On Dec 6, 8:16 pm, Kenneth Sloan wrote:

You're going to need a better justification than that. Chess as a
whole is arbitrary and artificial! Why does the little horsey move in
L-shapes?

the horsey does NOT move in L-shapes. The horsey moves in a straight
line - directly to any square which is closest to the original square
without touching (8-connected) the original square.

That is not correct. Moving in a straight line can
knock over other men, so the correct method is to
JUMP the horsey over them, landing neatly on the
forefeet. I saw it done in The Mask of Zorro, I think.

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Where DR really went wrong was in LEAPING to
the conclusion that pawn sacrifices dictate the
level of interest in the play. In reality, having a
single pawn advantage be decisive by rule would
lead to a complete re-evaluation of piece values,
most likely a devaluation in which their sacrifice
becomes even more common, while pawn sac's
recede.


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