crazyhouse Crazyhouse is a variant of chess. The special feature of the game is that when you capture a piece, you receive a piece of the same kind, but of your color. STARTING A CRAZYHOUSE GAME -------------------------- There are several ways to begin a crazyhouse game. o Use the "match" command. Type "match opponent_name crazyhouse". o Use the "seek" command. Type "seek crazyhouse". o Use the "examine" mode. Type "match your_handle crazyhouse" or "examine b crazyhouse". To help you find crazyhouse opponents, a special channel is available: channel 97 -- Crazyhouse channel. To enter this channel, type "+channel 97". PLAYING CRAZYHOUSE ------------------ During crazyhouse play, you will be periodically notified whenever you receive captured pieces. You will be told the type of piece you received, and the set of pieces that you are currently holding. You are also notified when your opponent's holdings change. Both player's holdings are displayed whenever your board position is refreshed. Strength assessment takes held pieces into account, not just pieces on the board. A special move notation is needed to drop one of your held pieces onto the board. The notation for making a drop is "P@fr", where P is a piece you are holding [PNBRQ] and "fr" is the empty destination square. Example: "n@f5" would drop a knight on square f5. Rules for piece 'drops' are the same as in bughouse, i.e. any piece may be dropped on any open square with the expection that pawns may not be dropped on the 1st or 8th rank. For checkmate to occur, there must be no possibility of avoiding checkmate by a drop interposition. This means either the opponent is not holding any pieces, or in the case of check along the 1st or 8th rank by a queen or rook, he holds no pieces other than pawns. It is also possible to checkmate by contact checks, knight checks, and double checks. To claim a draw by repetition, the same board position must be reached 3 times with the same player to move. The count restarts whenever a pawn is moved, a capture is made, or a piece is dropped. Note that this may be inadequate for some situations where each player drops a particular piece, which is immediately exchanged, then dropped again etc. For notes on strategy in crazyhouse, read help crazyhouse_strat. SPECIAL NOTES ------------- o Unlike bughouse, crazyhouse games can be adjourned and takebacks are allowed. o Pieces that had been promoted revert to pawns when captured. o If you do not want to play crazyhouse games, you can set up a formula to automatically decline match requests for crazyhouse Chess. See help formula. o Computer accounts, those with the (C) designation, may not be challenged to Crazyhouse matches ... unless the account has the 'f2' formula variable set to 'crazyhouse'. o Crazyhouse games are denoted in "games" and "history" listings by "z" o Mamer can and does from time to time run crazyhouse tourneys SEE ALSO -------- bughouse bughouse_strat channel examine formula games history match ratings seek variables AUTHORS ------- Created: 26 April 1999 pgv Last Modified: 28 February 2008 mhill
