In 1961, V. R. Parton invented this game, or, to be more precise, these
games. In the first game, according to Parton, the black king disappeared
because he was fed up always being mated in problems. In both variants,
only one king is on the board; the other player must mate within a certain
number of moves or lose.
Rules
First game
The game is played on a chessboard with almost the normal opening setup:
only the black king is now replaced by a second black queen.
White and black should agree on a certain number of moves. When black
mates white within that number of moves, he wins the game, otherwise he
loses. Draws are not possible.
One can use different mechanics to choose the number of moves. When
having some experience with the game, there might be a number acceptable
for both players. Otherwise, one can play two games with the same number,
changing colors between the games. Another option is to start with a `betting
sequence': one player mentions a number, which is his bet how many moves
he would need to mate when he would have black. The other player can accept
the bet, in which case he plays with white and the player making the bet
must mate in the number of moves he has betted, or the other player can
make a bet which is a smaller number. In the latter case, the first player
has the same choices: accept the bet, or bet again a smaller number. Alternatively,
players can write down secretly a number; the player with the smallest
number plays with black and must mate in the number he wrote; a coin is
tossed when the numbers are equal.
Second game
In this Unirexal chessgame, black has twenty knights. The number of
moves is prescribed in this game: black must mate in 50 moves. The precise
opening setup is as follows:
Black wins the game if he mates white on or before his 50th move, otherwise
he loses the game. (Of course, one can also use a betting phase like described
above, instead of the 50 moves rule.)
Source: The Encyclopedia of Chess
Variants. The `betting' idea was thought up by Hans Bodlaender.
Written by: Hans Bodlaender.
WWW page created: February 18, 1997.