Top Players!!

Good luck in your game against @Martin0. I guess everone can see Martin0 is undefeated with 6 wins of 6 games, so I regard @JohnHS as the "underdog". Everyone wants to see the underdog win - study your moves carefully and win against @Martin0!!!😈

If JohnHS doesn't win, I hope someone else new (who has qualified) will challenge him. Maybe evert823?

(and maybe in the future, I can challenge him again - but of course will need to qualify first)

But, If Martin0 keeps winning, and gets to 9 or 10 games and is still undefeated, I may go to the "General Chess Discussion" thread and see who is the strongest "classical" chess player - can their skills be transferred to bulldog? We'll see what this year brings us!

Finally, to anyone else, feel free to leave any comments on this thread about any games anyone wishes to play. Whether you're looking to play your first game, or you have questions on how to qualify to play in a prize game I hope I can answer it.😊

I have created the forum for the event chess game:

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess960-chess-variants/event-chess-game-martin0-vickalan-2

The championship game should start in 2 days. Not sure if I have said it previously, but I will choose bulldog chess with witch for the championship game.

I will try to keep my winning streak for as long as possible.  I don't expect this to be an undefeated year for me though. There is also a discord for chess variants you could try to use to recruit people.

The Event Chess game should be fun. I'll try to usually play a move about once per day. But with 1 game of waterloo and 3 "infinite" games I might be busy so may miss a day now and then.

Also, thanks for announcing your preferred bulldog game (witch). I'll start a thread for the game which starts tomorrow. Townspeople are already travelling to see the big game:

@JohnHS challenges World Champion @Martin0 for the bulldog crown!

The challenge game between @Martin0 (World Champion) and @JohnHS (Challenger) has started. Spectators can go (here) to watch the game.

Anyone interested in a 4 player bulldog chess game?

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess960-chess-variants/4-player-bulldog-chess-variant

It's written as day/month/year. 

I'd like to play but I'm already in too many games. But if someone else will play you then I can moderate, but only make at most 1 board update per day.

To answer questions about the background:

I first suggested it as a game with some bulldogs placed instead of pawns (like this):

Also two guards were added in the first rank (so the board is 10x8). Bulldogs are the same as pawns, except pieces of its own color can jump right over it. But then a few players,@evert823 being one of them, started thinking of new ideas like adding a witch (and plenty of other ideas).

Now, I just call the whole class of games as "Bulldog chess" (even though there isn't a bulldog in most games). I now describe "bulldog" like this:

Bulldog games are played on a 10x8 board, and usually have one or two different pieces compared to classical chess. Games do not aim to be wildly different simply to be exotic or strange. Some consistency is desired so that concepts of strategy can be developed, without everything becoming obsolete with each variation. But games are different enough so that new territory is explored, and the games being played are not programmed in engines or stored in databases. If a programmer adds a bulldog game to a chess engine (for computer play), then bulldog will be changed again, attempting to keep the game isolated from engine analysis or artificial intelligence.

The "key" bulldog games are below. (In prize games, bulldog with witch is played, unless the Champion and challenger both agree to a different game).

1) Bulldog - Two bulldogs are placed on the outside files where a pawn would normally start. The bulldog is similar to a pawn, but pieces in its own army can pass right over it.

2) Bulldog Legacy - The outside files have only a pawn and no other pieces. Also one rook of each color is replaced with a guard. With 10 pawns on each side, strategy may focus more on using pawns to create defensive formations, and eventually creating threats of pawn promotions.

3) Bulldog Chess with Witch - The game adds a witch (she casts spells to make adjacent pieces transparent).

4) Bulldog Chess with Angel - The game adds an angel (she casts spell to make adjacent pieces immune from capture)

(Also ghouls, dwarves, and other pieces can be played)!

JuneyJunebug, actually.  Also, I think @vickalan used to be WC.

@hitthepin, if you'd like to play a game of Bulldog with Witch, I'd be open to a game.  I'll ask Vickalan to set it up.

That's correct.  @Vickalan, can you set up a game?

I was never the world champion, but for a short while I was near the top (along with @evert823) for the highest win ratio. But in the first championship tournament, I lost to evert, and to my surprise, evert lost to @friedmelon. Then @JunyJunebug won over friedmelon to become the first ever World Champion.

The bracket is  (at this thread).Since I did have wins over other players who had wins, then a victory over me qualifies someone to challenge the WC. If there are multiple contenders then the challenger is the one with the highest elo score.😯

Also, after @Martin0 became WC, I challenge him, but lost (so he still holds the title).😰

Ok, that will be great to see another game! JohnHS has an increasing elo score, and hitthepin is new (no record yet in bulldog). So I'll give White to hitthepin. All bulldog games are used to calculate elo scores, but otherwise this is an exhibition game. I hope to start a thread for the game later today.