First, there was Idiot King. Now get ready for… The Black Hole. The second event of our Battersea Variants series kicks off on Tuesday.
Doors will open at 6pm giving entrants enough time to have a practise before the tournament begins at 6.30pm. If you want to play, you must be a club member and, ideally, let Aldo know first. As usual, there are only 20 spots and the normal club night will continue on from it.
Here is everything you need to know:
Format
20 players or less.
5 rounds
Swiss pairing
3+2 blitz
Rules
Normal chess rules apply. The board is set up in the standard starting position. At the start of each round, three ‘Black Hole’ squares will be chosen at random and then be marked out on the board by black tape. We’ll be sure not to use the black squared boards to avoid confusion.
The Black Holes can only go on empty starting squares. Namely on any coordinates on the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th rank.
The Black Holes can’t be travelled through or landed on unless you want to lose it as part of your move. For example, if the Black Holes happened to be on e3, f3, h3 then White might want to consider playing e3 at some point throwing his Pawn in the Black Hole. Then allow the e2 square free for his Knight to get into the game. Knights can jump over the Black Holes. A piece… let’s say a Bishop that would originally be checking a King on the diagonal is no longer doing so if a Black Hole lays in its path. You simply have to work around them.
Please note:
Please ensure at the start or end of every game the board is reset. Make sure that the colours match the proper coordinates. Players will help to put down the tape on their boards indicating the Black Holes squares. Which will be chosen and done after the round pairings once both players have been seated. Please remove them after the game and set them off to the side.
