Hacker News Reader

Comment by ssl-3 | Hacker News Reader

Nor the "promotion" of a pawn that has marched across the board to begin a new life as... a pawn (or anything else that isn't a king -- this almost means a queen, but a promotion to knight can also be useful).

Displaying usual the moves on the pieces is certainly super-handy for beginners to understand the moves, but as you've pointed out: Chess also has other nuances.

---

I was showing off one night and, at the tail end of an end game, and promoted a pawn to a pawn once it reached the far rank. It didn't really help in that game (although I can envision corner cases where it could be helpful as a blocker, but any other promotion is equally useful a blocker), but I had a move that I could afford to burn and it was fun to do so I did it.

It was a fun game. 10/10, did repeat other fun (and absurd) chess games.

View on HN

> and promoted a pawn to a pawn

umm. Commendably warped, but I'm not sure that's legal?

(BTW many years ago I experimented creating chess variants, before I even knew it was a thing. I invented a number which all felt contrived, but one actually felt right and an improvement, which is the ability to take your own pieces, as well as the enemy's. Turns out that somebody's already invented it (search for 'self eliminator chess') and they considered it to have potential. The value of it was it allows you to trade off position for pieces. It really changed how the game felt for the better. FYI anyway, YMMV)

>> and promoted a pawn to a pawn

> umm. Commendably warped, but I'm not sure that's legal?

Interesting point. Here is what the FIDE handbook says about it (emphasis mine):

“When a pawn reaches the rank furthest from its starting position it must be exchanged as part of the same move on the same square for a new queen, rook, bishop or knight of the same colour. The player’s choice is not restricted to pieces that have been captured previously. This exchange of a pawn for another piece is called ‘promotion’ and the effect of the new piece is immediate.”

Source: Article 3.7.e of https://www.fide.com/FIDE/handbook/LawsOfChess.pdf

Any move is legal in casual play if the person on the other side of the board agrees that is is OK, especially if that game is held in their own house.

I mean: We're not playing ranked games here. It's supposed to be fun, and it was a fun game.

Self eliminator chess sounds like an interesting dynamic. I'll have to check it out. Some of the games where my thinking feels best (if that makes sense) are the games where a ravenous opponent has shewdly eaten most of my pieces.

Point taken, rules are as agreed between players, not divinely imposed. I was just curious about P-to-P promotion legality per the 'standard'

I hope SE chess lives up to its promise! It felt right and somehow freeing not to be always hemmed in by your own pieces.

I'm looking forward to absurd openings that include things like "I'm just going to use my bishop to get own pesky little pawn out of the way."

If chess is a war simulation, then: It seems like it is both brutal and useful to deliberately destroy one's own units.

(It's bad PR, always, but I'm both the PR department and the native public audience. It'll be fine on my side of the board, and it might even frighten the enemy.)

> this almost means a queen, but a promotion to knight can also be useful

So can a promotion to rook or a bishop, if for example promotion would cause a stalemate, especially if you're in a zugzwang.

Although such situations in actual real-world chess are _exceedingly_ rare, they make for a good puzzle material.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com