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Dark Knight / Le Chevalier Noir
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---- Nous avons besoin d'un traduction français!
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Hostage Chess was invented by retired University of Guelph Professor John Leslie. It is a lively chess variant which combines classical chess with elements of the Japanese game of shogi. For those unfamiliar with shogi, you may also think of it as "bughouse without a partner".
Hostage Chess is heralded by David Pritchard in his book "Popular Chess Variants", which was published in 2000 by Batsford.
Professor Leslie has agreed to post a prize fund for the inaugural World Championship in Hamilton this summer. The event is planned for July 16, following the 8th round of the Canadian Open.
Here are two useful hostage chess links:
The first link, on Youtube - "How to Play Hostage Chess" is an elegant description of the rules.
Hostage Chess was invented by retired University of Guelph Professor John Leslie. It is a lively chess variant which combines classical chess with elements of the Japanese game of shogi. For those unfamiliar with shogi, you may also think of it as "bughouse without a partner".
Hostage Chess is heralded by David Pritchard in his book "Popular Chess Variants", which was published in 2000 by Batsford.
Professor Leslie has agreed to post a prize fund for the inaugural World Championship in Hamilton this summer. The event is planned for July 16, following the 8th round of the Canadian Open.
Here are two useful hostage chess links:
The first link, on Youtube - "How to Play Hostage Chess" is an elegant description of the rules.
Stay tuned for additional developments regarding the inaugural Hostage Chess World Championship.
Thanks for this info, Hal.
I checked out the Hostage Chess site and there is no mention how to contact John Leslie, the inventor.
Hal, if you have an email for him, could you send it to me by private message? I also invent chess variants and would love to talk on that topic with him.
I think it's exciting to have a "World Championship" event at the Canadian Open!
I knew John Leslie back in my days in the philosophy department at the University of Guelph. I remember him arguing, somewhat tongue in cheek but not completely, that technology would eventually render humans obsolete. There was another professor at the time, Roger Smook, who was a more serious chess player. I do not remember John Leslie having any interest in the game at the time. Good luck, Hal, with the event!
I checked out the Hostage Chess site and there is no mention how to contact John Leslie, the inventor.
Hal, if you have an email for him, could you send it to me by private message? I also invent chess variants and would love to talk on that topic with him.
I think it's exciting to have a "World Championship" event at the Canadian Open!
Thank you for your kind words Pargat. I shall reach out to John.
Hostage Chess was invented by retired University of Guelph Professor John Leslie. It is a lively chess variant which combines classical chess with elements of the Japanese game of shogi. For those unfamiliar with shogi, you may also think of it as "bughouse without a partner".
Hostage Chess is heralded by David Pritchard in his book "Popular Chess Variants", which was published in 2000 by Batsford.
Professor Leslie has agreed to post a prize fund for the inaugural World Championship in Hamilton this summer. The event is planned for July 16, following the 8th round of the Canadian Open.
Here are two useful hostage chess links:
The first link, on Youtube - "How to Play Hostage Chess" is an elegant description of the rules.
Thank you for your kind words Pargat. I shall reach out to John.
I am REALLY liking this Hostage Chess!
Perhaps it could even be the future of chess -- maybe used to break ties in standard chess tournament standings, since it appears that draws in HC are very rare.
I am playing engine versus engine, and wow, I'm amazed at the trickiness and complexity of this game. The inventor in his book (also downloadable, as a pdf file) does admit that HC pretty much does away with endgames and endgame theory, but I think the constant middlegame complexity more than makes up for it.
If nothing else, HC shows great promise as a correspondence variant. It could take hours to analyze a complex HC position, without computers, just what correspondence players like, I would think. I'm not retired yet, but I have two ambitions once I do retire:
- work daily at the GPR ratings of key chess games from history and from current play (I wish I could automate it, but i don't think it's possible)
- work on chess variants and maybe form an organization to push for organized play for a choice few of them. Up to now, Option Chess is my favorite, but Hostage Chess could equal or surpass it!
How about working on a Russian chess variant? Some thoughts:
1. The most powerful piece on the board would replace the black king and be called the Poopoo - a giant, bare-chested turd riding a horse.
2. The black queen would be called the Karyakkity - a Russian chessplayer and the Poopoo's unctuous Minister of Propaganda.
3. The rest of the black pieces would be fully-armed missile launchers.
4. The white pawns would be children.
5. The white rooks would be apartment buildings.
6. The white knights would be schools.
7. The white bishops would be places of worship.
8. The white queen would be a woman cowering in terror.
9. The white king would be a hospital.
p.s. Maybe a couple of missile launchers could instead be Russian murderers & rapists....oops, sorry, I meant to say Russian soldiers!!
Last edited by Peter McKillop; Sunday, 26th June, 2022, 12:14 PM.
"We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office." - Aesop
"Only the dead have seen the end of war." - Plato
"If once a man indulges himself in murder, very soon he comes to think little of robbing; and from robbing he comes next to drinking and Sabbath-breaking, and from that to incivility and procrastination." - Thomas De Quincey
How about working on a Russian chess variant? Some thoughts:
1. The most powerful piece on the board would replace the black king and be called the Poopoo - a giant, bare-chested turd riding a horse.
2. The black queen would be called the Karyakkity - a Russian chessplayer and the Poopoo's unctuous Minister of Propaganda.
3. The rest of the black pieces would be fully-armed missile launchers.
4. The white pawns would be children.
5. The white rooks would be apartment buildings.
6. The white knights would be schools.
7. The white bishops would be places of worship.
8. The white queen would be a woman cowering in terror.
9. The white king would be a hospital.
p.s. Maybe a couple of missile launchers could instead be Russian murderers & rapists....oops, sorry, I meant to say Russian soldiers!!
