✓ NCV ︱ Tag Team

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Timecontrol

3 | 2

Gamerules

RB Teams, Stalemate Loses

Promotion

Queen, Bishop, Rook, Knight on the 11th rank

Hello all. I have been playing variants for awhile but this is my first submission, and it uses a concept that does not exist in any other variant - two teams of a player and computer, with the two computers (futers) playing against each other and both players use their pieces to influence the game in their favor. Game name: Tag Team Game description: Use your knights to help your teammate win! The rules: 4 player, teams, blue and green are futers who have their standard starting position (castling permitted), white and black are players who are allied to blue and green respectively. They each have six knights that they can use to influence the game between the futers as well as a royal wazir that can be used to pass moves. Play alternates White -> Blue (W's ally) -> Black -> Green and the game is over when either blue or green get checkmated or white or black gets stalemated (where the stalemated player loses). Due to symmetry and the similarities to normal chess (and the low skill level of the AI teammates), this game is unlikely to favor either player. The starting position: I have 15 testing games played against eight unique opponents over three days (most recent first): // latest version // this game uses an older version of the variant Some general musings that I've gathered from testing: Futers can spot simple tactics but are generally very weak. This creates some element of luck, though it is controlled luck since futers' behavior can be manipulated to some extent. Since the player moves before the ally futer, there are tactics in which a player can make a move that their ally can immediately capitalize on before the other team can react. The futer is usually ok at figuring out these tactics so players have some measure of control over what the futer does. The fifth game in the above list is an illustration with the move 17.Ne6! Players' knights can get stuck on the edge and not be permitted to develop. Moving the wazir is an option to pass one's move in such a situation (or in any situation). Losing all of one's knights is dangerous since if the opponent can get a knight to a1/h8 they win by stalemate. This alternate win condition makes the game more nuanced since there is an incentive to maintain more knights than the other human player but can be a high-risk high-reward strategy. The fourth game in the list featured a stalemate win. I hope you enjoy! ~ coolthing