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International Conference on Entertainment Computing

ICEC 2013: Entertainment Computing – ICEC 2013 pp 9–16Cite as

A New Chess Variant for Gaming AI

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Part of the Lecture Notes in Computer Science book series (LNISA,volume 8215)

Abstract

In this article, we describe a newly-invented chess variant called Switch-Side Chain-Chess that is demonstrably more challenging for humans and computers than the standard, international version of the game. A new rule states that players have the choice to switch sides with each other if a continuous link of pieces is created on the board. This simple rule increases significantly the complexity of chess, as perceived by the players, but not the actual size of its game tree. The new variant therefore more easily allows board game researchers to focus on the ‘higher level’ aspects of intelligence such as perception and intuition without being constrained by a larger search space as they would be if using a game like Go or Arimaa. They can also immediately build upon the tried and tested approaches already being used in strong chess engines instead of having to start from scratch or a lower level of progress as is the case with other games of this type.

Keywords

  • Chess
  • variant
  • complexity
  • intelligence
  • intuition
  • perception

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Information Technology, Universiti Tenaga Nasional, Kampus Putrajaya, Jalan IKRAM-UNITEN, 43000, Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia

    Azlan Iqbal

Authors
  1. Azlan Iqbal
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Universidade Federal de São Carlos, 13565-905, São Paulo, Brazil

    Junia C. Anacleto

  2. Universidade Federal Fluminense, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Esteban W. G. Clua

  3. Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Flavio S. Correa da Silva

  4. The University of British Columbia, BC V6T 1Z4, Vancouver, Canada

    Sidney Fels

  5. KAIST CS, Daejeon, Korea

    Hyun S. Yang

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© 2013 IFIP International Federation for Information Processing

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Iqbal, A. (2013). A New Chess Variant for Gaming AI. In: Anacleto, J.C., Clua, E.W.G., da Silva, F.S.C., Fels, S., Yang, H.S. (eds) Entertainment Computing – ICEC 2013. ICEC 2013. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 8215. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-41106-9_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-41106-9_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-41105-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-41106-9

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)