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Variant Proof Games Problems in all sorts of Chess Variants from Alice to Zvolen (Plus proof games in Checkers, Othello and even Noughts and Crosses!) Position after Black's 7th move. Game Score? Hostage Chess. * Revised Version * Incorporating comments from readers at both the Retro Corner ([email protected]) and Julia’s Fairies (www.juliasfariries.com ). Several corrections have been made to the first version. Cooked problems that will be deleted (or replaced with corrections in the next edition) are shown in red – they are left in for the moment to maintain consistency of the problem numbers with the original edition. My special thanks to Paul Raican for his extensive cook-finding and general editing Diagrams in this book are printed using the "1echecs" chess font, available from Christian Poisson at christian.poisson.free.fr/problemesis Introduction One of my favourite chess problems of all time is shown in (i). This is the problem I use to try to convert over-the-board players to the world of chess problems. I set up the game-array position, and play 1 e4 e6; 2 Bb5 c6; 3 Bxc6 dxc6. Then I explain to the players that I had seen this position in a junior game, and told the young man playing White “That’s not much good - you’ve lost your Bishop after only three moves”. "No, four moves" came the reply. “We’ve played four moves each”. How did that happen? How can each side lose a move to arrive at this diagram after four moves each? (i) Tibor Orbán Comm, Die Schwalbe, 1976 After Black's 4th. Game score? A tip for those of you who are new to problems - don’t try to work out a sequence of moves just yet; try a little lateral thinking first. Black has made four moves. The Pawns c6, e6 have made one move each, one of which may (or may not) have involved a capture. That leaves two moves unaccounted for. No other black unit is dislodged, so either the missing Pawn made two moves (and hence was captured on the 4th or 5th rank), or one of the black pieces has moved twice - out and back. A striking feature of this problem is that, whilst the game-score for the position after three moves has duals (the moves e6 and c6 could have been played in either order), the four-move solution is unique; each move must be made in precisely the right sequence. It is this latter quality that distinguishes the “Proof Game”; the required solution is unique, albeit not necessarily the shortest needed to reach the diagrammed position. This must be reached in precisely the number of moves specified, not fewer. The concept of Proof Games as chess problems goes back a long way, but it was only in the 1980s that they really took off as an art form in their own right, rather than a collection of curiosities. The concept was formalised in 1991 with the publication of the definitive work, "Shortest Proof Games" by two experts in the field, Gert Wilts and Andrei Frolkin. In that work they only dealt with orthodox proof games, however. As they explain in the introduction, "We felt, though, that fairy SPGs (currently in embryonic state) ought not to be included". 'Embryonic state' was a quite reasonable description at the time. During my researches for this book, the earliest Variant Proof Game (VPG) I discovered was composed as late as 1981, and I could only find seven examples published during the 1980s. However, towards the end of the century the concept really took off, with more and more appearing in magazines across the world, and VPGs started to appear as composing tourney themes at weekend problem conventions. This culminated in feenschach using VPGs as the theme for their jubilee informal tourney in 1999, as witnessed by the number of problems in this book showing "fs 1999" as the source. Although this type of problem continues to increase in popularity, becoming a regular topic for theme tourneys and quick-composing competitions, there is little danger of the field becoming exhausted for a long time yet. There are over 1,400 listings in the Encyclopaedia of Chess Variants, so there is plenty of scope for innovation - even in the "established" genres. This book contains all of the problems I managed to uncover in my researches up to the turn of the century, plus the ones I have come across since then (without exhaustive research, just from the magazines I receive and problems posted in the Retros Corner on the internet). The problems in the book are generally sequenced by main variant type, then sub- variants, and then by number of moves - the shorter problems first. There are occasional exceptions where I have been able to bulk-load the results of a theme tourney; these are in the usual sequence of awards. I apologise for the mixed styles. When I started this book I used semicolons to delimit the moves – 