FUN. (And a primer on style in chess.)

Fun?

Fun.

It's what you get when you toss a bunch of people who can play chess (different kinds of!) in the same room, with a bunch of chess sets (of different kinds.)

A bunch of people from BW turned up at a random meeting called for those participating in interhouse chess, since quite a few people signed up for more than one kind of chess. So we all just got together for admin matters, to iron out who's playing which chess, and for fun.

(Incidentally, the 5 kinds on offer are International Chess, Chinese Chess, Weiqi (also called Go), Gomoku (Cellblock after a fashion) and Shogi.)

It was really quite pointless if one views it as a training session, as those there already know how to play their choice of chess form to a passable/good/excellent standard. As an admin session... although the roles were ironed out in the end, it was still quite sad for Shogi, as only 3 people turned up who knew how to move the pieces. And there was no real wooden board, only virtual software. The upshot is, the AI the program came packaged with was easy to beat for a cheap ego boost.

As for the fun, it was fun indeed. Very, very fun.

Almost every chess game I play is fun. It is unique (obviously), artistic (...it's not supposed to be an art form) and almost out of control. The entertainment value therein lies where the moves play are just the right blend of creativity and surrealism, but yet actually work. Clearly, the problem lies with the second requirement. There are several classes of these fun moves.

1. The opening. Where ridiculous moves serve two purposes: to throw the game clear out of any established opening theory within four moves, and to tempt the opponent into making the mistake of thinking you're making mistakes (except that you better not be making any actual blunders.)

Key examples (for those who recognise notation): 1. g3 (P-KN3), 1. b4 (P-QN4) or similar as Black; 兵一进一， 炮二平一 or 士四进五。

2. The middlegame, or the end of the opening. At these times, the tactical possibilities are abundant as the pieces are both numerous and active. Stylish pieces of misdirection, random attacking, berserk sacrificing and outlandish yet elegant defensive moves are key to this stage. Once again, the emphasis is not on blundering, but here there is an added depth of using cheap shots to your advantage, using the opportunities to create confusion and as zwischenzug.

Key examples: Nf3-g1 (Yes, retreating an advanced knight. Except that that was my only developed (or indeed moved) piece in 14 moves or so.) e5/d4/f5 (unjustified pawn pushes) a5/b5/h5 (and on the wings.) For Chinese Chess, moves like 士五进六 for the sole purpose of being a 炮架，or 兵一进一、车一进三 to prove that the vacated square is useful.

3. The endgame. Here the opportunities are scarce, but core elements involve attacking pawns/兵 to gain a slight advantage (even at the cost of everything else.) Other than that, strategic good sense to know what you're doing, and tactical sense to know how to do it.

And of course, the final class of moves. Those that would be automatically rejected by any experienced player, but without a clear, easily demonstrable reason. Things like randomly taking 兵 in the opening or retreating to an unusual square that actually holds important defensive value. These moves may not be objectively correct (I never said any of these were) but it takes either a keen tactical sense or extensive knowledge of theory to prove their inherent wrongness.

Odds are, against most people, these not-so-serious moves give one a fairly high chance of winning. And failing that, well, at least it was fun.

To conclude, a few bits and pieces that wouldn't really fit into any sort of coherent sentence.

Either you win in style or lose in epic style.
Escape from opening theory within 4 moves.
The book is useless if your opponent doesn't play by it.
Style is the most important part of chess.
"MUST COPE FREE 兵!!!!"
"QIONG 兵!!!"
"马 is worth more than 炮!" (1st move: 炮二进七)
Shooting chess is fun after everyone's too tired to think about Chinese Chess.

After most moves, we were all falling to pieces laughing.