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Minichess

January 21, 2023

Minichess is a family of chess variants played with regular chess pieces and standard rules, but on a smaller board.[1] The motivation for these variants is to make the game simpler and shorter than standard chess. The first chess-like game implemented on a computer was the 6×6 chess variant Los Alamos chess. The low memory capacity of early computers meant that a reduced board size and a smaller number of pieces were required for the game to be implementable on a computer.

The game of Tic Tac Chec, played on a 4x4 board

3×3 and 3×4 boards

Chess on a 3×3 board does not have any clearly defined starting position. However, it is a solved game: the outcome of every possible position is known. The best move for each side is known as well. The game was solved independently by Aloril in 2001 and by Kirill Kryukov in 2004. The solution by Kryukov is more complete, since it allows pawns to be placed everywhere, not only on the second row as by Aloril. The longest checkmate on a 3×3 board takes 16 moves. The number of legal positions is 304,545,552.[2]

In 2009 Kryukov reported solving 3×4 chess.[3] On this board there are 167,303,246,916 legal positions and the longest checkmate takes 43 moves.

4×4, 4×5 and 4×8 chess

    
    
    
    
Silverman 4×4
    
    
    
    
    
Silverman 4×5
    
    
    
    
    
Microchess
abcd
8    8
7    7
6    6
5    5
4    4
3    3
2    2
1    1
abcd
Demi-chess

In 1981 mathematician David Silverman suggested a 4×4 chess variant, as shown on the diagram.[4] The first player wins easily in this game (1. axb3+ Qxb3 2. cxb3+ Kxb3 (or 2...Kb4 3. bxc3 checkmate) 3. bxa3+ Kc4 4. Qa2 checkmate), so Silverman proposed a variant: Black can select a pawn, and White must make a first move with this pawn. However, in this case Black wins even more easily (select pawn b2, 1.bxa3 (or 1.bxc3) b2+ 2. Qxb2 Qxb2 checkmate). To make the variant more playable, Silverman finally proposed to insert a row between pawns and use the board 4×5. In this variant, pawns can move two squares on their first move, if the target square is free.

The 1995 game Tic Tac Chec, invented by Don Green, is played on a 4×4 board which starts empty. Each player has a knight, a rook, a bishop and a pawn, and players may place a piece on the board on their turn. Once each player has three pieces in play, pieces may be moved. Captured pieces are returned to the opponent, and may be replayed. A player wins if they are able to arrange their pieces into a line of four.[5][6]

Another chess variant on a 4×5 board, Microchess, was invented by Glimne in 1997.[4] Castling is allowed in this variant.

There is also variant on a 4×8 board, Demi-chess, which was invented by Peter Krystufek in 1986.[7] Castling is allowed in this variant.

5×5 chess

     
     
     
     
     
Gardner
     
     
     
     
     
Baby chess
     
     
     
     
     
Jacobs–Meirovitz
     
     
     
     
     
Mallett

A board needs to be five squares wide to contain all kinds of chess pieces on the first row. In 1969, Martin Gardner suggested a chess variant on 5×5 board in which all chess moves, including pawn double-move, en-passant capture as well as castling can be made.[8] Later AISE (Associazione Italiana Scacchi Eterodossi, "Italian Heterodox Chess Association") abandoned pawn double-move and castling. The game was largely played in Italy (including by correspondence) and opening theory was developed. The statistics of the finished games is the following:[4]

  • White won 40% of games.
  • Black won 28%.
  • 32% were draws.

Mehdi Mhalla and Frederic Prost weakly solved Gardner minichess in 2013 and proved the game-theoretic value to be a draw.[9] Gardner minichess was also played by AISE with suicide chess and progressive chess rules. In 1980 HP shipped the HP-41C programmable calculator, which could play this game.[10] The calculator was able to play on quite a decent level.

In 1989, Martin Gardner proposed another setup, which he called Baby chess. In difference from Gardner minichess, black pieces are mirrored. Paul Jacobs and Marco Meirovitz suggested another starting position for 5×5 chess shown at the right.

