Antishachi

In addition to the world-famous classical chess, there are many other variations of the royal game. In the issue of MT dated 12/2014, I wrote about Capablanca chess, who believed that in the future the best chess players would reach such a high level of play that their games would always end in a draw. Therefore, in 1920, he developed a variant of chess in which he introduced two new pieces: the archbishop (moves like a bishop and knight) and the chancellor (moves like a rook and knight). Capablanca felt that adding two strong pieces would reduce the chance of a draw and make the game more interesting. In turn, in the MT 7/2018 issue, I wrote about Fischer chess, in which, in order to avoid the usual opening schemes, the pieces are randomly placed on the first and eighth lines. The arrangement of pieces in classical chess is one of 960 arrangements in Fischer's random chess. The hero of today's article will be an anti-chess player, a kind of chess, he is also a brawler or a robber.

1. Exemplary opening of a countermate game, position after 3.b: c6

This is an interesting and popular type of chess, no different from classical chess and pieces. The player who first loses all his pieces or cannot make a single legal move wins. The rules for the movement of pieces and figures are similar to those in classical chess, with the difference that the capture is mandatory and you can take the king and the game does not end there. The king has no royal power and is treated like any other piece: he has no right to castling, he is not threatened by chess and checkmate, a pawn that has reached the transformation square can be promoted to any piece, including the king. If multiple pieces need to be captured, the player chooses which one to capture. The game ends in a draw when the players agree to a draw, the position is repeated three times, fifty moves are made without capturing and moving a pawn, or neither player can win (for example, if both players have only a bishop, opposite-colored rectangles).

An example of starting an anti-check game: after 1.c4 b5 White should take 2.c:b5 c6 White should play 3.b:c6 and now (diagram 1) Black can choose to play 3…N:c6 or 3…d:c6.

The origin of anti-checkers is not exactly known. In the 70s this game was called "". In addition to the main, most popular option discussed in this article, several more types of anti-checkers have been created. The main variant has been analyzed, among others, by David Pritchard in the book.

David Russell Pritchard (2), (1919-2005) English chess player, author of books on chess, president and editor of a magazine 1972-1981. He was best known for his (1994) discussion of over 1400 different varieties of chess (3). This was followed by a book (2000) detailing 20 games. The second edition of the Encyclopedia of Chess Variations was nearing completion at the time of Pritchard's death and was published in 2007 under the title.

3. David Pritchard, Losing Chess, Encyclopedia of Chess Variations, 1994

Antishachi gained popularity in the XNUMXth century, helped by some publications on this variant in the UK, Germany and Italy. With the development of the Internet, chess engines and the ability to play online (for example), the popularity of anti-chess games has increased. In recent years, many new chess engines have been developed, databases of final tables have been created, materials on game strategies and opening theories for this type of chess have been published.

Openings to Avoid in Anti-Shash

Due to the principle of mandatory capture of an opponent's piece, losing games in chess are often caused by long chains of forced captures by one of the players. Computer analyzes have shown that a mistake leading to a loss can be made already on the first move. After 1.e4, 1.d4 and 1.d3 experienced players can recreate from memory a simple series of forced moves leading to victory. White also has losing openings after 1.a3, 1.b4, 1.c3, 1.f3, 1.f4, 1.h3, 1.h4, 1.Nc3 and 1.Nf3.

4. Anti-checkers, position after 1.e4 ?? b5 2.G:b5 Nf6 3.G:d7 S:e4

Grandmaster David Bronstein's solutions for Black's victory in 17 moves after 1.e4, 1.d4 and 1.d3 were published in the aforementioned book on pages 33-34: 1.e4 ?? b5 2.G: b5 Nf6 3.G: d7 S: e4 (diagram 4) and White loses regardless of the capture:

If 4.G:e8 in 4…H:d2 5.H:d2 (jeżeli 5.G:f7 H:c1 6.H:c1 S:f2 7.K:f2 Wg8 etc.) 5…S :d2 6 .K:d2 Wg8 7.G:f7 c5 8.G:g8 g6 9.G:h7 e5 10.G:g6 e4 11.G:e4 Sc6 12.G:c6 Gb7 13.G:b7 Wc8 14.G :c8 a6 15.G:a6 c4 16.G:c4 Ga3 17.S:a3 0-1.

And if 4.G: c8 в 4… S: d2 5.G: d2 H: d2 6.H: d2 Sa6 7.G: a6 Rc8 8.G: c8 f5 9.G: f5 Wg8 10.G: h7 c5 11.G: g8 e6 12.G: e6 c4 13.G: c4 a6 14.G: a6 g5 15.H: g5 Kd8 16.H: d8 Ge7 17.H: e7 0-1.

