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Miscellaneous

The check

The answer to a check is made without consumption of power. It is normal because no decision can intervene when in the fact of playing or not. To give a good check is even more advantageous in Awarichess than in classical Chess. On the other hand, to give a bad check is even more disadvantageous in Awarichess than in classical Chess.

Example of the first case :
Let us compare two positions of mate in two moves in the Awarichess :
Position 1 : Whites : Ke5 Qa7 and Blacks : Kh8 Qb4 : If the whites have the move, 3 consecutive white powers are necessary to mate : 1. (1)Kf6 (2)0 2. (3)Qg7#
Position 2 : Whites : Kh2 Rb6 Rc5 and Blacks Kg7 Qa1 : If the whites have the move, only 2 consecutive white powers are necessary to mate : 1. (1)Rc7+ Kg8 2. (2)Rb8#

Example of the second case :
In classical Chess : 1. e4 d6 2. Bb5+ Bd7 3. Bxd7+ Qxd7 and the whites has to move in this position. In Awarichess, with the following powers : WW BB WW BB ... , we will have : 1. (1)e4 (2)0 2. (3)0 (4)d6 3. (5)Bb5+ Bd7 4. (6)Bxd7+ Qxd7 5. (7)0 (8)Nf6 and the whites has to move in a position where the black knight is on f6 instead of g8. This is because the blacks has played two excellent moves (Bd7 and Qxd7) without the use of powers because they had to adorn the checks.

In endgames, inconvenient checks become particularly bad. Don't count on the perpetual check because every check costs a power and because the rule of threefold repetition of a position on the chessboard does not exist.

Comparison with other Chess games

With the following powers : WW BB WW BB ... , standard Awarichess looks like enough classical Chess (with differences, however, of which that mentioned higher).

With the following powers : WWW BBB WWW BBB ... ou WWWW BBBB WWWW BBBB ... , standard Awarichess looks like enough "Marseillais" Chess (each opponent plays two following moves).

With the following powers : WW BBBB WWWWWW BBBBBBBB ..., standard Awarichess looks like enough "progressive" Chess (the whites play a move, then the blacks play two moves, then the whites play three move, and so on). Even if this heterodox variant is very beautiful, Some have suggested to use complicated rules to decrease, at the certain moments, the length of the series. The rules of Awechec make of the variation of the number of following effective moves something quite natural.

Another generator of asymmetry is constituted by the usage of dices for the moves. In this way, the suspense and the cold sweats are guaranteed. The weak points are the intervention of the luck and the very big unpredictability of the course of the events.

With standard Awarichess, we play another variant of chess at each Awari game. So we play virtually an infinite number of variants. Synchronous Awarichess is a mixture of two combinatorial games and is very interesting in the endgames. Awarichess is the game of elastic tempos.


The zugzwang

You should not forget that in Awarichess, the zugzwang is turned to good account by the holder of the power who have the move by its decision to pass his turn and by the holder of the power who have not the move by his decision to make his opponent play. For example, the endgames king and rook against a lone king and king and pawn against a lone king use the zugzwang a lot.

The stalemate

In Awarichess, the autostalemate is possible. A player is autostalemated (and then the result of the game is a draw) if he is stalemated and if he is the last one to have played an effective move. Example in standard Awarichess :

The powers are : 1:W 2:B
Whites : Kg6, Qg1, Ne4. Blacks : Kg8. The whites who have the move play the very bad move : 1. (1)Nf6+?? The result is not waiting : Kh8! 2. (2!)0 autostalemate.

The "en passant" capture

As the zero move is fully a move, let us consider the following position : Whites : Kg4, f5, h5 and Blacks : Kh7, f6, g7. The blacks have the move.

With the following powers : BW , 1. ... (1)g5 is bad because of 2. (2)fxg6 or 2. (2)hxg6.

But with the following powers : BBWW , 1. ... (1)g5 is good because of 2. (2)0 (3)0 and the "en passant" captures are forbidden because they would not follow at once the double step of the opposite pawn.

Automatisms from Chess and from Awari

Attention in reflexes coming from Chess. The "absolute" pins are ... relative in Awarichess. Forks are sometimes mirages and the value of the pieces differs less than in the classical Chess.

For the specialists of the Awari, let us say that, allowing exceptions, the immediate seeds taking is a little more promising in Awarichess than in Awari.

Game modes

With its complexity, the game of Awarichess lends itself very well to the game by correpondence.

Normally, South and White (respectively North and Black) represent the same player. We use a term or the other one according to if we are more in an Awari or in a Chess context. In standard Awarichess, we can play in team, the one was consisted of a player specialist of the Awari (South) and the player specialist of the Chess (White) and the other one formed in the same way. The game can be played with three players : one player for one side against a team of two players.

Finally, when will we have a strong program of Awarichess on a computer ?


Links

AWARI

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oware : Presentation of the Awari game.
http://web.archive.org/web/20001006234441/scs.student.virginia.edu/~games/traditional/warri/ : All about the technical secrets of Awari.
http://lesallumesdelawale.blog4ever.com/blog/index-28059.html : Interesting blog for Awari (Awélé) lovers. (in French)

ORTHODOX CHESS

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess : Presentation of the Chessgame.
http://chessbase.com/ : All the current events of Chess with a lot of analyses.

HETERODOX CHESS

http://www.chessvariants.com : The reference in heterodox Chess.
http://www.freechess.org : To play orthodox and heterodox Chess on line for free : "suicide Chess", "atomic Chess", and so on.
http://www.pion.ch : A very interesting site on the heterodox variants of Chess. (In particular on "suicide Chess") (in French)
http://www.wildchess.org : Databases for heterodox Chess.
http://www.zillions-of-games.com : An exciting game package that uses an "universal gaming engine" technology, allowing you to play nearly any abstract board game or puzzle in the world.

ABSTRACT GAMES

http://www.papatilleul.fr : A very interesting blog on abstract games with many case studies. (in French)