I've realized that the best way to play Force Field Chess would be to play it as "Online Chess," using the Advanced Options to specify a Takeback game rather than one that is Rated or Unrated. You can challenge me by starting a game called Takeback Force Field Chess and challenging me.
Open Challenge to play the variant Force Field Chess
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That is the most absolutely brainless, dazed, deficient, dense, dim, doltish, dopey, dull, dumb, foolish, futile, gullible, half-baked, half-witted, idiotic, ill-advised, imbecilic, inane, indiscreet, insensate, irrelevant, laughable, ludicrous, meaningless, mindless, moronic, naive, nonsensical, obtuse, pointless, puerile, rash, senseless, shortsighted, simpleminded, stolid, thick, thick-headed, trivial, unintelligent, unthinking, witless idea ever!!
Count me in!!!!!
(yes, I copy-pasted from a thesaurus)
Sure thing, oinquarki
wow, i'm what is termed "old school" i have no idea what is being proposed here, but it seems very avante garde.....i just can't even begin to get my hands around this concept....seems interesting for maybe a younger crowd.....that's about all i can say.................
I'm proposing a variant of classical chess just for the fun of it -- The board is the same, same pieces, same way of moving, the only difference is that the power that we already associate with each piece is used a little differently. In force field chess, each piece exerts a charge equal to its value (P=1, Kn=2, B=3, R=4, Q=5, King has no charge), and this charge activates all empty squares to which or through which it could legally move, capture, or check, if it were its player's turn. So, at the beginning of the game, for example, c3 has a White force field charge of 5, as it is activated by 3 pawns and a knight. As it has a White charge of 5, a Black Pawn, Knight or Bishop would not be able to move to it, as each of them has a charge of less than 5. However if for example, there was a Black Bishop on b4 and a black Rook on c6, now c3 would have a White charge of 5 (Pawn + Pawn + Pawn + Knight = 1 + 1 + 1 + 2 = 5), a Black charge of 7 (Rook + Bishop = 4 + 3 = 7), and a total charge of White - Black = -2; so c3 would be controlled by Black and the Black pieces could move to it or through it but not the White pieces. Check out the rules on my Member page for more details. It's a lot easier than it sounds, and could be fun. Is it "Chess?" Yes and no. It's less like Chess than is Classical Chess, but more like Chess than are poker, bowling, mah jong, bungee jumping, whale riding and other things we might do once in a while as an alternative to chess just to shake things up a bit . . .
SO, to think 5 moves ahead you would have to be Rainman?
EDIT:
I"m just saying that to have a "good" game with solid strat., you would have to calulate every relevant square on the the board, then consider move a b c d e.... etc. and then calculate the updated "Force Fields" on that move, and the consider move a1 a2 a3 a4 a5 a5, b1 b2.... etc. Perhaps a program designed for "FFChess" that calc.'s all squares and displays a small -/+x in the corner, or highlights each square different colors accordingly, would be a more sutable place for such a game.(Could be fun, but I'm relativly new to plain 'ole chess so I better stick with that for now ;) )
I can only think one or two moves ahead, maybe that's why I didn't think of the issue -- but good point
Due to some helpful feedback from interested players, I've tweaked the wording of some of the rules on my Member Page for clarification
Update: Some of us have played some Takeback Force Field Chess Games and here is what we are finding:
(1) It is good to get your high value pieces out early, as they begin taking control of the opponents side of the board making it harder for him/her to develop during the opening
(2) As the "online chess" program does not allow moves that are illegal in normal chess, you can't make a move that subjects your King to classical check or fails to remove it from classical check, even if the King is not really in check according to FFC (force field chess) rules as his army controls squares intervening between him or her (sure -- why can't a woman be King) and the attacker.
(3) This issue could necessitate playing the end game out on a normal chess board, specifying moves in the Chat window (or using a platform that, if not specifically designed for FFC, at least is designed for variants and doesn't prohibit moves illegal in classical chess).
I like the idea but I think that the main thing that should be changed is the intensiity of the forcefield. I think that every peice should have an equally powerful forcefield, because one of the main themes of chess is that a pawn can capture a queen.
Interesting idea -- If each piece has an equally powerful force field, then the important thing would be to strategically threaten an important square with as many pieces as possible in order to prevent the opponent from moving to that square as a base of operations. If you want, we could try a game like that using the online chess Takeback option (which would also be unrated), and naming it Equal Charge Takeback FFC.
Anyone want to play the variant Force Field Chess, in which each piece (except the King) emits a force field that charges all empty squares in its potential path, and the player whose pieces emit the highest combined charge on any given square control that square so the other player can't pass through or land on the square? If interested, check out the rules at my member page, and challenge me to an Online Chess game. I'll tutor you in the Chat box if you have questions before a move or if you make an illegal move.