suicide_chess

  Suicide may be problematic from a moral point of view, but Suicide Chess is
fun!  Suicide Chess is a chess variant that is very different from Wild Chess
versions.  In both Regular and Wild Chess, the major purpose of the game is to
checkmate your opponent's king.  But in Suicide Chess, the major purpose is to
lose all of your pieces ... even your king!  Both Regular and Wild Chess
follow roughly the same rules, but Suicide Chess has many different rules. 
This help file gives some basics about Suicide Chess.


  You win the game if ...
  -----------------------

  (a) You lose all of your pieces before your opponent loses all of his/hers.

  (b) You have no legal moves to make and have fewer pieces left at the end
than your opponent does.  The type of pieces remaining make no difference.  If
the number of pieces is equal, the game would be drawn.


  The different rules are ...
  ---------------------------

  (a) Castling is not permitted.

  (b) If you can capture an opponent's piece, you must do so.  If more than
one capture is possible, you can choose which one to make.  Note: If you try
to make a non-capture move when a capture is possible, you will be told "You
must capture."

  (c) Treat the king as if it were just a regular piece.  There is no check or
checkmate.  The king can be captured.  And you can promote a pawn to a king
(yes, it is possible to have more than one king at a time).


  How to start a Suicide Chess game ...
  -------------------------------------

  (a) Using the match command, type "match opponent_name suicide".  (See "help
match" for details.)

  (b) Using the seek command, type "seek suicide".  (See "help seek" for
details.)

  (c) You can also use examine mode if you match yourself for Suicide Chess. 
Type, "match your_handle suicide" or "examine b suicide".


  A short tip on strategy ...
  ---------------------------

  A basic concept is the initiative, and to keep it.  Try to force your
opponent into a series of captures without you making any (many) captures
yourself.  For this reason, beware of having your queen in the open during a
sparsely populated board position since it can easily be forced to capture
pieces one after the other.  For this reason, many players prefer to lose
their queens as soon as possible, and promoting a pawn to a queen can be
disastrous.


SPECIAL NOTES:

(a) The symbols for promoting a pawn to a king differ between typing the move
and using the 'promote' command.  If you type the move, type for example
"e8=k" or "e8=K".  But if you use the 'promote' command in this case, do _not_
type "promote K" since this would mean setting promote to Knight.  Instead,
you would need to type "promote ki".

(b) If you do not want to play Suicide Chess games, you can set up a formula
to automatically decline match requests for Suicide Chess.  See "help
formula".

(c) Computer accounts, those with the (C) designation, may not be challenged
to Suicide Chess matches ... unless the account has the 'f1' formula variable
set to 'suicide'.  (See 'help formula' and 'help variables'.)

(d) Not all interfaces may support (allow for) Suicide Chess.  For example,
some interfaces may require you to type the moves manually, or to disable
checking for legal moves.

(e) Suicide Chess games are denoted in 'games' and 'history' listings by "S"
(capitalized).


See Also:  examine  formula  games  history  match  promote  seek  variables 
wild

[Last modified: September 11, 1997 -- Friar]