Jeff Mallett (main developer of Zillions of Games) suggested a setup in which white has two knights against two black bishops.[11] Mhalla and Prost proved Mallett chess to be a forced win for White in 25 moves,[clarification needed] although theoretically the game is drawn when played perfectly if White is given the bishops and Black the knights rather than vice versa.[12]

5×6 chess

     
     
     
     
     
     
Petty chess
     
     
     
     
     
     
Speed chess
     
     
     
     
     
     
QuickChess
     
     
     
     
     
     
Elena chess
     
     
     
     
     
     
Chess Attack
     
     
     
     
     
     
MinitChess

There are several chess variants on 5×6 board. The earliest published one is Petty chess, which was invented by B. Walker Watson in 1930.[13] Speed chess was invented by Mr. den Oude in 1988.[14] Elena chess was invented by Sergei Sirotkin in 1999.

QuickChess was invented by Joseph Miccio in 1991.[15] Pawn double-move and castling are not allowed in this variant, pawns can only promote to captured pieces. The game was sold by Amerigames International and received National Parenting Publications Award in 1993. Miccio obtained a US patent in 1993, which described 3 further chess variant on 5×6 board.[16] Besides two variants similar to Speed chess and Elena Chess (same position of white pieces, position of black pieces is symmetrical), the patent claimed one further variant, which have been named later Chess Attack. Miccio advocated these games as educational tools for children to learn chess rules. The smaller board and less pieces would reduce the complexity of the game and allow for more quicker games. The piece setup like in Speed chess was intended to teach short side castling and setup as in Chess Attack - long side castling.

Laszlo Polgar published a book in 1994 Minichess 777+1 Positions (Quickchess teaches chess quick),[17] completely devoted to chess on 5×6 board. Besides initial setup as in QuickChess, Polgar proposed to use any other possible setup of pieces, even asymmetrical ones. The book contained problems, combinations and games for 5×6 chess. Polgar recommended to use is as a first book to teach children to play chess.

 
Magnus Carlsen promoting 5×6 chess variant Chess Attack

Chess Attack, which has the same setup as Gardner minichess (but played on a bigger board) is sold by Norway company Yes Games AS since 2008. In this variant, pawns can make double-moves and en-passant capture is allowed. The game was endorsed by Magnus Carlsen and Alexandra Kosteniuk.

MinitChess, published in 2010 based on earlier 2007 and 2009 variants, is played on a Gardner board with the black pieces mirrored. In this variant there is no castling, no double pawn moves, pawn promotion only to queen, victory by king capture or when an opponent has no legal move (including moves which permit the king to be captured—these moves are legal), and draw after 40 moves by each side. In addition, the bishop is replaced by a bad bishop that has the additional option of moving to any adjacent empty square on its turn, allowing it to change color. This variant is intended to be easy to write computer programs to play and harder for expert human players of standard chess, while still retaining the essential character of the game: several computer tournaments have been held.

6×6 chess

abcdef
6      6
5      5
4      4
3      3
2      2
1      1
abcdef
Diana chess
abcdef
6      6
5      5
4      4
3      3
2      2
1      1
abcdef
L'Hermitte chess
abcdef
6      6
5      5
4      4
3      3
2      2
1      1
abcdef
Los Alamos chess

Besides Los Alamos chess, there are other chess variants played on a 6×6 board. The game Diana chess (or Ladies chess) was suggested by Hopwood in 1870. The initial position is shown above. There are no queens on the board and pawns can't promote to queens either. Pawns cannot move forward two squares on their initial move. Castling is done by switching the positions of the king and rook. The same condition as in chess apply for castling (e.g., the king should not be under check, neither rook nor king should have moved before etc.)

