2000 A.D. (chess variant)
Encyclopedia
2000 A.D. is a chess variant created by V. R. Parton
employing fairy chess pieces
on a 10×10 board
. The inventor describes his variant as "the game for Future Players in the Next Millennium", feeling that to be sufficiently challenging for later generations a variant should possess a larger board and increased possibilities. The game was published in Parton's 1972 monograph My Game for 2000 A.D. and After.
The Gorgon, Chimaera, and Fury are all terrifying female monsters from Greek mythology. The Dragon fairy piece is also referred to by Parton as female. An Attendant stands next to the Empress at the beginning of the game and moves as a chess king, but is stripped of all normal royal powers.
The distinction between moving and capturing methods of most of the pieces is a feature characteristic of the game.
The following pieces all move as a chess queen
, but capture (or exercise other power) in their own individual ways:
The following pieces all capture the same as they move:
The following is an alternate piece (if used, it replaces the Gorgon in the starting position):
V. R. Parton
Vernon Rylands Parton was an English chess enthusiast and prolific chess variant inventor, his most renowned variant being Alice Chess. Many of Parton's variants were inspired by the fictional characters and stories in the works of Lewis Carroll...
employing fairy chess pieces
Fairy chess piece
A fairy chess piece or unorthodox chess piece is a piece analogous to a chess piece. It is not used in conventional chess, but is used in certain chess variants and some chess problems...
on a 10×10 board
Chessboard
A chessboard is the type of checkerboard used in the board game chess, and consists of 64 squares arranged in two alternating colors...
. The inventor describes his variant as "the game for Future Players in the Next Millennium", feeling that to be sufficiently challenging for later generations a variant should possess a larger board and increased possibilities. The game was published in Parton's 1972 monograph My Game for 2000 A.D. and After.
The Gorgon, Chimaera, and Fury are all terrifying female monsters from Greek mythology. The Dragon fairy piece is also referred to by Parton as female. An Attendant stands next to the Empress at the beginning of the game and moves as a chess king, but is stripped of all normal royal powers.
The distinction between moving and capturing methods of most of the pieces is a feature characteristic of the game.
Game rules
The capture of the enemy Empress wins the game. There is no castling or checking.The following pieces all move as a chess queen
Queen (chess)
The queen is the most powerful piece in the game of chess, able to move any number of squares vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. Each player starts the game with one queen, placed in the middle of the first rank next to the king. With the chessboard oriented correctly, the white queen starts...
, but capture (or exercise other power) in their own individual ways:
- EmpressEmperorAn emperor is a monarch, usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife or a woman who rules in her own right...
(E): captures as a chess queen - CapricornAlpine IbexThe Alpine ibex, , is a species of wild goat that lives in the mountains of the European Alps. In its habitat region, the species is known as bouquetin , steinbock , and stambecco ....
(C): captures by charging (moving to a vacant square orthogonally or diagonally adjacent to) an enemy piece - GorgonGorgonIn Greek mythology, the Gorgon was a terrifying female creature. The name derives from the Greek word gorgós, which means "dreadful." While descriptions of Gorgons vary across Greek literature, the term commonly refers to any of three sisters who had hair of living, venomous snakes, and a...
(G): captures as a chess queen; petrifies (immobilizes) any enemy piece it attacks; if petrified by another Gorgon, does not lose its power to petrify other pieces - Ximaera (ChimaeraChimera (mythology)The Chimera or Chimaera was, according to Greek mythology, a monstrous fire-breathing female creature of Lycia in Asia Minor, composed of the parts of multiple animals: upon the body of a lioness with a tail that ended in a snake's head, the head of a goat arose on her back at the center of her...
) (X): cannot capture but is subject to capture; swaps places with any enemy piece it attacks; if swapped with another Ximaera, the opponent may reverse-swap them, but not on his next turn - DragonDragons in Greek mythology-Ladon:Ladon was the serpent-like dragon that twined round the tree in the Garden of the Hesperides and guarded the golden apples. Ladon was also said to have as many as one hundred heads. He was overcome and possibly slain by Heracles...
(D): captures by leaping an enemy piece to any of the vacant squares immediately beyond it; can make multiple captures in a single turn in the same direction - MimotaurMinotaurIn Greek mythology, the Minotaur , as the Greeks imagined him, was a creature with the head of a bull on the body of a man or, as described by Roman poet Ovid, "part man and part bull"...
(M): captures in the same manner as the piece being captured; counter-petrifies a Gorgon; can swap places with an enemy Ximaera
The following pieces all capture the same as they move:
- Attendant (A): as a chess kingKing (chess)In chess, the king is the most important piece. The object of the game is to trap the opponent's king so that its escape is not possible . If a player's king is threatened with capture, it is said to be in check, and the player must remove the threat of capture on the next move. If this cannot be...
- UnicornUnicornThe unicorn is a legendary animal from European folklore that resembles a white horse with a large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead, and sometimes a goat's beard...
(U): as a chess knightKnight (chess)The knight is a piece in the game of chess, representing a knight . It is normally represented by a horse's head and neck. Each player starts with two knights, which begin on the row closest to the player, one square from the corner... - PawnPawn (chess)The pawn is the most numerous and weakest piece in the game of chess, historically representing infantry, or more particularly armed peasants or pikemen. Each player begins the game with eight pawns, one on each square of the rank immediately in front of the other pieces...
(P): one step straight or diagonally forward; can promotePromotion (chess)Promotion is a chess rule describing the transformation of a pawn that reaches its eighth rank into the player's choice of a queen, knight, rook, or bishop of the same color . The new piece replaces the pawn on the same square and is part of the move. Promotion is not limited to pieces that have...
on entering opponent's half of the board to any piece previously lost
The following is an alternate piece (if used, it replaces the Gorgon in the starting position):
- FuryErinyesIn Greek mythology the Erinyes from Greek ἐρίνειν " pursue, persecute"--sometimes referred to as "infernal goddesses" -- were female chthonic deities of vengeance. A formulaic oath in the Iliad invokes them as "those who beneath the earth punish whosoever has sworn a false oath"...
(F): combines the powers of all the other pieces "... into one Supreme Terror".
Observations
- A Gorgon can be captured only by a Unicorn or a Capricorn.
- In a multiple capture, a Dragon is immobilized after one of the captures, if a Gorgon attacks it.
- A Capricorn can capture up to seven pieces in one turn, if they are all adjacent to the square the Capricorn charges to.
- A Mimotaur is incapable of attacking another Mimotaur.
- A Mimotaur must be adjacent to the Attendant to capture it.
- A Mimotaur must be in front of and adjacent to a pawn to capture it.