this post was submitted on 16 Feb 2024
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white made a mistake letting them get this organized and this close, but can they still win?

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[–] [email protected] 52 points 8 months ago (4 children)
  1. All kings must be placed in checkmate. This is in recognition of multiple redundancy with failover.
  2. Knights cannot be captured by pawns. It’s ridiculous. You’re talking about a guy in armor riding a horse with both lance and sword versus a peasant wearing a shirt at best armed with a pointy stick. Literally the entire point of armor was that you could walk around mowing down peasants until your arms got tired.
  3. Queens slay, and can only be slayed by queens. See RuPaul’s Drag Race.
  4. I’m not even going to get into the Howl’s Moving Castle pieces except to note that if the enemy didn’t bring siege equipment, they’re pretty fucked.
[–] [email protected] 13 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Horses can be killed, and even a guy swinging pointy things can be overwhelmed by enough people.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

I think what’s needed is the introduction of additional pieces.

  1. Pikemen - can’t move, but must face in a specific direction. Can attack any unit in front of them, but not to their sides/rear.
  2. Archers - can attack any unit at least two but no more than 3 spaces ahead of them.
  3. Trebuchets - similar to archers but can only attack 5-6 spaces ahead. Trebuchets can take out rooks.
  4. Knights can kill bishops, but only at the hinting request of the king. The bishops can then get a free attack on the king, but can only whip him and not kill him.
[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Eventually you'll just end up reinventing Stratego

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

I was thinking that we could replace the board with a hexagon map and replace the pieces with printed cardboard squares.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

I love me some turbulent priests

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

I like the cut of your jib*, yo!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Only the last king must be checkmated because on the next move they can be killed.

Is chess actually battle or represents a battle? Because after the knight moves, it could be the end of the day where he dismounts and sets up camp for the night. The next move is the pawn sneaking diagonally into his tent in the night.

can only be slayed by queens

French Pawns can build guillotines.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

The peasants can become queens, so with these numbers they have a chance (although it won't be trivial, tons of them will be wiped out before there will be queens not immediate threatened)

[–] [email protected] 40 points 8 months ago

Black plays guillotine to E4

[–] [email protected] 31 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 13 points 8 months ago

Note black has a normal composition here, not the arsenal of high value pieces from op. Op's picture the pawns are definitely losing

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago
[–] [email protected] 22 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Black wins after 21 moves.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 8 months ago

I have nothing to disprove you but I think you're right.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 15 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

The Revolution will not be impeded!

cxb5

[–] [email protected] 10 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Know your place, prole!

Kc3xb5

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Pawns! BROTHERS! COMRADES!

Use Volley Fire!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago

The Revolution will not be civilised!

axb5

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

Bloody peasant!

Kc3xb5

[–] [email protected] 15 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Casual commenter stopping through!

I'm not skilled at chess, but this was fun to think about. If you were truly inviting speculation, that is-

Assuming the game goes til the white kings are dealt with or all black pawns are dead - white wins easily.

If the winning condition was to capture any singular king, we might have a thrilling match

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago

There's a variant called 'horde' on lichess where it's evenly balanced, and pretty fun!

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I wonder what happens if the black pawns become the units they capture. As long as it doesn't work the other way around black stands a good chance

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Yeah but then black becomes the very thing they swore to destroy.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

My other comment in this post included animal farm references XD

[–] [email protected] 11 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

Are all pawns allowed to survive otherwise regular rules and have an option to upgrade to King?

Because if not, it appears the game already starts off at a checkmate.. ☹️

[–] [email protected] 19 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

The victory conditions are:

  • black: kill sufficient kings so that the others divest their wealth.
  • white: kill sufficient pawns such that the rebel spirit is broken, and they surrender
[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago
[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I'm curious about the analogy when it comes to pawn promotion. I'm thinking 'animal farm', if a pawn somehow makes it to the end they change color. Also I believe if acted properly white would win (given another rank of pawns, or pawns lined up touching the other pieces, pawns would have a much better chance).

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Perhaps it's more of a banana republic revolution, where the people liberation hero becomes the next dictator, once the previous one has been overthrown

Obligatory CGP Grey (YouTube video)

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago
[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Shouldn't there be a single row of white pawns also, though?

[–] [email protected] 17 points 8 months ago (1 children)

The "bootlickers," they're called.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

Yes, exactly! Or a row of blue pawns.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

I could make a bootlicker edition

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

2 black pieces can move per turn?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

Interesting example of zugzwang for white.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Black already lost when they sacrificed their king.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 8 months ago

No Gods No Masters.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago

They didn't sacrifice King, the CIA murdered him.