King’s
Dilemma
The board is 4 by 4; each side has 1
king and 7 pawns. Here’s the starting position:
kppp
pppp
PPPP
PPPK
Each piece moves and captures like a
king: one space horizontal, vertical or diagonal.
The object of the game is to
checkmate the other side’s king; however, mutual checkmates are allowed,
creating a fourth outcome: truce, in addition to win, lose,
and draw. These four outcomes pose a dilemma; namely, whether to
cooperate with the other player, or not.
A king is in check when it
can be captured next turn; it is mated if check cannot be escaped by
next move. A check or a mate is deterred if there is counter-check;
that is, the other king would be counter-captured on the following move. Mutual
deterred check is tryst; undeterred mate is checkmate; mutual
deterred mate is truce; no possible captures is draw.
You may not move into an undeterred
check, nor remain in one; nor may you leave the other player in undeterrable
check if you too remain in check. (That is, no ‘forced exchanges’.)
To checkmate is to win, to be
checkmated is to lose. The outcomes are ranked in this order:
win
over truce over draw over lose.
The dilemma is that if both sides
are mated, then that is truce, a shared win; so there are reasons to cooperate:
but if only one side is mated, then that side loses; so there are reasons to
compete. Can you trust the other player? Resolving the dilemma requires tactics
and negotiation. Make them an offer they can’t refuse.
Some King’s
Dilemma end positions
Draw: Mate:
Mate: Truce: Truce:
Truce: Truce:
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ k
p _ _ _ p k K P _ _
P k _
_ _ _
_ k _ _ _ k _ _ _ _ P _ _ k P _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ P _ _ pK
_ _ _ _ _ _ p _ _ _ K_ p K _ _ P_ _ p p
_ _ _ _ _ Pk
_ _ K _ _ _ K_
_
_ _ _ _ _
P_ _ _ _ _ K p_ _ _ _ _ _
Some King’s
Dilemma games recorded.
We can record game moves in
algebraic notation:
4 _ _ _ _
3
_ _ _ _
2
_ _ _ _
1
_ _ _ _
a b c d
Here are some games recorded in that
notation:
a2xa3
ch. b4xa3
a1-a2 d3xc2 ch k _ _ _
c1xc2 d4-d3 P P _ p
b2xa3
ch c3xd2 try _ _ _ p
a2xb3
truce _
P _ K
a2xa3
ch b4xa3
a1-a2 d3xd2 ch
c2xd2 c3xd2 ch
d1xd2 b3xc2 ch
b1xc2 a3xb2
a2xb2 a4-b4
c2-c1 d4-d3 ch
d2-d1 c3-c4
b2-b1 b4-c3 _ _ _ p
d1-d2
try d4-d3 try _ P k _
c1-b2
try d3-d2 try _ _ K p
b2-b3
truce _
P _ _
b2xb3
ch c4xb3
a2xb3
ch b4xb3
b1-b2 a3xb2
a1xb2 d3xd2 ch
c1xd2 b3xc2 ch
d2xc2 a4-b4
c2-b1 c3-c4
b2-a1 b4-c3
d1-c2
try c3-d3 try _ _ _ _
a1-b2
try c4-c3 try _ _ p p
c2-b1
ch d3-d2 try _ P _ k
d1-c1
try d4-d3 truce _ P K _
King’s Dilemma games tend to be short
and sweet.
No comments:
Post a Comment