Amsterdam Medieval Chess - Waterloo Training Camp

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vickalan

Dec 29, 2016

On (this) thread Mr. IvanKosintsev identifies himself as the current Champion of Waterloo (p. 13):
The ratings of Waterloo League's players:
1. IvanKosintsev
2. LXIVC
3. BattleChessGN18
4. Musketeerchess

Here I would like to discuss the formation of a training camp where we exchange ideas and strategy, and conduct exercises with the goal of raising up one or more players to supplant Kosintsev as World Champion.

I have designed a lesser form of Waterloo, called "Amsterdam Medieval Chess" to conduct training exercises. The game uses several Waterloo pieces, and is an intermediate form of FIDE Chess and the grandiose Waterloo Chess. Basic metrics comparing the games are as follows:
                              Amsterdam
                   Classical Medieval    Waterloo
                   Chess      Chess       Chess
Board Size         8 x 8      11 x 8      10 x 10
Number of Squares 64         88          100
Number of Pieces   32         44          60
(starting, w&b)

The game rules are here:

The Pieces
The six normal chess pieces are used. Added from Waterloo are the spy, elite-guard, joker, and archbishop (cardinal). Due to the smaller board the game does not include the wiseman, marshall, or the queen-knight compound.

Pawns play as in classical chess, except that a pawn reaching the eighth rank can promote to spy, elite-guard, joker, archbishop in addition to knight, bishop, rook or queen.

Also, if a third pawn reaches the eighth rank the "Rule of a third pawn" goes in effect: All pawns from the player's army move and capture as a king. This is noted on the board by replacing pawn icons with spy icons, which have the same power.

Spy (S) - The spy moves and captures the same as a king, but there is no consequence if threatened or captured other than the loss of the spy himself. (A study of a piece with this ability can be found (here)).

Elite guard (E) - The elite-guard (or "elite") moves or jumps one or two squares in any orthogonal or diagonal direction. (This is an increased mobility compared to the guard in other games). If the elite moves to a square occupied by a knight, the two merge to form a joker. Also an elite that reaches the eighth rank can optionally promote to a joker.

Joker (J) - The joker jumps to any square within a 5 x 5 square centered on the joker. (So this includes moves one square away in any direction, jumps of 2 squares orthogonally and diagonally, and 1 x 2 jumps like a knight)

Archbishop (A) - The archbishop combines powers of a bishop and a knight. (It is also a standard piece in Capablanca Chess). In Waterloo this piece is called the cardinal.

Board Setup:

Castling (with all squares vacant between the king and rook):
The rules of castling are similar as in classical chess, however, the king travels four squares rather than two. The rook finishes adjacent to the king, either on the c-square or i-square.

Double Castling (with all squares vacant between the king and archbishop):
If the archbishop has not moved, castling is still possible. The king travels four squares and the archbishop moves inward with the rook. The rook finishes adjacent to the king (c or i square), and the archbishop finishes adjacent to the rook (d or h square).

Other rules of this game are identical with rules of classical chess.

Registration for the international championship "Waterloo 2017" ends 5/30/2017 so we have time to practice, but please don't procrastinate. Let me know if you wish to join the effort!

Image displayed with game title: "Arms of Nassau" (revised; original author: Sodacan. File licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license)

vickalan

Jan 1, 2017

To All,

Mr. Kosintsev has announced the 5th edition Waterloo rules. The biggest differences I see is that the fantom and demon are removed. Also a "Rule of a third pawn" has been added: "When a third pawn reaches the eighth promotion row then all own pawns move by N(1) mode." This means they move 1 square in any direction like a king!

To keep Amsterdam Medieval Chess as a simulation of Waterloo but on a smaller scale, this rule has been added to this game. The original post has been edited with the rule change.

Now, is there not a person ready for training using a specialized chess variant to improve their skill and eventually defeat "aantal één" Kosintsev?

Happy New Year to All!

IvanKosintsev

Jan 1, 2017

I'm sure that any division of strong players into parts: champ and contenders and the isolation of champ is a bad idea. I'm not champ because I played only tutorial and discussed games. I didn't understand why contenders must play other game. They can play it independent.

Of course I support and greet all variants of chess and of Waterloo.

But I demand my right to play Waterloo with all contenders: with beginners and with professionals. This is my gaming credo earned at the gameclub!

vickalan

Jan 1, 2017

Hi Ivan,

Of course you can play Waterloo with everyone - beginners and professionals. I registered at your thread on the first day and so far we have you, BattleChess, and me. (It's your game and I think all the rules and pieces are very creative)!

My only purpose of the training camp is to help me learn the rules and strategy more quickly.

I am sure there will be no division between champ and strong players. On the contrary, I hope there is a group of strong players. I am just a beginner but I hope to become better and (with time) move towards "Elite". But first, I just hope to win one game.

nallets

Jan 16, 2017

There doesn't seem to be an option for this on chess.com, so how do you play it? I am not saying I will, i am just wondering.

vickalan

Jan 16, 2017

I don't think chess.com has options to play any variants, except Chess960. Some of us play variant games with diagrams, and just move pieces graphically with simple software, like MS paint. The opponent has to make sure the move is legal (just like playing chess with wood pieces).

There's many examples on this forum such as (this).

If you find any variant game you might want to try, you can tell us what you like and add your name (here).

nallets

Jan 16, 2017

Chess.com has 3check and King of the Hill, Crazyhouse, and Bughouse too. But I do wish It had a few more.

vickalan

Jan 17, 2017

Ok, thanks for the info. I didn't know that.

Btw, HGMuller is adding this game to an external website so that it can be played using a turn-based system (each player visits the website to make his/her move). The game has the option to merge a guard and a knight to create a joker (making a new stronger piece), and once that is worked out I'll update this thread again. (I'm still looking for someone to play me in this game!)

2Nf31-0

Jan 19, 2019

How do I join?

vickalan

Jan 20, 2019

#10

This game has never been played, and I'm not interested in it anymore. But if anyone wants to see HGMuller's setup for the game it is here:
http://hgm.nubati.net/variants/amsterdam/

2Nf31-0

Jan 20, 2019

#11

I am quite interested in this.

2Nf31-0

Mar 16, 2019

#12

vickalan wrote:

I don't think chess.com has options to play any variants, except Chess960. Some of us play variant games with diagrams, and just move pieces graphically with simple software, like Microsoft Paint or Paint. The opponent has to make sure the move is legal (just like playing chess with wood pieces).

There's many examples on this forum such as (this).

If you find any variant game you might want to try, you can tell us what you like and add your name (here).