Serge L'Hermitte suggested in 1969 a game with nearly the same setup as Diana chess, except that the positions of the black king and knight are exchanged from their positions in Diana chess. Additionally, knights cannot move within the first three moves, and the king can move to the knight position without losing the right to castle.

abcdef
6      6
5      5
4      4
3      3
2      2
1      1
abcdef
Simpler chess, without rooks
abcdef
6      6
5      5
4      4
3      3
2      2
1      1
abcdef
Simpler chess, without knights
abcdef
6      6
5      5
4      4
3      3
2      2
1      1
abcdef
Simpler chess, without king or queen. With no king to be checkmated, the object of this game is to capture all enemy pieces.
abcdef
6      6
5      5
4      4
3      3
2      2
1      1
abcdef
Mallett 6x6 chess

A. Wardley proposed in 1977 a Simpler chess, a family of 6×6 chess variants, in which a pair of pieces is removed from both sides: rooks, knights, bishop or even king and queen. Removing bishops results in Los Alamos chess; the result of removing rooks, knights, or royals is shown on the diagrams above.

Jeff Mallett proposed the setup knights versus bishops also on 6×6 board. On a normal 8×8 board, bishops are considered slightly more valuable than knights (especially two bishops). However, on 6×6 boards, because of the smaller size of the board, two knights are presumably equal to two bishops.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Pritchard, D. (1994). The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants. Games & Puzzles Publications. ISBN 0-9524142-0-1.
  2. ^ 3×3 Chess by Kirill Kryukov.
  3. ^ 3×4 Chess by Kirill Kryukov.
  4. ^ a b c Pritchard (2007), p. 113
  5. ^ "Tic Tac Chec". cocatalog.loc.gov. US Copyright Office. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  6. ^ "Tic Tac Chec - Mini Chess". dreamgreen.org. Dream Green. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  7. ^ Demi-chess (Jocly)[permanent dead link]
  8. ^ Martin Gardner (1991). The Unexpected Hanging and Other Mathematical Diversions (Reprint ed.). University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-28256-2.
  9. ^ Gardner's Minichess Variant is solved
  10. ^ HP-minichess by Hans Bodlaender, based on an email from Ross Crawford.
  11. ^ This game can be found in set of games shipped together with Zillions of Games. The history section says: A little experiment by Jeff Mallett.
  12. ^ "Mini Chess Resolution". Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  13. ^ Petty Chess
  14. ^ Chess - Speed Game by Hans Bodlaender
  15. ^ Polgar (1994), p.3
  16. ^ USA patent 5257787 Chess-like game
  17. ^ Polgar (1994)

References

External links

  • Knight court by Jason D. Wittman
  • by Hans Bodlaender
  • Mini-chess variants
  • 6 Ranks, remaining variants by Charles Gilman.
  • All in one: 4×5, 4x8, 5x5, 5x6, 6x6 boards

