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Zonal Chess. Board has special `zones' at both sides. Commercial game of 1970's. (Cells: 104) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
George Duke wrote on Mon, Jul 28, 2008 04:16 PM UTC:
Let's not forget GM Sam Reshevsky as another proponent of status quo acting to innovate. Fischer never got past re-arrangement in FischerRandom. Reshevsky at least enlivens the board. The line of Bird, Capablanca, Seirawan and so on of Carrera copycats should include Reshevsky. It's really the same thing with or without Centaur(BN) or Champion(RN). Other tangents would be Four-Way(Stockman), Grand, Simplified Chess(2008), Slide-Shuffle, Maura's Modern(1968). Ignoring Mutators -- not considering Mutators at all -- there are still of course hundreds other examples all within this general class of CVs, ones keeping full Orthodoxy at root and deviating, in greater or lesser degree, by different board and arrangement of RNBKQP. The class includes concurrently-Commented Big Board(1974) by Professor Schoenfelder. Reshevsky here, like Seirawan, keeps the central 8x8 intact and adds an extraneous mechanism. Seirawan's is replacement pieces after evacuation, Reshevsky's is flank region of squares for off-beat piece-activity. Literally the 64-square region stays intact these two -- unlike Four-Way, Modern and most others in this class. Zonal's pieces' changing direction of travel within the side zones becomes pretty wild. But in purpose of classification, Zonal(1970) fits these class-distinguishments: no really new pieces, only new array, or drop, on any board. Thus Zonal's zonal areas are less mutator(they only operate there) than simply new board created for standard Staunton units. For this class, think of long-time Carrera Centaur and Champion as the substitutes, the other two (lesser)standard units not quite up to par or first-string, always having been available remaining since the very century after small 64-square Mad Queen had emerged. Earlier three Comments explain the 45-degree, or other, turns permitted in Zonal Chess move. Now announcement of Seirawan Chess in 2008 by another GM is tantamount to saying Reshevsky forty years ago -- and GM Capablanca 80 years ago -- had it wrong. Better to keep the regular pieces on the regular board, would say Seirawan(2008), Slide-Shuffle(2004), and Fischer(1996). The art advances. Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose.