precipitation.

The verb becomes a noun.

I was more playing at the correlation between how an SQL Injection works and the "sidestepping" the bishop does.

But i found the perfect way to express this.

SQVL

Pronounced...?

[greyhawk]

Bishop ~ SQL ~ Squall ~ Sudden violent winds; often accompanied by precipitation.

The verb becomes a noun.

I was more playing at the correlation between how an SQL Injection works and the "sidestepping" the bishop does.

But i found the perfect way to express this.

SQVL

Pronounced...?

Squeevil. 

[Phinnaeus Gage]

Bishop ~ SQL ~ Squall ~ Sudden violent winds; often accompanied by precipitation.

The verb becomes a noun.

I was more playing at the correlation between how an SQL Injection works and the "sidestepping" the bishop does.

But i found the perfect way to express this.

SQVL

Pronounced...?

Squeevil. 

Such a fruit-bearing woman! I like it!

[Runescape]

Cool idea.