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I was pleased to read the previous comment by M.Howe. I totally share his point of view for an alternate array similar to GrandChess (or my own Shako). It is what I call 'Decimal Omega' and proposed into my 'War of the Worlds'. see http://www.chessvariants.com/large.dir/warworlds.html The specific board being like a commercial signature for Omega Chess, I don't think that there is a single chance that either M.Howe or me being listened by the inventors of Omega. Too bad !
I wish that uneducated chess players will stop complaining about draw possibilities. Don't you get it? A well played game by both sides will result in a draw.
In omega chess - the rook and king vs king is a draw - deal with it.
Stalemate was a beautiful improvement to ancient chess and is here to stay.
The problem in regular chess is NOT draws - it is short draw offers and opening memorization - (too much games are played out) .
Another thing - while this is a great variant, it is even more useful for stronger players. Weaker players can stick to regular chess or if they hate the draw rules and cannot understand the beauty of them - give up chess.
Yes, there is more room for players to outplay each other in Omega. Draws would be decreased due to the additional material and less played out openings that can lead to quick draws. This game is fairly underrated by players due to its larger board size. However, the new pieces need to be on the larger board in order for the game to be balanced. 10x8 doesn't work for the new Omega pieces. Also, going 10x10 solves many problems that exist in 10x8 like the bishops being overpowered and capturing knights or striking through to rooks in their starting position. The size of the Omega board is more similar to Xiangqi in that is 10 spaces (10 int. points) deep and the knight/horse has the same distance to travel in both games. Therefore, the knight is not necessarily slow. It's the same as the Xiangqi horse and no one who plays Xiangqi complains about the horse being too slow. It takes time to move across the river and you have to push out a pawn first before you can move it. In Omega, you don't need to push a pawn first to bring your knight out which makes the development of the piece faster still. Chess is enough of a challenge for most players to produce a win or loss, but as players get stronger, an expansion of the game is more needed. In 8x8 Chess, two GM's might only achieve 3-4 wins total between them in a 10 game match, but in Omega, there would probably be a 6-7 wins total and just 3-4 draws. A win or loss would be more likely than a draw. There also wouldn't be as many cheap draws in Omega with so much material and an additional 2 pawns.
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