Looks like you already invented it, Peter.
While indeed there are terrible things going on in the world, much weeping and knashing of teeth, I don't think chess variants are the avenue to publicize what is going on. It's clear Peter you are very grieved over what is happening in Ukraine, I just hope it isn't pushing you over some kind of a cliff. Just genuinely concerned for your psychological health.
It is very hard for moral philosophers these days. I guess it was in WWII also. I myself have a belief system that incorporates all the worst evils in the world, and doesn't attribute them to a demon (a so-called "fallen angel"), but considers evil impulses as necessary so that there can never be anything approaching Heaven On Earth. That doesn't mean we shouldn't work for a better world, it only means both that work AND its ultimate failures are viewed in the same light. What is any amount of time on Earth compared to infinite eternity?
While indeed there are terrible things going on in the world, much weeping and knashing of teeth, I don't think chess variants are the avenue to publicize what is going on. It's clear Peter you are very grieved over what is happening in Ukraine, I just hope it isn't pushing you over some kind of a cliff. Just genuinely concerned for your psychological health. ....
Pargat, I must say that I'm deeply touched by your concern for my mental health. Not to worry; everything is fine. Please accept my assurances that I'm no crazier today than I've ever been!!
Regarding what is or is not an appropriate venue for reminding people of what's going on in Ukraine, my position is that Chesstalk, and any thread therein, is as good as any venue and better than some.
"We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office." - Aesop
"Only the dead have seen the end of war." - Plato
"If once a man indulges himself in murder, very soon he comes to think little of robbing; and from robbing he comes next to drinking and Sabbath-breaking, and from that to incivility and procrastination." - Thomas De Quincey
Regarding what is or is not an appropriate venue for reminding people of what's going on in Ukraine, my position is that Chesstalk, and any thread therein, is as good as any venue and better than some.
Putin should not be assassinated, he should be kept alive and tortured indefinitely.
Putin should not be assassinated, he should be kept alive and tortured indefinitely.
A tempting thought, but then wouldn't we be de facto Russians?
To clarify, lest anyone think I have a special hatred for Russians, I think you'd have to search long and hard to find an ethnic or other cohesive group which hasn't, at least once in its past, oppressed another group of people; e.g. to name just a few: the Holocaust, the Holodomor, the British Raj, the Vietnam War, Western Europeans versus North American indigenous peoples, Roman Catholics versus Jews and Protestants, just about everyone versus Jews, etc., etc. Our objective should be to reduce and eventually eliminate all of this assholery.
"We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office." - Aesop
"Only the dead have seen the end of war." - Plato
"If once a man indulges himself in murder, very soon he comes to think little of robbing; and from robbing he comes next to drinking and Sabbath-breaking, and from that to incivility and procrastination." - Thomas De Quincey
A tempting thought, but then wouldn't we be de facto Russians?
Nope, just humans who believe (like Christians) in an eye for an eye. Putin is the worst human since Hitler, death would be too easy a way out. We have radical climate change, gross over-population and a raging pandemic, and this monster wants to start a war and wipe out thousands of people, without regard for civilian life?! And he threatens you and me and the rest of us with nukes?! Words do not exist that would be capable of describing the depravity of this evil psychopath.
A tempting thought, but then wouldn't we be de facto Russians?
To clarify, lest anyone think I have a special hatred for Russians, I think you'd have to search long and hard to find an ethnic or other cohesive group which hasn't, at least once in its past, oppressed another group of people; e.g. to name just a few: the Holocaust, the Holodomor, the British Raj, the Vietnam War, Western Europeans versus North American indigenous peoples, Roman Catholics versus Jews and Protestants, just about everyone versus Jews, etc., etc. Our objective should be to reduce and eventually eliminate all of this assholery.
Hey Peter, glad to hear you are psychologically doing fine.
Also, I never wrote that ChessTalk is not the place for reminding people what's going on with Russia, and in fact I think as long as the private owner of ChessTalk permits it, it is fine. What I think I wrote is that chess variants aren't the vehicle for expressing any opinion on what's going on with Russia.
Anyway, Peter, regarding the statement in bold, here is a busking musician who very recently improvised this little song during a performance in the street in Reading UK, and I rather like his choice of wording....
"You can't wait for this world to be perfect....
You gotta work with what you got....
This world won't ever be perfect....
But you can give it your very best shot...."
.....
Also, I never wrote that ChessTalk is not the place for reminding people what's going on with Russia, (I agree - you never wrote that. And furthermore, I never said that you did.) and in fact I think as long as the private owner of ChessTalk permits it, it is fine. What I think I wrote is that chess variants aren't the vehicle for expressing any opinion o7n what's going on with Russia. (Yes, that is essentially what you wrote. I disagreed with you and, since our discussion was taking place at Chesstalk in a thread on chess variants, I said that Chesstalk and any thread therein was as good as any other place. There is no reason why a chess variant can't be used to make a political statement.)
I think I'm on the same wavelength as your busker. Having an objective is not the same thing as attaining it. However, we can work toward attainment in the hope that there will be improvement along the way.
Last edited by Peter McKillop; Tuesday, 28th June, 2022, 09:26 PM.
"We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office." - Aesop
"Only the dead have seen the end of war." - Plato
"If once a man indulges himself in murder, very soon he comes to think little of robbing; and from robbing he comes next to drinking and Sabbath-breaking, and from that to incivility and procrastination." - Thomas De Quincey
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