1 e4 e5; 2 Sf3 etc., and set the stipulations at “After White’s 6th”. I later discovered the rest of the world were using 1.e3 e4 2.Sf3, and “PG 5.5”. I initially reformatted these to match the initial diagrams, but the sheer volume caught up with me, and I decided to add them to the collection in the original format. Hence the mix of styles in this book. Also, problemists will note a lot of unfamiliar variants, with just two or three simple problems by myself listed. This is because, when I used to write a regular column for Variant Chess, the editor kindly notified me beforehand of any new variants that were going to be featured in any issue, and I tried to compose a couple of proof games in my column to supplement the main article. Hopefully some composers will latch on them and compose some more weighty examples in these variants. This is just Volume 1 of the book; I shall continue to collect VPGs as they appear, and if there is enough interest, eventually publish the sequel. So all readers are invited to fill any gaps in my knowledge; please let me know of any VPGs that I have missed (and also tell me if I have got anything wrong in this volume). Please email details with position in Forsyth and solution in any language except Cyrillic – I have software that converts (eg) RDTFCP or KDTLSB to KQRBSP With thanks to all who have helped me in my research, and to the composers for all the enjoyment, mental stimulation and downright frustration they have given me over the years with these problems. Peter Fayers email: [email protected] Solution to problem (i): 1 e4 e6; 2 Bb5 Ke7!; 3 Bxd7 c6; 4 Be8 Kxe8 Abbreviations Magazines DS Die Schwalbe (Germany) Qz Quartz (Romania) Es Eteroscacco (Italy) fs feenschach (Germany) Pk Problemkiste (Germany) Pb Probleemblad (Holland) Px Phénix (France) PP Problem Paradise (Japan) tP The Problemist (UK) tPS The Problemist Supplement (UK) Mat Mat (France) RM Rex Multiplex (France) dg diagrammes (France) PeM Pat et Mat (France) VC Variant Chess (UK) Ps Problemesis (Internet) SG StrateGems (USA) TD Thema Danicum (Denmark) Sp Springaren (Sweden) BCM British Chess Magazine (UK) Regular Meetings / Conventions And. Andernach, Germany Nun. Nunspeet, Holland Mes. Messigny, France PCCC Permanent Committee for Chess Composition. Locations vary. Websites AB Alain Brobecker abrobecker.free.fr JF Julia’s Fairies juliasfairies.com Stipulations RI Rex Inclusive. The stipulation also applies to the Kings. * REVISED VERSION * .............................. 1 MARINE PIECES ...................................... 63 ULTRAMARINE CHESS ............................ 63 INTRODUCTION ...................................... 2 CHIMAERA CHESS .................................. 63 ABBREVIATIONS ...................................... 4 FAST CHESS ............................................ 64 ACTUATED REVOLVING CENTRE ..... 7 FASTER BEROLINA ................................. 64 ALICE ......................................................... 7 FAST GLASGOW ..................................... 64 ANDERNACH ............................................ 9 FISCHER RANDOM CHESS ................. 65 ANTI-ANDERNACH ................................ 16 FOLLOW-MY-LEADER ......................... 65 ANNAN ...................................................... 17 DOUBLE-FOLLOW-MY-LEADER ............. 66 AUGSBURG ............................................. 19 FULL BELT CHESS ................................ 66 ICEBERG................................................. 20 GRID CHESS ............................................ 67 AVALANCHE .......................................... 20 GRIDIRON ............................................... 68 BACKHOME ............................................ 21 HAANER CHESS ..................................... 69 BACK-TO-BACK ..................................... 21 HAUNTED CHESS .................................. 70 BANANA SKIN CHESS .......................... 22 HEFFALUMPS AND WOOZLES .......... 71 BERKELEY CHESS ................................ 22 HIGHCASTLE .......................................... 72 BRUNNER CHESS .................................. 23 HYPERVOLAGE ..................................... 73 CHAMAELEON CHESS ......................... 23 IMMUN CHESS ....................................... 73 CIRCE ....................................................... 24 JAPANESE PIECES ................................ 74 ANDERNACH-CIRCE ............................... 29 JUMP CHESS .......................................... 74 ANTICIRCE ............................................ 29 KNIGHTMATE ........................................ 74 ANTIPODEAN CIRCE ............................... 31 ASSASSIN CIRCE .................................... 31 KÖKO .......................................................