Battle of Kings

  

Battle of Kings


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Vadrya Pokshtya    (2023-11-03)
Battle of Kings

As the inventor of many chess variants that can be played on the Internet, I want to share with you a mind-blowing chess variant.
I’m sure you’ve never seen anything like this before, and I’ll say without undue modesty that this is perhaps my best creation.

https://www.chessvariants.com/rules/battle-of-kings-
or more detailed here:
https://www.chess.com/blog/Pokshtya/battle-of-the-kings-is-a-chess-variant-that-drives-you-crazy

Give it a try against a bot (no registration required): https://dagazproject.github.io/checkmate/botk.htm

Feel free to implement it here if you see fit.
Regards,
Vadrya Pokshtya


Thibault de Vassal    (2023-11-17 20:18:05)
Battle of Kings

Congratulations Vadrya, that is an excellent game! I like it much :) I just beat the bot for the first game, but I felt completely unsecure all the time ^^

Love it...

In my opinion, a strong engine would crush human though ;)


Vadrya Pokshtya    (2023-11-17 20:38:28)
Battle of Kings

Thanks, but you are wrong about the engine being able to crush this chess variant ;)
Knowledgeable people, programmers with whom I had the opportunity to talk about this chess variant, argued that not a single engine would be able to adequately evaluate positions in the Battle of Kings due to the colossal combinatorial complexity of the game.
Please note that the server bot plays very, very weakly. The program does not understand the concept of the game and makes a superficial assessment of the position based on material balance.
Playing against a bot is very different from playing against a human.
At the moment you can play by correspondence against other players here https://www.schemingmind.com/default.aspx
or here
https://games.dtco.ru/

Thank you again for your positive feedback!


Thibault de Vassal    (2023-11-17 20:52:46)
Battle of Kings

I understand your point of view. Indeed, it would be very tough to evaluate positions, but I think that pure calculation would be far enough to surpass human abilities there.

I agree that the bot is really weak :) After a second game, I realized that it had no strategy at all... and that the game is even more interesting!


Thibault de Vassal    (2023-11-17 20:54:53)
Battle of Kings

About evaluation of positions, the value of pieces is not obvious as well... that's the good point, but still, in such complex games, calculation becomes even more important. I hope to see Alphazero playing this game one day ;)


Vadrya Pokshtya    (2023-11-17 21:07:20)
Battle of Kings

AlphaZero is a really good example because this variant of chess is more like a game of struggle for territory, just like in Go.
That would be really interesting.


Thibault de Vassal    (2023-11-17 21:18:54)
Battle of Kings

I agree.

What were (how many moves approximately) the longest & shortest games you played until there?


Vadrya Pokshtya    (2023-11-17 21:36:46)
Battle of Kings

On average, a game lasts 70-80 moves. This is provided that the players understand what they are doing. Otherwise the game may end quickly.
Since, unlike ordinary chess, the board does not become empty as events develop on the board, but on the contrary, the evolution of chess pieces pushes towards the collapse of the entire system, its finitude is obvious. The spawning process cannot last forever - everything is limited by the 8x8 chessboard.


Thibault de Vassal    (2023-11-20 19:41:39)
Battle of Kings

Thanks for information... I'll probably play it more when I have some time. And I really hope it will be investigated by chess programmers :)


Thibault de Vassal    (2023-11-27 22:21:47)
Battle of Kings

Did anyone else try it around here? Worth a try!