Economy Chess (free full game) is available!

THAX I WLL TRY THE SITE

The Economy Chess uses slightly different notation:

• castling is recorded as a King`s move, i.e. White`s 0-0 is written as Kg1
• the $ sign means a new piece was bought and placed, i.e. 27. $Qd1 $f2 means that White got two new pieces a queen on d1 and a pawn on f2. In 1 move, it is possible to buy and place as many pieces as a player can afford.
• when a pawn captures it is recorded as e.g. xd4 although the standard notation would be either exd4 or cxd4

Those two games were played with the below settings:

• placement - on original spot
• production - may always produce
• promotion - steal cash
• movement - produce or move

good vdo :)

I made a new and better video explaining all the rules in ~4 mins. It also includes an explanation of the game's functionality.

If youve watched this video, you are ready to play the game :)

Video explaining the rules and the program:

So we meet again..

Another game was played between me and Boletus. Last time I played on my own, relying on my strategical strength. That got punished off very badly, so we did a rematch. Again with the same settings:

Placement: on original spot
Promotion: steal cash
Production: may always produce
Movement: may produce or move

piece - quantity - price

P - 8 - 25
N - 4 - 75
B - 4 - 75
R - 4 - 113
Q - 2 - 219 

(w) Boletus_CZ(2024) vs Dekaleaas(Houdini 1.5) (b)

I teamed up with the engine . Houdini played the majority of the game, and I had to decide when to go for something economical, and what to buy (and when and where it was placed). Made some big blunders, but the game was great! 

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bf4 e6 4. e3 Bd6 5. Bg3 Nc6 6. c4 Bxg3 7. hxg3 0-0 8. Nc3 h6 9. a3 dxc4 10. Bxc4 b6 11. Ne5 Bb7 12. f4 Nxe5 13. dxe5 Ne4 14. $Bf1 Nxg3 15. Rh3 Qxd1+ 16. Rxd1 Nf5 17. g4 Ne7 18. Rd7 Ng6 19. Rxc7 $Bc8 $e7 $h7 20. $Ng1 Rd8 21 Bfd3 Bg2 22 Rg3 Bd5 23 Nxd5 exd5 24. Bb5 Rb8 25. Rxa7 Rb7 26. Rxb7 Bxb7 27 Bxg6 hxg6 28 $Ra1 $Bc8 $h729 Rd1 Bd7 30 Bxd7 Rxd7 31 Nf3 Rc7 32 $Nb1 e6 33 Nc3 f5 34 gxf5 gxf5 35 Na4 b5 36 Nc3 Ba6 37 Rg2 Rc4 38 Nd4 Kf7 39. Ndxb5  $Nb8 $Bc8 40 Nd6+ Kf8 41 Nxc4 Bxc4 42 Rb1 Bb3 43 Nb5 Nc6 44 Nd6 Ba6 45 $c2 $Qd1 Ba4 46 b3 Bb5 47 Nxb5 Bxb5 48 a4 Ba6 49 c4 $Nb8 $c7 $d7 $f7 50 cxd5 exd5 51 Qxd5 Bb7 52 $Rh1 Nxe5 53 Qxb7 Nf3+ 54 Qxf3 Nc6 55 Qd5 g6 56 Rxh6 Ke8 57 Rxh7 Nd8 58 Rh8+ Ke7 59 Qc5+ d6 60 Qxc7+ Kf6 61. Qxd8+ Ke6 62. Rxg6+ fxg6 63 Qe8+ Kf6 64 Rf8+ Kg7 65 Rg8+ Kf6 66 Rxg6#

$ + location (i.e. $Ra8) means that a Rook was bought on a8. A player can buy multiple pieces per turn. When piece(s) are bought the player doesnot move. A player cannot buy when he is in check.

Hmm something goes wrong, I cant post a youtubevideo anymore.

Here is the youtube URL of the pretty good game Boletus_CZ vs Dekaleaas + Houdini 1.5

YOUTUBE - replay of the game "always listen to houdini"

Played another centaurgame against Boletus_CZ! This time I wanted to let houdini do even more than previous game. Just one or two moves from me.. 

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bd6 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. h3 Nd4 6. Bc4 c6 7. a4 Bc5 8. 0-0 d6 9. d3 a5 10. Nxd4 Bxd4 11. Bg5 h6 12. Be3 Bxe3 13. fxe3 Qb6 14. Qd2 Be6 15. Bxe6 fxe6 16. b3 Rf8 17. $Bc1 g5 18. Ba3 c5 19. Rf3 g4 20. hxg4 Nd7 21. Rxf8+ Kxf8 22. Rf1+ Kg7 23. Nb5 $Rh8 $Bf8 24. $Rh1 Kg6 25. Qf2 Bg7 26. Qf7+ Kh7 27. Rxh6+ Kxh6 28. Qh5# 

This was the income and savings during the game. We where pretty close all game!

Slowly working my way to an update for the software to make the game more easy toplay against others. Meanwhile also sharpening up the rules. Here's the latest version of the standard rules of Economy Chess.

Read more about the game, updates and challenge others in the EC group:
http://www.chess.com/groups/home/economy-chess  

***** Rules index *****

1. Quick introduction
2. What's different?
3. Owning a square
4. Conquering a square
5. Gaining income
6. Buying new pieces 
7. Settings 

1. Quick introduction

Welcome to Economy Chess, a chessvariant in which you conquer the squares of the board. These squares generate income (coins) which can be used to place new pieces on the player's backrank. Spend -or save- your money wisely and try to check-mate your opponent!

2. What's different?

3. Owning a square

A player owns a square when:

- he has a piece standing on it
- he was the last player who had a piece on it

A square is neutral when no player ever stood on it. 

4. Conquering a square

A player can conquer a neutral or enemy controlled square by:
- Moving a piece onto a vacant square
- Capturing an enemy piece

A piece only conquers the square that it ends on.

5. Gaining income

By moving your pieces around you will conquer more and more squares. At the end of your turn, each owned square will harvest you 1 coin income.

However, each piece also costs 1 coin upkeep per turn. therefore you calculate your income by deducting the upkeep from the harvest:

#of squares owned - #of pieces owned = income
At the end of the player's turn the Income is added to your Savings. After several turns players have saved enough coins to buy new pieces.

6. Buying new pieces

When you got enough coins you can buy one or more new pieces. The sum for the piece(s) is deducted from your savings. Players are not allowed to buy when they are under check. Also if you buy pieces, you may not move that turn. You do get income like every other turn.
Default prices (coins):
Pawn: 25 
Knight: 75
Bisshop: 78
Rook: 125
Queen: 225 

Some restrictions apply to the placement of new piece(s):
- white player can only place pieces on rank 1 and pawns on rank 2
- black player can only place pieces on rank 8 and pawns on rank 7
- a square must be empty
- the square may not be enemy controlled

7. Settings

Various parts of the game and mechanics can be controlled using different settings. You can choose the price of each piece for instance. Read more about settings here:
http://www.chess.com/groups/forumview/settings-menu