CHESS GAMES BY CHRISTIAAN FREELING (CONGO ⌐ DEMIAN FREELING).
PART 00 - PART 12. THIS IS PART 06.
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General
Chakra was a Chess system I initially rejected because it was too close to Chess and had nothing new to offer. Later, in a Fairy Chess mood with Ed van Zon, we dreamed up the Transmitter. When searching for an environment I came across Chakra which now is the closest I've come to Fairy Chess. My son Demian has beaten me on that one with Congo.
Rules
Diagram 1 shows the board with the pieces in initial position. The choice of pieces has an underlying logic you may try to figure out. This is what it boils down to:
>>> The King moves like the King in Chess.
>>> The Queen moves like the Queen in Chess.
>>> The Samurai combines the moves of King and Rook.
>>> The Monk combines the moves of King and Bishop.
>>> The Ape moves like the Knight in Chess.
>>> The Courtesan moves like the King in Chess, but she has an additional power: whenever a
Courtesan 'sees' her own King along an open rank, file or diagonal, she controls the whole
length of it. This is illustrated in diagrams 2 & 3.
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>>> The pawn moves like the pawn in Chess, except that it cannot capture en passant.
It promotes upon reaching the back-rank to any captured piece, except the Transmitter.
the Transmitter
The Transmitter is a piece consisting of two parts called 'chakras'. A chakra is a piece itself in some respects, but basically it's a square! One may use a square, flat piece with a circle on one side and a square on the other, representing the options of the Knight's move and the King's move respectively. In the diagrams this is represented as a red or a green border respectively. Chakras start out in the Knight's move mode.
>>> A chakra may move, provided it is unoccupied, but cannot capture. Moving a chakra
constitutes a turn. It moves according to which side is up. After the move a chakra may be
reversed as part of the same turn. It is also permitted to reverse a chakra without moving it, at
the cost of a turn.
>>> Any piece, except a chakra, may move onto a vacant chakra as if it were a normal square.
Any piece can capure a piece on a chakra as if it were a normal square.
There are special conditions for the King which will be pointed out. For the moment we'll consider the Transmitter's fundamental property:
>>> Whenever a piece can formally move onto a vacant chakra of its own colour, it may move
onto the other by definition. The second chakra must either be vacant or occupied by an
opponent's piece which, then, is captured.
If a piece occupies a friendly chakra and covers the other, it may 'move' to its starting-square,
or, in other words, the player may pass his turn.
See diagram 4 where the white Ape may capture the pawn, and where the black Ape is in a position that allows black to pass his turn by 'moving' via f4 back to g6.
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Apart from its ability to move, a chakra is a piece in one more respect:
>>> A piece may move onto, but not over an opponent's chakra. Thus a chakra may, for instance,
interpose in case of check, see diagram 5. This ability should not be underestimated. Unlike
other pieces, an interposing chakra cannot, as a rule, be captured (see below).
In every other respect chakras are squares rather than pieces, and a player may move over his
own chakras as if they weren't there. A chakra of either colour doesn't affect the eye-contact
between a King and a Courtesan, although an opponent's chakra of course creates the
obligatory stop mentioned above.
>>> A Transmitter can only be captured by the King. He does so by capturing a vacant chakra. The
Transmitter is one piece in this respect: if one chakra is captured the other one is removed
simultaneously (if the second chakra is occupied, it is removed from under the piece; the
piece itself remains in place). There's one exception to this rule: if a King occupies a friendly
chakra, the opponent's King can neither capture the Transmitter nor move onto the other
chakra.
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In diagrams 6 & 7, if it were black's turn, the King could capture the Transmitter, even when the far chakra were occupied by any piece except the opponent's King. It's supposed to be white's turn, however, and in diagram 6 both Courtesan and Monk cover the chakra on c4. By the Transmitter's property either may therefore move to f7, giving check under the other's cover. If f7 were occupied by a black piece, this piece would at the same time be captured. If c4 were occupied by a black piece, both Courtesan and Monk could capture on c4, but the Transmitter could not be used because the vacancy condition would not be fulfilled.
In diagram 7 c3-f8 is an instant promotion, say a Queen. The King may not capture it, because it is still under the cover of the pawn on c2, which means he would move into check. This is an important implication to realize: a pawn that uses the Transmitter captures the same way it moves!
'Instant promotion', that is: getting a protected or unattacked chakra onto the back rank and the other in front of a pawn, is a key-strategy in Chakra.
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Diagrams 8 to 10 show a sequence of moves illustrating points concerning King and Transmitter. In diagram 8 the black King may capture the pawn. If he does, white's Tc3-e2 shows a King to King check in the only possible way: through the Transmitter (diagram 9). Black must leave the chakra, but precisely in doing so attacks the Transmitter. White can of course move the attacked chakra, but he has also the option Kf1-e2, occupying the other chakra and therewith protecting the Transmitter, see diagram 10.
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Diagram 11 shows an implication of the latter principle: in Chess two Knights and a King cannot checkmate a lone King. But with the help of a Transmitter two Apes can. Whether or not the black King can be manoeuvred into the position of diagram 11 is a question I haven't investigated.
The one important game in this compilation is Grand Chess. Anyone who wrote a good Chess program and has half a mind to modify it into a Grand Chess program and put a demo on the Net on a fifty fifty basis regarding the codes, is welcome to contact me at the following address:
Christiaan Freeling
Pollenbrink 181
7544 AW Enschede
The Netherlands
+31 53 769075
Net: freeling@euronet.nl
All games: ⌐ Christiaan Freeling, except Congo: ⌐ Demian Freeling.
