War game

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War game is a chess variant that was invented around 1890 by the Englishman Henry Michael Temple (* 1860 ; † 1928 ) and introduced by him to English chess circles. From there it spread and is still popular today. It is also known as phantom chess , ghost chess or wall chess .

The game is played according to the normal rules of movement in chess , but the two players each use their own chess board and only use pieces of their own color on it. A referee , who is the only one who can see both boards and who has his own board on which he makes the moves of both players, informs the player when it is his turn and whether the last move was a hit. In the case of capturing moves, it is only indicated on which square the capture took place - by removing the captured piece on the board of the person who loses the piece - but not the capturing piece; the hitter only learns that he has struck, not what. The referee also announces a possible chess bid and - depending on the rule variant - gives additional information whether it is given by a knight , on a line or on the long or short diagonal (as seen by the king ). In a further variant of the rule, a player can ask the referee whether a pawn can move . If so, the player must attempt such a move. If a move proposed by the player turns out to be illegal under the Laws of Chess, the referee rejects it without further comment. The players must try to guess the moves of the opponent or to deduce from the little information available to them.

Since there is no official set of rules, it is important to agree on the rule variants to be used before the game.

Since gross mistakes occur in phantom chess according to normal chess standards, the game has great entertainment value for both the players and the spectators. A great material advantage is also necessary for mating in the endgame. For some elementary endgames, algorithms were developed with which a perfect mate lead is achieved. King and rook are won against king in a maximum of 41 moves. In a normal chess game you need a maximum of 16 moves to mate with this material distribution.

It is known that the future world chess champion Alexander Alekhine took an interest in the game and won a tournament in Scarborough in 1926 .

From 1938 on, Gerald Frank Anderson wrote the first book on the war game, which was published in 1958/59.

literature

  • Gerald Frank Anderson: Are there any ?: A chess problem book. Printed by Stroud News and Journal, 1958

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c David Vincent Hooper; Kenneth Whyld: Oxford Companion To Chess . Oxford University Press 1984 ISBN 0192175408 , ISBN 978-0192175403 , p. 173.
  2. ↑ Paolo Ciancarini, Gian Piero Favini: Solving Kriegspiel endings with brute force: the case of KR vs. K . In: ACG 12 Proceedings 2009
  3. ↑ David Vincent Hooper; Kenneth Whyld: Oxford Companion To Chess . Oxford University Press 1984 ISBN 0192175408 , ISBN 978-0192175403 , p. 12.