About the perpetual check.
conanlibrarian wrote:So, my suggested rules to avoid most draws would be:
...
3a. If a series of moves is repeated three times, the offensive player (i.e. the one performing a threat) must find an alternative move. (from Cartier)
3b. If no offensive player can be determined (due to mutual symmetric threats, or that no direct threats are made), the game is a draw at the forth repetition.
Adam wrote:And with the addition that any repeat move that involves a checking move may not be repeated more than 3 times, at which point the checking player must make a different move. Might as well tidy up this lose end while we are at it, even if in the stats this kind of draw is rare. Its created schisms on other sites, and I've dealt these draws out and been on the receiving end, and neither is very satisfactory. Neither player feels like they've done a good enough job, hence the draw. But as the onus is on white, it should really be disallowed.
The perpetual check is a part of the rules in chess:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perpetual_check
But then again, wouldn't a situation like the following example be extremely difficult to do in chess?
The situation in diagram 1 occurred after only 26 moves (13 black and 13 white moves).
After 47 moves, the corner situation in diagram 2 is still unchanged. So it's obviously possible for white to keep the perpetual check on hand and black cannot do a thing, while the game continues at any length on rest of the board.
White can do this because he's assured the draw, and at the same time he can wait to put it in effect until any future point in the game.
A situation like this can only be avoided if it does [i:21ah96xh]not[/i:21ah96xh] assure white a draw, i.e. it must instead be a loosing position for white, white's perpetual check must be turned into white loss.
In that case, here's a related "end game perpetual check" which should the same way turn into white loss:
If this type of perpetual checks were to be abandoned, the same should go for other perpetual checks, for rules to be consistent.
Conanlibrarian mentions a case where black does the perpetual check, and cases of perpetual moves trying to capture an enemy piece. When black is responsible for the perpetual moves, of course white is not to punish for it.
In all these cases, one of the parties ("the attacking party") is trying to accomplish something which turns out not to be possible, because the opponent is able to prevent it. So the "attacker" must accept that his attack cannot succeed and must stop his perpetual moves.
A rule to solve all these cases could be, as suggested by conanlibrarian and Adam:
Rule+3) If a series of moves is repeated three times, the offensive player (i.e. the one performing a threat) must find an alternative move. If no offensive player can be determined, the game is a draw. [in Cartier's and conanlibrarian's words]
- It makes sense for the "real battle" behind the game. The king is running towards the exit; an enemy warrior is jumping back and forth blocking the way, so the king
does not escape. If the king's aim is not only the negative one not-to-be-captured, but above all
to escape, that situation is a defeat for him. If just one enemy warrior can effectively stop the king at a corner, this could also lead to interesting new black corner tactics.
- Just a thought, an alternative, more amusing way to solve perpetual moves:
The classic board game idea of the players moving alternately is normally a close enough simulation of overall movements on the battle field. But when two pieces start their perpetual step dance this simulation breaks down: the whole board except the two step dancers freezes like a broken film. In "real battle" everybody else would not freeze just because two men step dance, but movements would continue on rest of the field.
The board could be relieved of the freeze like this:
If a series of moves is repeated three times, both players may do the repetitive move plus an additional move with a piece other than the repetitive one. Starting with the defensive player (i.e. the one receiving a threat), and until the repetitive moves stop.