A Journey of Twelve Hundred Miles

That's how far D.B. Pritchard's Encyclopedia of Chess Variants had to travel to get to my local library. Apparently the nearest available copy in the interlibrary lending system could be found in Los Alamos, New Mexico. I'm entertained by the possibility that previous readers of this tome might be nuclear physicists from Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Pritchard's book is chock full of information, with most variants listed in super-abbreviated form. Randomly selected example:

MIRROR C[hess] Problem theme in which pieces move like non-stop equihoppers. Not playable.

I have no idea what that means but it sounds cool. Anyway, aside from general interest I borrowed this book primarily as research for a little article for the Chess Variants Pages. I wanted to see the variant known as Valentine's Chess, in particular I am interested in pieces named Templar. Valentine's is the oldest game I have seen which included a piece so named. Big let-down: Valentine's Templar is a well-known combo piece: Bishop plus Knight. Not much to write home about. The game as a whole has some promise, with several other variant pieces and some unusual promotion rules. I may have to do a write-up for it.

Pritchard also offers reports on two alternative interpretations of Enochian Chess. I should either update my article on it or write a follow-up piece. Meanwhile my latest original variants languish unfinished. I suppose that's not the end of the world. It's not like I'm going to set the chess variant world on fire with any of my efforts.