January 21, 2023
minichess, family, chess, variants, played, with, regular, chess, pieces, standard, rules, smaller, board, motivation, these, variants, make, game, simpler, shorter, than, standard, chess, first, chess, like, game, implemented, computer, chess, variant, alamos. Minichess is a family of chess variants played with regular chess pieces and standard rules but on a smaller board 1 The motivation for these variants is to make the game simpler and shorter than standard chess The first chess like game implemented on a computer was the 6 6 chess variant Los Alamos chess The low memory capacity of early computers meant that a reduced board size and a smaller number of pieces were required for the game to be implementable on a computer The game of Tic Tac Chec played on a 4x4 board Contents 1 3 3 and 3 4 boards 2 4 4 4 5 and 4 8 chess 3 5 5 chess 4 5 6 chess 5 6 6 chess 6 See also 7 Notes 8 References 9 External links3 3 and 3 4 boards EditChess on a 3 3 board does not have any clearly defined starting position However it is a solved game the outcome of every possible position is known The best move for each side is known as well The game was solved independently by Aloril in 2001 and by Kirill Kryukov in 2004 The solution by Kryukov is more complete since it allows pawns to be placed everywhere not only on the second row as by Aloril The longest checkmate on a 3 3 board takes 16 moves The number of legal positions is 304 545 552 2 In 2009 Kryukov reported solving 3 4 chess 3 On this board there are 167 303 246 916 legal positions and the longest checkmate takes 43 moves 4 4 4 5 and 4 8 chess Edit Silverman 4 4 Silverman 4 5 Microchess abcd8 87 76 65 54 43 32 21 1abcdDemi chessIn 1981 mathematician David Silverman suggested a 4 4 chess variant as shown on the diagram 4 The first player wins easily in this game 1 axb3 Qxb3 2 cxb3 Kxb3 or 2 Kb4 3 bxc3 checkmate 3 bxa3 Kc4 4 Qa2 checkmate so Silverman proposed a variant Black can select a pawn and White must make a first move with this pawn However in this case Black wins even more easily select pawn b2 1 bxa3 or 1 bxc3 b2 2 Qxb2 Qxb2 checkmate To make the variant more playable Silverman finally proposed to insert a row between pawns and use the board 4 5 In this variant pawns can move two squares on their first move if the target square is free The 1995 game Tic Tac Chec invented by Don Green is played on a 4 4 board which starts empty Each player has a knight a rook a bishop and a pawn and players may place a piece on the board on their turn Once each player has three pieces in play pieces may be moved Captured pieces are returned to the opponent and may be replayed A player wins if they are able to arrange their pieces into a line of four 5 6 Another chess variant on a 4 5 board Microchess was invented by Glimne in 1997 4 Castling is allowed in this variant There is also variant on a 4 8 board Demi chess which was invented by Peter Krystufek in 1986 7 Castling is allowed in this variant 5 5 chess Edit Gardner Baby chess Jacobs Meirovitz MallettA board needs to be five squares wide to contain all kinds of chess pieces on the first row In 1969 Martin Gardner suggested a chess variant on 5 5 board in which all chess moves including pawn double move en passant capture as well as castling can be made 8 Later AISE Associazione Italiana Scacchi Eterodossi Italian Heterodox Chess Association abandoned pawn double move and castling The game was largely played in Italy including by correspondence and opening theory was developed The statistics of the finished games is the following 4 White won 40 of games Black won 28 32 were draws Mehdi Mhalla and Frederic Prost weakly solved Gardner minichess in 2013 and proved the game theoretic value to be a draw 9 Gardner minichess was also played by AISE with suicide chess and progressive chess rules In 1980 HP shipped the HP 41C programmable calculator which could play this game 10 The calculator was able to play on quite a decent level In 1989 Martin Gardner proposed another setup which he called Baby chess In difference from Gardner minichess black pieces are mirrored Paul Jacobs and Marco Meirovitz suggested another starting position for 5 5 chess shown at the right Jeff Mallett main developer of Zillions of Games suggested a setup in which white has two knights against two black bishops 11 Mhalla and Prost proved Mallett chess to be a forced win for White in 25 moves clarification needed although theoretically the game is drawn when played perfectly if White is given the bishops and Black the knights rather than vice versa 12 5 6 chess Edit Petty chess Speed chess QuickChess Elena chess Chess Attack MinitChessThere are several chess variants on 5 6 board The earliest published one is Petty chess which was invented by B Walker Watson in 1930 13 Speed chess was invented by Mr den Oude in 1988 14 Elena chess was invented by Sergei Sirotkin in 1999 QuickChess was invented by Joseph Miccio in 1991 15 Pawn double move and castling are not allowed in this variant pawns can only promote to captured pieces The game was sold by Amerigames International and received National Parenting Publications Award in 1993 Miccio obtained a US patent in 1993 which described 3 further chess variant on 5 6 board 16 Besides two variants similar to Speed chess and Elena Chess same position of white pieces position of black pieces is symmetrical the patent claimed one further variant which have been named later Chess Attack Miccio advocated