Enter Your Reply

STALEMATE VICTORY RULES
 
     H. G. Muller writes: 'For instance, I don't believe [KB vs K] 
would be generally won under this rule, despite the fact that a Bishop 
is quite strong for a piece without mating potential. 
     The Shatranj baring rule has a much bigger impact in this respect.' 

The BARE KING LOSS rule is a lot more complicated than most players think. See my notes for Shatranj Kamil (64). I chose to drop this rule completely and simply use checkmate and stalemate victory rules in Shatranj Kamil X. I also modified these rules to prevent a Bare King from ever winning: note that BLACK King(a1) and Pawn(a2) can be stalemated by a lone WHITE King moving to (c2).

Using the victory rules from SHATRANJ KAMIL X, I would like to start a discussion on which piece(s) can actually force a stalemate victory against the lone King. A couple of years ago, after some crude attempts at testing endgames with Zillions, I concluded that the Gold General succeeds and the Silver General fails. Centuries of playtesting on the (12x12) CHU SHOGI board probably confirm this, but my information on Japanese chess variants comes mostly from amateur translations. The Bishop, Knight and Cannon all look like failures.

KNN vs KP endgames often lead to checkmate in FIDE chess, because a pair of Knights are sufficient to force stalemate. Two Cannons can easily force stalemate, even though the longest forced CHECKMATE that I have found in KCC vs K is two moves.