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Pocket Mutation Chess. Take one of your pieces off the board, maybe change it, keep it in reserve, and drop it on the board later. (8x8, Cells: 64) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

💡📝Michael Nelson wrote on Mon, Aug 11, 2003 02:18 PM UTC:

A particular mutation that is often worth doing early is to pocket a Rook and mutate to Nightrider. This has technical merit and is also an excellent bit of psychological warfare--your opponent can't help but wonder 'What is he going to do to me with that Nightrider?'

Tony Quintanilla wrote on Mon, Aug 11, 2003 04:37 AM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★

The middle game develops very nicely. At first I thought that there would be a lot of drops. It turns out that the tempo lost in putting a piece in the pocket is very important, so this option cannot be wasted. The game develops very closely to FIDE Chess. The mutation aspect of the pocket actually adds more to the dynamics of the game than the drop itself, it seems. Promotions do not seem to be any more prevalent in the middle game than in FIDE.

💡📝Michael Nelson wrote on Sat, Jun 21, 2003 04:11 PM UTC:

I have been experimenting with a Chessgi-type variant of Pocket Mutatution. Add the following simple rule: When a player captures an enemy piece, if the player's pocket is empty, the enemy piece becomes a friendly piece (no mutation) and is put in to the player's pocket; if the player's pocket is not empty, the captured piece is removed from the game. This rule also makes an intriguing variant when added to FIDE Chess.

💡📝Michael Nelson wrote on Fri, May 9, 2003 10:19 PM UTC:

Daniel,

Thank you for finding the bug in the ZRF (it actaully affected the
SuperChancellorRider).  I have subbitted a corrected zrf to the CV pages.

Daniel Roth wrote on Fri, May 9, 2003 06:03 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★

This is an excellent game! The pocket allows for many surprises.
I played its zrf many times and I found a very small error in it. The
piece CancellorRider is missing its one step diagonal move.

💡📝Michael Nelson wrote on Thu, Mar 6, 2003 09:49 PM UTC:

Some thoughts on the pieces:

The pawn is about the same value as in FIDE Chess: while it can only
promote to Bishop, it promotes to a Bishop that is itself promotable.

I don't expect to see an AmazonRider in an actual well-played game, but I
just had to have it for logical completeness. I wonder if an AmazonRider
is really all that more powerful than an Amazon on an 8x8 board: the
difference certainly feels less than the gap between Knight and
Nightrider.

The SuperChancellor can mate unassisted--the only value class 6 piece
which can do so.

The leveling effect among pieces of the same value class is stronger than
in other chess variants, since by spending a tempo, you can mutate one
into another. On the other hand, among pieces in the same value class
their are slight differnces in value based on the type of position.  In
open/wide open positions, the most valuable move components seem to be
Rook, Bishop, Knight in order and Wazir or Ferz is a more valuable
enhancement than Nightrider.  In closed/severly closed positions, the
reverse is true.  In-between positons seem to favor Bishops.

Tony Quintanilla wrote on Wed, Mar 5, 2003 06:01 AM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★

This is a great game. I am playing a game with the author. So far, I've only made 'standard' chess moves, waiting for the right time to put a piece in the pocket. Once the board starts to clear up, the gain in position will outweigh the loss in time. There will be a lot of drops in the end game. The simplicity of the idea of the Pocket and the possibilities it provides make for a very nice game. There is a whole new dimention to piece development. Its almost like a 2-turn teleport move. I agree with the author that this 'game system' could be used with other piece arrays. It could even be used in hexagonal Chess--why not? The details of what piece can promote where, to what can be modified as needed for playability.

💡📝Michael Nelson wrote on Tue, Mar 4, 2003 05:10 PM UTC:

Promotion does dominate the endgame. When the board gets empty, the number of pieces is often more important than their strength--the player with more pieces can usually afford to trade a Queen for a Rook or sometimes a Bishop. King and anything vs. King is a win--the enemy King can't defend the whole eighth rank. So you just keep promoting or mutating until you have King and Rook vs. King or better.

💡📝Michael Nelson wrote on Tue, Mar 4, 2003 03:27 PM UTC:

There will be a ZRF posted.  Until it's on the CV pages, I will send a
copy by email to anyone who requests it.

I think my playing tip about not using the pocket just to mutate a piece
might well be extended to promotion as well -- don't aim for promotion as
your sole objective -- try to gain a material or positional advantage in
addition.

The kind of pawn promotion I like is dropping a pawn on the seventh rank
to fork two pieces and threaten to make a Bishop or Knight.

In general, moves with multiple objectives will be even more frequent than
in FIDE Chess.

Astute readers will notice that the value classes are based on Ralph
Betza's Atomic Thoery of Piece Values.  The equivalances are not exact --
a SuperBishop is measurably stronger than a Rook, but the difference is
small enough (half a pawn, maybe) that positional factors can easily
override it.

If anyone does want an alternate piece set, I would suggest a coherent
set based on a small number of elements.  My piece set is based on three
pieces (Knight, Bishop, Rook) and their combinations plus three
enhancements (change Knight to Nightrider, add Wazir to Bishop, add Ferz
to Rook).

Tim Stiles wrote on Tue, Mar 4, 2003 05:04 AM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★

Sounds pretty good. Can't wait for the ZRF file. Oh, there's a typo in the sentance that describes how the Amazonrider moves.

Joseph DiMuro wrote on Tue, Mar 4, 2003 03:42 AM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★

I concur with Michael Howe. This game is great! The variants section says
that this game could be played with another piece list; I say, LEAVE THE
LIST ALONE! :-) The pieces work fine as they are, and they are pretty easy
to remember.

I too received a preview version of the ZRF. The old version allowed PAWNS
to be dropped directly on the 8th rank, but no other pieces. With that
rule in place, promoting a pawn would take 4 moves (pocket, drop, pocket,
drop promoted piece). Now it takes 5 moves, since the pawn can't be
dropped on the 8th rank. And is it worth 5 tempi to make a pawn a bishop?
I originally thought the promotions would dominate the game... shows you
how much I know! :-) 

This is a must download... or it will be, once the download is available.
:-)

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