these games as educational tools for children to learn chess rules The smaller board and less pieces would reduce the complexity of the game and allow for more quicker games The piece setup like in Speed chess was intended to teach short side castling and setup as in Chess Attack long side castling Laszlo Polgar published a book in 1994 Minichess 777 1 Positions Quickchess teaches chess quick 17 completely devoted to chess on 5 6 board Besides initial setup as in QuickChess Polgar proposed to use any other possible setup of pieces even asymmetrical ones The book contained problems combinations and games for 5 6 chess Polgar recommended to use is as a first book to teach children to play chess Magnus Carlsen promoting 5 6 chess variant Chess Attack Chess Attack which has the same setup as Gardner minichess but played on a bigger board is sold by Norway company Yes Games AS since 2008 In this variant pawns can make double moves and en passant capture is allowed The game was endorsed by Magnus Carlsen and Alexandra Kosteniuk MinitChess published in 2010 based on earlier 2007 and 2009 variants is played on a Gardner board with the black pieces mirrored In this variant there is no castling no double pawn moves pawn promotion only to queen victory by king capture or when an opponent has no legal move including moves which permit the king to be captured these moves are legal and draw after 40 moves by each side In addition the bishop is replaced by a bad bishop that has the additional option of moving to any adjacent empty square on its turn allowing it to change color This variant is intended to be easy to write computer programs to play and harder for expert human players of standard chess while still retaining the essential character of the game several computer tournaments have been held 6 6 chess Editabcdef6 65 54 43 32 21 1abcdefDiana chess abcdef6 65 54 43 32 21 1abcdefL Hermitte chess abcdef6 65 54 43 32 21 1abcdefLos Alamos chessBesides Los Alamos chess there are other chess variants played on a 6 6 board The game Diana chess or Ladies chess was suggested by Hopwood in 1870 The initial position is shown above There are no queens on the board and pawns can t promote to queens either Pawns cannot move forward two squares on their initial move Castling is done by switching the positions of the king and rook The same condition as in chess apply for castling e g the king should not be under check neither rook nor king should have moved before etc Serge L Hermitte suggested in 1969 a game with nearly the same setup as Diana chess except that the positions of the black king and knight are exchanged from their positions in Diana chess Additionally knights cannot move within the first three moves and the king can move to the knight position without losing the right to castle abcdef6 65 54 43 32 21 1abcdefSimpler chess without rooks abcdef6 65 54 43 32 21 1abcdefSimpler chess without knights abcdef6 65 54 43 32 21 1abcdefSimpler chess without king or queen With no king to be checkmated the object of this game is to capture all enemy pieces abcdef6 65 54 43 32 21 1abcdefMallett 6x6 chessA Wardley proposed in 1977 a Simpler chess a family of 6 6 chess variants in which a pair of pieces is removed from both sides rooks knights bishop or even king and queen Removing bishops results in Los Alamos chess the result of removing rooks knights or royals is shown on the diagrams above Jeff Mallett proposed the setup knights versus bishops also on 6 6 board On a normal 8 8 board bishops are considered slightly more valuable than knights especially two bishops However on 6 6 boards because of the smaller size of the board two knights are presumably equal to two bishops See also EditHexapawn played with only pawns on a 3x3 board Los Alamos chess played on 6 6 board Dōbutsu shōgi played on 3 4 board Whale shogi played on 6 6 board Microshogi played on 4 5 board Minishogi played on 5 5 boardNotes Edit Pritchard D 1994 The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants Games amp Puzzles Publications ISBN 0 9524142 0 1 3 3 Chess by Kirill Kryukov 3 4 Chess by Kirill Kryukov a b c Pritchard 2007 p 113 Tic Tac Chec cocatalog loc gov US Copyright Office Retrieved 28 February 2021 Tic Tac Chec Mini Chess dreamgreen org Dream Green Retrieved 28 February 2021 Demi chess Jocly permanent dead link Martin Gardner 1991 The Unexpected Hanging and Other Mathematical Diversions Reprint ed University of Chicago Press ISBN 0 226 28256 2 Gardner s Minichess Variant is solved HP minichess by Hans Bodlaender based on an email from Ross Crawford This game can be found in set of games shipped together with Zillions of Games The history section says A little experiment by Jeff Mallett Mini Chess Resolution Retrieved February 12 2021 Petty Chess Chess Speed Game by Hans Bodlaender Polgar 1994 p 3 USA patent 5257787 Chess like game Polgar 1994 References EditPritchard D 2007 The Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants John Beasley ISBN 978 0 9555168 0 1 Laszlo Polgar 1994 Minichess 777 1 Positions Quickchess teaches chess quick Laszlo Polgar ISBN 963 450 805 7 External links EditKnight court by Jason D Wittman Quick Chess by Hans Bodlaender Mini chess variants 6 Ranks remaining variants by Charles Gilman All in one 4 5 4x8 5x5 5x6 6x6 boards Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Minichess amp oldid 1125933349, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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