It's time to discuss the chess rules and seriously reconsider the opening
rules.

Orthodox chess (Fide-chess) is today more and more revolving around
computer-aided opening preparation. The game is increasingly taking
place before the actual meeting at the chessboard, by the meticulous
preparation against an opponent and his particular repertoire. The
science of openings is becoming a heavy burden to grandmasters and
amateurs alike. The slavish iteration of concrete opening variations
is depleting the combative aspect of chess. Is chess becoming a game
for memory artists? Today a grandmaster must always labour at home to
prepare against an opponent's preparations against the grandmaster's
own favourite openings.

This is probably why many grandmasters advocate shorter time limits,
and more than one round per day. In this way the combative aspect of
chess is promoted and the scientific aspect is lessened. The
disadvantage is that the quality of the games will suffer.

FischeRandom Chess was designed to answer the problem of opening
monotony. But as opening studies are virtually meaningless in
FischeRandom, this form of chess risks becoming a display of chess
technique. In fact, chess players take great pleasure in developing
their own secret variations. They study openings with a scientific
method. As opening and middle game connect, these studies are
important for a deepened understanding of the game.

Swedish Chess is an interesting alternative. It meets the requirement
that the players can develop and study their own favourite systems.
But here it is more a matter of principles than of concrete
variations. The kings are likely to end up on different wings, which
vouches for combative play. As some of the pawns will be relocated to
the second rank, the positions will be quite similar to those occuring
in orthodox chess, and chessplayers will feel quite at home. The
opening phase is, from a strategical point of view, very interesting.
Unlike normal chess, there is no way for white to steer the game into
drawish variations.

http://hem.passagen.se/melki9/swedish.htm


Mats

------------------------------------------

Random pawns Chess, by Mats Winther
http://hem.passagen.se/melki9/randompawn.htm
Twinmove Chess - a fully practicable double-move chess by Mats Winther.
http://hem.passagen.se/melki9/twinmove.htm
Scorpion Chess - introducing the dangerous Scorpion pawn, by Mats Winther.
http://hem.passagen.se/melki9/scorpion.htm
Mastodon Chess - a new big-board chess, by Mats Winther.
http://hem.passagen.se/melki9/mastodon.htm
Harpy Chess - introducing the pestering Harpy, by Mats Winther.
http://hem.passagen.se/melki9/harpy.htm
Random pawns Chess, by Mats Winther
http://hem.passagen.se/melki9/randompawn.htm
Twinmove Chess - a fully practicable double-move chess by Mats Winther.
http://hem.passagen.se/melki9/twinmove.htm
Scorpion Chess - introducing the dangerous Scorpion pawn, by Mats Winther.
http://hem.passagen.se/melki9/scorpion.htm
Mastodon Chess - a new big-board chess, by Mats Winther.
http://hem.passagen.se/melki9/mastodon.htm
Harpy Chess - introducing the pestering Harpy, by Mats Winther.
http://hem.passagen.se/melki9/harpy.htm