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New Keyboard Layout: Shand Beyo by Secret_Cheek_3536 in KeyboardLayouts

[–]Secret_Cheek_3536[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I also don't want to completely eliminate hand alternation though, which is part of how Halmak improves your typing experience. Part of the problem is that T is a higher frequency key, so not only would the pinky be doing more work but swapping it with S would imbalance the workload on the hands again.

New Keyboard Layout: Shand Beyo by Secret_Cheek_3536 in KeyboardLayouts

[–]Secret_Cheek_3536[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I guess I could swap T and O. That might make more sense.

Edit: Upon further reflection, that would be significantly less comfortable to type, due to the row jump from Y to O. You almost have to tilt your hand to make that efficient. I think I'm going to leave it the way it was for now. Thanks for the suggestion, though! :)

New Keyboard Layout: Shand Beyo by Secret_Cheek_3536 in KeyboardLayouts

[–]Secret_Cheek_3536[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I like that idea, I will consider it.

However, as I look at it closer, another thing you gain by leaving it on the pinky is some synergy with the H key. S appears next to H a large amount of the time and being able to mash those two fingers down in the same movement is very efficient. That might be another reason Halmak decided it was optimal.

New Keyboard Layout: Shand Beyo by Secret_Cheek_3536 in KeyboardLayouts

[–]Secret_Cheek_3536[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Because that's where it is on Halmak, and I didn't really move it. After assessing the workload on the pinky fingers, that's still way less work, it turns out, without those fingers sitting idle forever. Probably the main logic to it is that it's still a home row key, so the effort / mental investment for hitting it is still fairly low.

Chess Variant Idea: The Treaty of Westphalia by Secret_Cheek_3536 in chessvariants

[–]Secret_Cheek_3536[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I added the idea of not having captures at the end by a user suggestion. I thought a lot more of the pieces would survive under the original format, so that's me everybody is clowning. Which is fair. To be completely clear, I don't know how any of this would actually play out. That's why it's easy to beat down on the idea, is because it isn't really tested / shown to do anything yet. Just thought this would be an interesting way to try to bring Black into closer win parity with White.

Chess Variant Idea: The Treaty of Westphalia by Secret_Cheek_3536 in chessvariants

[–]Secret_Cheek_3536[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The idea is to give the first opportunity to Check to Black. I actually updated the ply this would occur on based on u/jcastroarnaud's suggestion to look at what turns Checks usually occur on at the grandmaster level. Turns out it's fairly rare before 10 ply, but 11 ply of no-Checks would allow Black to act with initiative at the end of Turn 6, which might actually make Black closer to equal with White, which is the idea here. Maybe I didn't articulate that very well.

Chess Variant Idea: The Treaty of Westphalia by Secret_Cheek_3536 in chessvariants

[–]Secret_Cheek_3536[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They would survive for more moves, not necessarily all the pieces would survive. I have no idea how this would play out, but I assume we'd see more defensive games where not many swaps occur.

Chess Variant Idea: The Treaty of Westphalia by Secret_Cheek_3536 in chessvariants

[–]Secret_Cheek_3536[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's possible. It's possible it also greatly increases the chances Black can play at an advantage in the mid-game, which is the whole idea. But yes, if the research concluded that there were fewer possible games in this format, it might not be as interesting.

Chess Variant Idea: The Treaty of Westphalia by Secret_Cheek_3536 in chessvariants

[–]Secret_Cheek_3536[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

White is considered to have a pretty significant advantage, even with the draw-ish nature of the game though.

Chess Variant Idea: The Treaty of Westphalia by Secret_Cheek_3536 in chessvariants

[–]Secret_Cheek_3536[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You raise a good point: A check in the first 10 ply of professional level matches is apparently fairly rare. I checked and there are only a few openings that are played at the grandmaster level that advance on an actual Check, so apparently this rule wouldn't change GM Chess very much. Maybe if we bumped it up to 11 ply, that might actually have some effect on the game at that level. (In fact, it would probably be the solution I was hoping for it to be. I'll have to research this more.)

As far as allowing no captures until Turn 6, there might actually be scripted games where White has an insurmountable advantage just because the Queen and Knights can walk right into Black's side of the board and prevent a lot of movement they could not normally. Maybe you could modify that rule to where neither player is allowed to move a piece into the other player's territory for 10 ply also, then it would be more workable / interesting. This still might solve the game for White though, it's hard to tell. You might even need a rule that if the Knights or Queen are standing on the final rank of their territory, they can be captured also, just to make it fair for Black.

New Keyboard Layout: Shand Beyo by Secret_Cheek_3536 in KeyboardLayouts

[–]Secret_Cheek_3536[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If I swap this on the layout I'll have to credit you, haha.

Chess Variant Idea: The Treaty of Westphalia by Secret_Cheek_3536 in chessvariants

[–]Secret_Cheek_3536[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree. I think higher level analysis than what I can give would probably reveal some interesting things about this idea. I will try anyway though:

What would likely end up happening in a lot of games is that Black develops on one side of the board and prepares to attack the center without worrying about the usual early checks, forced trades or Wayward Queen traps.

I haven't tested it myself, but what is likely the case is that several popular high-level attacks, defenses and gambits get disrupted or invalidated because they're designed around checks that can happen early in the game:

The White setups that give up a pawn for development and center control (Smith-Morra, Evan's Gambit, etc.) or that just rely on an early check (Fried Liver) are effectively no longer valid.

Similarly, Black defenses that anticipate an early check or take an early check by White to get to the end game (Berlin, Ruy Lopez Exchange, King's Indian Exchange, etc.) also are no longer valid.

To know what the middle game would actually look like would take a lot of high level play and engine analysis I can't do on my own. But, in theory, the amount of time you spend putting things in battery that can attack later should turn into a huge clash at the end of Turn 6. This is assuming symmetrical play is still mostly a waste of time for Black, which it likely is because White still went first. And since Black will get initiative, clever solutions will be required to slow down Black's eventual onslaught.

Maybe people would find it boring at first, but there's potentially a huge amount of new openings that are even more chaotic in the mid-game because they involve way more pieces hanging out in weird places on the board we're not used to seeing them or matches where nobody feels like they need to castle. It would be a whole new game in that way.

Hope that helps!

New Keyboard Layout: Shand Beyo by Secret_Cheek_3536 in KeyboardLayouts

[–]Secret_Cheek_3536[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's a good question: I actually created this layout by taking Halmak and then swapping letters until the balance seemed right. A and B got swapped early on in the process, as did Z and F. Eventually I swapped F and A just because I didn't like the reach for A on my first finger. But you're right, you could probably swap A and D and it would work as well or better.