Kriegspiel (chess)

Kriegspiel
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8
d4 white pawn
f4 white bishop
b3 white bishop
c3 white knight
f3 white knight
a2 white pawn
b2 white pawn
f2 white pawn
g2 white pawn
h2 white pawn
a1 white rook
d1 white queen
e1 white rook
g1 white king
8
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
abcdefgh
A game in progress; position as seen by White
Years activeSince 1899
GenresBoard game
Chess variant
Players2, plus an umpire
Setup time~1 min
Playing time30–90 min
SkillsStrategy, tactics, memory
Synonymsblind chess
Screen Chess
War-Chess
Commando Chess

Kriegspiel is a chess variant invented by Henry Michael Temple in 1899 and based upon the original Kriegsspiel (German for war game) developed by Georg von Reiswitz in 1812.[1][2][3][4][5] In this game, each player can see their own pieces but not those of their opponent. For this reason, it is necessary to have a third person (or computer) act as an umpire, with full information about the progress of the game. Players attempt to move on their turns, and the umpire declares their attempts 'legal' or 'illegal'. If the move is illegal, the player tries again; if it is legal, that move stands. Each player is given information about checks and captures. They may also ask the umpire if there are any legal captures with a pawn. Since the position of the opponent's pieces is unknown, Kriegspiel is a game of imperfect information.

On the Internet Chess Club, Kriegspiel is called Wild 16.[6]

  1. ^ Hooper, David; Whyld, Kenneth (1996) [First pub. 1992]. "kriegspiel". The Oxford Companion to Chess (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 211. ISBN 0-19-280049-3.
  2. ^ Pritchard, D. B. (1994). The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants. Games & Puzzles Publications. pp. 165–69. ISBN 0-9524142-0-1.
  3. ^ Pritchard, D. B. (2007). Beasley, John (ed.). The Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants. John Beasley. pp. 33–38. ISBN 978-0-9555168-0-1.
  4. ^ Pritchard, D. B. (2000). "§9 Kriegspiel". Popular Chess Variants. B.T. Batsford Ltd. pp. 62–67. ISBN 0-7134-8578-7.
  5. ^ Parlett, David (1999). The Oxford History of Board Games. Oxford University Press Inc. pp. 324–25. ISBN 0-19-212998-8.
  6. ^ Kriegspiel tournament rules of the computer Olympiad Archived 2007-11-23 at the Wayback Machine