Wednesday 22 April 2009

Kriegspiel Server?

A number of years ago the Belconnen Chess Club was introduced to Kriegspiel (by NZ representative Michael Steadman, if my memory holds true). For the uninitiated Kriegspiel is a game of chess played with 3 boards. The two players can only see their own boards, while an umpire can see both the players boards, as well as his own. The players take turns in moving, while the umpire announces the effects of the moves (eg capture on e4, check by knight, white has moved) but not the moves themselves. The challenge is to try and establish what moves have been played by the opponent, based on the umpires announcements.
The mania for Kriegspiel lasted about a month at BCC, before it fell victim to the usual problem that Kriegspiel has. It is more interesting to be an umpire (or spectator) than it is to be one of the players, and so the games dried up through lack of participants.
Of course this problem can now be solved through online play. However I am having difficulty finding an online chess server that supports Kriegspiel. I know that ICC does, but for various reasons that won't do for me. It would be great if FICS had it as a variant, but it doesn't look like it has. So does anyone else know of a chess server where Kriegspiel can be found? Please post answers in the comments section, as I am sure others would appreciate the information as well.

1 comment:

SimianChatter said...

Shaun,

FICS doesn't (yet) support kriegspiel, but check news item 1348 if you're interested.

regards,
Simian