1.d4 ?? e5 2.d:e5 Hg5 3.H:d7 G:d7 4.G:g5 Крd8 5.G:d8 a6 6.G:c7 Wa7 7.G:b8 b6 8.G:a7 a5 9.G:b6 g6 10.G:a5 Gb4 11.G:b4 Se7 12.G:e7 Wf8 13.G:f8 h6 14.G:h6 g5 15.G:g5 f6 16.G:f6 Gh3 17.S:h3-0 1.

1.d3 ?? g5 2.G:g5 Gg7 3.G:e7 G:b2 4.G:d8 G:a1 5.G:c7 Gc3 6.G:b8 W:b8 7.S:c3 d5 8.S:d5 Sf6 9 .S:f6 Wg8 10.S:e8 W:g2 11.G:g2 f6 12.G:b7 W:b7 13.S:f6 Wb8 14.S:h7 Wb1 15.H:b1 Gb7 16.H:b7 а6 17.Х:а6 0-1.

Recommended move 1.e3

On the other hand, White has good winning chances after 1.e3!! In October 2016, thanks to computer analysis, it was found that after some of Black's responses, such as 1…d5, 1…d6, 1…Sa6 and 1…g6, White won in less than 20 moves, after 1…Nf6, 1… h6, 1…E5, 1…f5, 1…h5, 1…a6, 1…f6, 1…a5 White wins in less than 30 moves, after 1…c6, 1…N6, 1…Nc6 it takes about 100 to win the most difficult moves to win are (with increasing difficulty) 1…e6, 1…g5, 1…b5, 1…c5 and 1…b6.

Contrary to popular belief, game strategy against chess it's not about replacing your parts and pieces as quickly as possible. On the contrary, although at first glance it may seem counterintuitive, achieving a significant material advantage is one of the important strategic steps. With a material advantage, you can “surround” your opponent with your pieces, gradually limiting him until he runs out of safe moves (zugzwang), and then subduing one piece after another. This usually requires a material advantage, as well as an advantage in mobility and space. The pioneer of anti-checkers and their great enthusiast Stanislav Goldovsky (1975-1999) wrote about this on his chess website, which can now be found at:

David Pritchard wrote that the "complexity and beauty" of antidraughts lies in the endgame play. "". Sometimes victory is unattainable due to the fifty-move rule.

In 2001, the first unofficial World Anti-Cheating Championship was played in Utrecht. The bronze medal was won by Pole Andrzej Nagurko, currently Associate Professor at the Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics and Mechanics at the University of Warsaw.

5. Tim Remmel – Fabrice Liarde, Position 8… With: b4

Games were played at a pace of 2 hours per player. In the tournament, Tim Remmel and Fabrice Liarde scored 6 points each. The rules stipulated that in the event of a draw, two extra periods would be played with a time of 15 minutes for each player, and in the event of a 1:1 result, the result of a direct game in the main event would be decisive. Tim Remmel won the first game of overtime, and because he had also won their previous game in the main event, the second game of overtime was not played.

6. In the foreground on the left Andrzej Nagurko-Tim Remmel, round 5, source:

https://bit.ly/334SKcG

And here's the overtime that made Tim Remmel the first unofficial anti-cheat world champion:

Tim Remmel - Fabrice Liarde, Utrecht, Netherlands 29.07.2001

1.e3 b6 2.b3 e6 3.Ga6 S:a6 4.Sh3 Ga3 5.G:a3c6 6.Gc5 b:c5 7.c4 Wb8 8.b4 S:b4 (диаграмма 6) 9.Hc1 S:a2 10. W:a2 W:b1 11.W:a7 W:c1 12.W:d7 K:d7 13.Sg1 W:e1 14.Se2 W:e2 15.e4 W:f2 16.e5 W:g2 17. h3 and Black resigned. 1-0.

Fabrice Liardet (born 1970) was not only one of the world's best players in this chess game, but also made a great contribution to its development. There is, among others, the author of a French-language site about anti-draughts:

Currently, the leading player in this chess game is Serbian Vladika Andreevich, who is also the author of a book covering various aspects of the game, including the history of antidraughts, opening analysis, tactics, and middlegame and endgame strategy. .

7. Vladika Andreevich - The Complete Guide to Anti-Shahs, Publisher Chess Informant, 2018

Bishop Andreich (8) also plays classical chess (highest Elo rating 2275), is a chess referee and website owner, works as a researcher at the Faculty of Mathematics of the University of Belgrade.

are growing in popularity and many games are hosted on the Lichess online chess site. It is the second largest chess service after Chess.com. On the Lichess website, players from all over the world play chess every day, playing thousands of games a day, tournaments with different time controls (dozens of tournaments a day).

In June 2020, 377 anti-chess games were played on the Lichess chess server. Lichess was founded in 790 by French programmer Thibault Duplessis and operates as free software.

8. Vladika Andreich is the current world champion in anti-draughts on the Lichess server, source: https://bit.ly/3h8f6Pw