marksteere@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<marksteere@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> David Richerby <dav...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>> ... I would rather imagine that the laws of chess reflect the
>> wishes of the `average' chess player ...
>
> That's exactly what you're doing. Imagining. Chess evolved to its
> current incarnation a long time ago, and it won't be evolving
> further any time soon. Chess doesn't reflect anybody's wishes.
The basic rules of the game (the moving of the pieces, checkmate,
stalemate, and so on) have, indeed, been established for some time.
However, there have been numerous changes in more recent times. The
use of clocks is only about a hundred and fifty years old; electronic
clocks that add time for each move made are still more recent and the
laws of the game have been updated to include such things. More
recently, there were alterations to the fifty-move rule, extending the
number of moves before a draw could be claimed in certain
cir***stances; still more recently, these changes were agreed to be
impractical and repealed. Mobile phones have been specifically
banned. Yes, these changes are minor but they're not much less
significant than tinkering with the number of points awarded for a
draw.
> You don't have to look too hard to find "average" Chess players
> bemoaning the high draw rate among experts. And nobody is going to
> argue that a repeat position draw or a 50 move rule draw is a
> dramatic ending.
Actually, very few games are drawn by repetition or the fifty-move
rule: the overwhelming majority of draws are by agreement.
Dave.
--
David Richerby Electronic Technicolor Drink
(TM):
www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~davidr/ it's like a refre****ng juice
beverage
but it's in realistic colour and
it
uses electricity!
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