Neo-Andernach Chess
The simple rules of the game should certainly give a clear and precise picture of what is happening on the board.
It's been 30 years since Andernach's brilliant idea was conceived, but the concept of the game hasn't been fully understood to this day.
Consider, for example, the following position:
White's last move was Qa4.
The rest of the pieces, including the white king, do not matter and therefore they can be removed from the diagram.
Let's assume that everything you know about Andernach Chess is taken from Wikipedia.
Playing black, we have three options for the development of events:
1. ...Qxa4 and check your king
Second, quite reasonable:
1. ...Qxa4 and our queen does not change color
And thirdly, if we are in doubt about what should happen with the change of color, it is to play somewhere and something else on the board.
Having played a decent number of games of Andernach Chess, with players of different levels, I realized only one thing - that most of them do not understand what they play at all and what Andernach Chess is in general.
This is sad, although the rules of the game are extremely simple - a piece making a capture (except kings) changes color.
Yes, this chess variant was invented for chess problems and it is not quite suitable for an ordinary chess game due to the fact that each player initially has a win-win strategy - not to capture the opponent's pieces.
However, there have been, are and will be attempts to play with such rules.
And this is good.
I will tell you more, if we dig a little into the mechanism of the game itself, we can get an interesting and playable chess variant. But more on that later.
First, let's clarify the situation with the above example.
What is the main rule of chess, chess variants, chess-like games, where the concept of check and checkmate is present (we do not take into account suicidal variants such as antichess and the like)?
This rule is simple > After a player's turn, his king must not be under attack. Otherwise, such a player loses.
This is the constant of check and checkmate games.
Hence we have the following:
1. ...Qxa4 and a check to your king is NOT allowed
1. ...Qxa4 and our queen does not change color - BREAKS THE RULES OF ANDERNACH CHESS
1. ...to play somewhere and something else on the board - CORRECT ANSWER
Why people do not have enough brains to understand such obvious things is not entirely clear.
No one argues, for example, with such a plot:
1.Rc8#
Because 1. ...Rxc8 is NOT allowed - after black's move, their king is still in check, since black's h8 rook MUST change color when captured.
If you think that Andernach Chess is such a joke and perversion about a chess composition, then I will upset you.
This chess variant had and has the potential not only in the form of compositions, but also a full-fledged game.
First, here is a problem for you from Markus Ott and Dirk Borst, compiled in 1994:
16+13. Proof game in 52 single moves (Andernach chess)
Not bad, right? Can you run a retrograde analysis from start to finish?
Here is the solution:
1. b4 a5 2. Bb2 a4 3. Qc1 Ra5 4. Kd1 Rh5 5. Be5 Nf6 6. Qa3 Nd5 7. Kc1 Nf4 8. Kb2 d5 9. Kc3 Qd6 10. Kd4 Qh6 11. Ke3 g6 12. Kf3 Bg4 13. Kg4 Kd7 14. Kf3 Ke6 15. Ke3 Kf5 16. Kd4 e6 17. Kc3 Bb4[=wB] 18. Kb2 Rd8 19. Kc1 Rd6 20. Kd1 Rb6 21. Qc1 c6 22. Ba3 Rb3 23. Ke1 b5 24. Qd1 b4 25. Bc1 a3 26. Beb2 ab2[=wB]
Question: how to prevent an interesting idea from sinking into oblivion due to the fact that it is impossible to fully play according to the rules of Andernach Chess?
Why is it impossible? Because these rules - changing the color of the capturing piece, allow you to refuse to capture at all and, as a result, simply not lose.
However, how can we breathe new life into Andernach Chess? To do this, we will prepare a delicious cocktail of Andernach Chess variants and thus create a full-fledged game that has never been seen before.
You don't have to be afraid. Everything will be simple and good.
What variants of Andernach Chess do we know?
There are only three of them.
1. Andernach - The standard variant described above - the capturing piece changes its color.
Example from Wiki (not to go far):
White wants to capture the black knight on g8.
The result of this operation will look like this:
1. Bxg8
2. Anti-Andernach - the pieces change their color immediately after the move, but keep it in case of capture.
For example:
If White plays 1. e5, then we get the following picture:
If Black decides to capture the pawn on d5, the situation will be different:
It should be noted that in all variants of Andernach Chess, the color change rule does not apply to kings. Thus the white and black kings always remain themselves, whether they make a simple move or make a capture.
3. Super-Andernach - after each move, it doesn't matter if it's a simple move or a capture, the pieces change their color.
For example:
The picture shows the situation after the first move by White and Black 1. e4 e5
Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to Neo-Andernach Chess.
The essence of the game is as follows:
After every black's eighth (16th, 24th, 32nd, etc.) move, the Andernach chess variant changes in the following sequence: Andernach Chess > Anti-Andernach > Super-Andernach > Andernach Chess > Anti -Andernach > Super-Andernach and so on.
In other words, the game starts according to the rules of Andernach Chess, after black's 8th move the game continues according to the rules of Anti-Andernach, after black's 16th move - according to the rules of Super-Andernach, after black's 24th move the game continues again according to the rules of Andernach Chess and so on.
Thus, Neo-Andernach Chess is a synthesis of three variants of Andernach Chess, which cyclically replace each other throughout the game.
Knowing the sequence number of the player's move, we can always know by what rules the game is played at a particular moment.
Important additions that give the game harmony and internal logical content:
1. After a player's turn, his king must not be under attack. Otherwise, that player loses the game.
2. Repeating a position leads to an immediate loss.
3. A stalemate is a loss for a player who is unable to make a move according to the rules.
4. Promotion of a pawn on the last rank follows the rules of standard chess. It promotes into a knight, bishop, rook or queen, and then either changes or does not change its color depending on the rules of the current variant of Andernach Chess.
Based on what we started with, a modest miniature:
White's 32nd move (Andernach rules). Win in 1 move.
Just don't say that you thought about 32. Bxg7
Correct, of course, 32. Bf6#
Another example that can be applied to any Neo-Andernach Chess cycle:
White wins in one move, provided that both White and Black play the same variant of Andernach Chess.
Solutions:
Andernach - Bf6#
Anti-Andernach - Bxg7#
Super Andernach - d5#
In the latter case, the situation is so fantastic that it is not immediately possible to figure out what is the matter:
Here Black cannot play d4, as the previous position will be repeated (the pawn will become white) and Black cannot play the bishop, since the bishop also changes color, regardless of whether Black captures on e5 or goes to f6. In any case, the black king is under attack.
Just a fantastic situation! As fantastic as this whole chess variant called Neo-Andernach Chess.
