FICS Variants
Due to a technical problem that I was unaware of until recently, this article was not
run in it's entirety in the previous issue of the Newsletter. My apologies to PxQmate! :)
Here is the ENTIRE article, including the portion that ran last month.
We will begin in-depth looks at each individual type of variant in the
March issue. --RC
When it comes right down to it, if you are playing anything but 0 0
unrated, you are playing a chess variant. Clocks, to say nothing of
chess clocks, are not as old as this ancient game of ours, and the
concept of a chess rating newer still. For the harder core "purists"
of the game, I will add that the power of the queen, long range
bishops and that quirky pawn double move (and en passant) were
modifications to the game in Isabella's Spain. In fact, not all
countries refer to the Indian "elephant" piece as a bishop! I am sure
a lot of newer users of FICS not used to timed games, will concur that
playing 1 0 (or 0 1) is certainly different from even 5 0 or 10 0. But
after you've played about 1% of your life on line, you just might be
looking for something different, and FICS has plenty of options for
excitement. In most cases you can play these games with either a
match or seek of the form:
MATCH Opponent-name Variant-name time-control rated/unrated
SEEK Variant-name time-control rated/unrated
However as one point, only a few variants online are actually playable
as rated, so for most they will only be unrated, and for some reason
FICS won't let you play them untimed. Also, most do not allow
castling, which is obvious in some cases, I will note these exceptions.
So here's a quick rundown of the currently available variants on
Freechess.org:
Please note: your client program may not support all of them!
(I know mine, Fixation, hangs on one variant, "little-game", which I will, for
obvious reasons, not cover here but you are free to try on your own.)
Many of these games are documented in FICS help "wild" or similarly referred
files, however I will be writing about many that are not (hence my wish to
write this article!)
In the case of Bughouse, there is quite a bit more to know and do (such as
setting your "bugopen" variable and finding a partner for a team) so you
really would benefit from reading FICS documentation for a more complete
understanding of how to even get into a game of that variant.
[Notes: R/U: rated possible/unrated only, C/NC: castling/no castling allowed]
SUICIDE - [R, NC] - Despite its harsh name, it is
actually a fairly friendly game and most often quick as most moves are
forced and the main strategy is to keep the initiative and keep forcing your
opponent's moves. Novices often make the mistake of sacrificing all their
pieces, that is not always advisable. The rules are simple, all moves as in
regular chess (no castling), the goal being to lose all your pieces or
stalemate. Stalemate here referring to having no legal move left, noting
that the King is just another piece and can (must) be sacrificed, as well as
pawns can optionally promote to King, which makes sense once you've played
this a few times.
LOSERS - [U, C] - Not trying to start a theme here, but
keeping in line with Suicide, losers is quite simple. The difference to the
above is that the King does matter and checking moves have to be replied
first It should also be noted that you CAN mate; however, the catch is: if
you mate, you lose! ;)
CRAZYHOUSE - [R, C] - This is a lot of fun, known as ZH to fans, and
plays more like regular chess that the above two, if that refers to the
prime goal of checkmate! Here, whatever pieces you capture become
available to you as pieces to optionally DROP in to the game as yours.
So if you capture a pawn, say, you can hang on to it until for one move
you wish to drop a pawn anywhere on the board (including check, but pawns
not on 1st or 8th rank). You can promote this pawn to any piece, but if that
is captured, it reverts back to a pawn for the capturer's use. So losing pieces
takes on a new meaning, and often a sacrifice for a needed piece will lead to mating
combinations.
BUGHOUSE - [R, C] - Bug is perhaps the father of ZH above, as the
principles are the same but are more readily playable on real boards. Here you are
playing a team game, with a partner, against another paired team. One of you is
white, the other black, such that whatever pieces you capture your PARTNER can use,
and vice versa. This is a game of communication and fast reflexes as you need to be
aware of what is happening in each game simultaneously and react appropriately.
Flagging is key as if your partner (or you) is heading for a mate in one loss, you
can still win on time if both of you are ahead on time over the opposition.
WILD - [R] - There is one category of rated variants grouped together unusually
with one shared rating, wild. These are in some cases quite similar, but different
enough that the rating of an opponent is not easily assessed for a given variant
(since they are all scored as one rating). Nonetheless, they are all fun and FICS
documented, see help wild. To play, you must include the variant name wild PLUS
the variant number, e.g.
MATCH Opponent-name WILD Wild-number time-control rated/unrated
So "MATCH Opponent-name wild 5 10 0 r" Is wild variant 5 played as 10 0 time controls, rated.
Most of the WILD variants are on the theme of the starting setup of pieces, some
fixed (king/queen swapped on black, or knights/bishops switched for both), others
randomly, with either the SAME or DIFFERENT setups for black and white!
(Again FICS help explains all 10 or so Wild setups.)
The most curious of these is arguably wild 5, as the board looks identical to regular
chess but you are actually playing "backwards" -- your pawns are on the 7th rank, so
you must start with a N move, after which you can promote the NP on your next turn.
So needless to say there are a lot of queens in this game as well as pitfalls for the
novice (smothered N mate easily made if not watching for early on.)
UWILD - [U] - If the WILD variants get tiresome or if you are just a variant
fan, you must try out UWILD! Here are another 20 (!) or so UNDOCUMENTED (ie- no help
files, as yet) FICS variants, which I leave to you to explore. Many have very
unusual board setups which are enjoyable just to look at, others are fairly academic
and perhaps not as entertaining. Common theme is playing King and Pawns with all
(or none!) rooks, bishops, knights etc. Others are fewer than full set of pieces and
endgame studies.
MATCH Opponent-name UWILD Uwild-number time-control (unrated only)
Uwilds are numbers from 11 to 30, with no 13 (how superstitious!) and a few other
numbers not valid (it will say "no such board exists")
Most fun I think are UWILD 11, 12, 14:
11 is where the board is setup side by side not across each other
12 you have an extra row of pawns and the back ranks are empty.
14 the pieces are setup like an hourglass with some weird pins to watch out for.
For all variants you can always try them out on your own first if curious, using the
examine command, so:
"EXAMINE B UWILD 11" will setup the board for you to experiment and practice on your own.
Enjoy!
Many thanks to Crossczech, Nostril, Gwarp, Cairnsr, Maskedmutant, ARCEE and many others
who've taught, learned and played variants with me over the years.
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