Congratulations to Blair Connell for winning last week’s third Battersea Variants event – Aldo is very relieved he didn’t have to fork out £100!
Onto the next event: on Tuesday the Battersea Variants will feature the Simon Williams-inspired “Marked Pawn”. Details below, but be there at 6pm if you want to play. Remember, it’s members-only and there are just 20 spaces.
This variant is similar to, but not exactly the same as, a game the Ginger GM Simon Williams plays. In Simon’s version, he can only win by mating with a secret pawn he writes down before the game.
Can anyone beat Simon’s mate Blair? Go on, give it a go – medals are at stake!
Format
20 Players or less.
5 Rounds
Swiss Pairing
3+2
Rules
Normal chess rules apply. All pawns start off on the board and each has its own unique colour indicator around them. Once the round pairings are done, each player selects which colour is their ‘Marked Pawn’. This is written down for only the organiser to see as a back-up. Once every player has done this they go to their boards and start placing all of their pawns on the second rank, making sure not to give away which could be their ‘Marked Pawn’. The game is won by either checkmate or capturing the opponent’s ‘Marked Pawn’. Once this is done, the player should declare it straight away to the winner. The organiser will go around and check that any game in progress still has their ‘Marked Pawns’ on board.
