Bartmanhomer
First Post
Does anybody know the rank of the chess ratings?
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Chess
- Thread starter Bartmanhomer
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Bartmanhomer
First Post
Richards said:
DANG!
By the way, if anyone's interested in learning to play Jetan, pick up "The Chessmen of Mars," by Edgar Rice Burroughs - it's part of his "John Carter of Mars" series. There's an appendix in the back detailing the board, pieces, and rules, including traditional Barsoomian Jetan customs like always placing the orange army towards the north and the black army toward the south, as the game represents a battle between the Yellow Men of the North and the Black Pirates of the South.
One of my favorite things about Jetan is that the strategies change during the course of the game. In chess, once you're down a handful of pieces compared to your opponent, it's very difficult to recover. In Jetan, if anyone other than the Chieftain (King) captures the enemy Chieftain, it's a draw, regardless of the number of the respective armies. So when your army is half the size of your opponent's, that just means you can bring your Chieftain out into reckless combat, because your opponent (who has numerical superiority and is after a clean win) isn't going to want to attack your Chieftain with any of his other pieces and bring about a draw. So he's got to keep his Chieftain protected from all of your pieces (because you'll take a draw over a loss any day), while you're under no such constraints.
The other thing I like is that there's no such concept as "check." After all, "check" is basically saying to your enemy Chieftain/King, "Excuse me, but I'm about to kill you next turn if you don't stop me. You might want to do something about that." In Jetan, if the Chieftain doesn't see the attack coming, then too bad for him!
Johnathan
One of my favorite things about Jetan is that the strategies change during the course of the game. In chess, once you're down a handful of pieces compared to your opponent, it's very difficult to recover. In Jetan, if anyone other than the Chieftain (King) captures the enemy Chieftain, it's a draw, regardless of the number of the respective armies. So when your army is half the size of your opponent's, that just means you can bring your Chieftain out into reckless combat, because your opponent (who has numerical superiority and is after a clean win) isn't going to want to attack your Chieftain with any of his other pieces and bring about a draw. So he's got to keep his Chieftain protected from all of your pieces (because you'll take a draw over a loss any day), while you're under no such constraints.
The other thing I like is that there's no such concept as "check." After all, "check" is basically saying to your enemy Chieftain/King, "Excuse me, but I'm about to kill you next turn if you don't stop me. You might want to do something about that." In Jetan, if the Chieftain doesn't see the attack coming, then too bad for him!
Johnathan
I play chess, but not often. Never played in any tournaments or anything like that. I have actually gotten to say "Checkmate in 5" in a school chess club game, though. (I then let the guy off the hook to continue the game- and later got to say "Checkmate in 2 moves" 
).
So far, the only person I've played that I have never beaten is my father...who reads all the damn books!
Note- I'm not undefeated against everyone else- I've just managed to score at least one victory against everyone I've played.
However, my game is consistent enough that most of the people I hang out with don't want to play me.
).So far, the only person I've played that I have never beaten is my father...who reads all the damn books!
Note- I'm not undefeated against everyone else- I've just managed to score at least one victory against everyone I've played.
However, my game is consistent enough that most of the people I hang out with don't want to play me.
Bartmanhomer
First Post
Jdvn1 said:
That's a very good idea!
I play chess, and when i was in high school, the chess club liked to play against me, since i don't know the chess gambits and such, so they had to think outside of the box when playing me. I was so happy when i got a draw against one of the best players in school, that was in 2 years of playing against him almost every day. I actually learned chess while at scout camp, just watching the other guys playing, and have loved playing it ever since, but don't get to play much since i graduated in 1989.
