Single Comment

'GHI,LargeCV': First rating ever for Golden Age, Mediocre. GAC and Chess on a Really Big Board now ten years old, Betza's increments for super-size are 64 squares for convenience in pushing boards together. Up to 64 game boards(4096 squares) are described in CRBB with Bishop long diagonal Ba1.a1-h8.h8, where preceding 'le point' is the sub-board itself. GAC is not so ridiculous, just 16x16, four boards. Betza Funny Notation does not make for natural reading. The opposite philosophy is to describe a method of moving in as many words as possible for clarity. 'WDD' is (Wazir + Dababbah-Rider) sitting in the corners on 16x16. So instead of one-fourth the squares DD reaches, WDD can reach all the squares in certain series of moves. Rose; Crooked Bishop; Gryphon; Half-Duck is nice piece, for which see Chess Different Armies. What Betza calls long Knight, others call Camel. What Betza calls long wide Knight, others call Zebra. Betza says, 'Pawns are probably worth less than a 'normal' Pawn.' You bet, even with these Pawns able to 'double-step' up to the mid-line. This GAC is not entirely serious game, but opportunity to expatiate on Funny Notation and Piece Values. Betza is simply wrong writing, 'take no longer to play a game of Golden Age than FIDE.' He gives a 'Foolsmate' which proves nothing about game length. Betza really only analyses half-deeply most of the time and curiously would not stick around to play at his Masters' level.